On Monday, I found myself swept along by the solar eclipse enthusiasm without really meaning to be. I didn’t travel, content with the 80% or so of an eclipse experienced in the Pittsburgh area where I live. I didn’t buy any special viewing equipment–not because I doubted the risks, but because I figured I’d use a pinhole viewer if I watched at all. And yet when the moment arrived, I found myself outside with a small group from the office building where I work, sharing a pair of special glasses graciously offered by a coworker. It was an interesting moment of shared curiosity, both with the folks standing with me and the wider public watching and talking about it online.
[Read more…] about Science Corner: There Goes the Sun
fine-tuning argument
Improbability not equal to impossibility
I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to connect with Zak Schmoll. I pray God’s blessing upon his
- labors as an assistant underwriter
- beginning of an MBA program with a desire to teach accounting
- blogging through the Bible one chapter at a time
- competing in power soccer (click here to see a picture).
AND whatever else God has in store for him. To God be the glory! ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV, Associate Director of ESN, editor of ESN’s blog and Facebook Wall.
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As a Christian who believes that developing a reasonable basis for the faith that we have is a valuable and useful effort, I have greatly enjoyed reading a variety of texts by several different apologists. Naturally, each one brings something a little bit different to the table and provides a variety of reasons as to why Christianity is indeed a reasonable belief system.
I am also a believer in Intelligent Design. More specifically, I believe that God did indeed create the universe even down to the smallest details. As a result, I do believe that the universe is fine-tuned.
The general fine-tuning argument basically revolves around a seemingly obvious observation that our universe is so complex that it would be extraordinarily unreasonable to assume that everything occurred by chance. For example, there are numerous little pieces that need to interact on earth to create a planet that is capable of sustaining life. If all of these quantities did not exist in the perfect balance, our planet would not be inhabitable. Of course, if you extend this reasoning to the entire universe and how it is all held together by a variety of different forces such as gravity itself, it seems incredibly unlikely and virtually impossible that such a universe could come to exist without an intelligent mind behind it.
As a statistician however, I am a bit concerned if this is the only argument that we bring to the table during a discussion about origins. Yes, it is certainly a good piece of evidence that the existence of an intelligent creator is probable, but we need to be careful that we do not confuse incredibly unlikely with the concept of impossibility. [Read more…] about Improbability not equal to impossibility