Modern Cosmology and the Existence of God
Review and Comment
Disclaimer: For many years, I was the leader of a local Chapter of Reasons To Believe and a ministry supporter.
There is a difference between a debate and a dialogue in a public setting. A debate is more combative, with the expectation of a winner and a loser. In a discussion, two individuals meet to find a commonality with the expectation of listening and understanding. On Wednesday, August 21, Reasons To Believe hosted a dialogue between Dr. Hugh Ross and Dr. William Lane Craig about the existence of God and the evidence that can be found in modern cosmology. Dr. Ross is the founder of Reasons To Believe. Dr. Craig is the president of Reasonable Faith. Both organizations lead in the field of Christian Apologetics. Dr. Ken Samples, also of Reasons To Believe, moderated the dialogue.
Review
The dialogue began with the participants’ introduction to both ministries. Drs. Craig and Ross gave doctrinal perspectives using the four major worldview categories: creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. Both organizations are orthodox in their beliefs, embracing the Trinitarian Godhead and Biblical truthfulness. William Lane Craig and Reasonable Faith embraced a “mere Christianity” approach, emphasizing the central issues agreed upon by most Christians and denominations. Both men expressed agreement on issues such as creation ex nihilo, the sinfulness of man, salvation through Christ alone, and the future personal return of Christ.
The central focus of the one-and-one-half-hour session was on modern cosmology and how its findings buttress the arguments for the existence of God. Craig and Ross discussed four major scientific issues. On the Big Bang family of models, Ross said that new information from the James Webb Telescope continues to support the Big Bang model. Craig reminded the listeners that the Big Bang and its assertion of an absolute beginning of the universe has stood for about one hundred years.
Both Craig and Ross asserted that fine-tuning was the most viable argument for God’s existence. Evidence for the fine-tuning of the fundamental constants and quantities and the qualities that make the universe life-permitting are getting stronger with each new discovery and the fine-tuning argument will continue to make predictions consistent with design in the universe by a Creator.
One of the most fascinating segments of the dialogue was the conversation over the question of mathematics’s efficacy in describing the universe’s physical processes. Since Eugene Wigner published his paper called “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences” (1960), physicists have become intrigued by the way mathematics works to define the natural world. Both Dr. Craig and Dr. Ross pointed out that this would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, given the worldview of naturalism because, according to Craig, mathematical objects are abstract and have no causal power. Dr. Craig summarized the discussion by saying that the “theist has a better explanation than the naturalist” which is the existence of a Creator and intelligent Designer of the universe.
Comment
A dialogue contributes toward the resolution of an issue. Does the modern work in the science of cosmology provide evidence for the existence of God? Both William Lane Craig and Hugh Ross come from two different organizations involved with Christian apologetics. They differ on certain issues and agree on many aspects of the Christian faith. But these two gentlemen dealt graciously with each other and the issues and contributed to the ongoing work of finding further evidence for the truthfulness of the Christian faith. Modern Cosmology and the Existence of God is an excellent dialogue and is understandable for all Christians. I highly recommend it.
Here is the link.
Mark Riser - Apologist 