Intelligent design

Our whole world is full of wonder and Christians believe that Someone with an amazing mind must have thought it all out and planned it.  For example, think of the problem of producing a butterfly, like a Red Admiral, from a tiny egg smaller than a pin’s head. And then think how ingeniously the problem is solved.  From the egg there comes the caterpillar which crawls and eats and grows until it is time for it to go to sleep and turn into a chrysalis.  And inside the chrysalis it turns into the butterfly and comes out with its beautiful wings all powdered with colour.  And so the problem is solved, but Christians believe it could not have been solved without a Mind to solve it.  And the same applies to all the wonders of Nature.

Some people would argue that the beauty and order in the world are not the result of a Designer but the result of evolutionary forces that ‘just happen’.  But for Christians it is not a question of the beauty and order in the world being the result of an Intelligent Designer OR of evolutionary forces.  Rather, we see God as the Intelligent Designer who planned and sustains the process of evolution.

Religious experiences

Throughout human history there have been people who have had an experience or awareness of God.  These people include prophets and holy individuals whose lives have been devoted to prayer.  But they also include ordinary people.

Some people argue that religious experiences are the result of some sort of mental illness.  However, there are some very good reasons for rejecting this argument; for example, people who report religious experiences are often well-balanced, intelligent and have the ability to be self-critical.  Genuine religious experiences also tend to change the people concerned and remain important to them for the rest of their lives.  Research has also shown that religious experiences often only occur once and come to many people who are not ‘religious’ or do not belong to any particular faith. (6)

Quantum science

Quantum science has turned upside down our understanding of the Universe and revealed that the world is far more complex and strange than any previous generations could have imagined.  Isaac Newton described three dimensions (length, breadth, depth).  We now know that there is not just a fourth dimension (time) – there may be many more dimensions.  It is possible that religious experiences may sometimes be a temporary ability to experience dimensions other than those we usually experience. (7)

Christians would argue that God, as the creator of the universe, is the creator of all the dimensions.  If quantum science and the idea of many dimensions is difficult to understand, it’s not surprising that we find it impossible to understand God fully. (8)