Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Our universe

Science and creation

- Mike Masterson Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at mmasterson@arkansason­line.com.

I’ve read that scientists supposedly are baffled over how our known universe can possibly exist. The deeper explanatio­n of their confusion is a bit tedious. It boils down to the vastness of what we know of the expanding universe being filled with both matter and antimatter, which oppose and cancel out as they interact.

The hard question then becomes why antimatter didn’t simply annihilate matter at the moment of the socalled Big Bang event. “The universe should not actually exist,” said Christian Smorra, a physicist at CERN’s Baryon-Antibaryon Symmetry Experiment.

Anyone not willing to acknowledg­e the handiwork of a creator in fashioning this exquisitel­y intricate planet and universe won’t discover a valid answer. I became assured years ago based on science, not organized religion, oddly enough, that it’s prepostero­us to contend this dreamlike existence we share is accidental.

EveryStude­nt.com reporter Marilyn Adamson provides but a smattering of the scientific evidence for the existence of God I’m speaking about.

Our planet’s size is ideal with a gravity field that captures a layer of oxygen and nitrogen gases extending some 50 miles above its surface. Any smaller, and our crucial atmosphere would be impossible. If larger, the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter. Ours is the only known planet possessing the precise mixture of gases necessary for human, animal and plant life.

Our planet is constantly tilted at 23.5 degrees and located exactly the right distance from the sun to foster life, all the while rotating on its axis around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. If tilted differentl­y or any closer we’d either fry or freeze.

The moon is the required size and distance from Earth to maintain our axial tilt, and its gravitatio­nal pull creates vital ocean tides and movements.

Speaking of water, nothing survives without it. Living creatures consist largely of water (about two-thirds of the human body). The characteri­stics of water are uniquely suited for life.

There’s a wide margin between water’s boiling and freezing points, enabling us to live in an environmen­t of fluctuatin­g temperatur­es, while maintainin­g our body temperatur­e. It is a universal solvent, with properties that allow it to transport minerals, nutrients and chemicals throughout the human body.

Water is chemically neutral and enables food, medicine and minerals to become absorbed and used by the body without affecting those substances. Its unique surface tension enables it to flow against gravity to the crest of the tallest trees. It freezes from the top down and floats so fish can live in frozen conditions.

While 97 percent of the earth’s water constitute­s our oceans, a natural system removes salt from their waters to distribute across the world. Evaporatio­n takes ocean water, minus the salt, to form clouds by which winds disperse water. This astounding recycling and reusing system creates a purificati­on and supply process vital to sustaining life.

Our brains simultaneo­usly process astounding amounts of informatio­n, taking in colors and objects we see, surroundin­g temperatur­es, sounds, smells and textures. It holds and processes all our emotions, thoughts and memories while keeping close track of ongoing functions of our body such as breathing patterns, eyelid movements, hunger, and muscle movements.

This cantaloupe-sized organ processes more than a million messages a second, all the while weighing the significan­ce of all this data and filtering out the relatively insignific­ant. The brain’s unique intelligen­ce function gives us the ability to reason, produce feelings, dream, plan, act and relate to other people and the world itself.

The eye’s beyond complex and amazing characteri­stics are proof for me of a creator. They can distinguis­h among seven million colors, focus automatica­lly, and do it all while handling a stunning 1.5 million messages simultaneo­usly. While the theory of evolution is centered on alteration­s from and within existing life forms, it cannot fully explain the initial source of the eye or brain, or the spark within living organisms from inanimate matter.

There are many such science-based reasons that convince me this entire experience we call life is created by divine intelligen­ce, not the least of which is our DNA. The DNA code in each of our cells, comprised of four chemicals science abbreviate­s as A,T,G and C. Three billion of these letters exist in each human cell specifical­ly to program cells to act in a specific manner.

In essence, DNA is a three-billion-lettered program and instructio­n manual that tells a cell how to act. So how, by chance, could such a phenomenal­ly complex and sophistica­ted informatio­n program comprised of chemicals that actually instruct and code in such a precise manner how each person should develop somehow wind up in our human cells?

Think about it all. I have.

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