God Must Have Created The Universe

Let's discuss the environment in which life exists, the world and the universe. I maintain that not only could life have not come into existence in the environment unless it had been created by God, the environment has so many factors that are so carefully balanced so as to enable life to exist that it could not possibly be an accident and God must have created it.

Heavier elements necessary for life, particularly carbon and oxygen, were not created in the beginning of the universe, but were cooked up later in stars by means of fusion. The tremendous heat and pressure in the centers of stars fused the nuclei of the light elements, such as helium, lithium and especially, hydrogen into heavier elements, without which life could not exist. Those stars then exploded and scattered the matter into space. When our solar system and earth formed, there was abundant heavy elements present from one or more exploded stars. If this process could not take place, we could not exist.

On the other hand, the fusion process is only about 10% efficient by weight. If it was much more efficient, there would be too much matter locked up in heavier elements and there would not be enough carbon and oxygen, which are relatively light elements. It is also fortunate that very heavy elements like uranium are unstable and thus break down by means of radioactivity into lighter elements. This also prevents too much matter from being locked up in heavy elements. This would make our existence very difficult.

The three most important elements to life are hydrogen, oxygen and, carbon. Hydrogen is the lightest element and is very plentiful. In the beginning of the universe, helium was the next lightest and next most plentiful element, comprising about 25% of the matter in the new universe. When lighter elements are fused together in stars, it is very fortunate that three helium atoms can fuse into a carbon atoms and four helium atoms can fuse into an oxygen atom. If this convenient relationship did not exist, carbon and oxygen would be rare and life as we know it, impossible.

Life is really based on carbon. There is two basic types of bond by which atoms form molecules, ionic and covalent. Ionic bonding is where an electron in one atom goes to another atom, giving one a negative and the other a positive charge and causing the two to bond. Carbon, however, is dependent on the more complex covalent bond, in which atoms share electrons. If covalent bonds could not exist between atoms, life could not exist.

As it is, there are single, double or, triple bonds possible with carbon. Each carbon atom can bond with up to four other atoms and it bonds easily with hydrogen, the most abundant atom in the universe. This means that carbon can form a vast array of organic molecules and our world full of life is possible. Without this, we could not exist.

However, it is essential to life on earth that the bodies of living things decay after death. If they did not, most of the available organic molecules would be locked up in dead bodies and life would virtually cease. On the other hand, it was also essential that limestone could form to lock up the dead bodies of early microscopic plants and prevent their decay or there would be too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today and, since this is a greenhouse gas, the earth would be much too hot.

Compared with our green earth, space is an extremely hostile environment in which life is impossible. The giant planet Jupiter acts as a gravitational vacuum cleaner in space to absorb all kinds of meteors and comets that might otherwise strike the earth, with catastrophic results. The best-known example is when the comet Shoemaker-Levy struck it in 1994, creating a spectacular explosion visible across the solar system. What if that had struck the earth instead?

Also, few stars in the sky are actually single stars like our sun. Most are double or triple stars. If the sun orbitted such a star combination, there would be drastic increases and decreases in the temperature of the earth as well as absorption of solar radiation. The development of life would be far more difficult then it is now.

Water seems to be a miracle in itself and, of course, we could not exist without it. It's three states of matter conveniently exist within the relatively narrow temperature range necessary for life. We need liquid water but rain could not exist without water vapor. Also, the earth would be too warm without snow and ice, with an albedo higher than liquid water, to reflect solar energy back into space from the polar regions (although global warming is changing this).

The convenient relationship between temperature and gravity concerning water and water vapor works very well in making it possible for life to exist. What if water vapor was light enough to escape into space? What if there were neutrons in hydrogen atoms so that water was heavier? It would not evaporate so easily and we would have little rain. What if another atom of oxygen easily bonded to a water molecule so that there was two atoms of oxygen instead of one? We would have oceans of hydrogen peroxide instead of water and there would be little or no oxygen left in the air. Isn't it fortunate for us that hydrogen peroxide is less stable than water? Can this be merely a coincidence or did God plan it this way?

What about our atmosphere? 78% of the air near the earth's surface is nitrogen. Isn't it fortunate that nitrogen is not very soluble in water? If it was more water-soluble than oxygen, it would displace the oxygen that readily dissolves in water and life in water would be impossible because it is dependent on dissolved oxygen to breathe. Since water is where life began, we would not exist either. It is just as fortunate that nitrogen does not react with oxygen, at least at low temperatures. If it bonded with oxygen easier than hydrogen did, water would not even exist. In any case, we would not be able to breathe the oxygen in the air.

As it is today, there is little free hydrogen in earth's atmosphere. It is light and escapes into space. If it didn't, much of earth's atmosphere would consist of methane because four hydrogen atoms easily bond with one carbon atom. There would also be more water but less breathable oxygen because two hydrogens combine with an oxygen atom to form water.

The nitrogen in the atmosphere is actually very vital to us. It is usually inert but is fixed by lightning and by certain bacteria to form essential fertilizers. Also, nitrogen serves to slow down reactions involving oxygen in the atmosphere. What would a forest fire be like if there was an atmosphere of pure oxygen? Isn't it fortunate that clouds do not block infrared radiation from the sun? If they did, the earth would be too cold. If the earth happened to have a weaker magnetic field, the so-called Van Allen radiation belts around the earth would not offer as much protection from charged particles from the sun. If the air did not offer resistance to slow falling objects, raindrops would be almost like bullets hitting the ground, it would destroy any budding plants and life as we know it would have to be very different. Because of the way the earth spins, prevailing winds flow mostly in an east-west direction rather than north-south. If this were different, winds would be very destructive blasts of very hot or very cold air.

Have you ever considered how fortunate we are that air and water are transparent? If this were not so, earth could not absorb radiation from the sun and life certainly would not be possible. The tremendous heat capacity of water keeps most of the earth from getting too hot or too cold. If this were different, the earth would be a very hostile place. Even if dust did not exist in the air, there would be no bases for condensing droplets of water to form clouds to bring rain. What if the sediment that gradually collects on the bottom of a body of water was lighter than the water instead of heavier? It would collect on the surface and block sunlight as well as oxygen absorption into the water, life would be impossible.

Isn't it fortuntate that liquids are rare on earth in comparison with solids and gases. The only liquids on earth in significant quantities are water and oil. If this were not so, water would be too contaminated to be of any use to life. Water is the so-called universal solvent but we are very fortunate that evaporation and rainfall purifies the water or we would not be here.

The earth's surface consists of two basic levels, that of the land and that of the ocean floor. Were this otherwise, the earth would either be all water. Or, if the surface level varied by too much, water would be very concentrated with much less surface area to provide evaporation and absorb oxygen, leaving much more land area to share the much less rainfall. The air of the atmosphere would also pile up, leaving much of the world with not only too little rainfall for life but with too thin air.

I think it is safe to say that God created both life and the environment in which it exists.