Apologetics Pt 13

The Conclusion of the Teleological Argument

1. Therefore, it is due to design.

So far, we’ve had a cursory exploration of this argument. We’ve looked at the options available to us that could explain the fine-tuning of the universe. We’ve narrowed it down to Design, so let’s have a look at what that means…

First of all, let’s take a look at probably the most common objection to this conclusion, simply stated: “Well then, who designed the designer?!” Other times people can ask it like this: “Who made God?” And this is an interesting objection, because we don’t behave like this in any other sphere of life! Let me explain… For an explanation to be the best, we don’t need an explanation of the explanation. For example, if we found something on Mars resembling mechanical equipment. We would have no explanation for how it got there, who put it there or anything like that, except that we would be forced to conclude by our logical faculties that someone put it there! For some reason, people like to ignore this principle when it comes to the universe. We see a Universe around us… the logical question is “who the heck put it here?!” Now of course, as Christians, we don’t believe anyone created God! For more on that, head back to the Cosmological argument and read about the ultimate need for an uncaused cause.

If you remember back to the end of the Cosmological Argument, we looked at a few conclusions that you can come to as a result of the argument about a first cause – timeless, changeless, unbelievably powerful, personal etc. Well, we can come to some similar conclusions about the Designer. First, the designer has to be incredibly smart! For all the fine-tuning to work, the maths is quite frankly incomprehensible. The type of mind required for such design would be maximally-great, or omniscient (all-knowing). And so, we can take it from the Teleological argument that the designer of the universe is likely a mind, an unbelievably intelligent mind. And of course, this is a huge arrow pointing right to the idea of God.

Now, on their own, the Cosmological and Teleological arguments may not persuade everyone, that’s ok! But together, they form a very powerful cumulative case for the existence of God.

So, that’s another argument for God’s existence looked at very briefly. Do you agree with it? Do you understand the premises and the conclusion? Would you feel confident about sharing this in a conversation? Please leave any comments below!