Outline
Introduction: Where there is design, there is a designer.
Thesis: G-d created the world in six days as described in the Book of Genesis, chapter one.
Argument (point) #1: Apollo
Argument (point) #2: The Cranium and the Brain
Argument (point) #3: Hibernation: The bear Argument (point) #4: The painted turtle. The deer, the squirrel and the woodpecker:
Conclusion: All societies since the creation of the world comprehend that acumen and intellect originate from a superior Intelligence. As described in Genesis chapter one, G-d created the world in six days.

Does God Exist?

Where there is design, there is a designer. Those who choose to disbelieve must twist their logic into pretzels in order to accommodate the misinformation they feed themselves. They expend endless energy positing the truth of their assertions to the rest of the world. In a sense, lack of faith is easier because it absolves the denier of any obligation, appreciation or indebtedness to The Creator. G-d created the world in six days as described in the Book of Genesis, chapter one.

Frank observation by rational persons of any of the smallest quantifiable aspects of this ordered world will lead to the conclusion that there is a Creator. They can choose to examine a leaf, a gnat or a blood cell. “All roads lead home”. They must each draw the same conclusion. I have chosen examples from the human body and from nature that are but tiny illustrations of the glory, the profound intelligence with which G-d created this universe. We converse about this intelligence although we barely fathom any of it. We marvel at the awesome intelligence of Einstein who to his credit was a genius in human standards. He shed scientific light which changed our world but in fact he only scratched the surface in a few areas of creation. I have notes related to Darwinian Theory (notes enclosed) but I decided to use more emotional arguments because they appeal to my personality more.

In the book of Exodus, after the awe inspiring miracle of the split sea and after witnessing daily wonders such as sweet water which spouted from a rock, manna from heaven, clouds that protected them on all sides and a pillar of fire to lead the way at night, some in the Jewish nation still doubted G-d. (Chapter 17, verse 7) “The Children of Israel tried the Lord, saying “Is the Lord among us or not?
Immediately following, the Children of Israel were attacked by the powerful and brutal nation of Amalek. “It was an unprovoked and cowardly attack upon a tired and weary people, just liberated from slavery, on the way to their homeland. Moses put his disciple Joshua in charge of the troops who were to fight against the Amalekites. Then Moses, together with his brother Aaron and nephew Hur went up to a hill, to pray for G-d's help in the battle. The battle lasted a whole day until the Amalekites were finally defeated and routed. G-d ordered Moses to record the treacherous attack of the Amalekites for everlasting memory.”
Let us put this into perspective. The nations of the world were in awe and dread of the God of the Hebrews who had wrought mighty miracles on their behalf. No one dared challenge this fledgling nation who so valiantly earned the protection of the All Mighty. The significance of Amalek’s deed is described in the Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 9. The Amalekite’s scorn and disdain chilled the inspired feelings that reigned in the world during this period, effectively quashing truth. Nowadays as well, contempt and disrespect sway popular opinion. The insolence trickles down from denial of G-d to disrespect of our parents, teachers and elders which has corrupted our society.
Rashi, the famed commentary whose comprehensive writings illuminate the bible, prophets, and the Talmud brings the following parable. (Exodus, chapter 17, verse 8) A man embarked on a journey, carrying his son on his shoulders. The boy desired an object and requested it, “Father take that thing and bring it to me” whereupon his father complied. A second and then a third time this scene played out and the father brought his son what he demanded. They encountered a stranger and the son said to him “Have you seen my father?” Whereupon his father responded “Do you not know where I am?” He cast him off from upon himself and an animal came along and bit him. Amalek is compared to the animal and the Children of Israel are the son who severely deficient of even a modicum of gratitude and respect, deny their Father’s very existence even as they bask in his kindness.
Let us be honest. It is easier and more “fun” to believe that G-d does not exist. Atheists can live their lives as they see fit, without any obligations to a supreme being. They live according to their own moral code and don’t need to subjugate themselves to a higher authority. This I believe is the crux of the issue in denial of a supreme being. What is interesting is that it seems that atheists (many scientists among them) expend a whole lot of effort proving to the rest of us that in fact G-d does NOT EXIST! Why the compelling need to constantly posit their position to the rest of the world? I believe there is a one word answer- GUILT! This is natural considering that their whole platform is based upon the denial of the One who provides everything including the strength and means to deny His very existence. Thus, although they reject G-d and discard the subsequent appreciation one who recognizes G-d must have, they also feel incredibly guilty about this and continuously attempt to fortify their position. They expend endless energy in this pursuit.
All societies and cultures since the beginning of time have functioned under the tenet that exceedingly technical processes and information, such as meaningful poetry, diagrams and sketches on stone walls, computer codes, and well-designed complexity above a certain echelon (scooter, radio, microwave, computer), are always the result of intellectual involvement and purposeful intervention.
Imagine the following scenario. It is 1969 and the Apollo 11 spacecraft manned by American astronauts is about to approach the moon. History is unfolding as the world focuses on the first human to walk the moon’s surface and hundreds of millions of viewers are watching the event with bated breath on television. Just as the camera zooms in on the bulky space suited figure of Captain Neal Armstrong descending from the space craft another object is inadvertently illuminated. Millions of viewers catch their breath. There is a bottle. A bottle of gin! Bitter disillusionment ripples through the American public as they realize without a shadow of a doubt that the English have been there first.
The president is speaking. He is aglow with pride and explains that in fact the English have NOT been there at all. He clarifies. “We all know that glass is made of sand, silica and heat. All those ingredients exist on the moon. I propose that a large meteorite struck the moon generating extreme heat and those ingredients combined to produce a glass blob and that with time, by some fluke it morphed into a glass bottle. G-d Bless America!”
It is unlikely that even the president’s staunchest supporters would believe this absurdity and with good cause. Examine the features of design of the bottle. The rounded shape enables the hand to easily encircle the bottle and its wide base and narrow top provides stability, while the perfectly smooth surface without any nicks or sharp edges ensures safety. The screw top cover allows one to drink some and leave the rest for later. The bottle is hollow, translucent and odorless providing an ideal container for food storage. The entire design reflects thoughtful purpose and the reasonable human mind will reject coincidence as the architect of this bottle.
Safes were manufactured in order to protect gold, precious stones and jewels. The cranium which houses the brain in its protective encasement shields the most vital body organ. There is no computer which can replicate its innumerable functions. The brain directs the respiratory, digestive and circulatory systems, “monitors concentrations of substances such as glucose and carbon dioxide in blood, adjusts fluids and nutrient levels, and dozens of other body processes that occur every minute. The brain screens the gigantic amounts of information that are continuously gathered by the senses, and filters out all but the most important features.”
Science knows relatively little about this remarkably complex super organ, which is made up of 30 billion neurons and up to 300 billion cells. Each cell is as intricate as a city and all that comprises a space that fits into a baseball cap. How is this most precious and complex organ protected?
The brain is housed in a guarded bastion. This fortified stronghold is the cranium, or the skull. The cranium is made of twenty two separate bones, which fit together like joining parts of a puzzle. The skull is a quarter of an inch thick at the top, and even thicker at the base. It is fascinating to note that a baby is born with the minutest features formed and intact. Although the eyelashes, fingernails and palmer creases are present, the cranial bones do not fuse until about 8 months of age. This nifty design allows the head to be soft and flexible in the passage through the birth canal.
Because the bones of the skull are separate, some of them can be thicker than others. For example the temporal bones which protect the fragile auditory apparatus are the hardest bones in the body. The bones of the lower face and forehead are much thinner giving opportunity for individuality of facial features which make each of us unique.
There is much more to discuss regarding the brain, however space constraints preclude a long discussion. In short, the brain is surrounded by the meninges (protective membranes and fluids) and in the spaces between the membrane layers runs a wonder fluid called the cerebrospinal fluid, which is different from regular blood and produced separately in the capillaries in the roof of the brain. The special cerebrospinal fluid runs the length of the spinal cord but never mixes with the regular blood supply due to special valves which surround the brain and spinal cord. It is perfectly circulated by microscopic cilia which move and gently vibrate the spinal fluid. There are not any half cilia or half formed valves. The cerebrospinal fluid absorbs shock to the brain so that usually a bang on the head is not fatal. It also acts as a doorkeeper or guard at the gate; allowing some substances in such as glucose but not allowing others such as bacteria and toxins.
One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to discern that perfectly functioning valves and cilia don’t make themselves and this is no accident. Look at the brain and awe and behold the awesomeness of the Creator.
The Talmud, tractate Taanis (Fasts) 23a relates the miraculous story of Choni who slept for 70 years. When he awoke not a single person recognized him and in great distress he begged God to take his soul back to heaven for the deterioration of the world compared to what he had known was too much to bear. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is probably based upon this story, but that aside, the ability to sleep for long periods of time is the domain of animals and not humans. Each year as winter approaches, animals deal with the falling temperature in an assortment of intriguing ways. American black bears and Asian bears find themselves cozy nests and go to sleep for months until spring.
How do they survive without food for so long? Food is scarce during winter, so the bears eat as much as they can in the summer and autumn and convert the excess calories into body fat. A lean bear in late autumn is usually dangerous because he has not eaten his fill. The metabolic rate during hibernation drops as much as 50% and temperature falls up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. From November until March the female polar bear eats not a thing. During this time, deep in the winter snow she births up to four cubs and nurses them. They depend upon her rich milk which she produces by breaking down the thick layer of fat that she has built up under her fur during the summer when there was plenty of food. When the cubs are 3 months old, the mother bear gives them solids, sharing fish and seals with her young. By April, the mother bear weighs 50% less than she did 6 months before. Think about that. Who taught the bears to fill up on food in the summer in preparation for hibernation and why does this food build up a thick layer of fat instead of being eliminated through the digestive track as all food regularly does? What causes their metabolic rate to drop to half energy and body temperature to drop? Bears are warm blooded as we are and body temperatures are usually constant. Does this not all point to a powerful intellect?
Look at the Canadian painted turtles. In autumn they are born, hatched from their eggs but upon birth they do not begin living vigorously. Although that is the way of most living creatures, the painted turtle does not. Already in mid- summer, their moms nest in banks facing southward and come frigid winter these newly born turtles go into torpor scarcely moving and eating absolutely nothing. Torpor as defined by Wikipedia, “is an umbrella-term used to categorize a state of regulated metabolic suppression in animals, typically to levels below what are normally essentially the minimum, so-called, basal metabolic rate. Torpor is an energy-conserving survival trait that is triggered in response to a wide variety of environmental cues and threats, including: starvation; thirst; darkness; cold; heat; hypoxia, and intoxication; its development may anticipate the threat or respond to it. Since metabolic energy demands are lowered, physiologic processes like heart-rate, ventilation, and body-temperature are also typically down-regulated. Torpor is not an all or none event, it is a graded response, and it is expressed in various species, periodically, to various degrees, and under variable internal and external conditions.” The body of the painted turtle manufactures a natural anti freeze which allows them to stay alive for months while the temperature in the nest dips well below 30 degrees.
I suggest that the female painted turtle took a course in geography and that is why she knows which way is south. Furthermore, I think it would be a revolutionary money saving idea for all of us to disconnect our central heating this winter, and arrange for our bodies to produce anti freeze which will save us energy and cash. We can ask the same Darwinian forces who oblige the turtle to arrange it for us as well!
We tell our children when they go out in the winter to keep their fingers and toes moving because we know that in frigid temperatures ears, fingers and toes freeze first. Only in the last few hundred years have scientists come to understand that this is due “to the ratio between the amount of body surface through which heat can be lost, and the body’s bulk and heat supply. (This explains why mittens are warmer than gloves; the fingers of a glove have more radiating surface than the mass of a mitten.) About 100 years ago, physicists working on the kinetic theory of gases found that heat travels very slowly through still air. Applying this knowledge of dead-air space to our cold-weather clothes, manufacturers have developed coats and jackets with light, airy padding.” Amazing!
Even though this discovery is relatively new to us, deer have known about this since the beginning of creation. They certainly can’t explain the dynamics, but every winter they shed their summer coat in favor of a neatly engineered design custom made for winter. Each hair is hollow like a straw and closed at the outer end, effectively trapping air inside and keeping Bambi covered in a layer of heated trapped air so that he can run through the icy forest without shelter and stay toasty warm. We are so much more intelligent than deer but somehow they know they should sprout this winter coat while we shiver and tremble under our regular old skin all winter. Who endowed the deer with a degree in the science of advanced kinetic energy? Could it be that there is a Creator?
The squirrel maintains comfort all winter long. Nestled in a loose ball of twigs and dry leaves (All squirrels must have a degree in engineering.) he acts as his own heating system, warming the motionless air around himself until he is sheltered in snug cocoon of warmth. A woodpecker’s feathers are the most insular and protective ‘fabric’ known. All through the icy winter he lies, feathers fluffed in the hollow of a tree enveloped in heated stationary air; a toasty 104 degrees.
In contemplating the skills of animals to endure a half year sleep, to stay warm without clothing, antifreeze and insulation; none of the intelligence described above can possibly be happenstance. It did not come from the animals themselves. What does the term “instinctive” or “inborn” mean? Who instilled the instinct? All societies since the creation of the world comprehend that acumen and intellect originate from a superior Intelligence.
All societies since the creation of the world comprehend that acumen and intellect originate from a superior Intelligence. This is borne out in the Apollo story above. In contemplating ingenious design of the brain and cranium and the proficiency of animals to endure a half year sleep, to stay warm without clothing, antifreeze and insulation; none of the intelligence described above can possibly be happenstance. It did not come from the animals themselves. Our brains did not create themselves. What does the term “instinctive” or “inborn” mean? Who instilled the instinct? Where there is creation, there is a Creator. As described in Genesis chapter one, G-d created the world in six days.
Bibliography:
Adamson, Marilyn. "Is there a God?." Everystudent.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. <http://www.everystudent.com/features/listhere
Averick, Rabbi Moshe . "A reasonable argument for Gods existence." Aish.com. Aish Hatorah, n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 3013. <http://www.aish.com>.
Katz, Rabbi Avraham. Designer World. Gateshead, England: GJBS, 1994.
G-d, "Genesis." The Bible. first chapter.
G-d, “Exodus.” The Bible. Seventeenth chapter.
G-d. "Ki Teitze 9, Midrash Tanchuma." The Bible.
Notes:
In order to discuss biological evolution, we need to have a basic understanding of its principles.
Darwinian Theory can be summarized as follows: Biological evolution holds that living things change over time and some individuals are more apt to endure and replicate than others; an event known as Natural Selection. In order for this process to occur, four prerequisites must be met. A. Individuals must have different characteristics so that no two organisms have the same DNA. There must be a different mixture of genetic information and mutations of the DNA during sexual reproduction. B. Organisms must produce more offspring than can survive. C. Offspring must inherit some characteristics from their parents. D. “Survival of the fittest” with the ability to reproduce.
My argument: Darwinian Evolution (the truth of which I will concede for arguments sake) is based on mutations that occur in the genetic material contained in the DNA of a self-replicating organism. Since Darwinian Evolution is not operative or relevant until a DNA based self-replicating system is in place, it obviously cannot explain the existence of the first self-replicating bacterium that contains DNA. The very best that Darwinian Evolution can tell us is the following: Once you have in place a dazzlingly sophisticated piece of molecular machinery and an astoundingly sophisticated digitally encoded system of control and self-replication (DNA), the interactions between this living system and its environment (natural selection) can produce an astounding variety of living systems. All forms of life are possible if - and only if - this piece of machinery is in place.
Darwinian Evolution is testimony to the unimaginably awesome potentials and capabilities contained in the genetic material of the first living bacterium.
A paradigm-shifting insight emerges from all this. Contrary to popular belief, Darwinian Evolution is not a testimony to what can emerge from undirected processes as the skeptic would have us believe; it is a testimony to the unimaginably awesome potentials and capabilities contained in the genetic material of the first living bacterium. In other words, the process of Darwinian Evolution is not the cause of the first living bacterium; Darwinian Evolution is a process which is a result of the staggering functional complexity of the first living bacterium.