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"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,  and perfect, will of God."   -Romans 12:2

Is the Existence of
 God Improbable?

Does the complexity of God make His existence improbable?

by Rusty Entrekin

There is an argument against the existence of God, lately championed by Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, which basically goes like this:  

Any being that could create life would have to be very complex, and would  therefore be highly unlikely to form by chance. Because theism makes use of a higher complexity to explain a lesser one, it is a much less probable explanation of the origin of life than naturalism.

This is an agnostic argument, based on probabilities. Agnosticism is more honest than atheistic fundamentalism, for no man can know that there is no God, unless he himself has the divine quality of omniscience. However, theistic fundamentalism may not be dishonest, for if God has revealed himself to a man, that man can honestly claim to know that there is a God.

In particular, Dawkins is seeking to discourage belief in the Judeo-Christian God, the God of the Bible. If the God of the Bible exists, then there are three great realms of reality:

1.       The eternal realm of light where God dwells. This is mentioned in I Timothy 6:16: 

“...who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

2.   God, who in relation to His creation is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent [and in relation to the eternal realm in which He dwells, since Christ is called the Father of Eternity in Isaiah 9:6]. The New Testament reveals in I Corinthians 2:10 that the mind of God the Father is so great that God the Spirit must search it out [the searches probably take place instantaneously]:

""For us, however, God has drawn aside the veil through the teaching of the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, including the depths of the divine nature."

3.       Creation. This would include the “heaven of heavens” (perhaps consisting of the highest dimensions) and all contained within it, including the physical universe (the firmament of heaven) and the earth.  These are all mentioned in Deuteronomy  10:14: 

“Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.”

Dawkin’s argument assumes that God is either a part of the physical universe, or that in the eternal realm, complexity is just as unlikely as it is in our universe. However, in our universe, which had a beginning and is of finite age, time limits the number of arrangements (such as life) that can form by chance.  But the eternal realm where God dwells is not subject to time, which is a created thing, so an infinite number of arrangements could occur in “no time” at all:

Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

In our universe, the second law of thermodynamics (the overall tendency of things to go from order to disorder in  time) greatly decreases the probability of life forming by chance.  But in eternity, since there is no time, there would be no second law of thermodynamics. (In fact, the arrow of dynamics may point in the other direction, from disorderly to orderly. Random interactions could lead to order rather than disorder.)

Dawkin’s argument also seems to rest on the implicit assumption that the structural foundation of God's intelligence is as complex as the structural foundation of human intelligence. But in fact, although God is vastly complex in intellect or mind, His foundational structure could consist of something very simple - quantum states of light, for instance. To equate the complexity of his basic nature with ours is like assuming that binary computer intelligence has the same foundational components as human intelligence. Given simpler foundational components, intelligence could be much more likely to arise by chance in a realm not subject to time. 

We do not know the nature of the light in which God dwells, but we can ponder and speculate. How can a being dwell in light? Such a being would have to be unembodied (pure spirit):

Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

How would light interact in an eternal realm not subject to time? We do know that the light in our universe can carry signals, and we utilize this property in fiber optic networks. Light particles, waves and beams can interact, align, and even collide. These interactions could form ordered arrangements of patterns. 

Imagine, for instance, a realm filled with a form of light particles, which, because there was no time, transmitted instantly. Innumerable random arrangements could arise "in no time" at all, "until" an arrangement of the highest order emerged - a multidimensional, self-conscious, self-organizing Being who aligned and organized the entire realm of light, instantly becoming a vast, immense, multidimensional being. Thought signals could be carried by the quantum states of the light particles. For companionship, this great Mind could generate, radiate, or "begat" co-equal but subordinate minds (the Spirit and the Son); and one of them (the Son) might be given the task of creating entire multidimensional  "programs" (to use a very crude analogy) of universes with complete physical laws and time that run simultaneously.

The last paragraph is of course, only the pure conjecture of my woefully finite mind, intended only to illustrate conceivable possibilities. It is OK to wonder about such things, but please, please do not take or teach speculations like this as fact. Out of fear that someone might do just that, I was hesitant to include the above paragraph. As my wife put it, "God is like a beautiful flower. Why not just enjoy the flower as it is? Why try to mentally dissect it? If it weren't for men who challenge the existence of God, you would not have to think about things like that." Perhaps she is right, and the last paragraph goes too far. Let us not at all be surprised if the reality, which God has not yet revealed to us, is much more profound.

De 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

How does the Bible further describe this God that Dawkins has pitted himself against? Let’s read some more of the things that the Bible has to say about Him:

He was not created, for there was no God who existed before Him:

Isa 43:10  Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.  

The name He has chosen for himself, "I AM" (YHWH) seems designed to teach us about his uncreated, self-existent nature:

Exodus 3:14 And God saith unto Moses, ‘I AM THAT WHICH I AM;’ He saith also, ‘Thus dost thou say to the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’

He created all things:

Re 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

He is greater than all of His creation:

2Ch 6:18  But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! 

Ps 68:33  To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.

In fact, all of creation is contained and held together within Him!

Colossians 1:16  for it was through Him [the Son] that everything was created in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.17  So He existed before all things, and through Him all things are held together.

Acts 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Suppose that one day, man will be able to create simulated human beings who live in a software universe with virtual physical laws like our own.  Imagine that a "programmerist" - a virtual man who believes in a programmer, and an "aprogrammerist" are concluding a conversation. The aprogrammerist says,

“How can you believe that there is a programmer who has spoken to men? If there were such a being, he would be much more complex that you or I, and therefore highly improbable. I think that you, my friend, are deluded, for he almost certainly does not exist.”

All the while, the aprogrammerist is unaware of any reality outside of his own, incognizant of why or how the physical laws in his software universe exist, and of course, living life as though he is not being watched and listened to by his programmer at all.

In summary, in the eternal realm where God dwells, complex order may be probable, since this realm is not subject to time or the time-based second law of thermodynamics. In that realm, innumerable chance arrangements, including One of the highest order and complexity, could occur in "no time" at all.

The Bible reveals that the nature of God and the eternal realm in which He dwells is not the same as the nature of this universe or the human intelligences within it. In light of these scriptural revelations, Dawkins argument that the God of the Bible is improbable fails miserably. If Dawkins wants to have even a hypothetical hope of successfully challenging the existence of the God of the Bible, he must take into consideration more of what the Bible teaches regarding His nature.

~

Rusty Entrekin is a theology graduate of LA College. He and his wife Julie have seven children, with 6 still at home, and one grandchild. Currently, he resides in Kennesaw, GA, and teaches in a house church that practices participatory meetings.

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