The Genius of Nature
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:20 NIV
When Paul wrote that, not many would have disagreed. Living things were made from mysterious parts that miraculously worked together. Even when it wasn’t apparent what all the parts did, they all were there for a purpose.
For most of history, common sense and intuition convinced people that living things were “fearfully and wonderfully made”, the product of wisdom and foresight, not chance.
But today, that idea needs defenders. Evolution has been chipping away at our confidence in a Creator at least since the 18th century. Science only began to uncover the facts that contradict evolution about 60 years ago, and textbooks and popular culture haven’t caught up. Today, technology has given us undreamed-of abilities to study living cells and what animates them. And that turns out to be tiny molecular machines.
Philosopher Michael Polanyi once pondered this question: “If mankind disappeared from the earth, what would change?” He decided the biggest change would be that the production of machines would immediately end. No new machines would be made until intelligent beings returned. Machines are always the products of human activity. Nature can’t do it. But if machines are always products of intelligent activity, then who made the molecular machines we find in cells?