At the core, existence is mystery. Why is there anything rather than nothing? If an intelligent creator explains the universe, what explains the intelligent creator? If the universe cannot “just happen” how can a God capable of creating the universe “just happen”? Can you see that the explanation explains nothing?

Science is the key to understanding the universe – no question, but there is no scientific answer, for example, to the question of how matter itself came into being. This is the “original cause” theory (put forth by Rene Descarte) that there is very likely a scientific explanation for how everything in the universe works, but none for how the universe itself came to be.

I make the argument this way. Every “system” on this earth created by man breaks down, falls apart, stops, becomes degraded over time unless it is maintained by man. But the universe itself, from the rotation of planets and solar systems, to local ecosystems and food chains in our lakes and ponds, all work in perfect balance _by themselves_ without maintainance. They self-correct. They perpetuate.

I find it hard to believe that systems so perfectly designed could possibly be the result of chance or luck. More likely, the result of a creator of intelligence so vastly superior to our own that we can scarcely conceive of it.