The Design Argument

One of the arguments for God is the argument from design.  Technically known as the Teleological Argument coming from the Greek telos which means design.  An argument is stated premises that lead to a conclusion.  If the premises are true then the conclusion follows.  Many scientists believe the precision of the universe is persuasive evidence for a designer.  The argument takes the following form:

1. Every design had a designer
2. The universe has highly complex design
3. Therefore, the universe had a designer

Is the first premise true?  I know of nothing that is designed that didnt' have a designer.  If you were walking in the woods and came across a soda can laying on the ground would you think that the soda can was made by someone with a mind or think that natural causes created it?  Appealing to the universe (nature) as not being designed is not valid at this point since that is the very subject of the argument.  The real question is premise 2, is the universe actually designed?

How do we determine if universe is actually designed and doesn't just look designed?  First we look at things that are non-natural that appear to be designed and determine if they did or didn't have a designer.  Watches, cars. art, music, electronics, buildings, and anything else you can name that are non-natural all have designers.  When we see these things we know intuitively that there was intelligence involved in their design and we know that they are indeed designed.  In fact there is nothing in the non-natural realm that looks designed that didn't have a designer behind it.  So given that all things that are non-natural that have the appearance of design have a designer it's reasonable to say that if the universe is designed it had a designer.

So how do we know the universe is designed?  The fine-tuning of the universe for life is an extremely powerful piece of scientific evidence for the universe being designed.  I've already posted on some of the science behind this premise in a post titled Our Awesome Universe so I won't post it again.  Considering the fine-tuning in the previous post is it reasonable to say the universe is designed?  The universe is highly complex and exhibits the characteristics of design therefore it's reasonable to say the universe is designed.  I would even say that given the scientific evidence saying the universe is designed is more reasonable than saying the universe is not designed.

For further study
Video: Largest star ever discovered.  Shows just how vast our universe is.


Books


Web
The Measurability of the Universe––a Record of the Creator’s Design Reasons To Believe: The Measurability of the Universe––a Record of the Creator’s Design
The Discovery Institute