Angel

photo by joeball

Theistic philosophers offer up the so-called “Fine-Tuning Design Argument” as evidence in favor of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent Creator.  The basic idea is that the Universe is just too perfectly “fine-tuned” for the emergence of life to have happened without a Cosmic Designer. 

If, for example, the force of gravity had been even slightly less, then stars would never have formed, there wouldn’t be any planets, and no living things would ever have come into existence.  The odds are simply too long to have been beaten by chance; a Divine Hand had to have stacked the deck so that living things—and above all, human beings—could win the ontological sweepstakes.

The most important response to this is the “Objection from the Anthropic Principle.”  The thought here is that there’s nothing surprising about the fact that we observe a Universe that is fine-tuned for life as we know it, because, after all, if it weren’t, then we wouldn’t be here to observe it.

Same thing with Point83: as remarkable as it is to happen upon several score cyclists gyrating around a two-wheeler with a rack-mounted discotheque affixed to it, the undeniable fact that there you are, observing it and gyrating along yourself means you should hardly be amazed that it’s happening—amazing as it is.

Lazer Heather opined that it’s not a party if it happens every night, but what if it happens every Thursday night?

A different gambit assayed by theists is what’s called “The Argument from Miracles.”  Miraculous events happen; the best explanation for them is divine intervention; therefore, God exists.

K-Sep was there to bear witness: unbeknownst to me, my wallet apparently bounced from my bag coming down the steps into the Gasworks shelter. 

Suddenly, Hobo Angel Jacob was there at my side, handing it over, all the money and credit cards still inside.

Then, he sat me down and smoked me out!

God may not exist, but the evening sure was divine.