Probabilities and Reasonableness

As a “proof,” the Fine-Tuning Argument is nonetheless rationally avoidable. However, as a clue, Fine-Tuning has force, it is reasonable. The odds against life in the universe are simply astonishing and thus serves as a clue to there being a creator.  It is an explanation that makes sense of our existence.  It makes at least as much sense as “it just happened” when science concludes that the probabilities of that "happening" are far less than zero.

To bring this point home, consider two analogies.

Picture going into the Tamarack casino and stopping by the poker table. While hanging out there, you witness a man deal twenty straight hands of poker and then go on to win each hand, each time with four aces. It is technically possible that the man just happened to deal himself twenty straight hands of four aces.  Though you could not prove he had cheated, it would be unreasonable to conclude that he hadn’t.

Now imagine a man sentenced to be executed by a firing squad of fifty expert marksmen.  They all fire from six feet away. Yet not one bullet hits him.  Since it is possible that even an expert could miss from close range it is technically possible that all fifty just happened to miss at the same moment. Though you could not prove they had conspired to miss, it would be unreasonable to draw the conclusion that they hadn’t.

With the odds against the universe just “happening” and the odds against an earth bringing forth beings like us, it is similarly unreasonable to conclude that all of this is mere happenstance.

Next time: Clues to a Creator.  In Christ…