Intelligent Design

The intelligent design movement isn’t new. For thousands of years man has looked at the world around him and wondered whether somehow, somewhere there might not have been an intelligent designer behind it all. Not only is the question obvious, but its ramifications are profound in the extreme.

Considering the importance of the answer, one would think the world of science would encourage this direction of inquiry. But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. The search for evidence for an intelligent designer, they say, isn’t science. It doesn’t belong in the research labs, let alone the classrooms. Anyone who engages in such a search is viewed with derision and suspicion—or even worse.

It’s tempting for intelligent design advocates to vilify the scientific establishment for this type of narrow-mindedness, but scientists have had very good reason to be suspicious. More than a century ago, Christian creationists began to engage in a pitched battle against the theory of evolution. The majority of these Christians, however, weren’t trained as research scientists. No matter how earnest and well-meaning their intentions may have been, many of their techniques and assertions were seriously flawed. Because they were already convinced of the rightness of their conclusions, they tended to cherry-pick the data, including only the snippets that seemed to support their view and rejecting as propaganda everything that argued against it. It’s little wonder that in most scientists’ minds both creationism and intelligent design have come to be almost synonymous with bad science.

So how can we help to bring resolution to this situation? In my mind both sides of the debate would do well to consider the oldest book in the Bible. In the book of Job God sets forth the tone for our investigations. When He asks Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” He wasn’t looking for a pat, scientific-sounding answer backed with persuasive rhetoric. As He continued to ask Job question after question about the expanse of heaven and death and Leviathan, it wasn’t because He expected Job to have all the answers. Just the opposite; God wanted to show Job that he didn’t have all the answers. The study of science shouldn’t make us more arrogant; it should make us more humble. When it comes to the details of creation, we could all take a lesson from Job. Sometimes the best, most profound answer is to say we don’t know and put our hands over our mouths. Some things really are too wonderful for us to understand.

Fossil Hunter is part of the Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed campaign. For more information on the feature-length documentary hosted by Ben Stein and produced by Premise Media, please visit: www.expelledthemovie.com.