{"id":4484,"date":"2026-04-15T18:52:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/?p=4484"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:21:00","slug":"i-dare-you-part-i-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/?p=4484","title":{"rendered":"I Dare You &#8211;  Part I |  Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4479\" src=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/i_dare_you-300x202.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/i_dare_you-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/i_dare_you-768x516.jpg 768w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/i_dare_you-705x474.jpg 705w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/i_dare_you.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>I) Intro<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a Youth Pastor, I was always challenging my students to be able to articulate what they believe and why. It\u2019s important to be able to clearly state what it is that shapes your perspective and determines your values, especially for a Christian. Otherwise, much of what a relationship with Christ brings to the table is never accessed due to an overly casual approach characterized by Biblical illiteracy and a secular mindset.<\/p>\n<p>For me, I\u2019ve got a collection of facts and truths that, taken together, form the basis of what compels me to embrace the cross and the efficacy of Scripture. And the more I study and the more I learn, the more compelling the substance of those Truths become.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, it\u2019s gotten to the point where some things that I\u2019ve learned about creation inspired me to put some additional thoughts down on paper. The result was a \u201cdare,\u201d more or less, extended to those who either discount Christianity as an ornamental inconvenience or a system of myths that have somehow endured over the last 2,000 years.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s broken down into three sections:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Part One: Creation<\/li>\n<li>Part Two: The Resurrection<\/li>\n<li>Part Three: Ambition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each segment brings to the surface a body of empirical evidence that makes it very hard to maintain the posture of a cynic.<\/p>\n<p>In short, I dare you to not believe&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>II) Creation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4485\" src=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/caseforcreator1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/caseforcreator1.jpg 205w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/caseforcreator1-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/caseforcreator1-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/caseforcreator1-180x180.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px\" \/>Romans 1:20 says,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>For since the creation of the world God\u2019s invisible qualities\u2014his eternal power and divine nature\u2014have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Rom 1:20)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While some want to view creation as a cosmic accident that just happened to land in a good place, science and mathematics testify to something very intentional.<\/p>\n<p>In his book, \u201cThe Case For Creation,\u201d Lee Strobel interviews Dr. Robin Collins, who has degrees in both mathematics and physics from Washington State University as well as a doctorate in physics from the University of Texas in Austin. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, he has spent the last decade doing research, writing, and teaching at Messiah College where he is currently serving as an associate professor of philosophy. At one point in the interview, he says:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Over the past thirty years or so, scientists have discovered that just about everything about the basic structure of the universe is balanced on a razor\u2019s edge for life to exist. The coincidences are far too fantastic to attribute this to mere chance or to claim that it needs no explanation. The dials are set too precisely to have been a random accident. Somebody, as Fred Hoyle quipped, has\u00a0been monkeying with the physics.<\/em><sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>An aggressive invitation to consider the practical Truth of Scripture The bottom line is that while some will theorize how life was initiated apart from an Intelligent Designer, they do so in a way that requires a certain precision to be in place that cannot be explained. While there are several examples of the \u201cprecision\u201d that needs to be in place in order for life to exist, the cosmological constant is especially compelling. <strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-weight: bold; margin-left: 25px; display: inline-block;\">A) Cosmological Constant<\/div>\n<p>The cosmological constant is a mathematical value assigned to what astronomers call \u201cdark energy.\u201d When you look at the universe, you see things moving in a way that doesn\u2019t make sense in that they\u2019re things are being pushed and pulled around despite the fact that there is nothing around them. In other words, when you see a moon orbiting a planet, that makes sense because the planet has a gravitational pull that maintains that moon\u2019s trajectory. But there are objects in space that are moving as though they\u2019re being influenced by a gravitational force, yet there\u2019s nothing visible to provide that force. Hence the term \u201cdark energy\u201d was coined to describe the obvious force being exerted upon these objects by seemingly invisible entities.<\/p>\n<p>Fact is, this dark energy accounts for over 70% of our universe. And what makes that significant is that if this dark energy was characterized by a gravitational dynamic that was pulling everything in, then the universe would ultimately collapse on itself and life in general would cease to exist. If, on the other hand, this dark energy wielded a gravitational force that was too weak to temper the way in which our universe is expanding, then our solar system would unravel as would the entire cosmos.<\/p>\n<p>This, then, is the cosmological constant: The value assigned to this force that continues to allow the universe to expand and therefore not collapse on itself, yet not spin out of control.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, astronomers believed that the cosmological constant was very large. After all, you\u2019re going to need a big broom to move planets around. But that is not the case. The cosmological constant is actually very small.<\/p>\n<p>How small?<\/p>\n<p>One part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion. That\u2019s a ten followed by fifty three zeroes. Contemplate the precision of that number. And if you move the dial or change the settings in even the most incremental way, the end result is something that no longer sustains life because of the way the universe would either collapse or unravel. <strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-weight: bold; margin-left: 25px; display: inline-block;\">B) These Are Not Random Processes<\/div>\n<p>I\u2019ve read several arguments proposed by people who want to eliminate the need for a Designer. They\u2019ll argue that there are natural processes in place that allow for evolution.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with their argument is that they don\u2019t attempt to explain the origin of those processes. They simply point to the way in which things could conceivably flow, without explaining how that flow was initiated.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adelaide.edu.au\/directory\/ian.musgrave\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Ian Musgrave <\/a>is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide in Australia. He has a website called talkorigins.org and his arguments are obviously very well thought out and substantially reinforced with his academic credentials. In his article \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.talkorigins.org\/faqs\/abioprob\/abioprob.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics and Probability of Abiogenesis Calculations<\/a>\u201d he offers a very credible sounding rebuttal to the often quoted impossibility of an enzyme forming by chance.<\/p>\n<p>He proposes that the theory of life being able to start by itself should not be based on the formation of enzymes; rather it should be analyzed according to the construction of much simpler life forms. He suggests that the attention should be focused on the manufacturing of monomers or polymers &#8211; something that can be arrived at in a way that doesn\u2019t involve the sort of mind numbing probability values associated with the fortuitous appearance of an enzyme.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of his argument, he says \u201cFirstly, the formation of biological polymers from monomers is a function of the laws of chemistry and biochemistry, and these are decidedly not random.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I would agree.<\/p>\n<p>These are not random processes.<\/p>\n<p>But the fact that it\u2019s not random necessitates structure and order \u2013 dynamics that do not and cannot appear apart from being intentionally established by a Designer.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s almost comical that he\u2019s so dogmatic about how a simple life form can develop as a result of the chemical and biochemical laws that naturally exist, yet he doesn\u2019t attempt to account for how those laws came about to begin with.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Hawking is a very well known physicist and mathematician who retired in 2009 from his position as the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge University after 30 years. The position was once held by Sir Isaac Newton. In his most recent book, \u201cThe Grand Design\u201d he challenges Newton\u2019s belief that creation necessitates the work of God by saying,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to &#8230; set the Universe going.<sup>2<\/sup> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>While you can\u2019t help but be impressed with Hawking\u2019s credentials and accomplishment, his theory seems fundamentally flawed right from the beginning in that he\u2019s presuming the existence of gravity and from there builds his platform.<\/p>\n<p>But if there is no gravity, than he has no platform.<\/p>\n<p>It seems to me that there are a great number of lettered individuals on both sides of the spectrum when it comes to explaining the origin of life. But the thing that tips the scales in favor of those who champion the idea of a Creator is that the individuals who passionately search for a plausible sounding explanation apart from God inevitably base their assumptions on complex processes that need to be present in order for their theories to work.<\/p>\n<p>It would be like me standing in front of an ATM with a random debit card attempting to determine the correct PIN in order to access the accounts associated with that card. You could only speculate how long it would take me to figure out the correct sequence of digits, but let\u2019s suppose I did. Could I walk away with whatever cash I was able to withdrawal and say that all that was required were the four numbers I happened upon?<\/p>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<p>The numbers are secondary to the technology necessary to process those numbers. Yet, in many instances, this is what some of these brilliant individuals will do when it comes to postulating their theories pertaining to the origin of life. They\u2019ll focus on the PIN and ignore the ATM. In other words, they\u2019ll speculate as to how certain elements came into being, but will base their models on things that, while they are foundational to their theories, are either assumed without explanation or accounted for using a level of speculation that borders on something ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>My point is that if you start with nothing, you have no gravity, you have no chemical laws, you have no physical properties. Your starting point consists of absolutely nothing. Scientists who assert the possibility of any kind of life form appearing as a result of random processes require the presence of these processes which, according to Dr. Musgrave, are not random in and of themselves. Hence the need for an ordered structure even in the context of the mechanisms that produce theses lucky accidents of creation. <strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-weight: bold; margin-left: 25px; display: inline-block;\">C) Another Set of Rules<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4486\" src=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/81884-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/81884-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/81884.jpg 287w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/>Another example of this would be Dr. Martin Rees who is an amazingly accredited astronomer that became professor of astronomy at Cambridge when he was in his thirties and has since accumulated several prestigious honors in the fields of Cosmology, Astronomy and Astrophysics. He wrote a book entitled \u201cJust Six Numbers\u201d that identify six mathematical values that underlie the fundamental physical properties of the universe.<\/p>\n<p>He describes these numbers as being intricately choreographed, to the point where if they were altered \u201ceven to the tiniest degree,\u201d he said, \u201cthere would be no stars, no complex elements, no life.\u201d<sup>3<\/sup> One writer summarized what Rees was saying by explaining it this way:<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>For the universe to exist as it does requires that hydrogen be converted to helium in a precise by comparatively stately manner \u2013 specifically, in a way that converts seven one thousandths of its mass to energy. Lower that value very slightly \u2013 from 0.007 percent to 0.006 percent, say \u2013 and not transformation could take place: the universe would consist of hydrogen and nothing else. Raise the value very slightly \u2013 to 0.008 percent \u2013 and bonding would be so wildly prolific that the hydrogen would long since have been exhausted. In either case, with the slightest tweaking of the numbers the universe as we know and need it would not be here.<\/em><sup>4<\/sup><\/div>\n<p>Dr. Rees is a spiritual skeptic, so rather than allow the facts to point to the most obvious conclusion as far as they\u2019re having been put in place by a Designer, instead he asserts that our universe is but one of many universes that have been generated through the ages, ours just happens to be the one where the settings are calibrated correctly.<\/p>\n<p>But even if what Dr. Rees is suggesting is true, you still have to have a process that\u2019s producing these universes. You cannot effectively refute the need for an Intelligent Designer to explain any aspect of creation by proposing theories that necessitate an impetus that is ordered in any way, shape or form.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Robin Collins elaborated on that kind of practice in Strobel\u2019s book when he said, \u201c&#8230;the skeptic needs to invent a whole new set of physical laws and a whole new set of mechanisms that are not a natural extrapolation from anything we know or have experienced.\u201d<sup>5<\/sup> <strong>\u00a0 \u00a0&#8216;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-weight: bold; margin-left: 25px; display: inline-block;\">D) Mathematical Elegance<\/div>\n<p>At the end of the day, when you make these kind of assertions that are inevitably contrary to everything we can observe in the physical universe, you no longer have science as much as you have metaphysics posing as a very weak brand of science. Yet it is not uncommon among those who would diminish those physical realities that showcase God\u2019s handiwork. Consider the words of George Sim Johnson:<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Human DNA contains more organized information than the Encyclopedia Britannica. If the full text of the encyclopedia were to arrive in computer code from outer space, most people would regard this as proof of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. But when seen in nature, it is explained as the workings of random science.<\/em><sup>6<\/sup><\/div>\n<p>The bottom line is that the universe is exquisitely and intricately engineered to the point where the mere notion of it all coming together by chance is utterly ridiculous. The beauty and mathematical elegance of creation is so compelling in terms of the way it points to God, that to dismiss Him with theories that require massive probability values in order for them to be plausible is simply not reasonable.<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 4px solid #ccc; border-radius: 10pt; width: 45%; margin: auto; height: 35px; padding-top: 3px; font-size: 10pt; box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px #6a6a6a inset; text-align: center; background: linear-gradient(#ffffff, #afadad); font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 25px;\"><a style=\"color: #000; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/?p=4484\">Part I<\/a> | <a style=\"color: #000; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/?p=4476\">Part II<\/a> | <a style=\"color: #000; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/?p=4488\">Part III<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I) Intro As a Youth Pastor, I was always challenging my students to be able to articulate what they believe and why. It\u2019s important to be able to clearly state what it is that shapes your perspective and determines your values, especially for a Christian. Otherwise, much of what a relationship with Christ brings to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,22,27],"tags":[36,332,62],"class_list":["post-4484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","category-discipleship","category-muscular-christianity","tag-apologetics","tag-evidence-that-demands-a-verdict","tag-lee-strobel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4495,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484\/revisions\/4495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muscularchristianityonline.com\/platform\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}