Irreducible Complexity and Faith

By: Larry Young
I had no interest in God or religious stuff as a young man. However, all that changed after returning from the Navy, with my college studies focused on cardiology, human biological systems, and physics. My professors taught all these complex subjects as natural steps in the process of evolution. However, as I studied the Kreb cycle of food-to-energy conversion, evolution simply didn’t add up. Converting food into energy requires numerous steps, with each step dependent upon pre-existing complex chemical compounds. This raised a red flag and a big question: Where did all those chemical compounds come from, if each one already had to exist for life to happen? The obvious answer was that an incredibly SMART person had to create it!! And that person had to be GOD!

This was not a religious experience for me, but it did put GOD front and center. Then I knew for sure that GOD had to exist and that He’s thousands of times smarter than all of us put together. It wasn’t until years later that I was brought to my knees to pray to GOD for help and understanding. Now I know that was just the “tip of the iceberg”… and that God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit operate as ONE.

More recently I became acquainted with a consortium of scientific endeavor titled “Intelligent Design”, which only loosely identifies with Christianity, but is a blockbuster supporting God’s work as creator. One of the cornerstones of Intelligent Design is the term “irreducible complexity”, which points directly to chemical and mechanical structures and machines that cannot be broken down or disassembled further without losing functionality.

The Kreb cycle is one such chemical process that points to God’s involvement, but an even better example is the flagellar motor. We have billions of bacteria in our intestines that propel themselves around with these motors. Each motor consists of over 40 separate parts, including a rotor, stator, O-rings, water-cooled torque generator, and a hook and tail assembly. If just one part is missing or is not properly assembled, the flagellar motor won’t run: That makes it irreducibly complex. This again points to our creator God. David wasn’t under-stating it when he said in Psalm 139: 14 that “you are wonderfully and fearfully made”.

The critical step in our salvation is NOT that we agree with David nor our own scientific discoveries that God is indeed the ultra-smart creator. Satan and his demons believe all that too; yet they will be eternally lost because they have rejected their creator as Lord, and all of His gifts, including the measure of faith that has been given to each of us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12: 30-31)

Related Information

Blog