Wiker and Witt share the following with regards to the periodic table of the elements: “Second, the periodic table itself is a masterpiece of order, precision and intellectual beauty, an order that appears designed for both life and discovery.”1
I am often amazed that whenever I watch a nature show on television my awe of the beauty and design of nature bespeaks of a great Creator in the background, while the commentator of the show inevitably speaks of the wonder of evolution. From the stately majesty of a giant Redwood Tree to the genius of the flight design of a bee, nature and design almost can be considered two sides of the same coin. A scientist has always been somewhat of a detective in that he tries to put together pieces of a puzzle in an attempt to discover why and how things work. With the advent of the field of archaeology, especially in the nineteenth century, many, sad to say, in this field felt that their discoveries would finally show the Bible to be a historically inaccurate book. And if they could prove this then it would only add credence that the apparent design in nature was just a byproduct of evolution and not that of an Intelligent Designer.
But not so fast! Just as scientists have discovered many of our natural laws that govern our universe by exploring our natural world, the archeologist has discovered the historical accuracy of the Bible through their scientific detective efforts in the Middle East. Not only that, I contend that if it were not for the Bible, the archeologist would often not have any clues of what to look for.
For example, consider the ancient city of Nineveh. Up until about 1850 scoffers of the Bible used to say that the Bible was not historically accurate because it spoke about the ancient Assyrian Capital of Nineveh as if it were a real city. Since up until 1850 there was no outside source from the Bible that could document its existence people said that this was just another example of a place that only existed in the imaginations of the biblical writers. However, in 1847 Henry Layard, the famed archeologist, discovered 25,000 clay tablets that finally brought to light the existence of the great city of Nineveh. But the most amazing thing about the discovery of the city of Nineveh was that the Bible played an instrumental part in its discovery. For if it were not for the Bible and its mentioning the city of Nineveh, we probably would never have sought to find her, because we would have no idea that such a city existed! This and many other archeological excavations have proven the Bible to be historically accurate. In addition, this one amazing book has itself been the guiding light illuminating the pathway for discovery after discovery into the fabulous mysteries of our ancient history.
Fast forward now to the world of nature. If it were not for the amazing orderliness of nature we would often be clueless on where to start in our quest to find how our universe works. When it comes to the periodic table of the elements scientists, I believe, got more and more excited as they learned of the order of the elements – and knowing this order only gave them more clues on what to look for to complete this amazing table!
In addition, Wiker and Witt make the following very interesting statement: “Our repeated encounter with such good fortune more and more strongly suggests another pattern, one poorly explained on the grounds of materialism – namely, that nature is arranged for human explorers and that it is not so easily arranged that we would judge the prize of discovery of little worth, but is challenging enough that, having concentrated humanity’s best efforts, we are able to move further up and further in.”2 God in his infinite wisdom knows how the human mind works and that it is a very curious thing. If things are too easy to discover we often grow bored. And if things are way too difficult to discover we often get frustrated and give up. But is seems that nature is just right for discovery, not too easy and not too difficult. This is the perfect combination to lead to the joy of discovery. Knowledge gained is always something that is satisfying to the soul as well as useful to humanity. And this dual combination of satisfaction gives the human explorer the perfect impetus to search for meaning and answers. Since when does blind chance and natural selection serve as the driving vehicle for such a wonderful quest for knowledge – it just doesn’t!
1 Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt, A Meaningful World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2006), p. 27.
2 Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt, A Meaningful World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2006), pp. 170-171.
THIS is very interesting!