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The question of a creator of the universe because the parameters of the universe is fine-tuned for life, is a topic of debate among theists and atheists. The concept of fine-tuning refers to the idea that the fundamental physical constants and laws of nature are set in such a way that if they were even slightly different, life as we know it would not be possible.
Fine-tuning of the universe is used by proponents of theists who say the universe was intentionally designed. Atheists best argument and perhaps the only one is the multiverse theory where there exist multiple universes all with different sets of parameters, and we just happen to exist in the one (perhaps the only one) that allows life. The argument goes that if there were enough random universes, then eventually a universe like ours might arise.
However, it can logically be argued that the multiverse would also require a creator, because a system that produced universes to allow one to host life, would need to be designed for the exact same reasons that a single universe that hosts life does.
The Miracle of the Migration of the Pacific Golden Plover
“Ask the birds of the air, they will teach you. (…) Who does not recognize in them the proof that the hand of the Lord has made all things?
(Job 12:7,9)PLEASE take a short break here to look at a world map to appreciate the distance between Alaska and Hawaii. Also note that Hawaii, an isolated archipelago in the middle of nowhere, would be quite difficult to locate in the heart of the Pacific Ocean for anyone who does not know precisely the route that leads there.
Now imagine a baby bird which, a few days after its birth, would see its parents leave for other precious ones, abandoning it to its fate. Contemplate the magnitude of the task he would have to face alone, he who would have to manage for a few weeks in order to feed himself and gain weight, then fly to Hawaii, an unknown destination which would require him to fly without 80-hour stopover without a guide, where the slightest error would not be forgiven.
Distance between Alaska and Hawaii
Well, believe it or not, there are birds that accomplish this incredible feat: Pacific golden plovers (Pluvialis fulva), known as “Kolea” to Hawaiians. These little birds only weigh about 225 grams (8 ounces). Every year, they migrate between Alaska and Hawaii, or similar routes, making a journey of nearly 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) without being able to stop or rest because they cannot swim. They fly day and night for around 80 hours, there and back.
Once in Hawaii, golden plovers often return to the same patch of grass year after year, throughout their lifespan of 20 years or a little more. Some return to the same backyard, being greeted by residents who bestow upon them the point of their naming! They particularly like lawns, parks and ball fields. For Hawaiians, the occasional comings and goings of these birds mark the changing of the seasons.
Mom and Dad plovers live in Alaska from May to August, foraging, mating, nesting, and waiting for their chicks to hatch. In August, when their offspring are only a few days old, the parents leave Alaska and fly to Hawaii, abandoning the young. They must then obtain the food and water they will need in order to grow, accumulating in the process a reserve of around 70 grams of fat. In October, they will leave for Hawaii, and during this trip, they will spend half their body weight on energy. At the end of April or beginning of May, all the plovers will leave Hawaii to travel the 3,200 kilometers back to Alaska.
Using geolocators, scientists can track plovers as they migrate south in the fall (purple lines in the illustration below) from Alaska to Hawaii, and back again in the spring (yellow lines).
Round-trip migration of plovers, between Alaska and Hawaii
All this having now been established, serious questions emerge from this unprecedented behavior, inviting us to deep reflection:
How does the baby bird know that it must eat too much and store a certain amount of fat before leaving?How does he know the amount of fat required for the trip? Too much weight would lead to early fatigue, while too little fat would not provide all the fuel needed for that long flight.
How does the little plover know what the optimal cruising speed should be? Moving too slowly or too quickly would cause accelerated fuel depletion before reaching Hawaii, which would be fatal.
How does this little bird know the flight path to take? Flying in the wrong direction, even for a short time, would mean certain death for him.
How can he stay on course day and night? If a storm were to knock it off course, how would it make the necessary correction to restore its direction of flight?
Surprisingly, adult plovers leave Alaska long before the chicks. However, these little ones manage to join their exiled parents far away, even if they have never visited this place before! Programmed in the complex brain of the Pacific golden plover, all these behavioral instincts could not have developed gradually over several generations, as the theory of evolution requires, because any incompletely equipped bird would have perished in the vast ocean, never leaving no descendants in order to continue the evolution of the species.
Simply put, the theory of evolution is based on a process described as slow, gradual changes over long periods of time. However, there is no possibility of increasingly long journeys between Alaska and Hawai
for a baby who doesn’t know how to swim. The plover must have eaten enough for this migration, and on the very first attempt, it must fly precisely to a tiny target in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, or it will die. And of course, if it dies along the way, there will be no reproduction, and therefore no evolution.
Lesser Pacific Golden Plovers
The theory of evolution is fundamentally an attempt to explain the origin of living things through natural processes, without the intervention of God. But no natural process, left to its own devices, has succeeded in producing a state of complex organization as can be observed in the brain of the Pacific golden plover. The truth is that when energy interacts with matter, any organization that could be present in this matter is always diminished, if not annihilated.
Imagine a bicycle abandoned outside, exposed to the sun and bad weather: it will always be damaged. It will never turn into a motorcycle, or even a better bicycle, because natural processes, over time, cause organization to diminish. Conversely, however, living systems, including the brain of the Pacific golden plover, are highly organized. They must be, in order to be able to accomplish such incredible feats. So, if natural processes are not enough to explain the origin of living beings and their characteristics, supernatural processes must be considered.
Let’s face it, it would take a very, very smart inventor to build a machine capable of flying from Alaska to Hawaii non-stop on the very first attempt. To believe that the Pacific golden plover is the result of serendipity is simply absurd. There must be a Creator God.
Why should we study the wonders of God’s creation? Quite simply because this investigation will help us find answers to our fundamental questions about life, the world here below, its origins, its reason for being, and ultimately what God expects of each of us.
“Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven, and earth, and sea, and springs of waters.” (Revelation 14:6,7)
God bless
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