The Gorilla in the Room

One of the biggest issues the newcomer struggles with is the concept of God.  The first three steps require us to develop a relationship with "a god of our own understanding" and demands we foster said relationship in order to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives.  This topic cultivates insurmountable roadblocks for some people, especially those who enter with a load of "religious baggage" slung over their shoulder.   So let's address the 700 lb. gorilla in the room and see if we can't make some sense of it...

Scientists constantly seek ways to discredit the theory of Intelligent Design, that is, the idea that the Universe had a Creator. An article in Natural History Magazine (5/09, Vol. 118, #4) set out to discover why we, as humans, are more inclined to believe in Creationism over Darwinism (Intelligent Design vs. Random Chance). The article sought to apply the scientific reasoning behind society’s irrational belief system.

The scientists ran a couple of experiments on children to determine if this was an inherent belief system. In the first, they set up two piles of wood blocks. One was a neatly stacked structure, the second was a malformed pile. All of the participants (who were three years old), were given two choices as to who caused each of the piles; either a sibling or the wind.  Every one said both their sibling and the wind could have caused the malformed pile, but only the sibling could have caused the one that was neatly stacked. At that young age, the children recognized the natural order of intelligent design.

In the second experiment, “even one-year-old babies look longer, indicating surprise, when a computer animation shows a neat pile to be caused by a rolling ball.” Small infants recognize the natural order of things.  Chaos cannot be randomly executed into order.

There was an attempt to explain this away under the auspice that these children were raised by church going parents, but the results were consistent across the board.  Even children of Darwinists, when asked where animals came from, answered “God.”  Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins complained that it seems, “as if the human brain were specifically designed to misunderstand Darwinism.” Though this study was meant to understand why human beings are so “ignorant,” it drove home the reality that we are designed with an understanding of design.  

To be clear, the aforementioned study proves nothing with regard to a specific God (e.g. the God of the Bible) and only points to the possibility of an intelligent designer (or Higher Power, if you will).  

The important take away from all this is to recognize the possibility that something greater than ourselves may exist. It's okay to love science and God at the same time. The two need not be mutually exclusive. In fact, many theologians grant credence to the Theory of Evolution as a tool of God's grand design, but that's a discussion for another day.  

The first three steps simply require us to acknowledge we are not the end-all in universal intelligence, there's something bigger than us out there. The rest will come in time.

God put eternity in the hearts of men. God gave us the desire to seek Him. Open your heart to the possibility of a relationship with your Higher Power and you may see miracles happen.