The Ghost of Paley
Posts: 1703 Joined: Oct. 2005
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Heh.
Quote | A simple proof of the existence of God
Here is a simple, easily understood proof that there is a higher intelligence organizing and guiding the universe. At the beginning of the universe, all that existed was hydrogen atoms, consisting of a nucleus containing one proton plus a single electron rotating around the nucleus. At this early stage of the universe, the heavier elements, heavier because they have more protons and electrons, and the various compounds such as water, in which atoms of different elements join together, did not yet exist. But the laws of physics and chemisty governing the formation and characteristics of the heavier elements and the compounds did exist, as shown by the fact that those elements and compounds came into existence. Those laws have to do with the maximum number of electrons that can be contained in each of the concentrically arranged electron “clouds” that surround the nucleus, and with the optimum state of stability toward which all atoms gravitate, and that stable state is also a function of the maximum number of electrons that can be contained in each electron cloud. These highly specific and particular laws were not manifested in—and therefore could not have been discovered from observing—the simple hydrogen atom, with its one electron cloud containing one electron. The laws governing the formation of the heavier elements were not “in play” in the case of hydrogen, they only came into play with the heavier elements.
What this shows is that the physical universe is governed by laws that are transcendent to the universe itself.
I will make all this clearer in a future entry, where I will discuss in more detail the basic laws of atomic chemisty.
- end of initial entry - People who agree with the above argument may reply by saying that any physical law, for example the law of gravity, demonstrates the existence of higher intelligence transcending matter. But that argument would miss the particular force of the present argument. According to the law of gravity the attraction between two objects varies as the inverse square of the distance between them, meaning that if the distance between two objects is doubled the gravitational force between them is reduced to one quarter. But the law of gravity could be seen as stemming from the nature of matter itself, as something inherent in the very properties of matter. It is simply the way matter behaves. But the laws governing the electronic structure of matter do not appear to be inherent in the most basic unit of matter, which is the hydrogen atom.
Thus, if we could imagine a scientist observing the universe at the time when the only element that existed was hydrogen, he would have no way of knowing that the first electron cloud or shell would take a maximum of two electrons, and the second electron cloud a maximum of eight electrons, and the third a maximum of 18 electrons, because elements that had that many electrons did not yet exist, and there is nothing in the relatively simple structure of hydrogen that would lead to such a particular and specific law governing the heavier elements. Nor could our hypothetical scientist know that elements in which the outer electron shell is filled to capacity are more stable or “inert” (at least up through the first two shells), that all atoms would have a tendency to seek to achieve an inert state, and that this “longing” of atoms to attain a stable or inert state would lead the various elements to combine together in very specific ways to form compounds such as water, carbon dioxide, sodium chloride, hydrogen chloride, and so on. The laws controlling the electronic structure of the various elements and compounds do not appear to be inherent in, or predicable from, the observable properties of hydrogen. Thus the laws governing matter pre-existed matter. They are not material. They are mental.
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Ohhh Lawrence, you should have talked with a physicist before posting this. You are going to get some grief ......
-------------- Dey can't 'andle my riddim.
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