On the Imitation of Nature

MorgueFile/AcrylicArtist

A common challenge from atheists is to say, "Prove to me that God exists. It must be something scientific". (Usually, that kind of remark comes from someone who has already suppressed the truth of God's existence, and there is no "evidence" that will convince him or her.) They are often assuming that this is an intellectual approach, but consider: The Creator is a spirit, and outside of time and space. To demand proof of God's existence in this manner is irrational, and a category mistake. So far, nobody has chosen what kind of litmus paper they would use to test for him, anyway.

However, his presence is known, and inferred.

Many inventions and innovations have come about from studying nature. Humans imitate what is observed in nature, and have had some success. (Ironically, they are looking at something that is designed, and not appealing to the failed concepts of time, chance, random mutations and so forth of evolution during the course of making their inventions.) The accomplishments are clumsy in comparison to what has been designed from the beginning.

Humans are not the originators of the physical world, but often imperfectly copy it. In the fields of “engineering, chemistry, ballistics, aerodynamics—in fact in almost every area of human endeavor—nature has been there first” and the natural world God made is “infinitely more economical of resources and generally superior in performance” (Paturi 1976, p. 1). A few examples of this will eloquently illustrate the validity of this observation. The fact that “nature” invented many innovations first has long been recognized by scientists (Martin 1933, p. 14). This paper reviews only a few of the great numbers of examples to illustrate this fact.

You can read the rest of "Affirmations of God’s Existence from Design in Nature" in context, here.