FINE-TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE: Resources for Study

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

~ Psalm 19:1-4, a psalm of David, c. 1000 B.C

~~ * ~~

The Fine-Tuning Argument is a very complex idea with multiple levels--having to do with the mathematical elegance of physical laws and the precise values in the coordination of those laws, the properties and distribution of such things as carbon and water, different necessary planetary conditions, the structure of galaxies, etc. It's a very complex issue that is really beyond my level of expertise frankly. But below you will find plenty of resources from people who are experts.

At any rate, the heart of it is very basic: If all of these hundreds of factors were not precisely as they are, human life would not be possible.

When scientists began to notice this in the 1970s, they came up with the term the "anthropic principle" ("anthropic" coming from the Greek word for human, just like our word anthropology, meaning the study of humans).

As the observations supporting the anthropic principle continued to grow, certain scientists began to speculate about and push the idea of a multiverse because they did not want to accept the fact the evidence of fine-tuning clearly points to a Fine-Tuner, a Designer, the Creator of heaven and earth.

It's an evasive move to avoid the obvious conclusion that all of this evidence points to: that the universe is clearly designed; but it doesn't work: not only is there no evidence of a multiverse, but a multiverse would simply add another layer of fine-tuning.

I invite you to get a glimpse of the amazing array of evidence for yourself by looking at some of the resources below.

RESOURCES
My Class: "Why Is There Stuff?"
*This is Week 3 in my series "How to Have Confidence in Christ That Changes the World (Apologetics 101: A Cumulative Case)" which I began September 8, 2019.
*MP3 Audio (45 minutes)
*PowerPoint Slideshow: When you click on this link, you will note the option at the top to "Open with Google Slides" or you may open with MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress (which is free).
*Class Handout
*I recommend opening the audio and using the PowerPoint Slideshow as you listen and/or the handout.

SUPPLEMENTAL LINKS RELATED TO THE CLASS:
*Cooper, Brad. "Understanding The Nature of a Cumulative Case"
**Cooper, Brad. "The Universal Innate Knowledge of God: Resources for Study." See this article for resources related to the fact that we are born with an intuition for detecting design and recognizing that God is behind that design.

*The entire 16-week course may be found here: "HOW TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN CHRIST THAT CHANGES THE WORLD (Apologetics 101: A Cumulative Case)"

INTRODUCTORY
Videos
*Brierly, Justin. "How a Dice Can Show That God Exists" (4 1/2 minutes)
*Craig, William Lane. "The Fine Tuning of the Universe" (6 1/2 minutes)
*Stephen Meyer Shatters The Myth Of The Muliverse (Science Uprising EP4) by Center for Science and Culture (8 minutes)
*Questions from Atheists. "How likely are life sustaining planets in our galaxy?" (4 1/2 minutes).
*The Privileged Planet by Illustra Media (92 minutes)


Articles
*Cooper, Brad. "A Possible Multiverse Defeater"
"ID's Top Six - The Fine-Tuning of the Universe" at Evolution News & Science Today
*"Physics Professor Tells Students Scientific Evidence Points to a 'Designer'"
*For a list of quotes on fine-tuning by important scientists, go here.


INTERMEDIATE
Videos
*Ankerberg, John. "God's Fine-Tuning of the Universe." An episode of the John Ankerberg Show (28 1/2 minutes)
*Collins, Robin. "Is [It] True? Fine-Tuning the Universe - Robin Collins at Pepperdine" (70 minutes) A Veritas Forum lecture.
*Denton, Michael. "Privileged Species." (33 minutes) An excellent video produced by the Discovery Institute and featuring Dr. Michael Denton.
*Hawthorne, John. "Reflections on Fine Tuning." (48 minutes). From a conference at The Royal Institute of Philosophy in London.
*Hainline, Allen. "The Cosmic Fine-Tuning Argument: A Conversation with Allen Hainline": An Apologetics Academy webinar hosted by Jonathan McLatchie (2 hours 35 minutes).

Audio
*Wintery Knight. "Cosmologist Luke Barnes Answers 11 Objections to the Fine-Tuning Argument." The article includes a brief intro to the audio. Scroll down to find the link for the "Download" of the podcast. (1 hour 16 minutes)

Articles (& Book Chapters)
**Craig, William Lane. On Guard (available in Kindle, Audible, audio CD & paperback). Chapters 3 & 4. Also available on Overdrive.
*Geisler, Norm and Frank Turek. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist, Chapter 4: "Divine Design" (p.95-112).
*Last Seminary hosts 37 articles related to this topic that can be download for FREE--with brief abstracts for each.

BOOKS
*Lewis, Geraint F. and Luke A. Barnes. A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos (available in Kindle, Audible, and hardcover). Luke Barnes' introductory video about the book (11 1/2 minutes).
*Ross, Hugh. The Creator and the Cosmos (available in Kindle & paperback). (2018)
*Ross, Hugh. Improbable Planet (available in Kindle, Audible, hardcover & paperback). RTB has an introductory video for the book.
*Gonzalez, Gullermo and Jay Richards. The Privileged Planet (available in Kindle, Audible and hardcover).


ADVANCED

Articles
*Craig, William Lane. "The Teleological Argument and the Anthropic Principle."
*"Robin Collins' Fine-Tuning Website"
*Miller, Calum. "Full Defence of the Fine Tuning Argument."

**STILL LOOKING?....

Check out this excellent article and resource list by my friend Carson Weitnauer. It has helpful explanations and topically arranged links to lots of free resources.

A Hubble/NASA image of Starburst Galaxy Messier 94 (Source)