We have focused on the evidence of intelligence seen everywhere in the formation of our universe.  We now approach the subject seeking evidence of purposeful design.  There are really two kinds of design.  A design can be the result of a random splashing of paint on a canvas that reveals the semblance of an object or creature perhaps, or just colors and shapes meaningful only to some imaginations.  Designs can also be purposeful, planned with forethought to fulfill a needed purpose (as we see in the thoughtful design of the human heart).  Are we seeing apparent or purposeful design?  Random designs bear no resemblance to the purpose we see in the design of the human heart.  The design we see everywhere in the universe and in our own bodies shows forethought and planning. This we recognize as a mind of the highest intelligence at work. 

Is the Human Heart of Apparent or Purposeful Design?

The splashing of paint has the chance to create a kind of design. But its design occurs without meeting essential life-giving purposes that are real and not merely apparent.  That is why we insist that if the critique of our argument is valid, it must address the kind of design we see in the human heart rather than the apparent design that splashing paint might suggest.

Is Our Universe of “Apparent” or “Purposeful” Design?

Richard Dawkins (perhaps the most prominent atheist of our time) thinks it’s an intelligent rebuttal of the evidence we see of purposeful, intelligent design in our universe to claim it is only an appearance of design.  He believes that the design we see in every living species “looks uncannily like it has been designed.” But that it really hasn’t been “designed” is his point.  He claims “designed for a purpose” can be the work of unthinking mutations and natural selections that have no intelligence.  He claims they understand nothing of the purpose that they amazingly achieve when they come together and create a living organism. And he claims they do this with no knowledge of what they are doing.  They do it “blind.”  They do not do it like we create amazing things in our technological age: with thoughtful planning and the skills of intelligent minds.

For Dawkins, “Design” has a Different Meaning

Design, for Dawkins, has a different meaning from what we obviously seen in the design of the heart, for example.  The heart is designed for a purpose and fulfills its purpose by doing all the things we need it to do to deliver a nutritiously rich blood supply to every part of the human body.  It is designed to last a lifetime.  And to repair itself when needed.  His idea of unthinking design is stripped of all the things the word design would normally refer to when it is used of the intricate, intelligent, purposeful design of the human heart. 

The evidence of design we see in the human heart, we can conclude, is not just an uncanny appearance of design.  Dawkins reveals his own crooked thinking by redefining the meaning of design for his purpose. And with a sleight of literary hand, he deceives those who do not detect the huge difference.  He does nothing to rebut the intelligent, purposeful design that we see overwhelmingly in the universe.

“Apparent Design” Leaves Unanswered Questions

The attempts to refuse intelligence and purpose from any consideration as a valid explanation for the overwhelming display of design in the universe have all left many questions untouched:

• If mutations and natural selection are how all life and living creatures form, what happened when there were no elements to mutate and no natural elements to choose from?
• What caused the very first creature to form?
• What caused the first living cell to be?

Darwin’s theory fails to address what it has no answer for.  It fails to explain the origin of life, period.

So I ask you, does the design we see in the human heart (our example) look like it is unreal, a deception?  Or does it look like it is an amazingly intelligent design of an organ, superbly and thoughtfully designed for its purpose?

Intelligent purposeful design is what we see!

Don’t ever think that the design of your own body, which means life or death to you, is anything less than evidence of the highest intelligence at work.