by Ben Clausen
Translated for Ciencia de los Orígenes, Mayo-Diciembre 1996, N.44,45, p.11.
Dr. Schaefer is the Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and
director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of Georgia.
He is a five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize and was recently cited as the third most
quoted chemist in the world.
In a U.S. News & World Report article on creation, he is
quoted as saying: The significance and joy in my science comes in those occasional moments
of discovering something new and saying to myself, "So that's how God did it."
My goal is to understand a little corner of God's plan. (p.62)
The Real Issue provides a transcript of a lecture he gave at
the University of Colorado in 1994. The lecture outlines the need for a God of creation
and Scheafer makes his point by quoting Stephen Hawking, "What is it that breathes
fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?", and Erwin
Schrodinger saying that science "gives us a lot of factual information ... but it is
ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really matters
to us." The Big Bang, the idea that the universe had a specific time of origin, has
been philosophically resisted by some very distinguished scientists because of its ties to
a Creator God. After all, everything that begins to exist must have a cause; and if the
universe began to exist, then it too must have a Cause.
Schaefer details five arguments that have been used for the existence
of God: (1) The cosmological argument—the universe's existence must have a cause
outside of it. (2) The teleological argument—the design of the universe implies a
purpose behind it. (3) The rational argument—the operation of the universe, according
to natural law, implies a mind behind it. (4) The ontological argument—man's
consciousness of the supernatural implies a God who imprinted such a consciousness. (5)
The moral argument—man's built-in sense of right and wrong must have been implanted
by a higher being.
After evaluating the cosmological evidence, Schaefer comes to the
following conclusions: A Creator must exist. He must have awesome power and wisdom and He
must be loving and just. Each of us falls hopelessly short of the Creator's standard, but
He has made a way to rescue us if we trust our lives to Jesus Christ.
References