Who Is Our "Intelligent Designer"? Part 4

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

One of the most astounding and shocking discoveries of Intelligent Design theorists is not the almost infinite and irreducible complexity of living organisms, but the almost total resistance to the implications of this on the part of materialistic scientists.

Two leading ID theorists, Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt, stated their amazement in these terms: “Why should we suffer any longer under the reign of materialism and its subspecies, Darwinism? There is no reason except an all-too-human intransigence in the face of mounting evidence… Such blindness is actually a form of the most ancient of sins, pride; and this pride attacks science at its core. At the heart of the scientific enterprise is humility…” (A Meaningful World [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006], pp. 238, 246).

These observations come close to God’s perspectives. Apart from the grace of God, the Bible tells us, men do not want to see the overwhelmingly obvious and universal signs of our Intelligent Designer. But this is nothing compared to the refusal of Jews and Gentiles (with rare exceptions) to see the deity and glory of the Son of God when He walked among men (John 1:14), speaking as no man ever spoke (John 7:46), performing signs never before seen on earth (John 3:2; 10:21), and dying as no man has ever died (Mark 15:39; Rom. 3:21-26).

This is nothing less than a spiritual catastrophe: men refuse to see the light of the world! “And this is the condemnation, that light [God’s only Son] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19 KJV). It is not a lack of ability to recognize, appreciate, honor, respect and worship Him. It is a deliberate, intentional, profound and continual refusal to see God in the face of Jesus Christ.

When our Lord healed a man born blind—a miracle that had never been experienced in human history (John 9:32-33)—He said: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:39-41).

But this is the ultimate issue: If people reject the light of the world, in whose image and likeness we were originally created —which is special revelation—how can they possibly repent and believe by looking at the vastly dimmer light of general revelation?

In 2004, World magazine invited several leaders of the ID movement to “imagine writing in 2025, on the 100th anniversary of the famous Scopes ‘monkey trial,’ and explain how Darwinism has bit the dust, unable to rebut the evidence that what we see around us could not have arisen merely by time plus chance” (World 19:13 [April 3, 2004], pp. 34-47).

In response, Phillip Johnson predicted that by 2025 naturalistic scientism will have “lost its hold on the popular and literary imagination” (ibid., p. 36). Darwinism will join Marxism and Freudianism “in the dustbin of history,” and “the entire world [will seem] new and full of exciting possibilities” (ibid., p. 37). By then, “sanity [will have] reasserted itself” (ibid., p. 38).

Jonathan Wells suggested that by 2025 A.D., “Darwinian evolution [will be] little more than a historical footnote in biology textbooks” (ibid., p. 38). “Within a few short years [into the 21st century], Darwinism [will have] lost its scientific credibility and public funding … By 2030, Darwinism [will be] effectively dead” (ibid., p. 41).

William Dembski saw a wonderful kingdom coming to the world by the year 2025 because of the ID movement. “The primacy of information throughout the sciences [will have] profound consequences for religion and faith … With information as the primary stuff, there [will be] no limits on what the world can in principle reveal about God. Theists of all stripes [will therefore find] this newfound focus of science on information refreshing” (ibid., p. 47).

Although the editors of World assured their readers that Johnson, Wells and Dembski were just “having some fun,” it seems obvious that they were writing in all sincerity: “Someday we will win!”

In response, David Roden observed: “Intelligent Design is a half-measure and wholly inadequate. Isn’t the identity of the Intelligent Designer a necessary ingredient? Yet, your cover story offers no viewpoint from those who hold God’s Word as the final authority” (World 19:17 [May 1, 2004], p. 64).

Dr. John C. Whitcomb has been a professor of Old Testament and theology for more than 50 years and is widely recognized as a leading biblical scholar. He taught at Grace Theological Seminary (Winona Lake, IN) from 1951-1990 and gained much recognition for his work on The Genesis Flood (Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company), which he co-authored with Dr. Henry Morris in 1961. That book has been credited as one of the major catalysts for the modern Biblical creationism movement. His ministry homepage is Whitcomb Ministries, and his sermons are available at SermonAudio.com.