“They purposely ignore the fact that long ago God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created. The earth was formed out of water and by water, and it was also by water, the water of the flood, that the old world was destroyed” (2 Peter 3:5-6 GNB).
2 Peter 3:5 draws our attention to God’s sovereign act of creation in establishing the heavens and the earth. Unlike those who believe that the universe is a product of random chance, this passage tells us, “…God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created.” Nevertheless, the “random chance” theory of origin is one that merits further investigation.
For instance, many believe that the universe came into existence through an arbitrary process. This idea suggests that the universe could have formed by chance if given a sufficient amount of time. But let’s consider this premise for a moment. In this context, the word “chance” conveys the statistical probability that something will occur. However, this explanation fails if we apply it to the notion that the universe came into existence through random chance.
The problem is that chance by itself is powerless. For example, let’s consider a scenario where two individuals are engaged in a card game. Person one shuffles the deck of cards and then deals a random selection of cards to person two. With this in mind, let’s ask a few relevant questions…
- Did random chance manipulate or control the cards person two received?
- Can “the power of chance” direct specific cards to player two?
- Does “chance” possess the ability to ensure that person two received a pre-determined sequence of cards?
The answer to these questions is obviously no. In this context, chance simply describes the statistical likelihood that one type of card will be dealt instead of another. This illustration helps explain why “random chance” cannot be responsible for the existence of the universe. Chance doesn’t make things happen; it only describes the probability that something will happen.
Here’s another way to demonstrate this idea. Let’s imagine that someone flips a coin in the air. If we flip a coin in the air, the chance that it will land on “heads” is 50%. (1) However, “chance” doesn’t make a coin land that way. Instead, that outcome will depend on several variables. Those variables include the size, shape, and weight of the coin. Other contributing factors include the number of revolutions the coin makes, the environmental conditions, and the surface upon which the coin lands.
The point is that “chance” will not make a coin land on heads or tails- that will be determined by other factors. Chance only describes the statistical probability that a coin will land in a certain manner. In the same way, the idea that “random chance” brought the universe into existence is unsustainable because chance has no ability to “do” anything.
Image Credit: “Dice 04” by Thomas Dippel is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
(1) For the purpose of this illustration, we will discount the nominal possibility that a coin will land on its edge after it is flipped.