If you see a bird sitting on a fence post, you don’t have to think about how the bird got there. You assume that it flew in and landed on the fence post. However, if you see a turtle on a fence post, then you have to question how it got there.
I think it should be obvious that the turtle could not have climbed up onto the post by itself. Someone must have put it there. If you look around and don’t see anyone, do you change your mind and conclude that the turtle put itself on the post?
Another possible option is that the turtle hatched and grew there. If so, how did the turtle egg get on the fence post? Could the egg have been blown there by the wind or is it more reasonable to think that someone put it there?
After thinking about those possibilities, you conclude that perhaps the turtle isn’t really there. Maybe you are just imaging that the turtle is on the fence post. Perhaps it’s an optical illusion, and your senses fooling you.
After you have considered all options, you eventually conclude that the rational answer is that someone placed the turtle on the fence post. You can’t see the person, but you know that person must exist because of the evidence.
We look at the amazing design in the world around us from the DNA in our cells to the fine-tuning of the universe, and ask ourselves: “How could this be? Could it happen by accident? Is design merely an illusion? Did all of these things put themselves together out of nothing without any intelligent direction?”
Some scientists have suggested that life on Earth come from outer space. If so, how can you explain the origin of that alien life? If you can’t see the cause, do you conclude that there isn’t one?
Before you reject the idea that God exists, ask yourself how rational it is to believe that everything came into existence out of nothing, by nothing, and for no reason. Remember the turtle on a fence post.
–Roland Earnst © 2018