Do Complex, Interconnected Systems Just Happen?

'THE MERRY CATHOLIC' -- "For You knit me together in my mother's womb..." (Ps. 139)

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in an examination room at my cardiologist’s office. While I waited, I looked at a small poster on the wall, which was an illustration of the human circulatory system. It showed the outline of a human body and all the arteries and veins, with the all-important heart in the center of the chest.

The poster kind of reminded me of the HVAC mechanical drawings I see at work. Those drawings (which are often referred to as “blueprints,” although they haven’t been blue in decades), show the plumbing and ductwork systems inside a commercial building. When the salespeople at our company dig through those drawings, so they can prepare a quotation for the various ventilation products we sell, they never think the drawings just accidentally created themselves. Yes, our guys sometimes complain that the engineer who made the drawings was a little vague about what he really wanted, but they know someone with intelligence and a plan created the drawings. Complicated, intricate things simply do not come into existence by accident.

As I sat in that doctor’s office, waiting for him to come in, it occurred to me that many people who know that HVAC drawings just don’t happen, would look at that illustration of the human circulatory system and say, “Yes, that just came into existence by accident.”

There are so many people nowadays — people who are very smart with a lot of common sense — who believe the human circulatory system, along with all biological life, just kind of happened. No plan, no design, no intelligence. Just molecules swirling around, following the laws of physics, and over a long period of time accidentally formed themselves into intricate and precise organisms. Or as American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson declared: “Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind.” Really? What are the odds of that happening?

I’ve spent almost four decades in the HVAC business, and I know for a fact that commercial and industrial buildings are really, really complicated. Besides HVAC and plumbing, there are electrical, structural, controls, telecommunications, fire protection, security, and a dozen other sophisticated systems, all of which need to operate properly and in-sync with each other. And yet, the most complicated building ever constructed is like a pile of Legos when compared to the human body.

It seems to me that anyone who works in an industry with complicated systems that have to be carefully planned and coordinated — like engineers, architects, and construction workers — ought to be theists; that is, they should believe that some kind of supernatural Creator was the source of life on earth. To this list I would add computer scientists and those in the IT business, since DNA is a microscopic form of data storage and retrieval. Most of all, everyone in the healthcare field, such as my cardiologist, should know without a doubt that the human body could not possibly have come into existence by accident. All biological life is far too complex, intricate, and interconnected.

In virtually every aspect of modern life, a lot of intelligence, planning, and design are required to make things work smoothly. We all know from experience that complicated, interconnected systems just don’t come into existence by accident. The same is especially true for living organisms.

So, please give this some thought. Please look around at all the complicated systems in our lives, and ponder how much intelligence and skill is needed to create and maintain them. Then think about biological life and its far more complicated and interconnected components. The only explanation that makes sense is a supernatural Creator, an infinitely intelligent Mind, was involved. If you prayerfully ponder the Mind behind it all, you just may enter into an intimate and loving relationship with the God who made you and who wants to give you the gift of eternal life.

I haven’t asked my cardiologist yet if he believes in a supreme Creator, but if he does, that means he’s not just smart, he’s REALLY smart.

(These “Merry Catholic” essays are featured on WJMJ, 88.9 FM, the radio station for the Archdiocese of Hartford, CT.)

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