Fine Tuning the Universe - 1st Quarter 2025

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The title of this article is GOD REVEALS HIMSELF IN TWO WAYS with a picture of a father and son studying the starry sky through a telescope.

I recently attempted to bake some pumpkin bread. It was a disaster because I failed to use the proper proportion of one ingredient. When baking any pastry, having all the right ingredients in the right proportions is essential. Equally important is having the correct oven temperature for the right amount of time. Every factor must be just right. This is a simple illustration of fine-tuning the recipe. Far more complicated than baking any pastry is fine-tuning the universe.

Scientists have realized that the universe requires fine-tuning to make the existence of complex life possible. The number of factors that require fine-tuning is vast, but five significant ones are these:

GRAVITATIONAL FORCE CONSTANT — pulls us toward Earth. More than that, it holds the planet together and makes it round. It also keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. It holds together the Milky Way and all other galaxies. This force has to be strong enough to form stars and planets, but if it were too strong, stars would quickly burn up, and no planets would form.

ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE CONSTANT — holds atoms together. It must be just right for chemical bonds to form, creating the molecules that makeup everything, including our bodies.

STRONG NUCLEAR FORCE CONSTANT — holds together the protons and neutrons in the nuclei of atoms. It must be just right to form stable atoms.

WEAK NUCLEAR FORCE CONSTANT — regulates radioactive decay and must be precisely correct to form stars like our Sun.

COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT — controls the universe’s expansion speed, balancing the attractive force of gravity with the repulsive force causing space to expand. It must be extremely precise to prevent the universe from flying apart or collapsing on itself.

A properly “baked” universe requires all these constants and many more parameters to be just right. The chance of all of them coming together by accident is beyond impossible. Fine-tuning the universe requires intelligent planning far beyond that of any human baker, and it could not have happened by accident. It is evidence of an intelligent creator God.