Don Stewart :: What Is the Biological Argument for God's Existence?

What Is the Biological Argument for God’s Existence? (The Argument from Life Itself)

Does the God of the Bible Exist? – Question 9

One popular argument for the existence of God is known as the ‘biological argument.’ The biological argument is an argument from the nature of life itself. It can be summed up in the following way.

1. Life Does Not Come from Non-Life

One of the universal truths that science has discovered is that life only comes from life. Put another way, life does not come from non-life. If life does not spontaneously appear from non-life, then there must have been a source of life from which it originally came. This source of life is God.

2. It Takes Intelligence to Create Life

In addition, if life is ever created artificially it will only prove the point that it takes intelligence to create life. Life does not just spontaneously appear.

Therefore, there must have been some intelligence behind the creation of life and the universe.

The Weakness of the Biological Argument

There are weaknesses with the biological argument. They are as follows.

1. We Do Not Know the Identity of the Giver of Life

While it is true that life we have discovered that life can only come from life, it does mean that someday a principle won’t be discovered that contradicts this. As far as our present knowledge is concerned life only comes from life. In the future, we may discover that this is not always the case.

Furthermore, if life originally did come from a Creator, we still do not know whom this God is that first brought about life as we know it. All we can say is that there may be a Creator. Nothing more. Therefore, this argument doesn’t really solve anything.

2. It May Be Many Gods, Not Just One God, Who Created Life

There may indeed be an intelligence that created the universe. However, this intelligence may be one God, or one of many gods. We do not know which it is. The identity of this intelligence is not explained by the creation itself.

Therefore, the biological argument does not solve the question as to the existence of God or tell us who this God is or how many gods exist.

Summary – Question 9
What Is the Biological Argument for God’s Existence? (The Argument from Life Itself)

The biological argument is an argument from life itself. There are a couple of points which are usually raised by the biological argument.

Life does not just spontaneously develop. As far as we can tell, life only comes from life. This is true everywhere we look in the universe. The conclusion that can be drawn is that there must have been some Creator who is the source of this life. This Creator is God.

Furthermore, to create life, it takes intelligence. Life does not happen by chance. Therefore some intelligence must have created life in the beginning. This intelligence must be God.

While the biological argument is consistent with the facts as we know them there are some problems with it. For one thing, we do not know the identity of this giver of life or if he truly exists.

Perhaps there will be a discovery made someday which shows that such a being does not need to exist. Perhaps life does not have to come from life. Therefore, until all the evidence is in, we cannot conclude that a creator must exist. Our present knowledge says life only comes from life but this may change in the future as our knowledge increases.

Even if there is a creator who is the source of life we do not know if he is one God or one of many gods. We do not know if he himself was created. The universe does not provide answers to these questions.

Consequently, creation itself does not necessarily mean that only one creator God exists. The biological argument does not solve the question of the existence of God.