The case for intelligent design

Editor's Note: The following is the first of a two part series written by Richard Marshall, of Fort Scott. The second part of the series will appear in the March 19 edition of The Tribune. The statements and opinions in this series are that of Marshall's. The content of this series was not edited by the staff of The Tribune.

The Bible tells us that the world about us should tell us there is a god and that He is responsible for it's creation. We should understand this without ever hearing about God from anyone. I have heard that the Cherokee Indians came to this conclusion from just observing God's creation. You no doubt know about the prevailing debate today of evolution vs Intelligent Design. I want to present the case for Intelligent Design. The athiest says that nothing produced everything.

Scientist recognize that there are natural laws that regulate the universe. A number of fields of science have developed from man's attempt to understand these laws and use them for the betterment of mankind. Space is so vast that it is incomprehensible. Distances in space are measured in light years. A light year is the distance light travels in a year at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. In all the trillions of miles of space, the sun is 93 million miles from the earth -- the right distance to provide the right temperature to support life on earth. The universe functions so precisely and orderly that astronomical events such as solar eclipses can be predicted hundreds of years in advance. The centripetal force of the earth around the sun is the right speed to keep the earth from flying out into space and at the same time to keep it from being drawn into the sun.

Our atmosphere consists of one-fifth oxygen and approximately four-fifths nitrogen. This is the right percentage of oxygen to provide for animal life and low enough to prevent the world from burning up. Animal life and plant life complement each dioxide. Plants do just the opposite -- using carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.

By understanding and working precisely within these natural laws man has achieved many great scientific achievements such as flying, going to the moon, and extending man's lifespan many years.

When I look at a new cadillac car, common sense and logic tells me that that car was designed and produced by people using their intelligence. I believe we would all agree that it would be the ultimate in stupidity to believe that car could come into existence by itself.

Let's take a look at all the very complex functions of plant growth of the functions of osmosis, transpiration, photosynthesis, and capillary action and how they must function harmoniously to produce all the food we eat. The farmer, as vital as his roll is, has a small part in the total process of plant growth.

Osmosis is the process by which roots absorb nutrients in solution from the soil. The water inside the root must have the right concentration o salts to cause nutrients in solution to pass from the soil into the roots. These nutrients are primarily nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash. The processes of transpiration and capillary action work together to move the nutrients in solution up through the plant to the leaves as high as 300 feet for the giant redwoods. Transpiration is the process by which water evaporates from the openings on the underside of the leaf. These xylem cells form vessels small enough in diameter to allow water to move up through the stem by capillary action in conjunctions with transpiration.

Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants produce food. All food originates from this process. Chlorophyll form the green color in plants. This chlorophyll is the machine by which it takes carbon dioxide from the air and water with nutrients from the roots and with energy from the light of the sun to produce food.

I would say that all these complex functions in plant growth demonstrate very forcefully that they were designed by a very intelligent designer.