His name was “Dr. Joe.” He described himself as a medical doctor, a homeopathic physician, a Taoist, and a devout atheist. For three hours he and I debated on three televised segments that aired nation-wide in New Zealand. We discussed a spectrum of topics, such as the existence of God, the inspiration of the Bible, and creation vs. evolutionary. The debate proceeded fairly smoothly and we both enjoyed some laughs as the moderator did his best to keep us on topic.
However, as time passed, Dr. Joe found himself having to answer “I don’t know” more and more frequently. I asked him how he would explain the initial matter in the Universe. He quietly said, “I don’t know where that came from.” I followed that up by asking him to describe how life had evolved from non-life. And again he bowed his head and said “We don’t know the mechanism that led to that step yet.”
I then changed tactics and asked him if he had ever performed surgery. He brightened up and said, “Oh yes, I’ve done many surgeries.” I asked him if he had many opportunities to look inside the human body. By this time he was proudly smiling, and his posture had changed to one of confidence. He proclaimed, “I have looked inside the human body countless times!” I asked calmly if he had seen first-hand the distribution of certain nerves, to which he said: “Of course. I have seen this hundreds of times.” I looked over at my opponent and asked, “Did you notice the design in this plexus of nerves?” His response: “Yes, I’ve seen the design.” At which point I simply smiled…and then he realized what he had admitted. He then tried to cover himself by asserting “But that does not mean there is a Designer.”
But the damage had been done. He knew, just like all of the viewers, that you don’t get a poem without a poet. You don’t get a house without a house builder. And likewise, you don’t get a design without a Designer. The inspired psalmist proclaimed “For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well” (139:13-14). Proverbs 20:12 reminds us, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” Psalm 94:9 tells us it was: “He that planted the ear and He that formed the eye.”
Later in the debate the moderator asked if we believed in alien (extraterrestrial) life. Dr. Joe was absolutely sure there must be other life forms out there. I quickly demonstrated his pitiful logic. He had ridiculed me for believing in a God I couldn’t see or allegedly didn’t have proof of. And yet, this man was willing to embrace aliens that he could neither see nor provide proof for. The problem was not the evidence, the problem was his heart.