The universe is finely-tuned. This is not really a debate, or at least not the debate. The debate with fine-tuning is not that the universe is finely tuned but what does that tell us? This is all standard stuff in apologetics: how do we account for various laws of physics that seem so precise as to allow for life in the universe? What explains this complex level of precision? As a result the finely-tuned universe is often a discussion that involves physicists, cosmologists and of course apologists.

It is not just the universe though that is finely tuned for life. So is our planet. Of course, this is not separate from these fundamental laws but it brings into play chemistry too and the interplay between physics, chemistry and biology. There are features on this planet that as far as we can tell are essential to life and if you removed them or changed them then there would be no life on earth, it would be a sterile planet like so many others. All of which goes to explain why looking for life on other planets may be much, much harder than many people expect.

This idea of a finely-tuned planet struck me when I read an article examining the idea that there may be life on rogue planets- those that exist disconnected from a solar system the way ours is. Towards the end of this (long) article there was a (short) section on water. Water has some quite rare properties, it expands when it freezes which is why ice floats. Most other liquids contract when frozen, but if water were to do that then we’d end up with no water oceans, lakes, rivers froze from the bottom up and not the top down and all life would die. Or in our case never get started. So water being essential to life and yet having the properties it does is one of those very fortunate facts. And there are a lot of those facts! Here are just a few that I’ve found out so far:

1. Water
2. Sunlight
3. Oxygen
4. Tectonic plates
5. Carbon
6. Magnetic Field
7. Atmospheric Pressure
8. Gravity
9. pH balance
10. Stable temperatures

I believe there’s more but 10 is a nice round number to start with. Just a cursory look at this list shows that some of these are interlocking yet each one on their own has essential properties that need to be just so in order for there to be life.

I’m sure I’m not the first to take a look into this but I can’t find many. It seems most of our apologetic efforts have been turned first to the universe. I understand this because that’s the origin or origins. No universe, no planet. But Scripture tells us about life here and God’s focus on this planet. A finely tuned world in a finely tuned universe increases the plausibility and the probability that life is an invention not an accident.

I plan to explore, and I’m no scientist, but just to explore these factors that are based on commonly accepted science and by putting them together to see whether or not it does point to a finely tuned world. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.