Not another reason to believe God #3

Because the world is like a pocketwatch found in a field

According to Wikipedia (so, who knows, right?), it was William Paley who most famously compared the universe to a pocketwatch found in a field. It went something like:

“If you found a pocket watch in a field, complex in its machinery and each part working together so perfectly, then you would presume, even if you had never seen one before, that this object must have been designed.”

Like the Universe, see?

It’s an argument that is still used today: God as the great designer.

It’s obviously a false argument, although one that is superficially plausible. It comes apart, though, when we look at what is being compared. A watch is an inanimate object, the universe (and everything in it) is a growing, developing thing. Animals are not made, they grow; mechanical instruments clearly do not. It’s a false analogy.

Comparing Life to mechanics doesn’t fit the facts, not as well as those crazy ideas that Darwin came up with. Everything in the pocketwatch is there for a reason; the same can’t be said for biology. Clever biologist people have found many examples in biology of poor, inefficient or outmoded design. If you want to see God as the great watchmaker, then you have to see Him/Her as an imperfect one.

And that’s a step too far, isn’t it?