Unraveling Nature: Who Wrote the Laws of the Universe?

Why does nature exist? Why does it operate the way it does?

Most people globally do not deeply examine the reality around them, and even if asked why nature exists and functions as it does, they might respond vaguely, "That's just how nature is." However, those who delve deeper cannot settle for this answer. Nature does not operate "just because," as it is not bound to behave in a specific way or even to continue its behavior consistently. Though we've become accustomed to nature acting "this way," familiarity isn't an explanation.

Furthermore, the last century revealed that nature itself was created; the universe hasn't always existed. Meaning, whoever is responsible for creating the universe is also responsible for shaping its laws...

Can science explain the laws of nature?

The President of MIT, Prof. Charles M. Vest, in his 1995 report, explained that "the laws of nature" are merely synonyms for a mysterious and incomprehensible force in our universe. He wrote: "We do not understand what mechanism gives mass to the fundamental building blocks of matter."

In other words, we have no clue what gravity essentially is, why Earth pulls the moon despite the empty space between, why particles move a certain way, or are attracted or repelled by invisible forces. What powers the universe, anyway? These are the most crucial questions, yet they're entirely outside the realm of scientific inquiry, which deals only with predictions of the observable and existing.

Here's an interesting story with a moral:

The Midrash tells us that during the plague of frogs in Egypt, there was no way to get rid of the pesky creatures because every time someone struck a frog, it would split in two. Another hit created four frogs, and so on, making the problem worse with each attempt to solve it.

The magicians aimed to prove to Pharaoh that the plague was a natural phenomenon that erupted in Egypt by chance and was not a divine miracle intended to free the Israelites. But how could they "prove" this? They presented Pharaoh with a single frog, claimed they would cause it to split, struck it, and indeed it split. They then said it would split into four, struck it again, and it divided into four. The magicians claimed to understand the "law� of the frogs' plague and turned it into science. From habit and prediction, they asserted it was all nature, not a miracle.

Only those who dare to ask "why" can discover that the law is itself a miracle—testimony to the design and intention of a Creator.

Is science limited?

Professor Yehuda Levi shares an interesting anecdote from his university days in his book "Facing the Challenges of the Times": "I clearly remember when we started the mechanics course at the university. We sat in the classroom, and the professor entered and asked: 'A moving body continues in uniform motion as long as no force acts on it. Why?' We couldn�t answer. Why indeed does a ball continue on its path after leaving my hand?

We thought and thought. Someone burst out: 'That's Newton's first law!'

The professor replied: 'Indeed, but why did the body do that before Newton formulated his law?'

We continued to struggle. The question seemed so simple, yet we couldn't find an answer. Then the professor said: 'You should know that there is no answer to this question in physics; it's outside the realm of science. It's a philosophical question, and we won't deal with such things here.' It was hard to accept, but in the end, he was right."

How can one understand such a limitation on the most important questions?

If you take a computer, the programmer can explain how it works, how its parts create hardware and software, and what the software requires to function properly. However, questions about who created the computer, why its parts are organized this way, and what purposes it serves, would be historical and sociological questions outside their expertise.

Similarly, to most scientists, fundamental questions about the universe and why it operates are viewed as "philosophical" or "religious" and are not part of their domain of interest.

Professor Stephen Hawking wasn't a believer, to say the least, but he presented interesting facts in his books, such as this one:

"If one second after the Big Bang, the expansion rate of the universe had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have re-collapsed before reaching its present size."

[Source: Stephen Hawking, A Brief History Of Time, Bantam Press, London: 1988, p. 121-125].

Yes, you read that right, the probability for the universe to be here now is one in a hundred thousand million million!

The rate of the universe's expansion has to be precise to an order of magnitude of 10 to the 55th power. If the expansion were slower, the universe would collapse, and if faster, it wouldn't allow galaxies to form.

(Note this data refers only to the universe's expansion rate, i.e., the speed at which space expands, but it doesn't begin to touch the laws creating interactions between materials within this space).

One can look at 'technical' facts like this from the sidelines, collecting them as a researcher would add them to a notebook like a data-collecting robot gathering dry, meaningless information about its surroundings. But how unique is the person who deeply examines the facts and asks "why?"

Whether a scientist or a layperson, only one who observes and seeks an answer can conclude there is a Creator to the world.