Free Resources About Intelligent Design
Published:
July 27, 2020
Contributor:
Jeannette Tuionetoa
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I love the idea of scientists acknowledging intelligent design. Why? Because that means they don’t have the answers, and they are not closed off to the idea that a God actually exists. Teach your students all about the idea that this world wasn’t happenstance with these free resources about Intelligent Design (ID).
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I can’t talk about intelligent design without telling you about my college story.
I started going to college as an unconventional student, a mom, a wife, — and just tired. Being a Christian was fairly new to me, and I was reading more and more about the Lord. He had indeed saved my soul.
I have so many stories about God’s grace but will only share this brief memory.
I had to fulfill a science credit and had no idea what to take. At this time, my major was psychology, so an Anatomy and Physiology course named Sensory Perception caught my eye.
The Sensory Perception course was about how living things were capable of processing stimuli in our brain according to the relationships of the environment around us. The process happens via our organs/senses – visually, auditory, sense of smell, taste, and touch.
I was really feeling torn and even convicted about being a Psych major (this is a personal conviction, I am not knocking any of you with psych backgrounds).
I had started following Christ. The more I knew about Him, the more I knew that the psychological teachings were more like mumbo jumbo without Christ or the root cause being explained – sin.
One day in my Sensory Perception – Anatomy and Physiology course, we were learning about the eye. I mean, we were dissecting how the eye worked. It was incredibly intense. Here’s an example:
The retina photo receptors of an eye are located away from incoming light. Light reaches the eye’s rods and cones only after it passes through nerves and blood vessels. Many say this is a “design” flaw.
However, research shows (Ainsworth and LePage 2007, p. 28) that the inverted design is superior to its opposite. New research shows that the retina’s complex neurological feedback system happens to improve contrast and sharpens edges without compromising a shadow’s detail (Jackman et al. 2011). Anyway, the nerves and inversion of the eye’s absorption of light are INCREDIBLE.
After our journey through the eye, my professor, in a class full of young liberal students says, “In the eye alone, we see no question of its source other than an Intelligent Designer.”
The room was silent. No one said a thing. It was as if the students were in a zombie-like state – as if I was the only one in the room that understood that she just said… we don’t come from “nothing.” A designer intricately designs us!
I walked up to her after class, in awe, and she said she tried to do what she could to affirm God in an institution that denies Him. She said she would continue telling the truth until someone does something about it. She has faith the Lord’s will be done.
Little did she know that her speaking up about an Intelligent Designer, influenced my decision to change majors.
If she could put her job on the line, I could change my course of study – no matter how many credits I lost. Our Creator was/is worthy.
What is intelligent design anyway?
Intelligent Design (ID) says that there can only be an intelligent cause for and explanation for the complex, information-filled structures of biology and that the intelligent causes are undeniably evident.
Since any design needs an intelligent designer, so does the creation around us have an intelligent creator.
Intelligent Design has three principles:
1) irreducible complexity – This means that complex components of a complex system can’t be separated from its parts, or else they just won’t be able to function. Basically, complex systems are SO complex that they couldn’t have happened by chance.
2) specified complexity – This claims that when something exhibits specified complexity states that random natural mechanisms cannot make complex detailed information like DNA of physical law and chance or a combination of the two.
I love this example from GotQuestions.com:
A room filled with 100 monkeys and 100 computers may eventually produce a few words, or maybe even a sentence, but it would never produce a Shakespearean play.
3) the anthropic principle – Anthropic = “relating to human beings or their existence.” Principle = “law.” The Anthropic Principle is also known as the Law of Human Existence. It says that our existence in this universe depends on numerous cosmological constants and parameters. The numerical values of our existence must fall within a very narrow range of values because if even a single variable were off, we would not exist even slightly.
Again, I embrace the ideology of scientists acknowledging Intelligent Design. At least they know that as complicated as our body systems are, that we simply could not have slowly evolved into complex creatures.
Recommended Resource: The Astronomy Student Notebook – only $9.95
Using a combination of written narration, drawing, & labeling, The Astronomy Student Notebook will take your student on a journey into our amazing universe. Students will study the heavenly bodies and ponder the mysteries and marvels of the sun, planets, moon, stars, and more.
I find Intelligent Design Theory quite interesting. These free resources about Intelligent Design can help you explore it at home.
Evolution vs. Creationism vs. Intelligent Design FREE Graphic Organizer | Excellent Choice Teaching
Creation Intelligent Design FREE PowerPoint | Peter Lindsay
Science/Religion FREE Research Prompt: Creationism & Intelligent Design | House of Knowledge And Kindness
The Constants & Intelligent Design Theory FREE Download | House of Knowledge And Kindness
The Design Argument Is Unrefuted (Audio for Older Students) | IDquest
Intelligent Design – The Miracle of Life Part I and Part II |Biblical Beginnings
The two meanings for modern intelligent design FREE PDF | Creation.com
The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (Audio) | Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk
Intelligent Design DVDs for Your Homeschool | Proverbial Homemaker
FREE eBook Mysteries of Time and Creation | Creation Science for Kids
The Human Retina Shows Evidence of Good Design FREE PDF | Answers in Genesis
Help your kids understand intelligent design with the magnificence of how body systems work and how intricately the Earth was designed:
Human Body
FREE Resources and Ideas to Use With Apologia’s “Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology”
FREE Human Body Lapbook and Unit Study | Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Answers in Genesis: The Human Body Unit 1 FREE Workbook | By God’s Grace
How the Body Works FREE Unit Study | Awe Filled Homemaker
Human Body Worksheets for Kids | Living Life and Learning
Eye Mini Unit W/ FREE Printables | Every Star is Different
Earth
The Earth: Creation FREE Resources and Unit | Every Star is Different
FREE Fun Activities to Teach Kids Creation with a Biblical Worldview | Encouraging Moms at Home
How to Help Your Child See God’s Hand in Creation
Understanding Natural Selection FREE Creation Science Lecture
Apologia Exploring Creation with Botany FREE Printables
Are we intelligent design believers?
Christians, of course, ARE intelligent design believers. However, it is essential to note that Intelligent Design is not Christianity.
Christians trust God’s Word for the explanation of creation. Intelligent Design believers see creation around them and conclude that someone or something had to have made it.
Additionally, ID doesn’t presume the source of the intelligent designer. Some people merely have concluded that we didn’t evolve, or we didn’t “poof” get here by a big bang. Some ID believers also believe that aliens seeded people on Earth.
Therefore, it is vital to distinguish and explain that as you are learning about Intelligent Design in your homeschool.
While exploring Intelligent Design with your kids, you can gradually transition to the inevitable question if -the God as we see Him in Christianity- exists.
An Intelligent Design belief opens up doors, but learning about the God of the scriptures is quite different and necessary for our kids to know.
Explore these resources to help you teach your kids about the irrefutable existence of God.
Why You Should Teach Theology to Your Kids | Proverbial Homemaker
Is there proof God exists? | House Mix
Q&A: When your child doubts the existence of God | Focus on the Family
The Moral Argument for The Existence Of God | CrossExamined.org
The Biggest Case for God: Science Itself (FREE Printable PDF) | Deep Roots at Home
15 Creative Ways to Use Nature to Teach Kids about God | Pint-Sized Treasures
God Created Everything Lesson (FREE PDF) | Cheri Gamble
Check out these videos to help your kids with the question: Does God Exist?
Does God Exist? | Got Questions Ministries
How do we know God exists when we can’t see Him? CQ Kids | Christian Questions
God’s Hand Was NOT Forced | Inspiring Philosophy
Each of these websites has a wealth of information that I find legitimate and worthy of respect regarding Intelligent Design (ID) and other biblical truths.
Institute Creation Research (ICR)
