God reveals his existence to everyone through nature. His intelligence, power, and creativity can be observed in every corner of the universe.
The Bible’s descriptions of the cosmos also attest to his existence. Additionally, his presence can be argued philosophically and theologically.
Creation
The universe is composed of energy, matter, time, and space. It is organized into durable systems that are sustained by immutable sets of governing principles.
These components could not have materialized in a void, aligned themselves intelligently, and then self-regulated harmoniously.
They evidence the existence of a powerful and brilliant creator, i.e., God.
Life
Each component of the universe is inherently lifeless. Non-living things cannot procreate life. Only life can produce new life.
God is a living being, not an abstract concept or impersonal force. He has been alive forever. He is the logical source of life.
The presence of life, in all its forms, evidences God’s existence.
DNA
DNA is an instructional message that dictates how cells behave. It is written in a particular language that utilizes a unique alphabet.
Nature does not randomly generate instructional messages. Alphabets and languages are not natural phenomena.
These things emanate from a mind that wants to convey specific information to intended recipients.
The instructions embedded in DNA had to come from a mind. Their logical author is God.
Cosmic Descriptions
The Bible describes aspects of the cosmos in simple terms.
- The earth floats in space. Job 26:7. He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.
- The earth is a sphere. Isaiah 40:22. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth
- The universe is expanding. Zechariah 12:1 The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person
- Individual stars are unique. 1 Corinthians 15:41. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
These descriptions are common knowledge today, thanks to modern space exploration, but they were written thousands of years ago by authors who lacked access to this information.
Only God could have inspired multiple Bible writers to accurately describe these celestial features because, in their era of world history, only he knew the details of his creation.
The veracity of these cosmic descriptions evidences the existence of God.
Morality
Humans have an innate ability to identify right and wrong. We exhibit a rudimentary moral sense soon after birth.
The lifeless components of the universe and the laws governing them are amoral. They do not distinguish between right and wrong.
Morality cannot arise from that which is inherently incapable of discerning right and wrong.
Our ability to identify right and wrong had to have been designed into us by a moral being.
Our innate morality evidences the existence of God.
God-consciousness
God is never far from our minds.
Everyone who beholds his natural revelation contemplates his existence at some point and senses his presence.
Even those who contend God is imaginary use his name to curse. Nobody implores Santa Claus to damn anybody.
We are intrinsically aware of God’s presence because he designed us to commune with him eternally.
This innate connection is similar to the longing felt by adopted children who want to know their biological parents.
That we consider the possibility of God’s existence means he must exist.
Jesus
Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh.
He was a con artist if he made this declaration despite knowing it was untrue. He was delusional if he believed it was accurate when it was false. But if Jesus made this statement because he knew it was true, he was indeed God incarnate.
If Jesus were a liar or a lunatic, his foes would have quickly discredited him. The religious and government leaders who sought his execution would have gladly vilified him to stop the early church’s growth. His reputation would not have survived through the centuries.
However, Jesus’ enemies could not credibly debunk the evidence backing up his claim of deity—his miracles, resurrection, and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies—because too many people had witnessed these things firsthand.
Our Choice
God never forces anyone to believe he exists. Instead, he allows us to evaluate the evidence and reach our own conclusions.
Those who want to deny God’s existence can explain away the supporting evidence, much like those who refuse to believe that astronauts once walked on the moon.
However, God has deemed the evidence of his existence to be sufficient for those who genuinely want to know him on his terms.
He would have supplied more evidence if he thought we needed it.
Why We Question God’s Existence
We question God’s existence when he fails to meet our expectations. But he is not the issue.
Our disbelief stems from faulty expectations arising from misconceptions about him and ourselves.
Below are these misconceptions. The paragraph titles link to other pages on this website that provide more details.
- Presence Of Suffering. If God is good, why does he let us suffer so much? Why does he not use his power and authority to make life easier? Suffering is a manifestation of evil, not evidence that God is untrustworthy or non-existent. Evil exists because moral truth and the will exist.
- Misunderstood Metaphors. In the Bible, God uses metaphors to describe in simple terms that we cannot fully comprehend: how he relates to us personally. We will question his existence if we expect him to embody every implicit nuance in these figures of speech.
- Unanswered Prayers. God tells us to pray continuously about all our concerns, but he grants only those petitions that align with his will. Since we cannot always discern his specific will in every circumstance, we often ask him for things outside his intentions. These unanswered prayers raise doubts about him.
- Misapplied Promises. We will be dismayed if we assume the unique promises God made in the Bible to certain people under specific circumstances are always applicable in situations of our choosing. Likewise, misapplying God’s general promises to all reborn believers can also create false expectations.
- Misconstrued Intentions. We may become distrustful if we conflate God’s ultimate intentions with our current longings. We can lose confidence in him when these immediate desires go unmet.
- Miraculous Expectations. Faith contingent on the occurrence of miracles risks disillusion. God does marvelous things every day, but he chooses the nature, occasion, and beneficiaries of these wonders, not us.
- False Attribution. Expecting God to routinely guide us through signs, wonders, assurances, and coincidences will invariably lead to disappointment. This expectation opens up the possibility of mistaking everyday occurrences for his overt guidance, leading to poor choices that produce adverse outcomes he never intended.
- Unforeseen Outcomes. Following God’s clear direction does not always guarantee a good outcome, at least initially. Sometimes, his guidance leads us to arid desert locations instead of green pastures and still waters. These outcomes can raise doubts about his existence.
- Self-Magnification. We are bound to be disappointed if we think we can impose demands on God. We are not his peers. He is our sovereign. He is not subject to our will. We are subject to his.
- Transactional Entitlement. We will lose faith in God if we expect him to reward our righteousness with personal success, safety, and satisfaction. Our relationship with him is not transactional.
- Personal Iniquity. We will give up on God if we think our unrighteousness means he is ineffective or non-existent, we are irreparably defective, or this “God-thing” works for a select few but not us.
- Hypocrisy. The unrighteousness of other reborn believers can distort our view of God and destroy our faith in him because his influence seems to have little bearing on their behavior.
- Unfairness Of Life. We will distrust God if we expect him to make life fair. Our lives are unfair because we are surrounded by the adverse consequences of wrong choices made by others, ranging from Adam and Eve to those in our present orbit. Conversely, our mistakes contribute to the unfairness in the lives of others.
- Flawed System. Some of us question God because we mistakenly believe he set up a flawed system with inherent vulnerabilities that produce suffering. On the contrary, his system respects and preserves our volitional freedom.
- Divine Sexism. We may distrust God because we have been deceived into thinking that he sanctions sexism and authorizes the subjugation of women. The truth is men and women are equal in his eyes.
- Value Differences. Some of us reject God because we disagree with his moral values. We condone things he condemns. He draws distinctions we dispute. We elevate issues he considers secondary. He esteems that which we deem dispensable.
- Unequal Blessing. We may lose faith in God because he blesses reborn believers unequally. Some of us endure more distress than others. Our temporal needs are more persistent and acute. We get less relief, while others enjoy more abundance than we do.
- Unjust Condemnation. Some people deny God’s existence because they question the fairness of his salvation plan. If the only way to heaven is through Jesus, then it seems grossly unjust for God to condemn to hell those who live and die without ever hearing about him. Fortunately, this is not the case. God’s salvation plan is fair to everyone.
