God reveals his existence to everyone through nature. His intelligence, power, and creativity are evident throughout the universe.
The Bible’s descriptions of the cosmos also attest to his existence. Furthermore, his existence can be supported philosophically and theologically.
Creation
The universe consists of durable planetary and stellar systems governed by immutable principles, such as motion, gravity, and thermodynamics.
It is composed of four fundamental components: energy, matter, time, and space.
These ingredients could not have spontaneously materialized from nothing, aligned themselves intelligently, and then self-regulated harmoniously.
Instead, they point to a powerful and brilliant creator, namely God.
Life
Energy, matter, time, and space are inherently lifeless. Non-living things cannot procreate. Only life can produce new life.
God is a living being, not an abstract concept or an impersonal force. He has been alive forever. He is the logical source of all other life.
The presence of life in all its forms attests to God’s existence.
DNA
DNA is an instructional message that dictates how cells behave. It is written in a particular language using 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.
Morality
Humans have an innate ability to discern right from wrong. We exhibit a rudimentary moral sense soon after birth.
The four fundamental components of the universe and the natural laws that govern them are amoral. They do not distinguish between right and wrong.
Morality cannot arise from that which is incapable of ethical discernment.
Our ability to recognize virtue and vice must have been instilled in us by a moral being distinct from the universe.
God made us in his image. Our innate morality evidences his existence.
God-consciousness
God is never far from our minds.
Everyone who beholds the natural world contemplates his existence at some point.
Even those who contend that God is imaginary use his name to curse. Nobody implores Santa Claus to damn anyone.
We are intrinsically aware of God’s presence because he designed us to commune with him eternally.
This innate connection is like the longing of adopted children who want to know their biological parents.
The very fact that we consider the possibility of God’s existence means he must exist.
Jesus
Jesus declared that he was God in the flesh.
He was a con artist if he made this claim knowing it was false. He was delusional if he believed it true when it was false. But if he made this statement because he knew it was true, then 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 halt the early church’s growth. His reputation would not have survived the centuries.
However, Jesus’ enemies could not credibly refute the evidence supporting his claim of deity—his miracles, resurrection, and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies—because too many people had witnessed these events firsthand.
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus affirm the existence of 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, yet 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, he alone knew the details of creation.
These cosmic descriptions provide evidence of God’s existence.
Our Choice
God never forces anyone to believe in his existence. Instead, he allows us to evaluate the evidence and draw our own conclusions.
Those who want to deny God’s existence can dismiss the supporting evidence, much as those who refuse to believe that astronauts once walked on the moon.
However, God has deemed the evidence of his existence sufficient for those who genuinely want to know him on his terms.
He would have provided further proof if he thought we needed it.
Why We Question God’s Existence
We question God’s existence when he fails to meet our expectations, yet he is not the issue.
Our disbelief stems from faulty expectations rooted in misconceptions about him and about ourselves.
These misconceptions are listed below. The paragraph titles link to other pages on this website with more details.
- Presence Of Suffering. If God is good, why does he allow us to 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 nonexistent. Evil exists because moral truth and our free will exist.
- Misunderstood Metaphors. God uses metaphors in the Bible to describe in simple terms how he relates to us personally. We will question his existence if we expect him to embody every nuance implicit 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 that fall outside his intentions. These unanswered prayers cast doubt on him.
- Misapplied Promises. We will be dismayed if we assume that the unique promises God made in the Bible to certain people under specific circumstances are always applicable to us in situations of our choosing. 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 disillusionment. God does marvelous things every day, but he chooses the nature, occasion, and beneficiaries of these wonders, not us.
- False Attribution. We are destined for disappointment if we expect God to routinely guide us through signs, wonders, assurances, and coincidences. This expectation prompts us to mistake everyday occurrences for his overt guidance, resulting in 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. His guidance sometimes leads us to arid desert locations rather than to 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 nonexistent, that we are irreparably defective, or that this “God-thing” works for a select few but not for us.
- Hypocrisy. The unrighteousness of other reborn believers can distort our view of God and undermine 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 those around us.
- Draconian Decrees. Some people distrust God because they dislike specific laws he established in the Old Testament and object to the severe penalties he imposed for violating them. These folks misread his purposes in issuing the Old Testament laws and overlook the grace and mercy he offered to violators who repented.
- Sanctioned Killings. Some people distrust God because they object to the killings in the Bible that he either initiated directly or ordered the Israelites to carry out. He sanctioned these killings to ensure the success of his salvation plan and to punish individual and corporate sin. He gave the victims fair warning of his impending judgment and ample opportunity to avoid it through repentance.
- 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 believing that he sanctions sexism and authorizes the subjugation of women. The truth is that men and women are equal in his eyes.
- Value Differences. Some of us reject God because we disagree with his moral values. We condone what he condemns. He draws distinctions we dispute. We elevate issues he considers secondary. He esteems what we deem disposable.
- 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, and we receive less relief. Others enjoy greater 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, 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.
