Does God Exist?

Most people believe in God’s existence because, using ordinary intelligence, the evidence points in that direction. But can God’s existence be proved?

His existence cannot be proved empirically (i.e., scientifically) as we might prove that water freezes at 32º Fahrenheit. But if we use logic, we can make a compelling case for God’s existence—indeed, irrefutable.

Throughout history, most people have believed in the existence of a more-than-human, personal, powerful being. If we agree that humans generally are rational, this universal conviction must rest on some reasonable basis.

Several lines of evidence point to God.

Cause and Effect

This logical principle states that every effect must have an adequate cause. This is the basis of all science. This law of correct thinking relates to the universe’s origin.

It is well established that the universe has not existed forever. Dr. Robert Jastrow (1925-2008) was an internationally known space scientist and theological skeptic. He declared that modern science denies an eternal existence to the Universe.

If the universe has not existed forever, how can its origin be explained? There are only two possibilities.

It was (a) self-created or (b) created by something or someone other than itself and of a different nature than the material.

The fact is, no material thing can create itself. It’s a nonsensical idea. If that were possible, where is the evidence?

But the first law of thermodynamics argues that matter is not presently being created. Since matter could not have formed itself, it must have a non-material source (i.e., a mind).

Great thinkers have concluded that this mind is God.

Design

Another logical principle is called the law of teleology. It contends that when an object reflects a purpose, goal, or design, it must have had a designer.

Things do not design themselves. A pair of pliers has two handles (with grippers), a bolt, and a nut. Everyone recognizes the design of this simple tool and rightly concludes that it did not invent itself. There are millions of examples of design on the earth.

Consider the human body. The body has many intricately designed systems that function in amazing harmony to facilitate the existence of human life.

Life itself is a mystery that cannot be explained naturally. The late Dr. Edwin Conklin, a former professor at Princeton University, compared the so-called “accidental creation of life” to the equivalent of an explosion in a printing shop producing an unabridged dictionary!

The human body is a highly organized machine with over 37 trillion cells, each a tiny factory with many components that must work in harmony with precision. Is this just an accident? Certainly not! Only the most gullible could believe that.

The average adult has 206 bones. These provide an internal framework for the body to protect the vital organs. They also function as levers and attachments for muscles. Your bones produce chemicals for the welfare of your body. If a house cannot build itself, could blind nature build a human body?

The circulatory system contains 100,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries that course through the body, providing your cells with food and oxygen and removing waste.

Does anyone imagine that the sewage and gas supply systems beneath the city of San Francisco fashioned themselves strictly by chance?

The nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves—a tremendously complex arrangement more complicated than the phone system of a major city. It transmits information using nerve impulses at 300 miles per hour from the brain to various parts of the body.

The brain itself stores a vast library of information. Carl Sagan, an atheist, estimated that the human brain has the information equivalent of a library of some 20 million books.

Does anyone believe that the Library of Congress came together by chance?

Reflecting on the brain, Oxford atheist professor Richard Dawkins, commenting on the complexity of the brain, exclaimed: “If anyone doesn’t agree that this amount of complex design cries out for an explanation, I give up.”

Unfortunately, his atheistic view had no explanation.

Moral Sensitivity

Inside every human being is the awareness that there is a difference between right and wrong. We may disagree on what constitutes right and wrong, but morality is universal.

How can the presence of morality be explained? There are only two possibilities: (a) the Creator either implanted the conscience at the time of humanity’s genesis, or (b) it merely evolved and is a self-imposed ideology.

If man’s measure of good and evil is a self-manufactured impulse, then every person is his own god, setting the rules of conduct as he sees fit.

While it is the case that morality is essential for the order and preservation of society, that by no means restrains the rebel who thinks he can violate common law and do as he pleases. From this point of view, if he manages to escape the temporal consequences of lawlessness, he has no moral culpability.

Atheist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre had it right: “Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist.”

The evidence for God’s existence is vast. Believe!