Does God exist? Is there proof of God?
Wings of a Dove
Does God exist? Is there proof of God?
The following offers candid,
straight-forward reasons to believe in the existence of God...
By Marilyn Adamson
Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the
evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, "You
just have to believe." Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer
some
of the reasons which suggest that God exists.
But first consider this. If a person opposes even the possibility of
there being a God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained
away. It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have
walked
on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their
thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews
with the astronauts, moon rocks...all the evidence would be
worthless,
because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the
moon.
When it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says
that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they
have
suppressed the truth about God.1 On the other hand, for those who
want
to know God if he is there, he says, "You will seek me and find me;
when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you."2
Before
you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If
God does exist, would I want to know him? Here then, are some reasons
to consider...
1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a
deliberate
Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.
Many examples showing God's design could be given, possibly with no
end. But here are a few:
The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's size and corresponding
gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only
extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth were
smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury.
If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen,
like
Jupiter.3 Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere
of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human
life.
The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the
temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees.
If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze.
Any closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the
Earth's position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The
Earth remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates
around the sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating
on
its axis, allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly
warmed and cooled every day.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its
gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and
movement so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans
are restrained from spilling over across the continents.4
Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and yet no living
thing
can survive without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist
mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll
see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life:
It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water
allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature
changes, while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
Water is a universal solvent. This property of water means that
thousands of chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried
throughout our bodies and into the smallest blood vessels.5
Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the
substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to
be absorbed and used by the body.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore
flow
upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to
the top of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the
winter.
Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on
our
Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water
and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation
takes the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are
easily moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for
vegetation, animals and people. It is a system of purification and
supply that sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and
reused water.6
2. Does God exist? The human brain's complexity shows a higher
intelligence behind it.
The human brain...simultaneously processes an amazing amount of
information. Your brain takes in all the colors and objects you see,
the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet against the
floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth, even the
texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and processes all your
emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps
track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing
pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in your
hands.
The human brain processes more than a million messages a second.7
Your
brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the
relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you to
focus and operate effectively in your world. A brain that deals with
more than a million pieces of information every second, while
evaluating its importance and allowing you to act on the most
pertinent information... did it come about just by chance? Was it
merely biological causes, perfectly forming the right tissue, blood
flow, neurons, structure? The brain functions differently than other
organs. There is an intelligence to it, the ability to reason, to
produce feelings, to dream and plan, to take action, and relate to
other people. How does one explain the human brain?
3. Does God exist? "Chance" or "natural causes" are insufficient
explanations.
The alternative to God existing is that all that exists around us
came
about by natural cause and random chance. If someone is rolling dice,
the odds of rolling a pair of sixes is one thing. But the odds of
spots appearing on blank dice is something else. What Pasteur
attempted to prove centuries ago, science confirms, that life cannot
arise from non-life. Where did human, animal, plant life come from?
Also, natural causes are an inadequate explanation for the amount of
precise information contained in human DNA. A person who discounts
God
is left with the conclusion that all of this came about without
cause,
without design, and is merely good fortune. It is intellectually
wanting to observe intricate design and attribute it to luck.
4. Does God exist? To state with certainty that there is no God, a
person has to ignore the passion of an enormously vast number of
people who are convinced that there is a God.
This is not to say that if enough people believe something it is
therefore true. Scientists, for example, have discovered new truths
about the universe which overruled previous conclusions. But as
science has progressed, no scientific discovery has countered the
numerical likelihood of an intelligent mind being behind it all. In
fact, the more science discovers about human life and the universe,
the more complex and precisely designed we realize these to be.
Rather
than pointing away from God, evidence mounts further toward an
intelligent source. But objective evidence is not all.
There is a much larger issue. Throughout history, billions of people
in the world have attested to their firm, core convictions about
God's
existence--arrived at from their subjective, personal relationship
with God. Millions today could give detailed account of their
experience with God. They would point to answered prayer and
specific,
amazing ways God has met their needs, and guided them through
important personal decisions. They would offer, not only a
description
of their beliefs, but detailed reports of God's actions in their
lives. Many are sure that a loving God exists and has shown himself
to
be faithful to them. If you are a skeptic, can you say with
certainty:
"I am absolutely right and they all are wrong about God"?
5. Does God exist? We know God exists because he pursues us. He is
constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.
I was an atheist at one time. And like most atheists, the issue of
people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about
atheists
that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting
something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes us to do
that? When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for
those poor, delusional people...to help them realize their hope was
completely ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive. As I
challenged those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if
they could convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free
from the question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers
that they were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be
free to go about my life.
I didn't realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily
on my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to
find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention
that we would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself
and he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. It was
as if I couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God. In
fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began
with, "Ok, you win..." It might be that the underlying reason
atheists
are bothered by people believing in God is because God is actively
pursuing them.
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge,
socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that
somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he
remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted
even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of
Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted
that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most
dejected and reluctant convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result
of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than rightfully
admitting God's existence. Yet over the following several months, I
became amazed by his love for me.
6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ
is
the clearest, most specific picture of God pursuing us.
Why Jesus? Look throughout the major world religions and you'll find
that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves
as teachers or prophets. None of them ever claimed to be equal to
God.
Surprisingly, Jesus did. That is what sets Jesus apart from all the
others. He said God exists and you're looking at him. Though he
talked
about his Father in heaven, it was not from the position of
separation, but of very close union, unique to all humankind. Jesus
said that anyone who had seen Him had seen the Father, anyone who
believed in him, believed in the Father.
He said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not
walk
in darkness, but will have the light of life."8 He claimed attributes
belonging only to God: to be able to forgive people of their sin,
free
them from habits of sin, give people a more abundant life and give
them eternal life in heaven. Unlike other teachers who focused people
on their words, Jesus pointed people to himself. He did not say,
"follow my words and you will find truth." He said, "I am the way,
the
truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me."9
What proof did Jesus give for claiming to be divine? He did what
people can't do. Jesus performed miracles. He healed people...blind,
crippled, deaf, even raised a couple of people from the dead. He had
power over objects...created food out of thin air, enough to feed
crowds of several thousand people. He performed miracles over
nature...walked on top of a lake, commanding a raging storm to stop
for some friends. People everywhere followed Jesus, because he
constantly met their needs, doing the miraculous. He said if you do
not want to believe what I'm telling you, you should at least believe
in me based on the miracles you're seeing.10
Jesus Christ showed God to be gentle, loving, aware of our self-
centeredness and shortcomings, yet deeply wanting a relationship with
us. Jesus revealed that although God views us as sinners, worthy of
his punishment, his love for us ruled and God came up with a
different
plan. God himself took on the form of man and accepted the punishment
for our sin on our behalf. Sounds ludicrous? Perhaps, but many loving
fathers would gladly trade places with their child in a cancer ward
if
they could. The Bible says that the reason we would love God is
because he first loved us.
Jesus died in our place so we could be forgiven. Of all the religions
known to humanity, only through Jesus will you see God reaching
toward
humanity, providing a way for us to have a relationship with him.
Jesus proves a divine heart of love, meeting our needs, drawing us to
himself. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, he offers us a new
life today. We can be forgiven, fully accepted by God and genuinely
loved by God. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love,
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."11 This is God, in
action.
Does God exist? If you want to know, investigate Jesus Christ. We're
told that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."12
God does not force us to believe in him, though he could. Instead, he
has provided sufficient proof of his existence for us to willingly
respond to him. The earth's perfect distance from the sun, the unique
chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of
people who attest to knowing God, the gnawing in our hearts and minds
to determine if God is there, the willingness for God to be known
through Jesus Christ. If you need to know more about Jesus and
reasons
to believe in him, please see: Beyond Blind Faith.
If you want to begin a relationship with God now, you can.
This is your decision, no coercion here. But if you want to be
forgiven by God and come into a relationship with him, you can do so
right now by asking him to forgive you and come into your life. Jesus
said, "Behold, I stand at the door [of your heart] and knock. He who
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him [or her]."13
If you want to do this, but aren't sure how to put it into words,
this
may help: "Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins. You know my life
and that I need to be forgiven. I ask you to forgive me right now and
come into my life. I want to know you in a real way. Come into my
life
now. Thank you that you wanted a relationship with me. Amen."
God views your relationship with him as permanent. Referring to all
those who believe in him, Jesus Christ said of us, "I know them, and
they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never
perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand."14
So, does God exist? Looking at all these facts, one can conclude that
a loving God does exist and can be known in an intimate, personal
way.
If you need more information about Jesus' claim to divinity, or about
God's existence, or if you have similar important questions, please
email us.
I just asked Jesus into my life (some helpful information
follows)...
I may want to ask Jesus into my life, please explain this more
fully...
I have a question...
About the Author: As a former atheist, Marilyn Adamson found it
difficult to refute the continuously answered prayers and quality of
life of a close friend. In challenging the beliefs of her friend,
Marilyn was amazed to learn the wealth of objective evidence pointing
to the existence of God. After about a year of persistent
questioning,
she responded to God's offer to come into her life and has found
faith
in Him to be constantly substantiated and greatly rewarding.
(1) Romans 1:19-21
(2) Jeremiah 29:13-14
(3) R.E.D. Clark, Creation (London: Tyndale Press, 1946), p. 20
(4) The Wonders of God's Creation, Moody Institute of Science
(Chicago, IL)
(5) Ibid.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) John 8:12
(9) John 14:6
(10) John 14:11
(11) Jeremiah 31:3
(12) John 3:16
(13) Revelation 3:20
(14) John 10:27-29
Noah's Dove
STARTLING PROOFS - Does God Really Exist? creation vs evolution
darwin
- on Google video
All time views:84,420
>>
Peter LaLonde
58 min 38 sec - Jun 11, 2006
It is the demand of every skeptic, "Prove to me that God exists.' ...
This revealing new video shows, the evidence of a infinte and
personal
intelligence behind living things and the universe.
New discoveries in science, creation, archaeology and the sudden and
rapid fulfillment of Bible prophecy are all convincing even the most
determined skeptics to take a second look.
In this fast-moving docu-drama you'll see the startling new evidences
that prove God exists! Then do one simple thing. Judge the evidence
for yourself.
Featuring scientists and leading Bible scholars like Peter and Paul
Lalonde, Grant Jeffrey, Dave Breese, Dave Hunt, and Chuck Missler,
this is a thought-provoking video that will leave viewers with a
wealth of evidence upon which to weigh decisions. <<