IS THERE A GOD?
Does God exist? Here are six straightforward
reasons to believe that God is really there.
By Marilyn Adamson
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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. 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 various 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
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. 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.
The eye...can distinguish among seven million
colors. It has automatic focusing and handles an
astounding 1.5 million messages --
simultaneously.8 Evolution focuses on mutations
and changes from and within existing organisms.
Yet evolution alone does not fully explain the
initial source of the eye or the brain -- the start
of living organisms from nonliving matter.
2. Does God exist? The universe had a start - what
caused it?
Scientists are convinced that our universe began
with one enormous explosion of energy and light,
which we now call the Big Bang. This was the
singular start to everything that exists: the
beginning of the universe, the start of space, and
even the initial start of time itself.
Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described
agnostic, stated, "The seed of everything that has
happened in the Universe was planted in that first
instant; every star, every planet and every living
creature in the Universe came into being as a
result of events that were set in motion in the
moment of the cosmic explosion...The Universe
flashed into being, and we cannot find out what
caused that to happen."9
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, said
at the moment of this explosion, "the universe was
about a hundred thousands million degrees
Centigrade...and the universe was filled with
light."10
The universe has not always existed. It had a
start...what caused that? Scientists have no
explanation for the sudden explosion of light and
matter.
3. Does God exist? The universe operates by
uniform laws of nature. Why does it?
Much of life may seem uncertain, but look at what
we can count on day after day: gravity remains
consistent, a hot cup of coffee left on a counter
will get cold, the earth rotates in the same 24
hours, and the speed of light doesn't change -- on
earth or in galaxies far from us.
How is it that we can identify laws of nature that
never change? Why is the universe so orderly, so
reliable?
"The greatest scientists have been struck by how
strange this is. There is no logical necessity for a
universe that obeys rules, let alone one that
abides by the rules of mathematics. This
astonishment springs from the recognition that
the universe doesn't have to behave this way. It is
easy to imagine a universe in which conditions
change unpredictably from instant to instant, or
even a universe in which things pop in and out of
existence."11
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for
quantum electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is
mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there
are rules at all is a kind of miracle."12
4. Does God exist? The DNA code informs,
programs a cell's behavior.
All instruction, all teaching,
all training comes with intent.
Someone who writes an
instruction manual does so
with purpose. Did you know
that in every cell of our bodies
there exists a very detailed
instruction code, much like a
miniature computer program? As you may know, a
computer program is made up of ones and zeros,
like this: 110010101011000. The way they are
arranged tell the computer program what to do.
The DNA code in each of our cells is very similar.
It's made up of four chemicals that scientists
abbreviate as A, T, G, and C. These are arranged
in the human cell like this:
CGTGTGACTCGCTCCTGAT and so on. There are
three billion of these letters in every human cell!!
Well, just like you can program your phone to beep
for specific reasons, DNA instructs the cell. DNA is
a three-billion-lettered program telling the cell
to act in a certain way. It is a full instruction
manual.13
Why is this so amazing? One
has to ask....how did this
information program wind up
in each human cell? These are
not just chemicals. These are
chemicals that instruct, that
code in a very detailed way
exactly how the person's body
should develop.
Natural, biological causes are completely lacking
as an explanation when programmed information
is involved. You cannot find instruction, precise
information like this, without someone
intentionally constructing it.
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 many
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 revealing himself to 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."14 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."15
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.16
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."17 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."18
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]."19 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."20
Looking at all these facts, one can conclude that a
loving God does exist and can be known in an
intimate, personal way.

Why all the sufferting, wickedness, hatered, killings, diseases in d world n God is doing nothing abot it?

lomprico: Why all the sufferting, wickedness, hatered, killings, diseases in d world n God is doing nothing abot it?

The bible does talk about the end of days when chaos will fill the earth. Just take it as a prophecy coming true.

Same old, same old!

BossTtdiamonds:

The bible does talk about the end of days when chaos will fill the earth. Just take it as a prophecy coming true.

Its a lie. Go and read a bit of genuine history. The world has always been filled with upheavals. There is nothing like endtime. Yes, the world will end but not in the biblical sense!

Oduduwaboy:
Its a lie. Go and read a bit of genuine history History you say? The bible does say a thousand years is but a second before Our God. The world has always been filled with upheavals. There is nothing like endtime. Yes, the world will end but not in the biblical sense! Talk about confusing yourself. I'm sorry but I'm not all that impressed

Note that I used Our, that's implying the God that created both yourself and myself. And yes it was intended

@engrsoma

Hanging over every letter in your OP is the assumption that order is a creation of the mind, a creation of intelligence. However the creation of the mind is itself a manifestation of order. It is a tricky affair

lomprico: Why all the sufferting, wickedness, hatered, killings, diseases in d world n God is doing nothing abot it?

The proper question should be, What has man done to stop all these.eg
WHo hates. Who kills, Who suffer due to injustice/oppression/poverty, who is wicked, who pollute/ruin the earth ? - Man is the answer, so man should fix their problems "IF THEY CAN".

Through out Man's history, this problems persist and with no end in sight; Many people look to a higher being/God to solve these/Man's problem for them.

I don't see how Man's suffering proves God exist or not!
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"Guns don't kill people, people kill people"- Arms dealer rationale.

RikoduoSennin:

The proper question should be, What has man done to stop all these.eg
WHo hates. Who kills, Who suffer due to injustice/oppression/poverty, who is wicked, who pollute/ruin the earth ? - Man is the answer, so man should fix their problems if they can.

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people"- Arms dealer rationale.

At least you see it as a collective responsibility. Man is not properly understood if he was, the problem of evil will be reconcilable.