Kyle Butt, World Video Bible School (WVBS), has done an excellent job in providing several arguments for the existence of God. I have offered some supplemental thoughts on his main ideas, for which I am grateful.
It has been said that if a person can believe the first four words of the Bible, “In the beginning God…” (Gen. 1:1), all else in Scripture will make sense. It is in Scripture, and then in the incarnated Christ, that God has primarily chosen to reveal Himself to men. Unfortunately, not everyone believes the first four words of the Bible and need additional proof. Consider then, the evidence that God exists.
First, The Existence of the Universe
The Law of Cause and Effect is the most fundamental law of science. For every material effect we
see, there must be a cause that was simultaneous to it, and that is greater than it.
Since God is not a material cause, but spirit, He is without beginning, and He is without end, according to Scripture.
So, what caused the Universe? If belief in God is dismissed, then an alternative belief must be substituted such as the idea “A Singularity”, which is a presuppositional belief in the Big Bang.
When pressed on what is “A Singularity”, the scientific answer is that it was something that came into existence from nothing.
That, of course, is not logical. “Out of nothing, nothing comes.” Lawrence Krauss wrote a book titled, “A Universe from Nothing.”
The reality is that “A Singularity” is not a scientific idea, but a religious idea for it requires faith that out of nothing, everything came into existence.
That Singularity was natural, but it became supernatural.
The Universe had a beginning.
This beginning did not come from a natural cause
(i.e., it did not follow the Laws of Nature).
The Singularity was supernature, it was supernatural.
The Bible teaches that…
The Universe had a beginning.
This beginning did not come from a natural cause.
The Universe came into existence because of the Supernatural (God).
Second, Design Demands a Designer
The Universe, and all that is in it, including microscopic entities, demonstrates design. The complexity of each individual part of the Cosmos negates any idea of all the components in any single organism randomly coming together. The sun, the stars, the moon, humans, trees, flowers, fish, insects, birds, and every other part of creation is perfectly designed for the function each does. What is the ultimate origin of this design? There is only one answer. “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1). God is the ultimate Intelligent Designer. That is not just a matter of faith, it is a demonstrable fact. Big Bangs do not bring about order. They do not cause functional parts to come into existence.
Third, Life demands a supernatural Life-Giver
In the material world there is the Law of Biology. The Law of Biogenesis says that in this material, natural world, life comes from previously existing life of its own kind. Like produces like. Life produces life. There was a time when pseudo-science said that life could arise spontaneously from non-living chemicals. However, that is biologically impossible.
The story is told of a scientist who went to God one day and said, “We have discovered how to make a living entity out of dirt.” God said, “Oh, let me see what you can do.” The scientist reached down to gather up a handful of dirt, only to be stopped immediately by the Lord. “You cannot use that,” said the Lord. “Why not?”, asked the scientist. “That is MY dirt,” said God. “Create your own dirt, then come and show me what you can do.”
The question the godless cannot answer is, “From where did life arise?” The Bible says that God created man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breathe of life, and man became a living soul. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7).
Life does not, and did not arise from non-living chemicals. No amount of Time + Space + Chance will ever make life happen.
The ungodly insist that A Singularity, without a Cause, exploded, and caused the Universe, and all that is in it, including brains, breathe, and beauty.
Since no one has observed this phenomenon, since no one can repeat it, the ungodly are left without an explanation of how life came into existence, apart from a Life-Giver the Bible refers to as God.
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26).
“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalms 139:13-16).
Life demands a Supernatural Creator.
Fourth, Moral Law Demands a Moral Lawgiver
The ungodly profess to be guided by the Laws of Nature in general, which includes the Survival of the Fittest, which, in turn manifests itself in the Law of the Jungle, where there is no conscience. In a material world there is no right or wrong, there is no good or bad. There is morality. Might makes right.
In contrast, the Bible says that men and women are made in the image of a thrice holy God. God is not only all powerful, He is the highest Moral Law Giver. The Moral Law of God was written down and summarized by the Ten Commandments.
People know there are things they “ought” to do, and other things that are “ought” not to do. People objectively know not to lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, or blaspheme. When a person commits an immoral act, there is a sense of shame and guilt. This too is by Devine Design. Humanity has a Moral Compass instilled by nature in their soul.
If the Evolutionary Material View of the world is true, then let the ungodly answer this inquiry. “At what point in the timeline of evolutionary development did objective moral values arise?’ No one blames a dog for not praying before gnawing on a bone. No one blames a swine for being a pig with an insatiable appetite. No one has ever accused a snake of violating some objective moral value. The evolutionist, the materialist, the ungodly cannot explain where Moral Laws came from.
The Christian does not have a problem in this area. People of faith know that Moral Law Demands a Moral Law-Giver, who commands that part of His creation made in His image to be holy. Why? “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
Fifth, The Existence of Consciousness is Proof of God. The foundation for Atheism is rooted in a belief in Materialism. There is a presupposition that the Material World is all there is, all there was, and all there shall be.
Materialist believe that the mind is just the co-ordinate firing of neurons. The Materialist view has the problem of explaining such phenomena as Qualia [pronounced, kwol-ay], and, The Hard Problem of Consciousness.
“Qualia are the subjective or qualitative properties of experience. What it feels like, experientially, to see a red rose is different from what it feels like to see a yellow rose. Likewise for hearing a musical note played by a piano and hearing the same musical note played by a tuba. The qualia of these experiences are what give each of them its characteristic ‘feel’, and also what distinguish them from one another.” ~ Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Hard Problem of Consciousness is the problem of explaining why any physical state is conscious rather than nonconscious. The Evolutionary Materialist has to explain all of this. The Christian simply says that when man became a living soul at creation, he was made in the image of God, and was conscious of his own creation.
Sixth, The Ability to Reason is a Proof of God
If humans were the product of blind chance, and random development over millions of years, reasoning, and the Laws of Reasoning would have no explanation for their existence, or development. From where does reason arise? The Materialist cannot say.
The Christian points to Scripture, and notices the great invitation of God. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
From time to time an honest atheist, or sceptic, will consider the claims of the Bible, and be converted to Christ.
Antony Garrad Flew (Feb. 11, 1923 – April 8, 2010) is a case in point. As a British philosopher Antony Flew made his reputation as an atheist while teaching at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, and Reading, at York University in Toronto. Mr. Flew argued that everyone should be an atheist until evidence suggesting a God surfaces (The Presumption of Atheism). In the providence and grace of God, the Lord provided Antony Flew what he was seeking. This resulted in a new book, published in 2008, titled There is a God.
The evidence for God is found in nature, in divine revelation, in the prophets of old, and in these last days, by Jesus Christ Himself.
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. 1:1-2).
Do you want proof for God? Then seek Him with all your heart and receive His promise. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).