CreationStudies Institute
[Originally published as Evidence for the Existence of God]
The existence of God must be believed in faith, but this faith that I speak of is not a blind faith.
Faith is believing in unseen things. God does not have a physical form before our eyes at this moment. Yet, the existence of God is still seen in this physical world. How? From evidence observed in science, morality, design, and the incarnation of God.
Psalm 19:1 declares,
The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim his handiwork.
Scientists from all ages have described the universe as a mechanical design.
Isaac Newton, the seventeenth-century physicist who discovered the three laws of motion and the universal law of gravitation, described the universe as,
This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets and Comets, (that) could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.
The laws of physics are beautiful and designed
Mathematicians describe mathematical laws as mathematically beautiful since these laws are complex yet simple. Mathematics will also state that this beauty is designed not just determined by the beholder. Accordingly, in the mechanics of our universe, there is an overwhelming collage of design.
William Paley once described the universe as a watch.
If you found a watch on the beach, would you believe that the waves, wind, rocks, and sand created this watch by natural processes? That is absurd. We all know watches come from watchmakers. Therefore, in the human mind design is a picture of a designer.
Design is applying intelligence to create something of skill, which works according to its intention. We all expect our technology to work. No one wants a phone or car that does not work. As intelligence theory has shown, intelligence only comes from an intelligent source.
Therefore, you will not find a watch on the beach that was not first placed there and you will not find F=MA written on the beach.
This is seen by the fact that the proton and electron, which have different masses, completely cancel their electrical charges. In the first place, scientists still are in the dark in respect to how two electrical bodies can have different masses yet have the same electrical charge. Even more incredible is that if the electrical charge of either the proton or electron was changed by a minuscule amount there would not be any objects left in our universe. The atoms in the universe would instantaneously explode! This shows the precise engineering that has gone into the workings of our Universe.
Living DNA
Our DNA, which is the manual book that, when expressed, forms the workings and systems of our bodies. Information theory states that knowledge will not ever come from a non-intelligent being. The chance of DNA molecules coming together and creating information by chance is zero by probability standards.
Biology is the study of organisms with different expressions of DNA. In biology, we find that DNA codes for complex systems in animals including
- our eyes, which are connected to our brain by over one million nerves
- the complex suction cups on the gecko’s feet
- and the hummingbird, which has a more complex flight pattern than a helicopter (which at any moment can fail and crash).
Moreover, many of the amazing designs of nature are being copied (known as biomimicry) by engineers to create many new inventions. Therefore, if we believe the copies by man which are not even at the same level of design of nature are amazing accomplishments then how can we attribute the original design to random chance?
The Law of Cause and Effect
This states that without a cause there will not be an effect. Therefore, if a ball is in front of me, unless I kick it, no effect will occur. The other logical conclusion is that if a ball is moving, there must have been a cause.
Continuing with this thought shows us that the universe, which is an obvious effect, had a beginning. Therefore, what was the cause of this effect? To be logical it must have been a being that caused the universe since the laws of nature cannot create themselves given that they have not always existed.
Moreover, this being must have been a great engineer who could design and create. This being must have been outside of time since time stops when matter is non-existent. Before the universe was created, time did not exist, because matter did not exist. Consequently, this being is beyond time and space and by logic is eternal. This is a perfect description of these attributes of the real God as seen from science.
Our Conscience
A superb piece of evidence is that all people have some idea of the laws of morality. We intuitively understand the wrongness of murder, lying, and adultery. Though many people subdue these feelings, we even see atheists lamenting over the evil doings of people in this world. Yet, if mankind is just a random object created by chance, there should not be any feelings besides those of its nonliving material origins.
Rocks and dirt do not have this idea of right and wrong; why should humans be any different? Our unshakeable belief in right and wrong can only be logically upheld by a belief in the nonmaterial world. A belief that there is a difference between the organic matter of our bodies and the person we are with our sense of justice.
Consequently, God must exist for ideas contrary to nature and chemicals (which have no idea of morality) for the laws of morality to exist.
The Incarnation
A more powerful evidence is that God came and dwelt among us. This God-man died and rose again from death. All know 10 out of 10 people die. This is a fact. However, one, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead and predicted both events beforehand.
Jesus as a God-man was predicted hundreds of times long before his birth by Old Testament prophecies. Such a set of coincidences randomly occurring have a predictability of zero. Therefore, Jesus is an evidence for God, since he claimed to be God and proved it by rising from death and defeating such impossible odds. God must exist for prophecies to come to pass for foretelling the future and for the dead to live again.
The Logical Conclusion
From this evidence, one must conclude by science and logical intuition that God exists. Many are not convinced of this evidence and, as Paul says, have exchanged the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25).
These facts show us that God exists in this world and we know from the words he wrote for mankind to read, he is integral to the universe’s existence. He holds the universe together and does not leave this world to run on its own. He has a purpose for this world: to glorify his name and to redeem this world from it state of cursedness to its original state of perfection.
In this plan, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save the sons of Adam, who are pictures of God’s design, from eternal cursedness. This is why the existence of God is so incredibly important, because if man exchanges the truth of God’s existence for the lies of random chance, these people will be eternally sorrowful for rejecting heaven for hell and for rejecting the love of God and the knowledge of his wonderful design for God’s wrath.
Therefore, I implore all people to share the truths of the existence of God, since this is the Christian’s most important presupposition.
Written by Jesse Dieterle
