THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1)

We are constantly challenged by atheists, skeptics, and hecklers to prove that there is a God. It is difficult for the natural man to believe in something that he cannot see, touch, or feel. (I Corinthians 2:14).

The problem for the child of God is solved with the first verse of the Bible (Genesis 1:1). The Bible is not a textbook that attempts to prove the existence of God, the Bible opens with a positive fact that God does exist.

It did not occur to any of the writers of the Bible to prove this fact. The Bible plainly states that it is the fool who denies the existence of God (Psalms 14:1). Anyone with any intelligence would acknowledge the evident fact of a living God. The greatest proof apart from Scripture of the existence of God is our daily fellowship with Him in prayer.

The Bible never tries to prove there is a God. It assumes that man knows that there is a God, and says, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God". There are many evidences of the existence of God.

THE ARGUMENT FROM THE CONSCIENCE

That which is in man, sometimes called the "first truths", that belief that knows that there is a God without anyone revealing that fact. A child knows there is a God. Who has told him? All races of the world know there is a God, though they are not worshiping the One and Only and True God (Romans 2:15). The existence of God is written in the human conscience (Acts 17:23). Conscience told them that there was a God though they did not know Him personally.

Some atheists may claim that their conscience does not tell them about God. It is doubtful if a genuine atheist can be found for at best they are men who have stilled their conscience by blatant unbelief. Some men are so blind that they may deny the existence of the sun in the sky but that does not alter the fact that the sun exists, rises, and sets each day. None are as blind as those who refuse to see. The honest man will find that the inner still small voice says that God exists and is alive today.

Men deny the existence of God not because they cannot find Him but because they are afraid to face the responsibility of being accountable to Him after death. Atheism is one of the devil's tools to put men to sleep without accepting salvation. If there is no God then I am not responsible to anyone and I can live and die as I please. But in the quieter moments of reflection, the conscience of every man whispers, "There is a God" and only fools deny it. The evidence of the existence of God is in man, born in him.

To look up and see a plane and not see the pilot and say that the plane is pilotless is as ridiculous as looking into the heavens and saying that there is no God simply because we cannot see Him.

THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT (Romans 1:20)

This is the argument from cause and effect. Here is the world, how did it come to be? There is a Cause or Power behind everything. There must be a Maker or Creator someone must have caused it to come into being at one time or another. It is easy to think that back of the Creation is God, but it is impossible to think back of God.

If all the pieces of a watch were placed in a can and the can be shaken gently for a million years the watch would not be "accidentally" put together and running. Someone operates the universe. The only sensible answer to the problem of the existence of the world is the existence of an intelligent Being whom we call God.

THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

A watch not only exists but it has a designer. It was planned for a specific purpose. It was designed by a keen mind for the purpose of accurately telling the time. An examination of the world and the things large and small shows that each is designed by an intelligent mind for a specific purpose in life. There is perfect design and order in the universe.

The snowflake is a beautiful pattern that man could never duplicate. Why does ice rise to the top of the water and not to the bottom when it freezes? Should this not be so, then all water would eventually freeze, and the fish would perish! How is it possible that spring, summer, fall, and winter all come in order, and have been doing so for millenniums? Why is it that the sun comes no closer to the earth (melting it) nor goes further away from it (freezing it)? There must be a Designer behind all creation, and that Designer is God!

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Man has an intellectual and moral nature showing that the Creator must not be merely an inanimate force but a living, intelligent moral Being, (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalms 94:9). Conscience teaches man right and wrong, good and bad; for the Creator is a moral being that is holy, and loves righteousness but abhors evil.

Man is a direct result of the creation of God, as other creatures are, yet these creatures do not possess the moral and intellectual qualities of man. Why? If man could create them, so could animals. But man has the capacity to know, to reason. If man did not get these qualities from someone, where did he get them? 

FROM HISTORY

Truly, history is His story! History verifies the fact that there is a God. History has proved the fact of God against those who have repudiated His law. Thus, Christians should never worry about world conditions. God is on His throne. Nothing can happen but by His will. History only fulfills what God has said would happen. History proves there is a God!

FROM EXPERIENCE

This is one of the greatest proofs yet of the existence of God. Men have been transformed by the power of God. There is no explanation other than God! Prayers which have been answered attest to the existence of God.

THE LIFE ARGUMENT

Life comes from life and the original life must have come from a being possessing eternal life, that is, life that existed before physical life was created. Where can such life be found? It can only be found in God who possesses eternal life (Psalms 36:9). The apple tree gets its life from the parent tree, the lamb from the mother sheep. But where did they get life from? We have to go back to the original creation. All life proceeds from God (John 11:25; 14:6). The theory of spontaneous generation has been proved false and completely unacceptable to authoritative science.

THE BIBLICAL ASSUMPTION

The Bible is the only Book that is God inspired. The Bible is the standard for all right conduct in the world. If the Bible is not the Word of God, then we have no God; we can never know God. The person who accepts Scripture will readily acknowledge the existence of God.

CHRISTOLOGICAL REVELATION

In Jesus, God came down to man to tell us what He is like. If Jesus is not God, then there is no God. God can never be known (John 1:18). But Jesus is God manifested in the flesh, and He and His life prove the existence of God!

PROFETICAL DECLARATION

God forecasts the future. Anyone who can do this is more than man. Man cannot always tell the past, much less the future. When Christ was crucified there were twenty-five distinct prophecies fulfilled, prophecies written centuries before.

THE ARGUMENT FROM CONGRUITY

The theory of atheism solves no problems but only multiplies unsolved mysteries. The acceptance of the existence of God as Creator of the world is like a magic key that fits all the facts of Scripture, revelation, knowledge, and science. This irrefutable doctrine is held tenaciously by multitudes of souls who are willing both to live and die in the consolation of this assurance.

Atheism which is only doubt and unbelief can only lead to darkness and despair for the one accepting it. The acceptance of Genesis 1:1 leads a sincere seeker into the path of a fuller revelation of God Himself. Let us come as children in simple faith, based on the revelation of God in scripture and nature, believing and trusting Him completely (Hebrews 11:6).