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...
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
