Is there a God?
The question of God's existence has pressed upon the human psyche for millennia. Questions like "Does God exist?" "Why does the universe exist?" and "Why are we here?" cannot be reduced to pithy answers because these inquiries emanate across time, culture, geography, education, and economic circumstance. One does not need much sophistication to understand why Job writes that man's days are few and full of trouble (Job 14:1). The finitude and frailty of life, the world we encounter, and our innate yearning for answers, ensures that everyone will face an inevitable fork in the road. If God exists, His existence is of the most profound importance. If God does not exist, it is also of the most profound importance. What one cannot do is ignore the question.That God exists can be shown in many ways. However, some important distinctions must be noted. When Christians say "God," they do not mean to include the indefinite article "a" before God. The God of the universe; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the One who creates and "upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3) is not one among others in a class or species of things (or gods). In the Christian view, it is technically incorrect from a metaphysical standpoint to say, "there is a god." To say there is "a god" denotes Him as an instance of a kind, which He is manifestly not. Christians might use such phraseology in good conscience when referring to God in various ways for general communicative purposes, but the proper biblical notion of God is that He is utterly unique in His essence. God is the I AM of Exodus 3:14. He is that which causes all things to be outside of Himself. When Christians say, "God exists," they mean there is One who is unique, who created the universe, keeps the universe in existence, who is immaterial and infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present. There is One who just is love and truth.
God has made Himself known to man in both nature and Scripture (via the Christian Bible). These are the two modes of divine revelation—natural and special. The existence of God can be demonstrated through what He has brought about in the created order. The apostle Paul tells us this much in Romans 1:18–20 and 2:14–15. Special and natural revelation will always agree with each other in the final analysis. When we stare at the heavens above or cast our gaze upon ordinary objects of our existence, we begin to ask questions and seek answers. Reasoning from observed effects to the cause of such effects, the answer we find through honest investigation is that God must exist if anything at all exists. Similarly, when we consider the human faculty of reason itself, the data of the physical sciences, the interactions we have in daily life, we reach the conclusion that God must exist and that the Bible is true. The skeptic, atheist, or agnostic is free to deny and dispute these conclusions, but their denial ultimately results from a suppression of truth instead of seeking it.
It is often asked why God does not make His existence more obvious. Why does God remain so hidden? One answer is that God is simply not hidden at all. There are divine "fingerprints" over each aspect of our daily lives. When God is properly conceived, we must acknowledge that not even our next breath could come to pass without God willing it. What it seems some people really want to see are letters written in the sky, or a constellation of stars, arranged by God to say "God exists! Believe in me!" Or, perhaps a thundering audible voice saying, "I exist!" Yet, it is doubtful this would be sufficient for the skeptic. The skeptic would simply explain these actions away as comic coincidences, much the way all other evidence for God is explained away. For example, the skeptic finds myriad ways to deny the many philosophical demonstrations and scientific evidences given for God. Things like the beginning of the universe, the fine tuning of the universe, and specified biological/DNA complexity are routinely dismissed. If the things closer to our everyday experience are not sufficient for the skeptic, then an audible voice or cloud writing would also be insufficient. Jesus explains this concept when He tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). The hearts of the rich man's brothers were such that even one returning from the dead would not convince them to repent.
Blaise Pascal once wrote, "There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition." The Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias has said, "God gives us enough so that believing in Him is perfectly reasonable, but not enough so that man can live by reason alone." Both statements should be pondered for their depth and truth. Those who genuinely seek truth will find themselves at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. God loves all, and He desires all men to come to repentance and faith (2 Peter 3:9).
Does God exist?
Can the existence of God be proven?
Why should we care if God exists?
Who or what is God?
Why does God require faith?
Truth about Worldview and Apologetics
