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“why I Believe In The Existence Of God”, Hey, I'm trying to catch up!

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Lewanuva2003

Posted: Dec 15 2005, 06:10 PM

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Prepared Article on “Why I Believe in the Existence of God” (June 2005)

Firstly, thank you for your PM to me with your question and I will try to answer for you. There are several reasons I believe in God. I will explain these to you.

The first of these is what is known as “First Cause”. In other words, one traces back all happenings and origins to a first cause. The fact that you can touch and experience a motor vehicle means that that object originated from somewhere, and you can trace all the procedures that brought it all into being. It is a composite of physical materials, of logical and systematic planning, and of intelligent design.

Evolution wants us to believe in a disorganised mass of gas that exploded resulting in what finally organised itself into a universe, and all the components of that happened and progressed randomly to produce life out of nowhere, becoming more complex all the time. All this is supposed to have occurred without a God but all operating due to mere chance. I believe there is no way any systematic order can come out of chaos, any more than a motor vehicle can result from its thousands of parts all whirling around in a giant “Motor Universe” and finally ending in the motor car you see complete before you.

Chaos will never produce order, but more and continuing chaos. The universe is because it was planned to be as it is. That moves me to the second reason. The whole universe is controlled by a very exact interaction of physical, scientific laws. They are all co-dependant. These very complicated laws (which you will find if you study higher science) don’t just happen to fall into place from anywhere like a completed jigsaw puzzle - they have to masterminded into place in order for the whole universe to function. And that is extended to all the scientific laws that govern all physics and chemistry and engineering on our planet, and those laws are uniform and fixed and extremely mathematically complex.

Atheists mock Christians for having a “crutch faith” in God, but what an incredibly blind and chaotic faith must be required to believe all we know and see in the physical world, came as a result of pure chance. So many quantum leaps of faith are needed to accept that the whole controlled physical universe, held together through exact physical laws, just sort of created itself. It can not be, A created object means a creator. A created object means Intelligence and design. That is why I believe in God as the Creator. There has to be One of infinite power and intelligence to have created everything that exists.

That also takes faith - one has to have faith placed in something - either in an intelligent, logical, ordered God, or in a random series of billions of chance happenings making something more complicated each time a change occurs. The Bible recognises this required faith in God. Here is the passage for that:-

Heb. 11:3 “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” God is saying that His existence is understood by the visible things we see. Not only that, but that verse is also interesting in that it mentions the creation of visible things out of invisible things. That has two applications. It firstly means that God created “ex nilho”, that is completely out of nothing, material from nothingness, and that all that is required is the voice and purpose of God to bring it into effect. That is the power of God, what is called His omnipotence. The second aspect of this application is that the visible is made up of the invisible. Only in the 20 th century did we know of atoms. The word “atom” mean “not cut” or not able to be divided and supposedly at the time, was believed to be the smallest particle of matter. I take it you know that even the atom itself is a whole universe of tiny particles and that the atom is largely space. So intricate is all this that smaller and smaller particles have been found, giving so much truth to the fact of that Bible verse mentioning visible out of invisible.

The third reason I want to bring to you is one also covered in the Bible. It could be termed, “a self evident truth”. A child realises that what is seen physically means an origin. The child’s faith accepts that a cake comes from mum’s creation, and that his/her plaything was made by a factory or by someone. I believe that the imprinted fact of God’s existence and creation is in everyone, but as one ages, the self denial of God through rebellion and rejection paints that over and silences it. The Bible expresses it this way:-

Rom. 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom. 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

God will hold men and women responsible for their decision in accepting or rejecting Him as the Existent Creator. That of course has separate and severe consequences.

The fourth reason is the one of Complexity. With time, created things wear out and downgrade. Our sun is doing that. Our bodies do that. I believe our first parents were created with far superior bodies and intelligence than we have today. It is only medical science including nutrition which is masking this fact and appearing to say we have superior bodies to those of centuries ago, but we are subject to many more downgrading factors.

What this is leading to, is that the amazing complexity and initial perfection of the human body could only have come about through a direct creation and not by time ravaged chances. It is a pity we could not all be scientists and understand just how complex the human brain and nervous system really is. Even the workings and design of the eye is an immense marvel in itself. These complexities don’t happen through random behaviour or chances, and chance changes don’t result in more complexity being added. It only causes quick downgrading. The enormous intricately designed complexity of the human (and any other) body has to point to an infinite Designer.

This complexity is found all through the universe and even in space there is uniformity of the physical laws which govern it. We do not have a different set of laws dictating one part of the universe and a contrary set controlling another. All is uniform, and uniformity also suggests a complete overall Mastermind.

The fifth reason I want to bring before you is the truth contained in the Biblical record. There is just so much that can be said here but I will confine it to three passages. We have some amazing verses in the Biblical book of Job but far more than I can cover; however I will do one:- Job 26:10 “He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness.” This was written in 1500BC and we believe the whole Bible is divinely inspired. Here God has given us a verse in the days when people believed in a flat earth, speaking about this circle on the waters separating day and night. This is so clearly seen/affirmed now by satellite. Not bad for 1500 BC.

Here is another truth given at the same time when people believed the earth was flat and supported, whether on a platform, or by giant bulls:- Job 26:7 “He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.” Only God knew the earth He created floated in space. Also that northern view of the stellar universe through telescopes is an “empty area” for stars. How could Job have known that?

Just one more I will give. There are just so many I can choose. It is God’s book we are dealing with. This passage was written in 96 AD when all communications were by horseback or by human runners:- This passage is speaking of two men, two prophets, God is sending to the earth in the time which is called “The Tribulation”, a terrible time still to come -

Rev. 11:3 “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Rev. 11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Rev. 11:5 And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if anyone would desire to harm them, in this manner he must be killed.
Rev. 11:6 These have the power to shut up the sky, in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
Rev. 11:7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.
Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
Rev. 11:9 And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
Rev. 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

Notice verses 9 and 10. Do you see “And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look....” and this too, “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice....” This is an amazing prophecy and is only possible with satellite communications as we have today when people can look at events unfolding around the globe. God is always up to date. What I am saying with all this is that the Bible contains just so much internal proof for the existence of God. The Bible, because of its accuracy and infallibility, confirms God as the Author therefore confirming God’s existence.

The sixth reason is an important one. It is Jesus Christ. This is multi faceted. Firstly, He is an historic figure and that is correctly documented in spite of atheistic efforts to discredit that. His claim to be the Son of God, and God the Son, is only contained in the Biblical record and confirmed by those who lived with Him for the years of His ministry, and they wrote what they heard and saw. Secondly the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ are massive and those fulfilled in the days leading up to the Crucifixion and the Resurrection number in the hundreds. Those prophecies date from 4000 BC to 450 BC. That fact that all Messianic prophecies of his life and death and resurrection were fulfilled in Jesus Christ is staggering.

The import of this is witnessed in His own disciples. We had with him a weak band of 12 men who were undone and dejected at the removal of Christ in what seemed to be an untimely end to what they were doing; men who fled in despair and fear of their very lives. But witness what happened to them after the resurrection! They were invigorated; were set of fire and counted their lives as sacrificial offerings in the cause of Christ. What turned them around? What was the cataclysmic change that turned mice into lions? It was the resurrection, the fact that they had seen the risen Christ. No greater proof of the resurrection can be found that that.

Many men through the ages have resolutely set out to bring Christianity to its knees; to prove the resurrection and crucifixion were fake, staged, or legend. These men were determined in their quest. Through the collection of evidence they became more and more convinced that their own position was indefensible and as a result these men have become resolute Christians. We are speaking here of power; the power of God to alter stubborn opinion. As a result we have books such as “More Than a Carpenter” “Who Moved the Stone” “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”.

As I introduce the seventh reason, I want to add that this is so powerful a one, that I can’t see anything other than blind disbelief rejecting it. I am referring to the personal relationship a man and a woman, boy or girl can have with a living God. This is not just a random million or so people, but we speak of hundreds of millions currently and in the past. These include many remarkable cases where hardened criminals, drunkards, evil people, atheists have had a revolutionary change happen in their lives when they accepted Jesus Christ into their lives as personal Saviour. There are thousands of stories available from bookshops and the Internet of people converted from a life of degradation into a lovely and vital relationship with God. There is something very powerful here, and that power is the ability of Jesus Christ to change people’s lives and give them a purpose for living. One just can not dismiss the mass of people who testify of this power to transform lives.

You see in every one of us there is a “God-shaped vacuum” that remains empty and meaningless and makes life rather purposeless, but the moment Jesus Christ enters a person’s life, a radical change happens. Call it conversion, born again, redeemed, regenerated, saved, reconciled, or whatever, it is the powerful work God does to change a person from darkness into light. It is the most powerful proof of God’s existence. It proves God’s promise in Christ, that if He sets us free, we are free indeed. And it confirms His promise to taste and see that the Lord is good. It is the personal testimony of hundreds of millions that this verse following is what changed them and made all reality of life become sense. Is. 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” and also affirmed by the New Testament, “2Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Put very plainly, if there was no God, there would not be that huge body of people with a similar testimony to what God has done personally for them. Delusions fall apart. God is no delusion.

Now, I am not sure on what level you want this but there is a field of study called Epistemology which concerns itself with knowing and the knowledge of an existing God. It is a bit more involved than what I have covered here but I have done some of that and could find it if you want some summaries I have gathered.

Please feel free to ask what you want, or ask me to expand on anything.

Thank you for asking me to do this because I delight again in setting all this out.

Ron

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Daniel/M/23

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danrahk31	Posted: Dec 18 2005, 12:39 PM [Quote]
Fisher of Men Group: Assistant Admin Posts: 6,012 Member No.: 59 Joined: 4-December 03	Wow. That's a great summation of some reasons we believe in God. This is really good to know so that we are always ready to "give an account" as James (I think) says. -------------------- The image in my avatar is a picture from the Hubble Telescope of an "X" structure in the core of the Whirlpool Galaxy 15 million light years away. Looks strangely similar to a cross. Is God trying to get our attention? תַלְמִיד יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ בֶּן־אֱלהִים חַיִּים
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