The Existence of God

To some this matter might seem to be unnecessary. I assure you it is not. There are millions who grapple with this question. Some have resigned to be an atheist. In essence, they claim to have infinite knowledge of the universe and thus say they know that there is no God. Still others are more intellectually honest and are agnostic. They simply admit that they don’t know if there is a Supreme Being or not. Yet there are many honest inquirers that are affected by the culture’s bias against absolute truth who wonder if there is a God. However, they don’t know where to turn or don’t know how to investigate the matter. Therefore, as Christians, I believe we must raise the question and give the answers as to the existence of God.

Again, let me provide a caution. Can we “prove” there that God exists in apologetic, philosophical arguments? I don’t know if that is possible. I like what William Lane Craig stated on one of his recent internet broadcasts. He said that when he shares Christ with unbelievers, he doesn’t launch into philosophical arguments about the existence of God. He simply shares what Christ has done in redeeming him from his sins, exalts the love of God through the cross, and shares what the Bible says about salvation. Hey, that sort of sounds like witnessing doesn’t it? That is exactly what it is. His point was that the only successful way to win people to Christ is through His Word and through the testimony of what He has done in our lives. “Proofs” come later if the person has valid questions and inquiries about God, Christ, the Bible and faith. In other words, proofs are not our belief system, but are supports in that belief system. Truth concerning the Person of Christ (the Bible) and the witness of the Holy Spirit are the essence of the Christian life. Yet when questions do arise, there is a place for these supports.

The discussions surrounding the existence of God are varied and many. Alvin Plantinga, a prominent religious philosopher, has outlined two dozen arguments for the existence of God. A significant number of them are very deep. However, while many discussions might be beyond us, it is my belief that we should delve as deep as we possibly can to consider these matters. In this article, I will offer only two such arguments. The first will be a case of cause (cosmological) and the second will be an argument of the internal witness of right and wrong (innate morality).

The first line of reasoning is Craig’s preferred argument and can be stated in a logical sequence of premises:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

2. The universe began to exist.

3. Therefore, the universe had a cause.

This line of reasoning is more complicated than meets the eye. Craig says that something cannot come out of nothing. It had to have a cause. He says it is impossible to have an infinite number of past events. Every event and everything has a beginning and an end. In other words, infinity is an abstract concept and cannot be related to space, time, and matter. God is infinite because the Trinity is spirit and not bound by time, space, or matter. However, it is absurd to say that space, time, and matter have always existed, because an infinite number of past events are impossible. In other words, the  universe had a beginning. Everything that begins has a cause. Thus the universe has a cause. Whew!

Let’s go back to our premises. Everything that exists has to have a cause for it to exist. Everything points to a beginning. If something it created, it had to have a creator. Thus the only plausible explanation for all that exists is that God created the universe. Therefore, the existence of the universe leads us to the deduction of His existence. By the way, this line of reasoning is repeated over and over in Scripture.

Then there is the matter of the inborn sense of right and wrong. If we were to sketch this out in a logical premise, it would read like this:

1. If God did not exist, there would be no right and wrong.

2. Objective moral values (right and wrong) do exist.

3. Therefore, God exists.

We are living in the age of relativism. People say that right and wrong don’t exist except as a social construct. This means that something may be right or wrong for you, but not for me. However, when you pin people down, they are not willing to apply relativism to their own lives. Liberal thinkers, who say that Christians cannot say that absolutes do not exist usually are not willing to follow the logic of their premise. For example, not one of them would say that it is okay to abuse a baby. I don’t believe that any one of them would say that it was okay that Hitler, though he was seeking to advance his own race, tried to completely exterminate the Jews. None of them would agree that would it be right if a family found themselves stranded in the desert, for the father to drink all the water supply and let his family perish? However, any framework of morality is impossible to support unless there is a Source for that morality. And of course, for proper morality to exist, that Source would have to be perfect, authoritative, and all powerful. The only logical conclusion for the existence of right and wrong is the existence of the Perfect, Supreme, Lawgiver: God.

In fact, if there is no God, then there is no moral accountability for a person’s actions. But, a naturalistic interpretation of the universe cannot support moral law. As Craig put it, “If life ends at the grave, it makes no difference whether one lives as a ‘Stalin’ or as a ‘saint’. ”  We cannot be truly good apart from the existence of God. If He does not exist, then we are not bound by a right or a wrong. There is no basis for any standard of morality.

Let’s recap. While these arguments are important, they are only supports in a belief system. Our first line of defense and our primary rule of witness is the Word of God and the testimony of truth in our own lives which is confirmed by the Holy Spirit. However, in our age, these questions will arise. When they do, may we have the patience, preparation, and unction to witness to the whole world that God is there, He gave His Son to save us from eternal destruction and even ourselves, and he is reaching out to have a relationship with those who will seek Him.