God Exists
How well do you know your Creator? Do you really believe in our Creator and all that He is? Did God create everything or are we living in chaos by random chance?
If we simply look around us at all that “nature” offers, we see evidence that everything indicates there has to be a creator. Yes, there is a high degree of pandemonium in this world. Certainly, there are storms. For sure, some suffer from famine. Yes, there are murderers, thieves, and evils swirling all around us. But the interaction of all Earthly facets and our perfect positioning within the universe proves we are engaged in a divinely led, interlocking cohesiveness. All this speaks to the providential power that has been and is still being directed by the will and the spoken word of our God.
Ever since Galileo, the brilliant astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, and engineer, was convicted of heresy in 1633, there has been controversy over our world's creation.
Do you remember Galileo's crime? The Catholic Church had decided the idea that the sun moved around the Earth was an absolute fact that could not be disputed, despite the reality that scientists had proclaimed for centuries that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Ever since the 17th century, the disparity between religion and science has continued to vary. The main discord revolves around the origin of the universe.
Some argue that God does not exist. Many scientists contend that the entire universe's creation was because of a sudden, giant explosion in an empty void that occurred 14 billion years ago. Just as a short side note: Did you ever attend any fireworks extravaganza of giant explosions that created any water? Can you, as an ordinary person with reasonable intellect, see the defects within the concept of Big Bang theory?
The start of the universe, as the Big Bang theory describes it, is a representative example of trying to deny God's plan and power. According to the Big Bang theory, the expansion of the observable universe began with the explosion of a single particle at a definite point in time. As Christians, we can totally agree with that. Except for Who caused everything. Without God there was nothing.
The term “Big Bang” was sarcastically coined in 1949 by Fred Hoyle, a physicist in a BBC radio broadcast. Unknown to many, the Big Bang theory was actually formulated by a Roman Catholic priest in 1931. His name was Georges Lemaître. He was devoted to theology, as well as the astronomical and mathematical sciences. In the early 20th century, the Aristotelian conception of our universe was that it was static and unchanged. When Lemaître proposed the model of an expanding universe, he was ahead of Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, and other influential scientists of that time.
But the next questions we must tackle are these. If an eternal Creator exists, and the Bible records that He does, what kind of Creator is He? Is He the source of all the incredible interactions affecting our world? Can we positively deduce His many characteristics? In other words, can we understand God's role by the origin of our universe and its symmetry of continuance? The answer is an emphatic yes. Yes, we can. So let's discuss the following topics.
Our God is supernatural, He created time, space, and all things within.
Our Bible tells us in the very first line of Genesis: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I personally take this to mean the entire universe. John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Also, Psalm 33:5-11 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. God made everything and controls the plans of man!
Our God is exceedingly powerful and wise.
Jeremiah 10:12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
Our God is everlasting.
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
Our God is personal.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God doesn’t simply send a guardian angel to hold your hands. Our God of heaven and earth promises to personally support us. This is a non-literal expression of his closeness to us and his personal caring. He says that we are not to fear because he will personally assist us – “I am the one who helps you.” For this reason, we need not fear or be dismayed when facing tough times.
Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah is speaking of the rivers of hardship and uncertainty we walk through. Our troubles and trials, if you will? Then, as they are today, the leaders of any given country are the root causes of untold evil and turmoil. Can I get an Amen? But God has promised, “I will be with you.” Personally, as He did in the middle of the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Psalm 32.8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. This is one of life's great verses. God himself, the fountain of infinite wisdom and knowledge, promises to personally give instruction to his children. How does he do that? He never slumbers nor sleeps. And He counsels us day by day, constantly watching over our every step.
1 Peter 5.6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. God isn’t so busy controlling all the stars and planets in the universe that he doesn’t make time for your worries. He told us to cast all our anxieties on him. Why? Because He cares about you and yours. He cares about you in your daily life. He cares that you would have joy and peace for your everlasting soul.
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. Talk about intimacy! Jesus calls us his friends! Intimate friends. Friends are close and share with each other. And Jesus makes known to us his Father’s will, words, and ways.
These things being true, I ask if any religion in the world describes such a Creator. The answer to this is yes, the Christian religion. The God of our Bible fits this profile perfectly. Only He is supernatural, powerful, wise, everlasting, and personal.
But what many pastors and people refuse to think about is our next subject.
Our God is to be feared.
Many people often parrot a familiar cliche, “I’m a God-fearing person,” Which is often an outright lie! You can read that many celebrities say this all the time. Do you believe that God has shut the door on a few of them? By His grace, we have free will. Some use that liberty in the darkest of ways, not believing in God. The way you live your life is the continuing evidence that you are, in word and deed, a practicing Christian. Faithful evidence by which you will be judged for all eternity.
As a prison Chaplain, I've seen more than one tattoo displaying, 'Fear God'. Usually on repeat offenders. Do you think they really feared God? I don't, not in their earlier lives, by any measure. The consequences that umpteen people go through, like addiction, aids, financial troubles, health problems, prison, unplanned out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and more, are because they don’t fear God. If Jesus looked at our town, right now, how many folks would be categorized as liars and hypocrites? Is your heart as clean as right as it should be?
Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
Matthew 15:8 These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Yes, sometimes God slams the door shut on people. He foresees they will never change. Sometimes the Holy Spirit stops warning people, and the devil says, “Do you want to steep in your sin? Go ahead and go for it.” God closes the door to a joyful eternity in heaven. He slams the door shut on some people! He gives them over to Satan for their sin. If they want adultery, covetousness, cursing, drunkenness, envy, fornication, gluttony, greed, homosexual acts, illegal drugs, lust, lying, pornography, pride, sloth, stealing, and wrath, they can keep at it! For all have been duly warned by the Ten Commandments. If you deny God and have no faithfulness, you are doomed. God shuts the door and gives them over to their corrupt activities.
Worst yet, in some folk's minds, is that God destroyed whole cities including Amalek, Babalon, Gomorrah, Nineveh, and Sodom. We know individual sinners were also summarily put to death by God's hand. Er, the firstborn of Judah the patriarch, was put to death Eternal for his unspecified wickedness. Abihu and Nadab, the sons of Aaron the High Priest were immediately executed for their foolishness. And we all knew Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt simply for looking back.
Phinehas and Hophni, sons of a High Priest, had illicit sex with some women who came to worship and both were executed on the same day because of their many sins. Uzzah, a Levite helping escort the Ark of the Covenant for King David, was killed instantly when, without thinking, Uzzah touched one side of the gold-plated wooden chest to steady it. Hananiah, a false prophet who led the people to believe lies. Hananiah was executed within a year after being told by the prophet Jeremiah that he would be punished for his sins.
Saul, Israel's first king disobeyed God and was cursed to lose a fierce war where God caused him to forfeit his life in battle. Nabal was a wealthy, but harsh man God executed. Nabal refused to provide desperately needed supplies to David, the future king of Israel, and his army of men. Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel was struck down because of his many sins, chief of which were leading the people away from the true God. King Jehoram, the fifth ruler of the Kingdom of Judah was allowed to contract a fatal bowel disease due to his wicked disobedience.
The list continues in the New Testament as well: Ananias and his wife Sapphira were New Testament believers. After selling some land, they decided to give the church part of the proceeds but told everyone that they donated the entire amount of the sale. After confronting each one separately regarding their lies and selfish attitudes, Paul told us they were executed through the power of the Holy Spirit.
An angel of the Lord was sent to kill Herod Agrippa for elevating himself like a god. This man murdered Apostle James and tried to kill Peter. All these and no doubt countless others not mentioned here were executed or caused to die by God for their sins!
Our God is the God to be feared. Yet, God would rather all nations and all people turn to Him and be saved. Our Lord God does not judge harshly because He is some kind of offensive cretin who enjoys inflicting death and pain. His heart grieves when people refuse His love, as told in Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live…”
The New Testament tells us, that although God gives us the power of choice, He would much prefer everyone chose Him, 1 Timothy 2:3-4 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Bible also tells us that He has done everything it takes to provide the way for us to have our sins forgiven and to be reconciled to Him. The rest is up to us individually and to help others see the Way.
The message of God’s offer of forgiveness is found all through the pages of the Bible. If you read it with the Right Spirit. The clearest Old Testament presentation is found in Second Chronicles, 7:14,“…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” We must each make our individual choice.
Why are there so many militant atheists and activists who live like the devil and think that they are good people, people qualified to go to heaven? It’s a terrible thing to know that for some people who read this, God is going to have the golden gate guarded against their entrance. For they are given over to sin and damned to Hell.
Romans 1:28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done.
Luke 13:25-27 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets' and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’
Unfortunately, there are arguments against the existence of God. But all are flawed.
The Big Bang explanation is a very expedient belief if you want to set your own guidelines and justify acting on your sinful desires and behaviors. You can use the Big Bang theory to believe that there is no Creator God to be accountable to. After all, Science, with the capital 'S', is built on facts, is it not? Except, those 'facts' seem to change often. Christianity, and many other religions, are more firm and insist on the belief that the beginning of the universe was and is God's divine creation.
The Big Bang hypothesis was initially resisted by atheists for being too “religious.” In their opinions, the idea of a universe directed by a supreme being is too strongly supported in the Bible. Many atheists assert the Believer’s positions on faith and God are unsound. They often broadcast that we are fools. How justifiable are these positions of the atheists? The primary atheist claim is, “There is no God,” is what “atheist” means by definition. Is it is not reasonable to turn the question around and back to them?
Basically, there are only two options to choose from. Either there is a God or there is not. No other options are argued here. Most, if not all, atheists use evolution, primarily Evolution of the Species, to support their dogma. It has been proven that type of evolution is false. Since The Evolution of the Species is a total falsehood, then atheism has no substantive foundation.
Charles Darwin, the recognized father of evolution theories used a book called “Principles of Geology” to support his theory, particularly regarding timelines of the Earth's substrata. Charles Lyell, who was a self-proclaimed atheist, wrote that volume. His book is where the geologic column time periods are named; Jurassic and Triassic. It is also where the dates of 'millions of millions of years' were adopted. These dates and titles were simply contrived artificially by that man's imagination. Here's the momentous proof of his problem. Oopsie Boopsie, Lyell's book was published in three volumes from 1830–1833, while the first 'scientific' dating, the radiometric method, was not even developed until 1905!
Evolutionists claim that the battle is science versus creationism. What the true reality is, the arguments are more along the lines of science versus atheism. That's because many scientists confirm the existence of God.
The theory of evolution is based on circular thinking and theories. Which means they are all made up in the minds of men! There are no evidentiary facts of any kind that truly support their beliefs. I know it is hard to 'prove' a negative, but atheists seem to have a force field that negates common sense and logical reasoning.
The atheists have been fooled throughout 'Modern Times.' From Nebraska Man to Piltdown Man. From Cro-Magnon to Neanderthal, Java Man to Peking Man, Ramapithecus to Lucy, they have all been found to be nothing more than the imagination of atheists and evolutionists in a desperate attempt to justify their incorrect beliefs. Since most of us have never heard of 'Ramapithecus', let's delve into that one as a representative example of how atheists grasp at straws later to be found false. Not only by the Bible but by science itself.
The Ramapithecus, a primate fossil, was said to date from 16 million to 5 million years ago. For a time in the 1960s and ’70s, Ramapithecus was purported to be a distinct link as the first direct ancestor to Homo sapiens (humankind) before it was actually identified as that of an orangutan's ancestor.
The first Ramapithecus fossils were fragments of an upper jaw and some teeth. These were discovered in 1932 in fossil deposits in the Siwalik hills of northern India. No significance was attached to those fossils until 1960 when Elwyn Simons of Yale University began studying them and fitting the jaw fragments together. Solely, on the basis of his opinionated observations of the shape of the jaw and contours of the teeth he declared these were the missing transition fossil links proving an ape evolved into a man. Simons advanced the theory that Ramapithecus represented the first step in the evolutionary divergence of humans coming from the common apes of that bygone age. Oh, how the atheists went ape and on a twitter over this. Hip-hooray! Yay, they had hard evidence of the evolution of species. Or so they thought.
Simons’ theory soon gained wide acceptance among anthropologists. The superficially tabulated age of the fossils, about 14 million years, fit well with the then-prevailing notion that an ape-human split had occurred 15 million years ago. The first challenge to the erroneous theory came in the late 1960s from American biochemist Allan Wilson and American anthropologist Vincent Sarich, who, at the University of California, compared the molecular chemistry of the blood proteins, among various animal species.
They concluded that the ape-human divergence must have occurred much later than Ramapithecus. Understand this; when scientists proved the 'fossil evidence' wrong, they still didn't give up. They just changed the date by a few million years to support a new theory and newly 'discovered' timeline. It was then thought that mankind evolved from an ape but that took place 6 to 8 million years ago. See, still no hard evidence, but yet a new theory is developed and accolades are passed all around.
Of course, retractions are never publicized with the same fervor. Or never published at all. So it's very appropriate to segue to the 'timelines' used to date fossils and sedimentary layers of this earth.
Interestingly enough, all sedimentary rock layers were formed by water evaporating! Think about that—water was everywhere. It covered all the earth, just as the Bible reports! Atheists deny the Biblical flood. Yet, there is physical evidence that completely negates their denial of the actual facts. Perfectly petrified trees are found in several locations around the world. The trees protrude, unimpaired thru multiple rock stratum, showing finite details such as twigs and petrified leaves. These trees were flooded, then as the water receded, were buried suddenly by layers of different sediments. Through the ages, these timbers turned to stone among the different sediment layers they are found in today. The reason there are different layers is, deposits of different weights settle in layers but not in millions of years. In only days or weeks, mostly. Not millions of years. Take some sand, dirt, and clay and mix it all up in a glass jar. The very next day, you'll see very defined sedimentary layers.
The narrative of God's flood is found in Genesis, chapters 6–9. This report tells of God’s decision to return Earth to its pre-creation state of watery chaos. Only Noah and his family were spared, along with two of every kind of animal by withstanding the tumultuous seas, floating a great ark, for 40 days and nights, that took 125 years to build. Genesis 7:18-19 states: “And the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth, and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered.”
Many scientists, atheists, and every day people have questioned the feasibility of that catastrophic event. One critic actually stated: “For the biblical flood to have happened, Earth's water had to miraculously multiply by about 250 percent.” Did anyone demand to see his calculations? No. Not to my knowledge, and this is neither the first time nor the last time 'science' will deny another one of God's miracles.
Despite this, NASA has confirmed the presence of limestone containing ocean marine fossils at the top of Mount Everest. Mind you, Mount Everest is 29,031 feet above sea level, which is almost five and a half miles high. That is one heck of a lot of water. In 2015, a whale's fossil was found on the mountain slope of Scotts Valley, California. Do atheists recapitulate and admit this was the result of the great flood? No, of course. They theorize all the mountain tops were covered with water from the very beginning. Hello, are they saying the second line of Genesis is factual? In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep (waters).
Now let's ponder another principal point the atheists present. Dating the ages of rock layers?
They use the fossils found in a particular rock layer to date the layer. These are called "index fossils." Here's the quandary. Do you know how they determine the age of these fossils? They use the rock layers that they are found in. The rock layers date the fossils, but the fossils date the rock layers! Did you catch that, does that seem scientific? That is called circular reasoning. Of course, they accused Christians of the same circular logic because we use the Bible to prove the validity of the Bible.
What they don't take into consideration is the Bible is not a singular book. It is an amalgamation of an actual collection of 66 different books written by at least 40 authors, during a time period covering almost 2,000 years. What is more compelling is the Bible accurately represents the history of each individual written time period written, and takes extraordinary care to authenticate itself by providing details that only the eyewitnesses of the day could report. God, not the devil, is in the details.
Since belief in atheism could result in eternal consequences, atheists should produce evidence to support their positions. But they cannot. Atheism simply cannot meet the test for evidence to support the serious charges they make. Instead, atheists and those convinced of their false positions will slide into eternity with their fingers crossed. Their false hope is that they will not be subject to the unpleasant truth that eternity does in fact exist, and they are headed to hell.
Arguments for the existence of God
Celebrity atheists are wide ranging and include people like Mark Zuckerberg, Lance Armstrong, and Jodie Foster. They are in a false alignment with Freud's claim that believers in God have a wish-fulfillment desire. Perhaps it is Freud's followers who actually suffer from wish-fulfillment. They hope and wish that there is no God and, therefore no judgment. They think their 'faithfulness' to the 'there is no god theory' releases them from all accountability. Wow, they are not dead wrong. They will be living wrong—in hell for all eternity. So is belief in God Almighty warranted intellectually? Yes! Are there rational, logical, and reasonable arguments for the existence of God? Absolutely and assuredly.
Freud is refuted by the writings within our Bibles. We know within ourselves the truth. God exists and has always existed. Romans 1:20-23 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—.
You may have heard the watchmaker analogy, which falls into the 'Intelligent Design' argument. Consider this: If you happened to find a watch in the forest, is it logical to conclude that the pieces came there separately and were assembled together by chance, like during a windstorm or flood? No way. Or is it more reasonable to believe that it was made by a master designer who put the parts together in a way that allowed the watch to work?
Most assuredly, we would conclude that there was a watchmaker involved. Getting all those inanimate parts to combine flawlessly entirely by chance is impossible. This analogy argues that since our world is infinitely more complex than a watch, the logical conclusion is that it also has a maker. One with far greater powers and knowledge than we display.
Another facet of the design argument is the exacting, fine-tuning of the ever-expanding, immeasurable universe. In physics and nature, there are numerous constraints that would make life on Earth impossible if they were changed by even a single, infinitesimal amount. Like the gravitational forces constantly affecting the earth. Or the earth's rotational spin or our elliptical revolutions around the sun. The list of things that need to be where they are, and how they are precisely functioning as they are, could overfill a library page by page. Everything must be as it is, and has been for human life to exist. Speaking of life, stop and consider all the systems of your body that must co-function with more delicate attributes than the most complex timepiece ever made? Our body's perfections are evident down to the most rudimentary levels, like the ratio of unbound protons and electrons that make it possible for our DNA to form our bodies. To be who we are.
Francis Crick, the man who won a Nobel Prize for his research on DNA structure, even wrote, “the origin of life appears at the moment, to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” See, even within his words there our bodies are called almost a miracle. Unbelievable!
God has given us many warnings that He will judge our individual sins. The Bible gives us numerous examples of where He has judged sin and what the consequences were. Nevertheless, He has also provided the way that we can be judged righteous and have eternal life. Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins when He died on the cross at Calvary for you and me. The most important choice that could ever be made is ours to make. Everybody will face God’s righteous judgment as sinners or totally forgiven of all sins, thus inherit an eternally joyful life with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. For those who respond to the evidence that a Creator does indeed exist, He offers us the only way to salvation. The way accomplished through the death, glorification, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
I believe it is fitting to close with John 1:12-13. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
