The Existence Of God

The Existence of God

Text: Genesis 1.1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Thesis: To prove that God exists; therefore, man must obey Him.

Introduction:

(1) In today’s world, humanistic theories such as evolution have caused many people to doubt the validity of God’s existence.

(2) Nevertheless, God still does exist, but how does one go about proving His existence?

(a) Does one go to the Bible to prove God’s existence?

i. If so, then, in reality, one would be arguing in a circle.

ii. For example, one who believes in Islam might say that he/she knows that Allah exists because the Koran says so and then if asked about the authority of the Koran, he/she might respond by saying, “It’s Allah’s word.”

iii. Substitute God for Allah and the Bible for the Koran and you get the point (Gilmore).

(b) One proves God’s existence by looking at the evidence everywhere that he/she looks.

i. “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” (Rom. 1.20).

ii. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge” (Ps. 19.1-2).

(3) We shall look at three arguments for the existence of God:

Discussion:

I. The Teleological Argument Proves the Existence of God.

A. This is better known as the design argument.

1. It was popularized by men such as William Paley who demonstrated it by noting that if a watch is found to have clear-cut evidence of design, then it must have a watchmaker.

2. Henceforth, if concrete evidence of design can be found, then there must be a designer (i.e., God).

3. The Hebrew writer states it as follows: “For every house is built by some man; but he that built all things is God” (Heb. 3.4).

B. It is best seen demonstrated by examining two realms: 1) Inorganic; and 2) Organic.

1. First, the inorganic realm will be examined by noting the earth’s location in the universe.

a. The location of the earth is in just the right spot to receive the correct amount of heat and radiation.

(1) The sun’s interior temperature is estimated at over twenty million degrees Celsius with the earth located ninety-three million miles away from it.

(a) If the earth were ten percent closer to the sun, then there would be too much heat upon the earth.

(b) If it were ten percent further away from the sun, then there would not be enough heat upon the earth.

(2) Did this design occur by chance or by a designer?

b. The rotation of the earth provides clear examples of design.

(1) The earth is moving around the sun at 70,000 miles per hour while rotating on its axis at 1,000 miles per hour at the equator.

(2) It departs from a straight line by just one-ninth of an inch every eighteen miles.

(3) Mankind would either burn to death if the earth were to depart from that line by one-eighth of an inch or would freeze to death if it were to depart by one-tenth of an inch.

(4) Did this design occur by chance or by a designer?

c. As one said, “Everywhere we look are found examples of design so intricate and so interdependent that they could have been produced only by supernatural intelligence and only according to a marvelous, overall plan” (Castell).

2. Second, the organic realm will be examined by noting the design of the human eye.

a. Charles Darwin himself said, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.”

b. As one evolutionist wrote, “It is hard to accept the evolution of the eye as a product of chance […] The eye appears to have been designed; no designer of telescopes could have done better” (Jastrow).

c. How does the human eye exemplify design?

(1) It can handle 1.5 million simultaneous messages.

(2) It gathers eighty percent of all knowledge that is absorbed by the brain.

(3) A person would have to walk fifty miles each day to get the muscles in the leg to get the same amount of exercise as does the human eye.

(4) The probability of this evolving “has never been observed and will never be observed by any human in the entire universe” (Borel).

(5) Charles Darwin even admitted, “To suppose that they eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest sense.”