June 1, 2004, Vol.4, No.11.
Two new articles every two weeks.
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us.
THIS ISSUE: "The
Existence of God" (see below)
and "Something Cannot
Come From Nothing"
Series: Evidence for Faith
The Existence of God
guest article by Wayne S. Walker
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He
is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews
11:6).
To please God and receive His reward, it is absolutely essential
that we have faith in Him. Yet, as we saw in the last
article of this series, not all people even believe that
there is a God. One of the purposes of this series on "Evidences
for Faith" is to examine the evidence upon which we can
base a firm belief that God truly does exist.
Certainly, there are limitations in a study demonstrating
the existence of God. The Bible itself makes no formal argument
for God's existence. It is merely a fact that is recognized from
the very first verse on. "In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). Furthermore, man cannot
know of God simply by his own wisdom. Paul wrote, "For since,
in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God,
it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached
to save those who believe." (1 Corinthians 1:21). Such knowledge
can come only from divine revelation.
We cannot prove the existence of God, or any other related
truth, absolutely as we might prove a mathematical equation,
because not everyone would accept our premises. Accepting God
is a matter of faith, just as are many areas of scientific inquiry.
Such faith is not totally subjective, because there is objective
evidence upon which to reach such a conclusion. However, the
decision still remains with the individual who is free to believe
or not to believe. All we can do is to try to show from the evidence
that it is more reasonable to believe in God than not to believe.
At the same time, those who affirm that there is no God can
offer no demonstration or proof for their allegations besides
their own philosophy and reasoning. Surely God wants us to believe
in Him, but how can we decide one way or the other whether there
is a God or not? We ought to have more objective evidence than
one person's experience or another person's philosophy. Is there
any such evidence? I believe that there is. To show the reasonableness
of believing in God to someone who is an unbeliever, we can use
what is called deductive proof. This is a self-evident method
of reasoning that takes axiomatic principles and comes up with
a conclusion. It is used extensively in mathematical and scientific
studies. It can be applied to the search for God as well. And
we shall begin our search in the next
article of this series.
Those who are believers should never be daunted by the attacks
of modern atheistic philosophy, because there is sufficient evidence
for the existence of God, whether the die-hard unbeliever wants
to recognize it or not. We must also remember that when a person
categorically affirms that there is no God, he is obligated to
prove it and he cannot do it. So while we may not be able to
"prove" that God exists, as one might prove a mathematical
equation or a chemical reaction, we can, as pointed out earlier,
show from the evidence that it is more reasonable to believe
in God than to disbelieve. This we shall endeavor to do, and
this believers must do so that good and honest hearts can believe
that "a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing."
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