Does God Exist?

Most people believe in God's existence because, using ordinary intelligence, they see evidence pointing in that direction. But can we prove God's existence? We cannot prove God's existence empirically (i.e., scientifically), like we might prove that water freezes at 32º Fahrenheit. But using logic, we can make a compelling—indeed, irrefutable—case for God's existence.

Throughout history, most people have believed in a more-than-human, personal, powerful being. If we agree that humans generally are rational, this universal conviction must rest on some reasonable basis. Several lines of evidence point to God.

Cause and Effect

This logical principle states that every effect must have an adequate cause. This principle underpins science. This law of correct thinking relates to the universe's origin.

It is well established that the universe has not existed forever. Dr. Robert Jastrow (1925–2008) was an internationally known space scientist and a theological skeptic. He argued that modern science denies the universe an eternal existence.

If the universe has not existed forever, how can we explain its origin? There are only two possibilities.

1. It was self-created.
2. Something or someone other than itself created it, and it (whatever it is) is of a different nature than matter.

The fact is, no material thing can create itself. It's a nonsensical idea. If that were possible, where is the evidence? But the first law of thermodynamics argues that physical matter is not presently being created. Since matter could not have formed itself, it must have a non-material source (i.e., a mind).

Great thinkers have concluded that this mind is God.

Design

Another logical principle is called the law of teleology. It contends that when an object reflects a purpose, goal, or design, it must have had a designer. Things do not design themselves. A pair of pliers has two handles (with grippers), a bolt, and a nut. Everyone recognizes the design of this simple tool and rightly concludes that it did not invent itself. Millions of examples of design exist on Earth.

Consider the human body. The body has many intricately designed systems that function in amazing harmony to sustain human life. Life itself is a mystery that cannot be explained naturally. The late Dr. Edwin Conklin, a former professor at Princeton University, compared the so-called accidental creation of life to an explosion in a printing shop that produced an unabridged dictionary!

The human body is a highly organized machine with over 37 trillion cells, each a tiny factory with many components that must work in precise harmony. Is this just an accident? Certainly not! Only the most gullible could believe that.

The average adult has 206 bones. They provide an internal framework that protects the body's vital organs. They also act as levers and attachment points for muscles. Your bones produce chemicals that support your body. If a house cannot build itself, could blind nature build a human body?

The circulatory system contains 100,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries that course through the body, providing your cells with food and oxygen while also removing waste. Does anyone believe the sewage and gas supply systems beneath the city of Los Angeles formed by chance?

The nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves—a tremendously complex arrangement more complicated than the phone system of a major city. It transmits information from the brain to various parts of the body using nerve impulses that travel at 300 miles per hour.

The brain itself stores a vast library of information. Carl Sagan, an atheist, estimated that the human brain has the information equivalent of a library of some 20 million books.

Does anyone believe that the Library of Congress came together by chance?

Reflecting on the brain, Oxford atheist professor Richard Dawkins, commenting on its complexity, exclaimed: "If anyone doesn't agree that this amount of complex design cries out for an explanation, I give up."

Unfortunately, his atheistic view had no explanation.

(For more information on the design of the human body, see The Human Body—Accident or Design?)

Moral Sensitivity

Every human being has an awareness that there is a difference between right and wrong. We may disagree on what constitutes right and wrong, but morality is universal.

How can we explain the presence of morality? There are only two possibilities:

1. The Creator implanted the conscience at the time of humanity's genesis
2. The conscience merely evolved and is a self-imposed ideology.

If man's measure of good and evil is a self-manufactured impulse, then every person is his own god, setting the rules of conduct as he sees fit.

While morality is essential to the order and preservation of society, it by no means restrains the rebel who thinks he can violate common law and do as he pleases. From this point of view, if he escapes the temporal consequences of lawlessness, he has no moral culpability. Atheist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre had it right: "Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist."

The evidence for God's existence is overwhelming. Believe!