This article provides an overview of the most compelling reasons to believe in God. Follow-up articles will explore these reasons in greater depth.
It is not possible to prove, beyond any shadow of doubt, the existence of God, much less the Christian God portrayed in the Bible. If we were able to do so, it would undermine the concept of faith, which is critical to Christianity.
As the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews explains: "...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, NKJV) And faith is understood not as certainty, but rather as the "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1, KJV).
Since we are called to faith, Christianity would be self-contradictory if it were possible to prove the existence of God beyond a shadow of doubt. Faith is not possible outside of doubt. In fact, faith involves a conscious decision to set aside doubts and commit to a proposition that can't be proven.
Nevertheless, there is a difference between reasoned faith and blind faith. The Bible does not call Christians to blind faith in God. The Apostle Paul told the church in Thessalonica: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21, KJV) and Peter cautioned that believers should "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you..." (I Peter 3:15, NKJV)
Are there good reasons to believe in God? Are their reasonable grounds to justify faith in God? This article will lay out the leading, basic arguments for God. Future articles will take each of these up in greater detail.
The reader should appreciate these arguments in a cumulative sense. In other words, they should be weighed collectively, not in isolation. None of these arguments is compelling enough as a stand-alone proposition. Taken together, however, you have a formidable case for God - one that the reader should not ignore.
The Cosmological Case for God
Either the universe is illusory (highly unlikely), eternal (largely rejected by modern science), spontaneously generated out of nothing (again, highly unlikely), or the creation of a supernatural, intelligent being. Thus, according to the cosmological argument, God (and different people will, of course, define "God" differently) is the only rational, sensical reason for the origin and existence of the universe.
The Teleogical Case for God
Pioneered by philosopher William Paley, this theory holds that the complexity of the universe demands the presence of an Intelligent Desiger. Paley provided the example of a watch. If one walks through a field and comes across a watch, he naturally concludes that there had to be a watchmaker. The watch didn't just invent itself.
Paley's theory has some weaknesses, many of them pointed out by philosopher David Hume. However, no one has been able to conclusively and objectively prove the spontaneous generation of a complex entity. Absent such evidence, Paley's theory, since it is backed by common sense and observable phenomena, carries considerable weight.
The Ontological Case for God
Philosopher Renee Descartes embraced this theory for God's existence. It essentially goes as follows:
1. Everyone can conceive of God
2. The idea of God is that of an infinite, perfect, and unlimited Being
3. For everything, there must be a cause as great or greater than the effect
4. Therefore, for the idea of God which we have, there must be an infinite, perfect, and unlimited cause
5. But we are not infinite, perfect, or unlimited - and thus could not create such an idea ourselves
6. Therefore there must be a cause outside of ourselves, which is infinite, perfect, and unlimited, which caused the idea of God which we have in our minds
And, thus, we come to the existence of God.
To be sure, the theory has some problems, namely the suspect premise that we can deduce the existence of a being from the idea of a being. Still, there is an elementary appeal in this argument, for it does attempt to articulate and explain the yearning for a divine Being (or Beings) that seems to have characterized a majority of the human population from the dawn of civilization.
The Historical Case for God
What can history teach us about religion? Each and every faith group sprung into existence based on some historical event or series of events. In some case, the "event" is a false claim made by a fraudulent or self-serving "prophet." What about Christianity?
Future articles will explore historical and archealogical evidence, particularly evidence outside of the Bible, that supports some of the basic claims about God in general and Christianity in particular.
The Biblical Case for God
Many Christians have misstated and utterly discredited any allusion to this argument for God. Such Christians argue: "The Bible says God is real. Therefore, He is." Obviously, such an argument is circular and intellectually laughable. That is not the true nature of this argument.
The Biblical case for God comes at us on two levels. First, the uniqueness and nature of the Bible almost begs for a superintending, providential force behind it. Second, the events described in the Bible, if true, can only be explained by the existence of God.
Let's take the first level. The Bible is not really a singular manuscript. It is, in actuality, a collection of books. These books were written by approximately forty different authors over a period of 1,000 years. And, yet they convey a singular theme that undergirds Christianity, defining its characteristics and essential tenets. This is either a remarkable literary coincidence (highly unlikely), a grand conspiracy, or the work of God. If the latter, then the Bible must be understood as the Word of God.
The second level of this particular argument is that the supernatural events described in the Scriptures, if true, must be attributed to God. They simply cannot be anything else. These events include Creation, the parting of the Red Sea, the virgin birth of Jesus, and of course Jesus' resurrection. In addition, these otherwise inexplicable events include the hundreds of prophecies fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus - prophecies written hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
What this all Means
When all these arguments for God are properly understood and taken together, one must acknowledge, at the very least, that belief in God in general, and Christianity in particular, are plausible religious faiths. Not only plausible, but compelling.
We cannot prove, to everyone's satisfaction and beyond all doubt, that God exists or that the Bible is true. But most assuredly, we can show that belief in God is very rational and that the Christian faith is a credible and attractive explanation in understanding who God is.
Our next articles will address each of these arguments for God in greater depth.
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