How Do You Know God Exist?

How do you respond when someone asks about your belief in God?  Do you become defensive, do you go into combat mode, become intimidated?  None of these extremes are necessary.  The Bible tells us that when we are presented with an opportunity to speak concerning the hope in us, we should “not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, . . . . . always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:14-15).

 I’ve been asked this question a few times – “If you can’t see God, how can you believe in Him?”  My response is there are many things we believe in that we cannot see.  I believe in gravity.  You can say you do not, but if you jump off the top of a high-rise building, you’ll experience something you cannot see, and you just may change your mind regarding its existence.

Some people assume that in order to believe in God we must check our brains at the door of the church and take a blind leap of faith.  God has never asked us to have a blind faith.  He invites us to come and consider Him and His truth, “Come let us reason together,” He says.  We can offer good reasonable answers for our faith in God.  By contrast, it is the atheist who has taken the blind leap of faith when they have rejected the existence of God without ever investigating the evidence around them.  By the way, there is no evidence to prove that there is no God—it is an argument from silence.  If challenged, an honest skeptic will have to admit he has no proof that God does not exist.

“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” (Romans 1:20).

We can prove that He does.

We may not be able to draw a picture of God for the skeptic, but we can give them some logical proof of His existence.  One of the proofs we can use for God has four points—remember CADO and you will always have an answer for the hope that is in you.

    Creation—every time you see an airplane, an engine, a motorcycle, or a car, you know it has a creator.

    Art— every time you see a piece of art, you know it has an artist.

    Design— every time you see a wristwatch, you know it has a designer.

    Order—every time you see order, like ten cans lined up on a counter, you know it has an “order-er.”

When we look around at the universe, what do we see?  We see creation, art, design, and order.  If everything else has a creator, artist, designer, and order-er behind it, isn’t it reasonable to expect that behind this incredibly intricate, complicated, and marvelous universe there is also a Creator, Artist, Designer, and Order-er behind it? 

The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe but sustains it today.  The Earth…its size is perfect.  The Earth’s size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth’s surface.  If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury.  If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.  Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.

The Earth is located the right distance from the sun. If the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze.  Any closer and we would burn up.  Even a fractional variance in the Earth’s position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible.  Do you really think that was just an accident?  Not only that but our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational pull.  The moon creates important ocean tides, so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from spilling over across the continents.

The Big Bang

Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang.  This was the singular start to everything that exists: the beginning of the universe, the start of space, and even the initial start of time itself. The universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion.  The universe has not always existed. It had a start…what caused that? Or better question is Who caused that?  Scientists have no explanation for the sudden explosion of light and matter.  The Bible does, Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Genesis 1:3 (NKJV).  To believe in some haphazard explosion that resulted in such a precision order, is like saying I placed a firecracker in a box of toothpicks and when it exploded it resulted in a perfect functioning wooden house with doors and windows. 

The anthropologist finds a rock with evidence that it had at one time, long ago, been shaped into a tool and he uses it as proof of human civilization existing in ancient history.  It has a few scratches on it, which indicates that it was intentionally shaped for a purpose.  Then he looks at the infinitely more complex design of man and does he remain consistent with his investigative protocol and conclude there must have been some intelligent designer behind the human being?  No.  Since he’s already decided that God does not exist, he concludes that man must have somehow come into existence apart from any outside intervention, he must have just crawled out from under a rock—maybe the same rock he then learned to make into this tool!  “See,” he says, “these things don’t just happen on their own. The scratches on this rock prove there was an intelligence and designer behind it.”

All I’m asking for is reason and consistency.  Creation equals Creator, art equals Artist, design equals Designer, order equals an “Orderer”. (BTW- I know that’s not a real word).  God does not force us to believe in him, though He could.  Instead, He has provided sufficient proof of His existence for us to willingly respond to Him.  The billions of people who attest to knowing God personally, the gnawing in our hearts and minds to know if God is there, are proof of His existence and His willingness for us to know Him through Jesus Christ.