On Sunday morning, if the Lord wills, our plan is to study the creation account of Genesis 1 to see what we can learn about who God is. There are many in our increasingly secular world who deny not only the historicity of the six days of creation but also the existence of a Creator. As Christians, we need to be prepared to have conversations with those who do not believe in God’s existence. We need to make sure that our faith is rooted in not only feeling, emotion, and experience but also fact and evidence. While far from being exhaustive, I would like to provide three pieces of evidence of the existence of God that I hope will be helpful to you
First, let’s consider the “Cosmological Argument” for the existence of God. This is based heavily upon the Law of Cause and Effect. Whatever begins to exist must have an adequate cause that precedes it. Based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics (which states that everything is running down and wearing out), we are able to understand that the universe is not eternal; it certainly had a beginning. Eternal entities do not wear down. If the universe has had an infinite amount of time and everything is in the process of wearing down, it would have certainly worn down by now. The universe must have a beginning. Therefore, the beginning of the universe must have a cause. This first cause must either be from natural forces or God. Prior to the beginning and first cause of the universe, there was no time, space, matter, or energy. In this kind of state, how could a first event occur by natural forces? If the first cause of the universe was from natural forces, where did those forces come from? Something cannot come from nothing. Therefore, the first cause of the universe must have been a personal, all-knowing, all-powerful God.
Second, let’s consider the “Teleological Argument” for the existence of God. This is based on the concept of design. If the universe demonstrates design, then there must be a Designer. Does the universe demonstrate design? Consider the distance of the earth from the sun. If the earth were 10% closer to the sun or 10% farther from the sun, human life would not be possible. Consider the complexity of the genetic code found within the DNA of each cell in each human body (there are about 100 trillion cells within each human body). Looking at the universe, the earth, the human body, and the animal kingdom, one can see obvious design. There is no poem without a poet. There is no painting without a painter. A symphony does not happen without a musical composer. This article did not write itself; the existence of this article demands the existence of a writer. In the same way, the design of the universe demands an intelligent Designer. How could the vastness and beauty of our universe come into existence through random processes?
Third, let’s consider the “Moral Argument” for the existence of God. Is it always wrong to walk into a house, steal everything in it, and murder the owners of it? Is it always wrong for an adult to torture an innocent child? Was Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime wrong for what they did in the WWII era? Was Jeffrey Dahmer wrong for the crimes that he committed? You cannot answer those questions with a definite, objective “yes” if you do not believe in the existence of God. If there is objective right and wrong in the universe, then there must be a Lawgiver upon which those laws are based. If you do not believe in the existence of God, you can say that you do not like or approve of something, but you cannot declare it to be morally wrong because you have no basis or foundation for morality. All that you have is your opinion. What makes your opinion any better than anyone else’s opinion? Objective moral statements can only be made if there is an intelligent God who has told us what is right and wrong.
While there are certainly other ideas, concepts, and evidences that we could consider here, these three evidences are all based on what Paul teaches in Romans 1:20, which says, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” We can look at the world around us and know that there is a God. We have no excuse for not believing in God because God can be seen in what He has made.
Every day, “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Genesis 1 reveals the God who is the ultimate cause of, source of design for, and reason of morality for the entire universe.
-Tyler Alverson
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