“Discoveries of the last half of the 20th century have brought the scientific community to the realization that our universe and our planet in the universe are so remarkably unique that it is almost impossible to imagine how this could have happened accidentally, causing many agnostic scientists to concede that indeed some intelligent creative force may be required to account for it.” –Dr. Walter Bradley, Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A & M University
Is it reasonable to believe in God? Can we confidently believe? This is a quick description of some of the keys to unlocking the truth hidden in plain sight. Is there science and evidence to support the existence of God? Of course, but we must be careful. There are a lot of lies and distortions out there. Many try to push this agenda, that it has to be science vs. God. But that is nonsense! God and science are not in conflict. Science or God is a false choice. Don’t subscribe to that. The Christian faith inspired some of the greatest scientists in history. That continues today. Is it reasonable to believe in God? Based on a great deal of inquiry, into multiple disciplines and from the testimony of great men and women over the ages, I do believe it is highly reasonable to believe in God.
In my view the best argument for the existence of God is the argument from design. It screams very loudly from every angle, from the smallest cells in our bodies to the galaxies surrounding the milky way. Every small and large part of life testifies that God exists. Why? Because harmonious complexity does not come from random chance, it never has and it never will. Entropy, and the second law of thermodynamics should make that abundantly clear.
To illustrate the the argument from design: It’s like admiring a beautiful painting, of a lush forest with great mountains in the background. It’s awe inspiring and magnificent. As you walk nearer to inspect the design you start to spot the brush marks on the canvass where the artist, the painter, the designer, brought the painting to life. In the same way, when we inspect the vast, incalculable complexity of the universe, and the cells of the human body, of nature, and the union of intersections all precisely tuned to allow for a natural order, we understand that we are seeing the paint brush strokes of a grand designer, we’re seeing the handiwork of God himself.
Another powerful argument is the Kalam cosmological argument. This argument basically indicates that something can’t come from nothing. Travel back with me to the birth of the universe. The big bang if you believe in such a thing, where did it come from? Who generated the explosion? Nothing can’t trigger a big bang. The universe can’t pop into existence from nothingness, it makes no sense. The cosmological argument indicates that the best explanation for the existence of the universe is that a timeless, eternal, all powerful being created the universe.
To escape from this obvious conclusion atheist scientists will speculate that well, perhaps an infinite number of possible universes all exist at the same time in parallel dimensions and we just happen to be in the one where a perfect harmony was developed to allow for human life to flourish and sustain itself on a planet bearing natural plant life edible to humans with a perfect ecosystem to allow for life, plants, animals, and the planet itself all to sustain one another in a perpetuating circle of life.
They call this the multiverse theory. And the multiverse theory isn’t just ridiculous, it’s down right embarrassing. First, it’s purely speculative to suggest an infinite number of universes all exist. There is no way to test such a theory. Second, Occam’s razor cuts it off immediately as being much too far fetched and exceedingly complicated. It neglects a much more simple, and workable explanation: God. Third, the theory engenders a logical fallacy called special pleading. When cornered with a finely tuned universe, this is the special case scenario being entirely preposterous, is still suggested as an alternative to the elephant in the room: God.
“Is it really credible that random processes could have constructed a reality…which excels in every sense anything produced by the intelligence of man?” –Michael Denton
A God created the universe. Fair enough, which God? Let’s look at the Bible. Is it credible?
“Born in the East and clothed in Oriental form and imagery, the Bible walks the ways of all the world with familiar feet and enters land after land to find its own everywhere. It has learned to speak in hundreds of languages to the heart of man. Children listen to its stories with wonder and delight, and wise men at its warnings, but to the wounded and penitent it has a mother’s voice. It has woven itself into our dearest dreams; so that love, friendship, sympathy, devotion, memory, hope, put on the beautiful garments of its treasured speech. No man is poor or desolate who has this treasure for his own. When the landscape darkens, and the trembling pilgrim comes to the Valley of the Shadow, he is not afraid to enter; he takes the rod and staff of Scripture in his hand; he says to friend and comrade, ‘Goodbye; we shall meet again’; and confronted by that support, he goes toward the lonely pass as one who walks through darkness into light.” –Henry Van Dyke (Quoted by Don Stewart, The Ten Wonders of the Bible, 1990, p. 9)
We have to be careful about the society around us. In going to public schools and then attending the liberal university of Wisconsin colleges network I found that I was being indoctrinated into a worldview. It was a worldview that encouraged skepticism toward the Bible and unquestioning faith in other areas, like liberalism, evolution, post-modernist philosophy, and many other areas. I’m not saying those worldviews and ideologies are necessarily entirely fallacious, but I am indicating that I was taught a sort of devotion to them. A devotion much like the devotion a Christian might have for his worldview.
In my life I’ve found that I must peel away many misconceptions from my mind. I must unlearn so many things that I’ve already learned. I held an unwavering skepticism toward the Bible and an unwavering faith toward my own judgment and discernment. I wanted life to be what I wanted it to be. I ignored the truth. Western society pushes a secular ideology at every turn. You may not realize that many of the beliefs you hold are ingrained from a secular perspective not based on facts, but based on faith in naturalist presuppositions, and secular approaches to all disciplines of life, from psychology to family, to finances, philosophy, and of course science.
“The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from an enormous predisposition against the supernatural.” –Millar Burrows, former Yale University Professor
“All I am in private life is a literary critic and historian, that’s my job…And I’m prepared to say on that basis if anyone thinks the Gospels are either legends or novels, then that person is simply showing his incompetence as a literary critic. I’ve read a great many novels and I know a fair amount about the legends that grew up among early people, and I know perfectly well the Gospels are not that kind of stuff.” –C. S. Lewis
Have you ever heard that before? “The Bible is just a book of legends.” The only problem with that statement is it’s completely false. The Bible is accepted by the vast majority of historians as reliable accounts of historical events.
In conclusion, there is strong, powerful evidence for faith in the God of the Bible. The testimony stretches from presidents, to nobel prize winners, to the best scientists of history, and to some of the greatest minds today. They all indicate that the God of the Bible is real. There are excellent arguments, like the cosmological argument and the argument from design. You may rest assured that Jesus Christ is Lord, and he is alive today. You may rest assured that the Bible is the word of God, and we may place all our trust in the God who cares for us and keeps us in his protection until the day of Christ Jesus. Amen.
“Therefore, when a person refuses to come to Christ it is never just because of lack of evidence or because of intellectual difficulties: at root, he refuses to come because he willingly ignores and rejects the drawing of God’s Spirit on his heart. No one in the final analysis really fails to become a Christian because of lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with God.” –William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, p. 35-36.
