Does God Exist?

            Is there a God? Are we a great cosmic accident or have we been placed here purposefully? This is the great question of our age and one that carries with it more consequences than any other. The answer to this question affects every aspect of our lives, be it morality, finances, ethics, politics, or our relationships. It is a question that desperately needs to be answered.

             But is there an answer? Can we know if God exists? Can we meet the standard set by our court system; “proof beyond a reasonable doubt”? I think we can. All that is needed is a willingness to think with an open mind and look at the evidence logically.

                         Let’s start at the beginning. There is a misconception today that says science and religion are incompatible. Why? If science is a search for the truth, why can’t we find truth in religion if that’s where it lies? Many scientists believe that science should only look for naturalistic explanations but isn’t the truth the truth whether it is natural or supernatural. This desire for purely naturalistic explanations results in the discounting of numerous evidences that should be pursued by the scientific community in their search for truth.  Let’s look at some.

             Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Edwin Hubble’s studies on galaxies and redshifts (Distant galaxies seem to be moving directly away from us: the farther away they are, the faster they seem to move.  If the distance between galaxies is growing then everything must have been much closer together at one time) led to the development of the “Big Bang Theory”. I am not a believer in this theory for reasons that are much too complicated for this paper, but it does beautifully illustrate the scientific communities desire to explain all things naturalistically. For years science had told us that the universe had always been here, that there was no “beginning”, but now we had indications of a beginning, irrefutable evidences of a beginning! Now, the naturalist had a huge problem: If the universe began to exist, something had to cause it to exist. This is self evident. If an egg begins to cook it is because heat has been applied, this paper began because I started typing. A building begins only when someone breaks ground. Etc.. Now if the universe began to exist, something outside of the universe had to have caused it to exist. This has so far stumped the scientific community who are wedded to naturalism. Contrary to the “beginning” that the empirical evidence shows, they do their best to say that there was no real beginning at all but that all of the matter in the entire universe was compressed into an infinitesimally small space. Smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, but they fail to explain the mechanism that could reverse the enormous gravitation that this would produce. Or they say that there are actually many universes (isn’t that an oxymoron?), but this skips the question of what started ours. Or that there there is a “universe generator” churning out universes by the millions, or maybe even  a “yo-yo” universe that expands and contracts, expands and contracts, over and over.

           Doesn’t it make more logical sense to look at the evidence that says the universe began to exist, therefore something or someone outside of the universe caused it to begin? And this “causer” by definition would have to be God. Even in all their cleverness to explain the beginning without reference to a Creator, they simply push the inevitable back; what started the universe generator? Who is holding the string on the yo-yo? What caused the small ball of matter with a density and gravitational pull many times larger than all the black holes combined, to very suddenly reverse the Law of Gravity and expand? We are always left with the question: What/Who?   I think Ray Comfort says it best: “How do we know there is a painter, because the painting exist. How do we know there is a builder, because the building exist, and how do we know if there is a Creator? Because creation exist!” So, now that logic shows us that we have a cause or creator of the universe we need to look at the attributes of the universe to see what we can determine about this causer/creator.

    Does the universe show evidence of organization or is it totally unorganized and haphazard?  If disorganization rules that would suggest an impersonal, accidental, unthinking “god/cause/creator”. If however there is evidence of organization, order, laws, etc. that would mean a personal, thinking, purposeful god/cause/creator. Suppose we explode dynamite in a pile of building materials. What result could we expect? The Taj Mahal; or even a chicken coop? No, we would expect to simply rearrange the pile of material in a much more disorderly fashion. In order for us to build a building, even something as small and simple as a bird house requires us to arrange those building materials in a systematic, organized fashion. So, what about our universe? Is it haphazard or organized? In Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez and Dr. Jay Richards excellent book “The Privileged Planet” we discover that not only is the universe organized to an exacting set of specifications and mathematical precision^* but that the earth itself gives every appearance of being specifically designed to not only support life but to provide the optimal location and conditions necessary for that life to conduct scientific exploration.^**

             In short what we see not only in the universe but also in the complexities of life, down even to the molecular level is a degree of complex organization that is so astounding in its precision that the only conclusion we can reach is that the god/cause/creator of the universe and life possesses an intelligence far beyond our capabilities. In other words the cause of the universe is a god with intelligence, personality, cognizant reasoning and purpose to his actions.  And since that is the case, the next logical question is: Who is this god?

             Humans from the very beginning have asked themselves this question. And have come up with many varied answers, some frightening and others very amusing. Let’s take a brief look at some of the major contenders:

             Mormonism teaches that God used to be a man on another world and that he became a god by following the laws of his god on his home world.  By following God’s laws as interpreted by the Mormon Church we too can become gods and create and rule our own worlds. I think we can rule this one out since our knowledge of this religion is dependent on some magic rocks (which have conveniently disappeared). These rocks glowed when placed in a hat. Joseph Smith would put his face in the hat and dictate the word that the rocks gave him. Not very plausible I think. Mormonism also fails to address the creator question. It is just an endless parade of men becoming gods and creating their own worlds. In other words, the universe has no beginning. Since we’ve already determined that it did Mormonism is out

             Buddhism teaches that there is no god or creator. That the universe has evolved through natural law. That truth has been given through the ages by various Buddha’s. Salvation is dependent on individual effort, and every living thing is subject to the law of karma (cause and effect) that controls the cycle of reincarnation. Aside from the obvious contradictions inherent in Buddhist teachings; i.e. if there is no god then why is there a soul to be reincarnated? Why does karma exist? With no god then there can be no karma” We’ve already discovered there must be a creator so we can safely dispense with Buddhism.

             Hinduism is much harder to define than the others because of its wide number of practices and teachings. It is a conglomeration of many religious beliefs and practices containing upwards of 3 million gods and goddesses. Consequently salvation is equally hard to quantify, although one commonality exists and that is that salvation depends on our effort or adherence to rituals, laws etc.  Although precisely which rituals or laws are anyone’s guess, ask 100 Hindus and you’ll get 100 different answers. Hinduism like Buddhism fails to address the creator issue. In one of its very few universal teachings Hinduism states that the universe is eternal and in fact is itself a god. Once again, since we clearly know that the universe had a beginning out goes Hinduism as a contender.

         There are numerous other religions; Shinto, Wicca, New Age etc... that space does not permit discussion of, but they all have one thing in common. They all fail to address the creation of the universe in a plausible manner consistent with empirical scientific data.  

             That brings us to the only serious contenders that we have; Judeo/Christianity and Islam.  Both state that an all knowing, all powerful God created the universe. This matches what we can observe, the orderly and incredibly complex preciseness of nature.  Both trace their roots back to common beginnings. They teach the same basic facts about human moral behavior. There is really only one thing that separates one from the other and that is the nature of salvation and our interaction with God. 

             Let’s think logically for a minute. If God is all powerful and all knowing. If He is greater than and exists outside of the universe as required by the fact that He created the universe (additionally, He must exist outside of time and space since we know that these also had a beginning). And if God took such care in his creation, designing it to exacting specifications in order to create and sustain life, then logically He must be intimately concerned with the life that He created and have a purpose for those creatures. So for any belief system to say that a God who is intimately concerned with his creation would require those creatures to find or earn their own way to Him is by any logical analysis doomed to failure.

           We, being bound by this universe, and limited by the four dimensions (width, breadth and depth and space-time) that we exist in cannot possibly find or get to God. He exists outside of these boundaries! We being infinitely inferior to God in every imaginable way cannot possibly offer deeds that merit our notice and salvation.  This is what Islam requires of its adherents. Only Biblical Christianity, growing out of and fulfilling Judaism, is about God’s effort to come to man through the incarnation of Jesus Christ the very one who created the universe and everything in it including us. He became a man in order to introduce us to our Creator.

 Logic demands that the God who created us desires a relationship with us, logic demands that by His very nature God must be perfect and holy. Logic also shows that we have fallen short of perfection and holiness through sin and are separated from God. But following logic to its conclusion it also shows us that by His very nature God would seek to restore that severed relationship. Logically He had to make provision for the restoration of the relationship. Only Jesus did this by dying on the cross. Thus the only logical conclusion is that; yes there is a God, yes that God cares about me and yes Jesus is the one who came to show us God. And yes, Jesus is the one who paid the price for our redemption. As He said in His own words: “ I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.”

^*  The Speed of Light, Gravity, Physics, Geometry, Nuclear Fusion etc.. Are all required for the universe to exist. The slightest variation in any one of numerous natural laws or mathematical principles would not allow the universe to achieve any organization.

^* * Spiral Galaxy, Optimal place in the Galaxy, Clear atmosphere etc…