Show Me The Proof!

A frequent argument proclaimed by atheists and agnostics is: "There is no proof of God. Show me some proof."

There are many answers to this. I will discuss two in this post.

First, such non-believers do not want to know the truth, so they simply deny the obvious. This has been true ever since the first men walked the earth.

It was true when the Israelites wandered in the desert; one minute in the presence of God, the next minute seeking their own solutions.

It was also true during the life of Christ that men denied who He was.

In Matthew 12:38-45, Jesus talks about those who see Him in the flesh, hear His words, witness His miracles, and still refuse to believe because He would not show them a sign when they demanded one. Christ said to them,

"An evil and adulterous generation craves for a ​​sign; and yet no ​​sign will be given to it but the ​sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as ​Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will ​the Son of Man be ​three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

What Jesus meant by this was that He would not be commanded by them, to show the particular sign that they wanted to see. He is God, not the sinner. He is not slave to the sinner, desperately hoping and waiting to be called upon to demonstrate His abilities. Instead, He says, He will demonstrate His divinity according to His timing, according to His plan. Amazingly, He lets them know exactly what to look for as The Sign: His resurrection from the dead.

Secondly, mankind already has many facts, many signs and many wonders that are certain proof of God's existence, they simply choose to deny them. Here are just a few:

1) Creation demands a Creator. Otherwise you must believe that nothing, with no cause, created everything in an orderly way. Not just animals, but space, time, dust, rocks, water, DNA, order itself, laws, mathematics, gravity, and on and on.

2) Evil demands God. What? Yes, I said that correctly. Here is how: You agree that there is evil in the world? Of course you do. But, how can there be evil unless we agree that there is a standard of good outside your opinion and my opinion? This standard of good must be something other than human, or the opinions of good and evil would vary widely, but they do not. This means there must be a Moral Law Giver who transcends humanity, and established the standard for 'good'. This Moral Law Giver is God.

3) The Bible. OK, I can hear some readers moaning already. You will argue, "You can't prove the existence of God by using the Bible." Why not? Can't I use the symphonies of Bach as proof that he was real, or the writings of Benjamin Franklin as proof that he was real? Of course I can, and therefore I can use the Bible, which claims to be the Word of God, as proof that God exists and caused the Bible to be written down.

4) The resurrection of Christ. Some will immediately say, "But there's no proof of that." Oh, yes, there is. First of all, eyewitness testimony is documented in the Bible (there were over 500 witnesses). Non-Biblical sources from contemporaries also establish that something quite unusual happened in Jerusalem after the crucifixion. They Jews, who tried to end the worship of Jesus, could not produce a body. In addition, the followers of Christ, who scattered widely during His trial and crucifixion, came back - bold and certain of their faith. Finally, the resurrection was such a momentous event in human history that the calendar suddenly changed.

These are just a few of the many proofs of God's existence. The most personal, however, is your conscience.

The word conscience means 'with knowledge'. You know that you have violated God's moral standard (the Ten Commandments) every time you stop and think about them.

Consider: how many lies you have told in your life, how many times you have been unjustly angry with others, how many times you have used God's name in a casual or disgusted way (this is blasphemy), or how many times you have taken something (regardless of value) that did not belong to you? If you have done each, you are a liar, a murderer at heart, a blasphemer, and a thief in God's eyes (and these are just four of the Ten Commandments). You know this is true because God placed the knowledge of His absolute good moral code inside you. Your conscience, which is right now telling you that these are wrong, and that (absent salvation) when you stand before Him on Judgement Day, you will be guilty.

You know it by how you feel: ashamed, perhaps embarrassed, convicted. You also know that guilt demands punishment, and the Bible tells us that the punishment for sin is eternity in hell.

If that concerns you, then you should also know that Christ died on the cross, and was resurrected three days later, just as He said He would, as a sign to you and all of humanity that He is the only way of salvation from the coming judgment. Once you understand this, you need do only two things: repent, and make Christ your Lord.

Repentance means to stop in your tracks, recognize that you are a sinner, that you are tired of a lifestyle as a rebel. You are ready to conform to God's desire: To seek after God; To live for God.

Making Christ your Lord means that you will pray to Him, read His Word (the Bible), and obey His commandments. You recognize that He is in charge and that you are ready to allow Him to control your every thought and deed.

If you are ready to repent and surrender, then cry out to Him in prayer. He will hear the prayer of the repentant. Then, read your Bible and do what it says. Find a local church (you can get help here or here). Living Waters also has some material that may help: Save Yourself Some Pain.

Men frequently deny the obvious. The Bible foretells that although men deny God's existence, they will have no excuse on Judgment Day:

"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

The time to stop denying is now.

The Startling Conclusion About Everything

We've just concluded that there is a Creator. Not based on blind faith or fairy tales, or fear, or even the Bible, but based on reality. The reality that there is reality at all (something rather than nothing) and the reality that all people have a commonly understood set of moral standards which we call The Law.

Just as a particular brush-stroke is evidence of a particular artist, The Law is evidence of the Creator.

Now, it is time to bring the discussion to the Bible and the God described therein.

Why? Because of all the religions, and all the books, the Holy Bible is the one that describes creation in this way, and the one that describes the Creator (God) in this way.

Genesis 1:1, for example, says: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Something, from something... not something from nothing.

Romans 2:15 says, "they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness..." The commonly understood moral code... is inside everyone.

There are numerous other scriptures that touch on these subjects, but the two I've chosen are sufficient to illustrate the point. You may not agree, but I'd urge you to study the question. Don't continue to be led astray by the illogical argument that everything came from nothing. That's blind faith.

The God of the Bible is real. The evidence is all around you (creation), and inside you (your conscience).

What is God like? What are His attributes? They are clearly described in the Bible. They include: all-knowing, all-seeing, just, loving, creative, wise, eternal, holy, and faithful.

If those attributes don't make you uneasy, you're not thinking seriously about their meaning.

For example, suppose you broke the law and were taken into court to stand trial. There is no doubt that you're guilty. What should the judge do... let you go? Of course not. Not if he is a good judge.

When you break The Law (God's Law), which is understood by everyone (which means you know that you've broken it), what should a just and good God do with you?

Uh-Oh.

Just as a good judge would need to carry out the sentence, so will God.

We'll talk more about this next time.

Is There A God?

The next few posts will focus on the questions: Is there a God? If so, who is He?

This posting will begin to answer the question, "Is there a God?"

I think the best introduction to this concept was written by C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity. I've used his outline as my guide for this article.

Some of you may object to my use of a book entitled, Mere Christianity, to introduce this topic. You may argue, "No fair, you're beginning with a starting point of Christianity."

Perhaps, but the fact is, I've studied this question most of my life, and I have arrived at the point of firmly understanding the truth of Christianity. So, even if you think my starting point is biased, I ask that you indulge the discussion with tolerance.

Maybe your patience will be calmed by considering that I'm not asking you to do anything that you don't do every single day. After all, most of the early scientists were Christians. Therefore many of the great scientific discoveries were made by Christians. Yet, you don't refuse to take Penicillin when you're ill, nor do you reject the fact that the planets revolve around the sun, simply because those ideas originate with Christians (Alexander Fleming and Nicolaus Copernicus, respectively). All I ask is that you consider this information so you can make an informed decision.

Let's begin with a simple question: Have you ever argued with someone?

Of course you have. Everyone has. But, why argue?

You argue, because you think you are right and the other person is wrong.

[A quick side note for those of you who make the claim, "There is no right or wrong." If you have ever had an argument (and you know you have), you have proven that you are wrong. Even the statement, "There is no right or wrong," is hypocritical (is that statement right, or wrong?).]

But even more important, you argue with others because you wish the other person to understand that you are right. But what do you base your position upon? C.S. Lewis stated that this position is based on a commonly understood standard of right and wrong. A standard understood by everyone, everywhere.

The proof is so obvious that most people don't even think about it, and that is: sometimes, the other person agrees with you.

Think about that. You disagree with someone. You argue. You point out where they are wrong, and they agree with you. Clearly you can only reach agreement when the other person shares your standard for what is right, and what is wrong.

For brevity, I'll assume that you see the point. We can now agree on the existence of the fact that there is a commonly understood standard of right and wrong. Let's call the standard for right, "Law".

The fact that people disobey these laws does not prove that they do not exist, only that people disobey them. Nor is is acceptable to claim that differences in laws prove there is no universal standard. The differences in laws we find from place to place are more anomalies than opposites.

We are currently witnessing an example of this principle. The 2008 Olympics are winding down in Beijing, China. There are a number of athletes and tourists from around the world gathered together in and around the host city. But we don't witness chaos, we see cooperation. Why? Because humanity has a common in-born agreement of what the laws of behavior are.

Of course, none of us are very good at keeping these laws. Worse, when we break them, we make excuses to justify our behavior. Watch any child who just stole a cookie from the cookie jar to see this in action. Watch the creativity for explaining the action away, denying what happened, or describing why the theft is reasonable. Why? Because our inner sense of the law tells us we must explain our poor adherence to the law. We twist reason and fact to try to convince ourselves and others that if not for a set of factors outside of our control, we'd be wonderful people in complete harmony with the law.

One final point about this inner-known law: respected people around the world agree that these laws exist. Want proof?

Listen to comments about people like Mother Theresa, Ghandi, and others who try to improve the human condition. They're called reformers, role models, great philosophers, more... They received awards during their lives, and get significant coverage in school discussions and textbooks. Even many so-called atheists agree that Jesus was a "good man", and a role-model. Based on what? It must be based on the internal law.

Finally, these internal laws are certainly not instinct (instinct being that inner voice that insists we not endanger ourselves, make life harder than it already is, and that we must preserve our DNA). Mother Theresa would not have lived in harsh conditions, Ghandi would not have gone on hunger strikes or sought peace at any cost. Firemen wouldn't rush into burning buildings, and men would not offer their seat to a weak elderly person, if instinct controlled our actions.

All of this brings us to the key question about this law: Where did it come from?

The answer to that important question will have to wait until my next post.