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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
The question of whether there is a conclusive argument for the existence of God has been debated throughout history, with exceedingly intelligent people taking both sides of the dispute. In recent ...
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mark wilkinson
Apart from the philosophical 'evidence' of there being a First Cause of all that exists and the scientific laws of Thermodynamics, the 'design argument' is still a strong one. William Paley 200 years ago wrote that if you found a watch in a field you wouldn't conclude that it had popped up out of the ground. A complex machine has had to be designed and made - and for a purpose. Similarly you'd conclude that the universe had a Designer and Maker. Science shows many examples of 'Irreducible Complexity' in nature. (find examples of Intelligent Design on the internet). Professor Anthony Flew was for many years an atheist and taught so at a British University. Towards the end of his life he concluded that the chance of life forming spontaneously was so incredibly minimal that he said he now believed in God. HOWEVER, he qualified this by stating that he was now a Deist. He refused to believe in the personal God of Christianity and. Sadly, died in that state of mind. Professor Fred Hoyle also saw the impossibility of life occurring spontaneously. The chances of such a thing happening had less odds than all the atoms in the universe. He likened it to a solar-system full of blind men all solving rubic cubes simultaneously. He felt there must be a guiding hand behind the universe, but did not believe in the God of the Bible. Many others (e.g. Alfred Wallace, first proposer of Darwin's evolution theory) have also felt this to be true without coming to faith in the God who is both Creator of all and Father of all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord. This is also true of those who believe in a Creator but belong to a religion other than Christianity. The Bible tells us that God has given evidence of his existence and power in the things he has made (Romans chapter 1) but that men (and women) refuse to believe. It is ultimately a matter of the heart rather then the head. Atheists choose not to believe in God because it 'allows' them a kind of freedom to do what they want without feeling guilty about it. However, they are only suppressing the truth which they will, one day, find out to their cost.
Gerritt Schuitema
There is a very simple proof here. Science and Faith or not incompatible. They are not even just slightly related. They are, were and will continue to be intimately related. Math alone proves this and the existence of our intelligent Creator. Mathematics, albeit expressed via symbols of men, represents a certain Truth. Math is only a vague mental image to most and so should it be, for life was meant to be lived in plenty, not analyzed into details. But as it stands, mathematics is a language. If a definition for language is "a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings" or more simply "a formal system of signs and symbols including rules for the formation and transformation of admissible expressions" then mathematics fits here. It even describes any other definition you can find for language, so it's not really debatable. Math is a language. It is also, crucially Important to understand that no one in history has ever invented new mathematics. Einstein did not 'invent' relativity, he 'discovered' it. These are two completely different things and important to remember. Math IS NOT human made, it is a truth that is discovered/revealed to us;-). And as language comes only from intelligent beings, (ever heard a rock talk?) we find again that there is an Intelligent Creator. So, logically then it follows: 1) Math, existing from the beginning, creates and maintains all we see and experience (John 1:1-3) 2) This reality we experience is a language of rules and laws, allowing or disallowing certain phenomenon 3) Language only comes from intelligent beings So, in the modern idiom, this language was spoken into the voids of space, and reality took shape. It is Christ, the Word of God, who upholds all things by the word of his power. This is what is being expressed, Truths of Life, which is Christ. Science points to Faith, and all things point to Christ crucified. But, as we know the world will not worship Christ, so have they called it math and science, and worshipped the created, over the Creator. "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.... Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. " - Romans 1:20-22, 25
ainsley chalmers
Nature screams out the existence of God because: 1. You can't get something (this universe) from nothing (1st Law of Thermodynamics), only God can do this. 2. We live in a fallen world because of sin (Rom 5), so we and others are wearing out/dying. The 2nd Law confirms this. 3. There are 100s of prophesies over a 1,000 year period of a Messiah coming in the OT and he came 2,000 years ago, lived for 33 years as a human in Israel and died for our sins as he said he would. This messiah was an historical reality and was called Jesus Christ. He proved he was God by his many miracles, rising from the dead bodily and sending his Holy Spirit to indwell us. 4. There is incredible God - directed design in nature-consider DNA, cell function, coagulation, immunity, organ/senses function etc. 5. The geology/fossil record of our planet points to a catastrophic flood, consistent with the time of Noah as described by God. Also the tower of Babel explains the many languages God caused in the different ethnic groups. 6. Evolution just cannot happen, one cannot go from goo to you via microbes, mouse, monkey man. Biology just doesn't work this way but the way God created/designed it to work. Also, the fossil record shoots down evolution. 7. The bible speaks of the nature and person of God and to confirm this. He materialized as Jesus Christ and ticked all the boxes of a man-God. In short, the existence of God has many proofs, it is all around us. He is not 'pie in the sky', but a real person, with various names like Jehovah/Yahweh, Jesus Christ, etc. No wonder God said "a fool says in his heart 'there is no God'".
Francesco Scinico
That a Creator (or creators) exists has been the default position of mankind since the beginning of recorded time, and is still the best position we have today. According to the standard cosmological model, the universe had a beginning. It was either caused by a rational being or by a non-rational (or arational) cause (like the singularity or a quantum vibration). Soon after the beginning of the universe, the following phenomena were at work - gravity - other physical forces (descriptively called "the laws of physics") - chemical elements and their inherent properties - digital genetic code (without which life would be impossible) They were either the product of chance (this universe got it right while countless of other universes in the multiverse have it wrong) or the product of a rational mind. The multiverse (or Cosmological Landscape) idea might be theoretically right (it'd be fun), but consider the following: - at this point it's purely theoretical speculation. It's never been observed. - we don't know that the other universes in the Landscape are completely chaotic. For all we know and speculate, they might be as well structured as ours. What then? - How do we know that this multiverse is infinite? If it is finite, who or what created it? The human conclusion that this universe is the product of an intelligent mind is therefore a very rational one; so rational that it's been the default position for millennia.
Vin Smith
Of course there is an argument for the existence of God. In fact, a scientific argument; I will cite only one Bible verse, and that at the end of this short, concise contribution. Argument for the Existence of God 1). Every effect has a cause... Those who hate the concept of God, and wish to deny his very existence, like to speak of the spontaneous set of unbelievably complicated circumstances that "sprung a planet teeming with life" into existence. From the non-directed Big Bang, to the primordial ooze. The trouble is, even one facet of that "spontaneous" creation (the spontaneity could take eons) that might go amiss would stop creation of a planet overrun with life in its tracks. 2). The Gödel Theorem, since affirmed by Proving God's Existence with a MacBook, demonstrated by Cristoph Benzmuller of the Free University in Berlin and his colleague Bruno Woltzenlogel Paleo of the Technical University in Vienna. The two researchers have shown that Gödel's proof was correct -- at least on a mathematical level -- by way of higher modal logic. Their initial submission on the arXiv research article server is called "Formalization, Mechanization and Automation of Gödel's Proof of God's Existence." (ABC News-Spiegel Online) Obviously, many an evolutionist will laugh at this, but among scientists, Kurt Gödel is held in the same esteem as Albert Einstein. The two were close friends. 3). The universe displays a staggering amount of intelligibility (Dr. Peter Kreeft--The Existence of God). To think that the world came about from accidental happenstance is to succumb to the gambler's greatest disdain--trying to draw to an inside straight. It is so foolish to bank on monumentally long odds! To deny God being in the middle of this existence is to cling to absurd hocus pocus. In short, you come up against Pascal's Wager--and you would be on the losing end. (Look up Pascal's Wager--we do not have the space to explain it here). Now, The simple Bible verse that says it all for me: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is no one who does good." (Psalm 53:1). ESV
Billy P Eldred
There is not AN argument for the existence instance of God, rather a myriad of arguments some of which are already listed here. I have NEVER heard, however, a single rational explanation of how God could not exist. Every culture on Earth has some concept of God. That is because He has left so much in this world that screams of His existence. From the relationship between a bee and a flower to the relationship between a mother and a baby. From the incredible efficiency of the earth's ecosystem to the vastness of space. Everything we see, hear, touch or hear relates God. Jesus said "if we don't acknowledge his existence, even the rocks will cry out". Besides all this, He interacts will us all the time. How many people have you heard that say they speak with God everyday. Are all these people crazy? No. How many people say they have been miraculously healed by God. Are they liars. They had cancer, now they do not. They were blind, now they can see. How would someone who believes there is no God explain away these things. They cannot. I know God exist. I don't have the time or space here to tell you all the reasons, but I KNOW. Ask him to reveal Himself to you. You can KNOW too. Beyond this, if you want scientific evidence, I recommend you read Grant Jeffrey's "The Signature of God". In it you will find medical, geological, mathematical, biological, etc., etc. Evidence of God. Actually, there is no argument, the evidence is too overwhelming. HE IS A FACT.
Jason Dyck
I was perusing the notes I made for myself on my phone from either messages in church, my personal Bible reading, or from going through books by Christian authors. I came across the following tidbit that may be considered a response to this question: "I believe in order to understand; I don't try to understand in order to believe. In order to know that there is a God, I had to believe that there was a God. I knew of God but I didn't understand Him. Once I believed that there was a God, then I was able to begin to understand Him. Without belief I was unable to understand Him. Belief was the key to open the door of understanding".
Nils Jansma
Traditionally, it has been said that you cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. However, within the last 30 years that argument is no longer valid, in my opinion. You can now prove the existence of God logically. I will explain. Premise 1: Every code language we know of has an independent designer. Premise 2: Every independent designer we know of is intelligent. Premise 3: DNA is a code language. Therefore: DNA has an intelligent independent designer. You can call the intelligent designer anything you want. As a Christian, I call Him God. Briefly, I will review a few observations about codes in general. One code that we might be most familiar with is our cell phone number. There is no question that our telephone number identifies us personally. Why is this? Because a very complex system has been intelligently designed to be able to mechanically translate the 10 digit code belonging to you into electronic pulses that will alert your phone of an incoming call. We are probably also familiar with many other codes that we may take for granted. For those familiar with computers, you would likely recognize.docx,.txt, html,.xls and.png as computer symbols for code languages that provide a means of communication or is able to produce a picture. The point is, all this information is only comprised of a series of 1’s and 0’s. However, by design, the unique combinations of 1’s and 0’s is translated into instructions that do things like produce letters and pictures on computer screens. Our DNA is just like that. It is comprised of a 4 letter code that can be translated into words and sentences. It has unique stop features like periods to end its sentences or paragraphs. Even more interesting, it is a code within a code. For instance, even though it only has four letters, it can combine them into 20 different three-letter words called amino acids that serve as the instruction-set for creating a three dimensional human body in about 9 months.These three letter-words can combine into thousands of different sentences and paragraphs (proteins) used as building blocks within a growing body. Our bodies can only produce eleven amino acids with the remaining nine to be gotten from our diet. Its a good thing that the good earth knows what amino acids we need to stay alive. There are only about 3,000,000,000 DNA base pairs (sets of two) letters involved in the formation and maintenance of a human body. Basically, all the information to make us can be stored on one or two double sided DVDs. Like a DVD, our DNA has search-engines that can retrieve any needed instruction-set just like you do when searching for a needed computer file. Does that impress you? It certainly should. This explains somewhat, some of the things Jesus said about us. Remember he said all the hairs of our head are numbered. (Matthew 10:30). Or when he said, we would one day be responsible for every bad word we have ever said. (Matthew 12:36, 37). I am sure all this information is stored somewhere in our DNA. A person who could literally read our DNA would know exactly where to go to get the limiting-instruction for hair growth and tell you exactly how many hairs are scheduled for your head that day. Unfortunately, that number seems to be getting smaller and smaller for me every year. This growing awareness by science is the reason many realize that it is impossible for DNA to have self-assembled. To counter this fact, they have introduced the argument that life must have come from outer space. This, however, does them no good with regard to intelligent design, because eventually they will have to admit that there is a designer who started it all somehow somewhere. In one way, I agree that life came from outer space. In fact, to be more precise, it came from beyond outer space and time.
Junior Baillie
With all the crime and perversion...We know that there is "evil" all around us in the world. So there must be a "power" that is stopping "evil" from enveloping the whole earth. That "power" is GOD.
KEITH SLOUGH
I teach a Systematic Theology course in college. One of the lessons is entitled "The Proof of God." We have a number of indisputable scientific considerations: The law of biogenesis: Life can only come from pre-existent life. The law of the conservation of matter and energy -- where did the first singularity come from resulting in the creation of the universe? "Big Bang Cosmogony" demands that the entire universe came into existence in a fraction of a second! In fact it occcured rapidly at minus 10 to the 43rd power (a small fraction of one second). The bible says in the beginning God CREATED. Big Bang cosmogony demands it happened just like that. In one moment there was nothing; In the next moment, everything. Keith Slough, Th.D., minister
Kenneth Heck
There are many valid arguments for the existence of God, ably explained in the answers above. Man, however, is given free will to accept or reject these arguments. Those who reject them can be ingenious in creating objections that can appeal to the masses of undecided people. Actually, the will to reject rational argument goes beyond the mental realm into spiritual reality - we might say that they are under satanic influence which has blinded them to the truth (John 12:40, 2 Cor 4:4). As such, no argument can convert them and even great miracles will be rejected as true evidence for the existence of God. Their minds are completely closed with no possibility of changing.
Charles Stanley
No, this is only a strong hint that God may exist. But it is not proof. Stephen Hawking has recently argued that the universe can and must create itself because of the law of gravity. His argument is based on M theory, which is a form of string theory. He believes this makes God unnecessary. Faith in God is a choice that asserts that science cannot explain everything. For example, it is possible for scientists to explain "love" in terms of pairbonding, biology, or a combination of many things. But we still say "I love you." We do not say "I have biology for you." We cannot say exactly what the difference is, but we know intuitively it is true. Biology and chemistry and sociology alone cannot account for "love." I have never found a way to prove the existence of God. It is like proving the existence of love. Love is not to be proven, it is to be lived and experienced. No scientist can disprove the existence of God. Hawking can explain how the universe can self-generate, but that does not mean it did. A scientists is not speaking as a scientist when he or she says what God did or did not do. God is not rational. What makes the people like freud wrong is not to point out that belief in God is not rational, but to claim that being irrational is a bad thing. Most of life is irrational, in the sense that it cannot be reduced to component parts Love is more than the sum of it's parts. God is more than all or reality. This is faith, not science or philosophy. Please do not demonize scientists (a la Kenneth Heck). They are describing reality as they see it. They are close to, and maybe already have, described a way the universe can come to be without God. But so what? They do this deliberately avoiding "God did it," but that does not mean God did not do it. It just means God's action or lack of is not available to the senses. But it is available to faith. When my oldest daughter started attending sunday school, she came one day out to the dining room and looked out the west window. She said, "God made the Sunset for me." Now, there are many things wrong with that statement. 1) the sun does not set. The earth turns. 2) everyone in our neighborhood gets to see the same sunset, so you should not say it was for you. 3) Sunsets occur on their own. God does not make Sunsets. Of course, she was correct. This was faith. Faith claims that reality cannot be explained by scientific reduction. Love is not merely biology. There is more. The only correct answer to a person who says there is no God is: are you kidding? What makes you think that? Why are you so certain? What makes you assume that only that which can be explained rationally is real?
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