Witnesses of God

I. Consider a few philosophical arguments for the existence of God. A. The Argument from Efficient Causes. 1. Experience confirms an order of efficient causes, i.e., everything that we observe exists from a cause/effect relationship. 2. Nothing can be the cause of itself since that would imply that it was prior to itself. 3. An indefinite series of efficient causes would result in no first cause and no last effect. If there is no first cause, there could logically be no second cause, and so on. 4. There must be a first, uncaused Cause, i.e., God. JER 10:16. B. The Argument from Degree of Quality or Value. 1. We conceive of things as being more or less good, true, and excellent. 2. “More” or “less” is decided upon the degree of approach to the greatest. 3. Therefore, there is something that is most good, true, and excellent, i.e., God. C. The Argument from Values in General. 1. Truth, goodness, and beauty are real in our experiences. 2. The fact that we recognize degrees of truth, goodness, and beauty suggests that we presuppose an absolute standard to which these values approximate. a. There must be an absolute. b. The statement, “There are no absolutes” is self-contradictory. c. If it is absolutely true that there is no absolute truth, then there is absolute truth. 3. We cannot suppose that in the end these values oppose one another; the ultimate values must form a unity or a supreme value, i.e., God. D. The Argument from Religious Experience. 1. The fact that men have generally believed in the divine suggests that the idea of God is innate in the human mind. ROM 1:19. 2. If we base our knowledge of the universe on experience, religious experience has a claim to be included. II. The existence and power of God are evident from a fair evaluation of the creation. PSA 19:1-3; ROM 1:18-20; ACT 14:17. A. There are four possibilities which would explain the existence of the universe. 1. The universe spontaneously emerged from nothing. All observation denies this. Something has never been seen to come out of nothing of its own accord. 2. The universe is eternal. This is refuted by the Second Law of Thermodynamics: the Law of Entropy. This law states that although the total amount of energy remains unchanged, there is a tendency for energy to become less available for useful work. In time, all matter tends to lose available energy. In other words, everything is wearing out. a. Even evolutionists are forced to measure time by decay rates. b. At present observed rates of entropy, if the universe has been here forever, it has long since been reduced to a net total of zero energy. c. The Bible confirms the Law of Entropy. PSA 102:25-26. 3. The universe does not exist. a. This position supposes that everything is imagined. b. This is legal and medical insanity: the inability to cope with reality. 4. A force greater than the universe brought it into existence. In other words, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (GEN 1:1). B. From all observation, only the 4th alternative (above) explains the present phenomena. 1. There was a time when energy was being concentrated, not dissipated, through a process not presently observed. 2. Scripture affirms this very principle. HEB 11:3. 3. Then something happened and entropy began. The Bible identifies this as sin which caused universal death and corruption. ROM 5:12; 8:21-22. C. Furthermore, the existence of the present material universe is only part of the problem. If all the material of the universe did come into existence from nothing of its own accord, or if the material has always been here, how did life come from non-life? Where has non- living matter ever been seen to become living matter of its own accord? 1. Observation confirms the Law of Biogenesis (life only comes from life). 2. Atheistic evolution affirms (in the absence of proof) that life must have come from non life sometime in the past. Mind that the same people tend to mock the idea of a bodily resurrection from death! 3. Further, if the evolutionist theorizes that there must always have been life, he has therefore granted that there is such a thing as eternal life. 4. The other alternative is that there has always been an intelligent source of life Who instilled that principle into matter in a creative act. GEN 1:11, 21, 24; 2:7; ACT 17:24-25. D. Scientists affirm that all matter is composed of atoms. The nucleus of the atom consists of particles called neutrons and protons. The neutrons have no electrical charge and are therefore neutral, but the protons have positive charges. 1. One law of electricity is that like charges repel, so what holds the atom together? 2. One atheistic theory is that there must be something called “nuclear glue” or “gluons” to hold it all together. Thus, they hope and have faith that things are held together by something that they have never seen. 3. While believing in this, they find fault with Christians who believe that there is a God Who has left abundant confirmation of His existence and holds all things together. COL 1:17; HEB 1:3; 2PE 3:5-7. E. Either the present phenomena have come into existence through random chance or they are here by design. If by design, this demands a Designer with power to carry out His plans. F. Atheistic evolution affirms that, given enough time, all present things can be explained through the “card-shuffling” concept of random chance. But disruptive change in complex systems tends to produce disorder, not increased order. G. There is no amount of time conceivable to man that could possibly allow for random chance to produce creatures like the giraffe. Its neck has blood vessels with unique intermittent valves which prevent its very high blood pressure from blowing its brains out when it drops its head to drink. They then reverse their function and prevent the blood from rushing away from the giraffe's brain when it lifts its head back up. If random chance mutations are responsible for such an animal, it does not exist. H. Likewise consider the amazing bombardier beetle, whose body has two special chambers which hold volatile chemicals. 1. As a defense, the beetle releases these chemicals into a third chamber where they would explode if not for the introduction of a special chemical inhibitor, which prevents the premature detonation of its “bomb” until it is released into the air at the boiling point of water. 2. How many “missing link” bombardier beetles got blown away until one pair of them happened to evolve the same complex apparatus at the same time in the same place? I. The construction and function of the human eye is so complex and exquisite that it cannot be explained by random chance mutation. 1. Beyond the construction of the eye itself is the incredible process by which the image it views is transmitted to the brain where that image is actually “seen.” 2. Most species of animals also have the faculty of eyesight. How did they all manage to evolve this in the same segment of time as humans by random mutations which statistically should only produce greater disparity between species, not similarity? 3. There are not enough zeros in man's imagination that could be added to a number which would account for the generations and years it would take to produce a complex system of life which simultaneously and almost entirely functions by light and a vital apparatus to process the images that light makes possible. 4. An all powerful, all-seeing God made the eye. PRO 20:12. J. The vast, complex intricacy of the workings of the universe screams of a Designer and Controller. A supercomputer, by comparison, is a collection of errors. K. In the face of such evidence, only a fool would deny there is a God. PSA 14:1. III. The creation declares to an intelligent, honest person that God exists, but comparatively little can be known of a person by merely examining a product he has made. So too with God. A. Only a little can be known of Him by studying His creation. JOB 11:7-9. B. Man is an intelligent creature with the ability to think, feel and decide. But the reason for his existence can only be known if God communicates it to his intellect. C. God made man able to communicate. 1. God, the Cause, must also be able to communicate. 2. Since God is the most important fact with which a creature can deal, it stands to reason that God would communicate to man. D. A provision has been made for every observable need. 1. For example, there is food for hunger, drink for thirst, etc. 2. Thus, it stands to reason that God would provide for man's need to know his Maker and his Maker's will for him. E. Any good earthly father communicates with his children. Would God be any less good? F. Being man's Creator, God is man's Master with a right to his service. 1. Service implies an expressed rule. 2. If it is just for men to express rules to their servants, would God be less just? G. Personal experience confirms that a relationship with God is deeply founded on His word. Men relate to God through His revelation of Himself. H. Without a communicated revelation of God, man's attempts to relate to God invariably lead him into a corrupt worship of the creation rather than its Creator. ROM 1:21-25. I. These things argue for the necessity of a divine revelation of God beyond that which is made in the creation. IV. We have a preserved written revelation of God (the Bible) which is in complete agreement with all observable phenomena and genuine science, is internally consistent, is historically accurate, and which has unparalleled insights into the human condition. A. This Book has one central message and Person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who alone lived sinlessly and died willingly at the hands of sinful men to make atonement for sinners that they might live with God. JOH 3:16. B. This God-man Who died rose from the dead to conquer death and give hope. 1PE 1:3-4. C. As such, He will be the Judge of all, and therefore men should prepare to face Him. ACT 17:30-31.