If God is real, then there is a creator who knows us, loves us, and created us for a purpose. If God is real, there is a judge who will hold us accountable, and a rescuer who can transform us and save us. The way we answer this question has a huge impact on our lives in the present as well as our eternal destiny. So here are some reasons why Christians are convinced that God exists:
Matter is not Eternal
Everything that begins to exist must have a cause. Only something eternal (without beginning or end) can be uncaused. For everything to exist, either matter has to be eternal, or there must be some eternal thing that caused everything else to exist. Since God is eternal, believing in God makes more sense than atheism, which requires us to believe matter is eternal.
The Appearance of Design
If you found a watch in the woods, you would not assume it had randomly assembled itself. It obviously has a creator. The world we live in is far more complex than a watch. The laws of physics could easily make life impossible if they were changed by a tiny fraction. If the expansion rate after the big bang was altered by one part in 10 to the power of 60 (that’s a number with 60 zeros after it!), it would either be too slow and would have collapsed back in on itself, or it would have been too fast for stars and planets to form. This is just one example of many others you can read about in God’s Undertaker by John C. Lennox. The world and the creatures in it appear to be designed, not randomly assembled, so believing in God makes more sense than not.
The Resurrection of Jesus
Several people in history claimed to be Israel’s Messiah, but they were all defeated, captured and killed. That’s how we know they weren’t the Messiah – they didn’t accomplish his mission. When Jesus was crucified, his followers were heart-broken. To the world, it looked like Jesus had been proven to be a fake. Being crucified was incredibly shameful, and following a crucified Messiah would have appeared to be incredibly stupid and embarrassing.
The Growth of the Church
When a messianic leader is crucified, what happens is the movement gets crushed. We would not expect it to grow to become the largest religion in the world. Nor would we expect the first followers to insist that Jesus had resurrected and delivered all who believe from shame, guilt and judgement. We wouldn’t expect them to insist on that even when threatened with torture and death. We wouldn’t expect Jesus’ disbelieving brother James, or an enemy of the church who tried to kill them, to suddenly agree that he was resurrected and become dedicated followers, despite torture and death. But that is what happened. The resurrection of Jesus explains the historical events better than any alternative theory.
Faith comes by Hearing the Word of God
Throughout history, many people have become convinced by the existence of God, not necessarily because they knew these philosophical, scientific and historical arguments, but because God is real and he touched their hearts. God can be real to you too. He can reveal himself to you and give you faith. Try praying and reading a portion of the Bible, and see what happens.
