The Bible doesn’t devote a lot space to proving God exists. Rather, starting at book one, chapter one, verse one, it simply and unequivocally declares that he is.
But as we know all too well, not everyone accepts that—and some are very quick and very eager to tell you so. How are we to respond when challenged about our beliefs?
What are your favorite arguments for the existence of God?
Mine comes from theologian R.C. Sproul, and I love it for its beautiful logical simplicity. The shorthand version goes like this:
If anything exists today, then something must have always existed. Something somewhere must have the power of being in and of itself, because if there was ever a time when there was nothing then nothing would exist today.
Granted, the above statement contains no information about God as a personal being, his qualities, or his relationship to his creation, but it’s a great place to start.
Many people struggle with belief and try very hard to believe, but don’t get much sympathy or help from believers. As someone who has had issues believing all of my life, I find evidence for God in science and nature. Complex life systems, A planet that supports diversity in living organisms.
Chordata itself is filled with a huge number of creatures, and even single cell, non vertebrae creatures exist and thrive No other planet in this solar system allows that.
The complexity of human relationships, abilities to compose music and argue politics and save lives with complex medications while only having a 2% difference in DNA with chimpanzees who can’t do any of those things is great evidence for the existence of GodEven the ability to deny science and factual information points to diversity of thought.
One might say the Bible doesn’t devote a lot of space to prove God exists because God uses his creation as exhibit #1. In theology we call that general revelation.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Human arguments throughout history have also been compelling. I remember studying Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of God in my Philosophy 101 class. He attempted to use pure logic and conceptual analysis. Tip: when reading, substitute “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” with “God”.
The teleological (design) argument, to which Romans 1:19-20 and Psalm 19 are pointing, seems to me by far the most compelling and likely to convince an unbeliever (as it did famed atheist philosopher Antony Flew). The best work of the Intelligent Design movement has put a serious dent in the atheist/materialist paradigm.
