The mathematical precision of the universe reveals the mathematical mind of God. - Albert Einstein
I shall always be convinced that a watch proves a watchmaker, and that a universe proves a God. - Voltaire
Here we have the sayings of two great influential thinkers, neither of whom were Christians. Multitudes of great minds have believed and do believe in God's existence, but today some would have us think that belief in God is illogical, foolish and incompatible with observable facts.
Obviously the question is important. If there is a God to whom I owe allegiance, honor and respect, I would be a fool to ignore Him. If such a God does not exist, this will affect everything also. It is worth taking some time to consider the question.
Reasons to Believe - Web site of Dr. Hugh Ross
A Russian Believer answers Communist authorities on this point"
The Cosmological Argument
The idea here is that the existence of the Universe, in all its complexity and order, could not exist unless there was someone so great that was able to design and create it. We cannot put down to chance all the amazing things that we find in the Universe. There is too much order there, at every level. And not just order, but complexity. An ice cube is very ordered, but not complex. The genetic code is so vast and complex that only now are our best scientists getting to the point where they can accurately describe it, let alone create it from scratch. Yet atheistic philosophers are asking us to believe that all this came about as a result of pure chance, and that it has no meaning, unless we arbitrarily assign one to it. Why should we believe them?
The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that a closed physical system tends towards increasing disorder. If there is nothing outside the Universe to provide a source of energy to it, (such as a Creator), and if the Universe is infinitely old, then one would expect the entropy of the Universe to be infinite. But this is clearly not so. Information theory tells us that random noise won't give us any more useful information. Could the genetic code have come into existence through random activity then, without any guidance from a Creator?
In fact astronomy together with General Relativity have shown that the Universe DID have an origin in time, before which it didn't exist. This conclusion was arrived at rather reluctantly, with much of the scientific community dragging its heels, because this what this "monstrous singularity" means is that the whole physical universe depends for its existence in the first place, on something outside of itself. Call it a higher power if you will, call it massless energy with infinite creative potential - it was there before the physical universe existed.
The theory of evolution, is in fact, a philosophy, an a priori commitment to naturalist philosophy. For proponents of evolution, the fact that all its most critical mechanisms are still unknown is not a problem. They simply must exist, because the only alternative would be believe in some sort of Creator which even Science itself must then depend on for its existence. To speak against evolution is tantamount to blasphemy in today's temples of naturalistic philosophy.
But Who Made God?
Some argue that the cosmological argument proves nothing, for if the existence of complexity and order in the Universe proves the existence of God, then the existence of God proves that there must have been someone even greater who made God.
Actually, something had to exist for all eternity. Theists believe that God always existed. Materialists believe that the physical universe always existed. Ideas like "imaginary time" are invoked to defend this idea - although no-one can really tell us what imaginary time is. Materialists argue that the "hypothesis of God" is unnecessary - you may as well just believe that the Universe always existed. Materialists would like to believe that the whole activity of the Universe can be described by certain mechanistic laws. If these laws really do describe and predict everything that happens and will happen - then obviously freedom of choice is an illusion - because everything happening in our brain is simply the result of mechanistic cause and effect processes. Furthermore, there is no place for a God who answers prayer - since God is not a physical entity but a spiritual One, and materialists have legislated that such things cannot exist. If God answered prayer from outside the physical universe, then there would be some things that happen which cannot be described by mathematical relationships.
The age of the Universe has been indirectly measured to be about 17 billion years. This actually proves that the Physical Universe has not always existed. Something More must have been there before the "Big Bang".
I find it more reasonable to believe that Order, Purpose and Design have always existed in the mind of God, rather than to believe that they never existed, or that they came out of nothing.
Has Science disproved the idea of God?
Who or What are We?
About every seven years every cell in our body is replaced. None of the material that composed our physical body 7 years ago is in the same form today, and we are constantly changing. Is our identity based only on physical matter, or is there something more?
A big question is this: what is behind the existence of our personalities, and our consciousness? If the answer is: 'Nothing but time, chance, matter and energy' then our personalities, our feelings, our thoughts and desires have no real ultimate value. They are nothing more than an accident. If someone hurts you, and you are a materialist, you should just accept that this was just an outcome of the laws of physics, and could not have happened any other way. Justice, ethics, love and meaning are all arbitrary concepts - rooted only in superstitious religious ideas or interesting patterns in the neural networks which form our brains. Everything is just a meaningless collection of molecules bumping around. We make what we want out of it (except that concepts like 'we' and 'want' are very hard to define in materialist, physicalist terms).
Theists (those who believe in God) believe that our personality and consciousness is derived from God's. We can think, feel, and choose because our Creator designed us with those capacities. This means that people have value, and must be treated with respect.
The Social Consequences of Evolutionary Doctrine
Evolution implies that everything is building itself up out of nothing into increasingly complex forms. Ruthlessness, cruelty, vicious competition - all these things are unavoidable and part of the necessary struggle towards a higher, more advanced state. Darwin justified and promoted racism in his book "The Origin of Species". He believed that white people were more evolved than those with colored skin.
It is no accident that both Adolf Hitler and Karl Marx made much of evolution in their social theories. For Hitler, it was the reason that Jews had to be exterminated - so the human race could continue its upward evolutionary path without being contaminated by so-called "unclean elements". For Marx, it was part of the justification for an economic and political system which made all men into slaves of the state, for their own good. So much so that Marx dedicated his work "Das Kapital" to Charles Darwin, to whom he felt he owed an enormous debt. When man believes he is an animal, he starts to behave worse than an animal. Any kind of cruelty and oppressive poitical system can be justified by an appeal to the 'survival of the fittest'.
The present slaughter of unborn babies through abortion can only be justified by appealing to the idea that "we" have the right to decide who or what lives and who or what dies. This can only be true if there is no God who demands that we respect human life. The unborn baby is not a part of its mother. It has a different genetic code and different identity. The end can never justify the means in a world which belongs to a holy, righteous God.
Scientific Problems with Evolutionary Dogma
Many atheists ignore evidence that doesn't fit into their world view. Science only deals in physical reality describable by mathematical laws and statistics. If then a secular humanist assumes that science can give all the answers, he is also assuming that God and spiritual things do not exist. It is only an assumption though. No proof has been offered. Contradictory evidence is then dismissed because he thinks he already knows the answer. The lack of evidence or even plausible models for biological evolutionary theory is no problem also, because the assumptions imply that real evidence for the viewpoint has to be discovered sooner or later. We are still waiting to see that hard evidence.
Dramatic Answers to Prayer Adequately Prove that God Exists
It has been argued that in a world made up of random, chance occurrences, we are likely to remember the unusual coincidences and make something of them. The normal, everyday occurences tend to be forgotten and pass unnoticed, while we tend to feel that the unusual co-incidences point to the existence of supernatural factors.
In this way, many atheists and agnostics wish to deny the evidence of answered prayer.
I have personally witnessed miracles of healing taking place under my nose as I have prayed with faith in Jesus' name! In India, a deaf mute girl was healed on the last night of some meetings I did. On the second last night I prayed for the same girl without result. So on the last night both I and the people knew it was a miracle. Many of my friends have also witnessed these kinds of phenomenon. We could add to this the thousands of "co-incidences" that happen when we pray fervently that just don't seem to happen otherwise.
The fact that unusual things also take place through non-Christian religionists in no way invalidates the argument. Rather, it is further evidence that the physicalist-materialist world view is faulty, because it refuses to even consider the possibility of the existence of spirit as a real ontological category (i.e. something that actually exists).
God has provided in a special way for his people, who trust Him and pray to Him. Just as sheep have been protected by God down through the years before men were here to protect them from wolves and other predators, so God has been protecting His people and His Word the Bible from the vicious persecutions and attacks which have always existed against them in the history of the world. This demonstrates the principle, not of 'survival of the fittest', but of 'survival of those who put their trust in God'.
But how do you know God is real?
Much more could be said in defense of the idea of God's existence. I leave you to search the internet further on this subject - or write to me if you so desire. These questions are of the utmost importance and one day you will face the reality of these issues, whether you want to or not.
Michael Fackerell
The Big Issues