The existence of God is perhaps the most fundamental question of human existence.
In this blog post, I’ll examine the evidence and key arguments for and against the existence of God.
The main points I will cover are:
- The universe requires a cause outside of itself.
- The design and complexity of life and the universe.
- Objective moral values require a Moral Law Giver.
- Free will and human reasoning require something beyond the physical.
- Antony Flew’s conversion from atheism.
By looking at the evidence objectively, we can each come to our own rational conclusions on this pivotal question.
The Universe Demands a Supernatural First Cause
The cosmological argument states that whatever begins to exist has a cause.
Based on evidence from modern science, the universe began to exist at a point in the finite past. This theory states that the universe began with the Big Bang around 13.7 billion years ago.
But since the universe cannot be the cause of itself, there must be a supernatural First Cause that brought the universe into being.
As Christian philosopher William Lane Craig puts it,
“If the universe began to exist, then the universe has a transcendent cause.”
This supernatural cause that created the universe is what we call God.
The finely-tuned constants and quantities of the early universe also point to an intelligent Creator.
The physicist Freeman Dyson writes,
“The more I examine the universe and study the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.”
This is evidence of superhuman intelligence behind its design.
The Design and Complexity of Life Require a Designer
The amazing complexity and precise design inherent in all forms of life, from bacteria to blue whales, also provide clues that life was intelligently designed by a Creator.
Richard Dawkins writes in The Blind Watchmaker that,
“Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.”
Yet he argues that natural selection can account for this appearance of design without actual conscious design involved.
However, closer examination shows that many biological structures like the human eye, the blood clotting cascade, and photosynthesis cannot be accounted for by slight successive modifications over time.
The irreducible complexity of these systems points to an intelligent Designer.
As Michael Behe concludes,
“The conclusion of intelligent design flows naturally from the data itself—not from sacred books or sectarian beliefs. Inferring that biochemical systems were designed by an intelligent agent is a humdrum process that requires no new principles of logic or science.”
The Designer behind life is most reasonably identified as God.
Objective Moral Values Imply a Moral Law Giver
If objective moral values exist, then there must be a transcendent source for those values beyond human subjectivity. Christian author Ravi Zacharias states,
“If there is no God, all law is subjective.”
But our common human intuition and reason tell us that some things like torturing babies for fun are objectively morally wrong, no matter what any person or culture believes.
C.S. Lewis wrote,
“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust…But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?… Consequently, atheism turns out to be too simple.”
The best explanation for objective moral duties is a transcendent Moral Law Giver, i.e. God, who grounds right and wrong in his own unchanging righteous character.
Free Will and Reason Require Something Beyond Matter
If humans are merely material beings governed solely by the laws of physics and chemistry acting on our brains, then free will and abstract reasoning have no grounding.
Oxford mathematician and philosopher John Lennox writes,
“If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true…and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.”
Yet I am using my free will and reasoning ability right now to evaluate this evidence and come to rational conclusions.
Theism better accounts for these immaterial aspects of human nature than strict materialism.
Oxford scholar and atheist-turned-Christian Alister McGrath concludes from modern science that,
“Atheism is inconsistent with the values of science. Science arose out of a desire to explore the rationality and reliability of knowledge…That search seems to lead us to the God hypothesis as the most fruitful explanation.”
The Conversion of Leading Atheist Antony Flew
Perhaps the most dramatic piece of evidence is the conversion of prominent atheist philosopher Antony Flew to a belief in God.
Flew had been one of the most influential atheists of the 20th century, writing extensively against belief in God.
But in 2004, Flew announced that he now believed in God based on evidence from intelligent design in nature and insights from modern science.
In his book, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, Flew details the evidence that persuaded him a Creator God exists.
He concludes,
“I trust the first sentence of this book may a little provoke my associates in the English-speaking atheist movement: ‘The integration of a lifetime’s thoughts, experiences, and the like has led me to believe that there must be an infinite, eternal, self-explanatory source of life, meaning, and language.’”
Antony Flew’s intellectual honesty in following the evidence where it leads should challenge all truth-seekers to do the same regarding God’s existence.
Religious Perspectives on God
Within various world religions, clear perspectives on God’s existence emerge.
Biblical Scripture offers compelling support for God’s reality in the eyes of most Christians.
Biblical Evidence
In the Bible, the very first verse declares:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
biblegateway.com
This reveals a theistic perspective of the world originating from an eternal, all-powerful Creator.
Specific prophecies fulfilled, Christ’s resurrection from the dead after his crucifixion, the Bible’s historic reliability and life-changing message, the incarnation of Jesus as God in flesh, and God’s divine inspiration of Scripture through human authors all provide avenues of biblical evidence for God’s reality.
Personal Experiences and an Existential View
Beyond intellectual arguments, many individuals around the world cite personal experiences as the defining evidence cementing their conviction that God exists.
Transformative Faith Stories
Near-death experiences, visions, miracles, and answered prayers have led to dramatic religious conversions and total life turnarounds for millions.
The Search For Meaning
For many people of faith around the world, belief in God provides meaning and purpose that transcends the mundane aspects of human existence.
A sense of relationship with their Creator fills an existential longing and brings comfort amidst suffering.
To billions of believers, dismissing God would leave life absurd, bleak, and depressing.
So in examining this debate, we should note that evidence, logic, and personal experience shape perspectives on this issue for many reasonable people on both sides.
Key Takeaways on “Does God Really Exist”
- Modern science shows the universe began to exist at a point in the finite past, requiring a Supernatural First Cause i.e. God.
- The design and irreducible complexity of biological systems implies an Intelligent Designer.
- Objective moral values require a transcendent Moral Law Giver i.e. God.
- Free will and human reasoning ability require something beyond mere matter to explain them.
- Leading atheist philosopher Antony Flew examined the evidence and concluded God does exist.
The cumulative weight of the evidence points to the necessary existence of God as the uncaused First Cause, intelligent Designer, source of moral values, and best explanation for human consciousness and rationality.
Conclusion: The Existence of God Matters
The question of whether God exists is the most important we as human beings can consider.
Tim Keller aptly stated,
“Every person has an identity. It may be unhealthy or healthy, but we all increasingly reverence something as ‘worthy of god’.”
Our answer then determines the purpose, meaning, and eternal destiny for our lives.
I encourage all sincere seekers of truth to carefully weigh the philosophical, scientific, historical, and experiential evidence for God’s existence with an open and humble heart. The stakes are simply too high not to.
As Pascal observed in his famous wager, if we conclude God exists and build our lives accordingly, we gain everything.
If we are mistaken and God does not exist, we lose little. But if we conclude he does not exist and are wrong, we can lose everything.
So does God really exist?
I will let you draw your own conclusions from the weight of evidence presented here and through your own experiences.
David Foster Wallace profoundly advised in a graduation speech,
“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”
Choose wisely, my friend.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. If God created the universe, then who created God?
A. God by definition exists eternally and has no beginning. He does not require a cause since he exists outside of time and space, which began to exist at the first moment of creation.
Augustine aptly stated, “Time did not exist before the universe was created, so the question “What happened before the universe began?” makes no sense at all. There was no ‘before’. We are not trapped in time with its restrictions and sequences.”
Q. How can a good God allow evil and suffering in the world?
A. This age-old question is reasonable but resolvable based on God’s morally sufficient reasons for allowing free will and the promise of future justice and reward.
Tim Keller writes in Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, “We are not God’s pets, but his children…Just as most parents who love their children let them make their own freely chosen decisions and mistakes, God does so with us.”
Q. How can we know what God is really like if he exists?
A. Christians believe we know God through Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible. Jesus perfectly represents God’s character.
He demonstrated His authority over the natural world, proved His deity by rising from the dead, and transformed lives through his teachings recorded in Scripture.
By examining His life and words, we can discover the truth about God’s nature and build a personal relationship with Him.
