Q: Does God Exist?

A: When it comes to proving the existence of God, one can find detailed information and studies from Christian authors such as Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, and Ken Ham. These authors have pointed out that the argument for God centers around four main ideas:

1. The Cosmological Argument

In short, the cosmological argument states that every effect must have a cause. The universe is viewed as an effect, and therefore, it must have a cause. At some point in time, something “un-caused” had to exist in order to start the whole process. Well, what about the “Big Bang Theory?” While we as Christians do not believe in the “Big Bang Theory,” the BBT still does not address the “un-caused” question. Even if material exploded together to form our universe, from where did this material come? The answer to the “un-caused” question, no matter one’s beliefs, has to be God.

2. The Teleological Argument

The teleological argument can be stated this way: when one looks at a building, does he ever question the existence of its builder? No. In the same way, when one looks at a piece of art, the art itself is proof of the artist. Also, when one looks at design, one can acknowledge existence of the designer. We, as human life and creation, point to the existence of a Creator. The order in the universe (the complexity of our bodies, the harmony within environments, the perfect setting of earth within our solar system, etc.) points to the existence of an intelligent designer.

3. The Argument from Consciousness

We as humans are intelligent. We experience the universe as intelligible. Our intelligence is what separates us from inanimate matter. In other words, we are not the same as rocks. We are conscious of our own intelligence and existence. In contrast, rocks do not and cannot recognize and acknowledge the fact that they are rocks. Consciousness exists in a cosmos that is not self-aware, and so, from where did our consciousness and knowledge of existence come? We believe our consciousness comes from God. 

4. The Argument from Desire

There are two types of desires in the world: natural and developed. Natural desires include things such as food, sleep, knowledge, sex, and friendship. Developed desires are ones place in our hearts through society, such as football, popcorn, a new outfit, and a better job. Why do we contain desires that can never seem to be ultimately fulfilled? If we get a new (fill in the blank with a desired object), we’ll soon crave the updated, more expensive model. One logical thought is that a Creator placed inside His creation a desire that can only be fulfilled through Him.

Ultimately, God’s existence comes down to faith (Hebrews 11:6, John 20:29): faith in who God is, faith in who we are, and faith in our purpose here on earth. Our faith, however, is not a foolish one (Romans 1:20, 25), and we believe that after one examines the evidence, he will conclude that the logical choice is to believe in God. 

Jon Kragel