Is there a God or not?

Is There a God or not?

A few simple words that have incredible implications for both the person and humanity in general; is there a God or not? Through recorded history, man has struggled and strived to come to some conclusion about this vexing topic. Each culture and people group has sought to put some kind of a face on the unknown, some personal understanding to what is incomprehensible, and to give identity to one which we can never truly know. More recently, people have made efforts in their own minds and modern cultures to simply ignore the question all together. No matter what the history is or who we are speaking of, the desire for human beings to find purpose for life in something greater than them selves is universal. And one’s answer to this simple question can be the frame on which their entire life hangs. The belief in or denial of any God is the first step in establishing one’s world view. A decision which shapes all decisions to follow as well as many avenues of thinking.

I wish to propose today that there is indeed a God. An omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient God who is directly responsible for both the creation as well as the sustenance of everything in existence. This is a bold statement to make, but I believe it to be the only statement that can stand the tests of logic and reason, which I will introduce momentarily. But first I will open by suggesting that regardless of one’s conclusions in this matter, there is always a point at which a person must exercise a great deal of faith. If one believes there is no God at all, they are required to believe that all things at all times simply happened into existence by no means at all in a place that we call the Universe which simply exists in a state of eternal nothingness for no reason. On the other hand we are presented with an all powerful, all knowing and ever present God which is far beyond any of our abilities to understand. Essentially we are deciding to put our belief in that which is un seen and unexplainable in either case.

The argument in favor of believing in a creator God can be summarized as follows. Three basic principals are most commonly brought up in one form or another to address this question. First; the cause and effect relationship requires an initial cause. Furthermore; the intricate design in nature and life suggests a designer. Finally; the factors in existence that can not be explained in purely natural or scientific ways, (i.e. animal instinct). There are of course a great number of other fascinating and worthwhile topics one could dig into aside from these and one can go into great depth in these alone as well. But the purpose of this essay is simply to introduce the ideas for discussion and encourage one who wishes to learn more to, by all means, do so.

So the first point to be brought up is the cause and effect relationship. In reality as we know it we see many forces interacting with and on each other at all times. The sun ads energy to the earth each day, the wind moves wheat in a field, or people in a gym move heavy objects around. The fact is that our Universe is essentially a huge closed energy system. Energy is not gained or lost, it is simply shifted around form place to place. The body builder transfers energy into the weights to move them, the sun sends energy to the earth, plants use that energy to grow, animals eat the plants… you get the point. But if we extend our thinking to consider the beginning of all this we are confronted with the question; where did this energy come from? There must have been an initial input to start this chain of energy exchange. There must have been an initial cause to all this effect we see around us. The most commonly held belief among both theist and atheist alike is referred to as the Big Bang. Basically, all matter, energy and time came to be at one point in history and spread out from there. The theist believes that this was the voice of God, speaking everything into existence when He “stretched out the heavens. The atheist as well as many religious groups believe that all matter simply came to be out of emptiness, by no cause for no reason. To believe this stands in defiance of everything we logically hold to as truth. It stands to reason that it takes less faith to believe God created everything out of nothing than to believe that nothing created everything out of nothing.

Next is the concept of complexity in the natural and the living world. It seems that the more humans explore the world and the space around us as well as the inner workings of life processes, we are continually confronted with the mind boggling complexity and precise design therein. The sciences of astronomy, geology and physics reveal more and more clearly that the world and universe we find ourselves in is more carefully balanced and engineered to support our existence than we can even comprehend. Our ability to live in this universe at all is a feet of probability that suggests impossibility if a very skilled creator is not to be credited. As well, we must consider the immense complexity of the structure of life itself. Even the most simple of life forms present more elements of careful design than we are even able, as of yet, to identify. Take also to account for the arrangement of trillions upon trillions of these units needed to be assembled, in perfect harmony, to make a being like you and me. And as discovery continues on a smaller and smaller scale, the answer given by even the most avid atheistic evolutionist to the question of how this can be is more and more often “we have no idea”. So we are once again presented with a point of un-know ability. We must either see incredible design as evidence of an incredible designer, or we are forced to believe that these things which are more complicated than anything we can yet conger, simply put itself together as one would expect to write a best selling novel by simply dumping out a box of Alphabits cereal.

And finally, probably the most difficult of concepts is the evidence for a creator presented in the creation itself. As previously discussed, it is obvious that humans have a natural preprograming to desire to know that which is un-knowable. We all have a fascination and internal desire to seek and find who ever is responsible for all this. Every culture in recorded history has had some form of deity in its make up. This can only be explained by the fact that our creator has given us this desire to know Him. It can not be explained by genetics, social trends, fads, or hocus pocus. It is simply evident that we are given a desire to know our creator by our creator. We also see certain aspects of our humanity which seem to be universal, regardless of location, religion or place in history. We all know the basic concepts of morality, law, good and evil as well as love and laughter. Some cultures take intentional steps to get rid of this in their people, but it is incontrovertible that we are all preprogramed with a basic moral understanding that goes beyond natural explanation. So as before, we are confronted with a decision between believing in a creator who gave us this programing, or the idea that natural law and morals simply popped into our heads from no where.

Also worthy of mention here as well is the overwhelming evidence presented for the existence of God as presented by those who have experienced incredible change in their life after coming to know Him. To hear the testimony of a person who was at one point beyond any help or hope, have their life transformed to a point where they are now not only different, but leading others to Christ, is a thing not easily ignored. As well as this, we hear story after story from credible and honest people, speaking of incredible and miraculous events in their life. These, once again are things that can only be explained by believing that God does exist and has direct influence on our world, or believing that these people experience miracles and incredible change in their life because they have either fooled themselves or are outright lying. Granted there are those who are overly sensational and may be self deceivers, but the vast majority are not.

This can all be a bit tough to swallow for some and may present a challenge to ways of thinking that have been deeply rooted in one’s mind. But if I can stress one thing in this subject above any argument made here I would say this; If there is indeed a God who is powerful enough to create the universe in all of its grandiosity, and is intelligent enough to construct the un-knowably complex structures and processes of life itself, wouldn’t it make sense to figure out who He is and what His plan is for you? I believe it takes less faith to believe in this creator than it does to believe the alternative. But the largest factor in this equation is the fact that if one admits there is a being which holds this much power, we as individuals are comparatively powerless. And however frightening that idea may be, I assure you that the creator who made you is more than capable and very much interested in caring for you in ways you could not consider for yourself. So now the question remains, if there is a God, who is He and what does he want with us?

Ryan Weber

2013