|
Many examples
showing God's design could be given, possibly with no end. But here
are a few:
The Earth...its
size is perfect. The Earth's size and corresponding gravity holds a
thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about
50 miles above the Earth's surface. If Earth were smaller, an
atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were
larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter.
Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the
right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.
The Earth is
located the right distance from the sun. Consider the temperature
swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If the Earth
were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer
and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the Earth's
position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth
remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the
sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis,
allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and
cooled every day.
And our moon is
the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its gravitational
pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement so ocean
waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are restrained from
spilling over across the continents.
Water...colorless,
odorless and without taste, and yet no living thing can survive
without it. Plants, animals and human beings consist mostly of water
(about two-thirds of the human body is water). You'll see why the
characteristics of water are uniquely suited to life:
It has an
unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water allows us to
live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes, while
keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
Water is a
universal solvent. This property of water means that thousands of
chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies
and into the smallest blood vessels.
Water is also
chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the substances it
carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be absorbed and
used by the body.
Water has a
unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore flow upward
against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to the top
of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes
from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.
Ninety-seven
percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on our Earth, there
is a system designed which removes salt from the water and then
distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes the
ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily
moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation,
animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that
sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.
[Top]
The human brain...simultaneously
processes an amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all
the colors and objects you see, the temperature around you, the
pressure of your feet against the floor, the sounds around you, the
dryness of your mouth, even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain
holds and processes all your emotions, thoughts and memories. At the
same time your brain keeps track of the ongoing functions of your body
like your breathing pattern, eyelid movement, hunger and movement of
the muscles in your hands.
The human brain
processes more than a million messages a second. Your brain weighs the
importance of all this data, filtering out the relatively unimportant.
This screening function is what allows you to focus and operate
effectively in your world. A brain that deals with more than a million
pieces of information every second, while evaluating its importance
and allowing you to act on the most pertinent information... did it
come about just by chance? Was it merely biological causes, perfectly
forming the right tissue, blood flow, neurons, structure? The brain
functions differently than other organs. There is an intelligence to
it, the ability to reason, to produce feelings, to dream and plan, to
take action, and relate to other people. How does one explain the
human brain?
[Top]
The alternative to God existing is that all
that exists around us came about by natural cause and random chance.
If someone is rolling dice, the odds of rolling a pair of sixes is one
thing. But the odds of spots appearing on blank dice is something
else. What Pasteur attempted to prove centuries ago, science confirms,
that life cannot arise from non-life. Where did human, animal, plant
life
come from?
Also, natural
causes are an inadequate explanation for the amount of precise
information contained in human DNA. A person who discounts God is left
with the conclusion that all of this came about without cause, without
design, and is merely good fortune. It is intellectually wanting to
observe intricate design and attribute it to luck.
[Top]
This is not to
say that if enough people believe something it is therefore true.
Scientists, for example, have discovered new truths about the universe
which overruled previous conclusions. But as science has progressed,
no scientific discovery has countered the numerical likelihood of an
intelligent mind being behind it all. In fact, the more science
discovers about human life and the universe, the more complex and
precisely designed we realize these to be. Rather than pointing away
from God, evidence mounts further toward an intelligent source. But
objective evidence is not all.
There is a much larger issue. Throughout
history, billions of people in the world have attested to their firm,
core convictions about God's existence -- arrived at from their
subjective,
personal relationship with God. Millions today could give detailed
account of their experience with God. They would point to answered
prayer and specific, amazing ways God has met their needs, and guided
them through important personal decisions. They would offer, not only
a description of their beliefs, but detailed reports of God's actions
in their lives. Many are sure that a loving God exists and has shown
himself to be faithful to them. If you are a skeptic, can you say with
certainty: "I am absolutely right and they all are wrong about God"?
[Top]
I was an atheist
at one time. And like most atheists, the issue of people believing in
God bothered me greatly. What is it about atheists that we would spend
so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don't
believe even exists?! What causes us to do that? When I was an
atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those poor,
delusional people...to help them realize their hope was completely
ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive. As I challenged
those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could
convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free from the
question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers that they
were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be free to go
about my life.
I didn't realize
that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was
because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that God
wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know
him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he keeps the
question of his existence squarely before us. It was as if I couldn't
escape thinking about the possibility of God. In fact, the day I chose
to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began with, "Ok, you win..."
It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by people
believing in God is because God is actively pursuing them.
I am not the
only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and
philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that somehow, besides
questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered,
"...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a
second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so
earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was
God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and
reluctant convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to
write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result of knowing God. I
too had no expectations other than rightfully admitting God's
existence. Yet over the following several months, I became amazed by
his love for me.
[Top]
Why Jesus? Look
throughout the major world religions and you'll find that Buddha,
Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or
prophets. None of them ever claimed to be equal to God. Surprisingly,
Jesus did. That is what sets Jesus apart from all the others. He said
God exists and you're looking at him. Though he talked about his
Father in heaven, it was not from the position of separation, but of
very close union, unique to all humankind. Jesus said that anyone who
had seen Him had seen the Father, anyone who believed in him, believed
in the Father.
He said, "I am
the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life." He claimed attributes belonging only
to God: to be able to forgive people of their sin, free them from
habits of sin, give people a more abundant life and give them eternal
life in heaven. Unlike other teachers who focused people on their
words, Jesus pointed people to himself. He did not say, "follow my
words and you will find truth." He said, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life, no one comes to the Father but through me."
What proof did
Jesus give for claiming to be divine?
He did what people can't do. Jesus performed miracles. He healed
people...blind, crippled, deaf, even raised a couple of people from
the dead. He had power over objects...created food out of thin air,
enough to feed crowds of several thousand people. He performed
miracles over nature...walked on top of a lake, commanding a raging
storm to stop for some friends. People everywhere followed Jesus,
because he constantly met their needs, doing the miraculous. He said
if you do not want to believe what I'm telling you, you should at
least believe in me based on the miracles you're seeing.
Jesus Christ
showed God to be gentle, loving, aware of our self-centeredness and
shortcomings, yet deeply wanting a relationship with us. Jesus
revealed that although God views us as sinners, worthy of his
punishment, his love for us ruled and God came up with a different
plan. God himself took on the form of man and accepted the punishment
for our sin on our behalf. Sounds ludicrous? Perhaps, but many loving
fathers would gladly trade places with their child in a cancer ward if
they could. The Bible says that the reason we would love God is
because he first loved us.
Jesus died in
our place so we could be forgiven. Of all the religions known to
humanity, only through Jesus will you see God reaching toward
humanity, providing a way for us to have a relationship with him.
Jesus proves a divine heart of love, meeting our needs, drawing us to
himself. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, he offers us a new
life today. We can be forgiven, fully accepted by God and genuinely
loved by God. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love,
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." This is God, in
action.
Does God exist?
If you want to know, investigate Jesus Christ. We're told that "God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life."
God does not force us to believe in him, though he could. Instead, he
has provided sufficient proof of his existence for us to willingly
respond to him. The earth's perfect distance from the sun, the unique
chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of
people who attest to knowing God, the gnawing in our hearts and minds
to determine if God is there, the willingness for God to be known
through Jesus Christ.
[Top]
|
|
