“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
(Romans 1:19–20, ESV)
Outside of Scripture and History, are there any pointers, evidences, good arguments for the existence of God?
This question has been asked often over the last few centuries and the answer that comes back is: yes.
If the Universe is, as Christians believe it is, a creation of an all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing God, then there should be some evidences of himself in the make up of the Universe.
This is, in part, what the Apostle Paul is getting at in his letter to the church in Rome (above). We are all “without excuse”. There is not going to be anyone who has a sit-down interview with St. Peter, or whoever guards the gates of Heaven, and says ‘I didn’t have enough evidence to persuade me’ and then hears Peter say, ‘Oh, very well then. Sorry about that, come on in.’
It wont do for Richard Dawkins to paraphrase Bertrand Russell and offer this thought to God in defence of his unbelief were he ever to meet him one day, ‘Sir, why did you take such pains to hide yourself?’[1]
That being said, the evidence we are presented with is not overwhelming. It does not foist itself upon us. The evidence does not wrestle with our unbelief and crush our wills. Andy wrote about this a little while back (‘Prove It To Me’ – Oct 2012).
No, we are created free agents with free minds and the ability to choose. As Blaise Pascal said,
‘There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.’[2]
Road Map
Over the next three weeks we shall be exploring three arguments for the existence of God that we can appeal to outside of the Bible. These are:
- An argument from the existence of the Universe
- An argument from the appearance of design within the Universe
- An argument from the existence of morality
Taken cumulatively, these arguments combine to offer good reasons to believe in the existence of God, and go some way to talking about his nature too.
For now, take a look at this video where Professor John Lennox (University of Oxford) presents his case for Christianity, starting with the evidence found within the natural world.
