Opinion : Pastor\'s Blog - God Is! Evidence for the existence of the Creator God.

Once upon a time, a man and his children walked through the Smithsonian Institute. They browsed each exhibit slowly, taking in the beauty of the various pieces on display. They came upon one oil-painting that captured their attention, especially the children. It was a masterful work displaying the majestic change of colors in the autumn season. The children giggled together as they remembered how much they enjoyed playing in the fallen leaves in their own back-yard. One of them asked, “Daddy, who made this picture?” The father bent closely to see the faintly scribbled signature of the artist and read it to them. They shrugged not ever having heard of such a funny name and moved on. Towards the end of the exhibit, they came upon a fully preserved zebra mounted beautifully in its natural environment. They marveled at the zebras beautifully painted stripes commenting to one another how odd it was for a horse to have those colors. Then one of them asked, “Daddy, who made the zebra look this way?” The father didn’t need to search for the author’s signature. He knew already and replied with a smile, “God did.” The father’s final reply would probably cause some people to squirm. My question is, “Why?” Why are so many people uncomfortable with the mention of God? If the painting has an author and maker, why wouldn’t the zebra have an author and maker too? Is is possible that we’ll ever find a painting that wasn’t painted by anyone? Even the graffiti displays on the stony-arch bridge southeast of town were painted by someone even though they didn’t sign their names. Has anyone ever assumed the graffiti just appeared on the bridge? Such thinking would be irrational. Yet, when some who come to discuss God and whether he exists or not, they wince. The question before us is this: how do we know God exists? Or, can we know God exists? To most people who have ever lived, this is as ridiculous a question as, “how do we know there is such a thing as gravity?” Long before Galileo, the world perceived the existence of gravity. You may not easily dismiss the existence of gravity because there must be some explanation why our feet are so firmly held upon the ground. Even you if can’t explain how it works, you know it is there because you can see its effects. So also, you may not easily dismiss the existence of God because there must be some explanation for this grand universe and the elaborate designs of the creatures who inhabit it. Even though I can’t see God now, I know He exists, partly because the vast physical and spiritual affects He has caused are easily seen. The means of exploring the existence of gravity is through science, the discipline of observation. And it doesn’t take a NASA technician to accomplish this either! Through careful observation, you can easily see objects of mass have an earth-centered orientation that holds them down. Upon careful observation, you’ll find gravity makes any and all objects fall to the surface of the earth at a velocity no greater than 9.8 meters per second. Science then answers some of the questions of the mystery of gravity. Science is the lens into the observable world. But science is not the only lens in the pursuit of the truth. What about things that are not directly observable such as history, ideas, emotions, miracles, etc.? Science has weakly attempted to explain what it cannot see, and instead of giving clarity and certainty, it has left us with more unanswered questions. Science cannot prove or disprove the existence of historical events, ideas, emotions, thoughts, morality, ethics or the existence of God. There must be a different lens into the non-observable, moral, and spiritual worlds, and indeed there is. One of those lenses is philosophy, or the discipline of thinking. There are many philosophical tools available for the discussion of the existence of God. I don’t claim to know them all, but I do know a few and want to discuss some of them here. First, belief in gods or divine beings is common to all cultures and civilizations. No historic society has ever built their civilization upon this idea: “there is no god.” Even a brief study of history reveals scores of religious systems. Some cultures held to polytheism (many gods), while others believed in monotheism (one god). Some societies believed in hylozoism (the breath or life of humanity is god) while others were materialistic, worshipping the sun, moon, stars, mountains, fire, wind, etc. Some nations believed in pantheism (god is impersonal / removed, nearly the same as nature) while other peoples believed god was personal, involved with the affairs of the world. So, no matter what time, place or level of cultural development, every historic, recorded civilization has a ‘religious’ system of a god or gods. Second, mankind reasons well there must be some explanation for our world and human experience. Such discussion dates to the earliest of human writings. The number of books written on these subjects is immense and simply cannot be overlooked. People from every age, race, nationality, social and political spectrum have pondered the purpose of life and the meaning of human existence. No reasonable person believes something can come from nothing or that things can spontaneously self-exist from nothingness. Therefore, there must be some reason, some rationale explanation for the universe and the world in which we are a very small part. Third, mankind has a religious nature, a characteristic that instinctively, intuitively reaches out to a higher power and being. Have you ever received a phone call from a relative or friend in deep distress? Have you ever heard the screams and shrieks of those who fear for their lives? What naturally comes from the mouths whose lives are suspended by a burning thread: those lost at sea, those trapped in a house fire, those threatened with death at gunpoint, those trapped in a cave or collapsed mineshaft, or those kidnapped who managed to steal a short phone-call for help. What did they say? What did they shout? “Oh my god!” “God help me” “God, if you’ll just send someone to find me...” “God, I promise I’ll never...” Even if mankind only calls for God in times of terror, that calling is still a sure example of our general desire to worship a higher power. The world has worshipped some kind of god in every age of civilization, even if that god were a statue he carved with his own hands or the hovering moon and stars or even his own image. God made mankind for worship. Fourth, mankind does not ask for proofs of their own existence or physical realities recognized by their senses. My children have never asked for proof that I’m their father (though sometimes my wife thinks I’ve come from another planet). Nor have they ever asked for proof that my grandmother was who I said she was, even though they never met her. I have no reason to doubt the existence of our president though I’ve never seen him in person. Nor do I have good reason to doubt New Zealand exists even though I’ve never been there. None of us have ever seen a living dinosaur, but is that good reason to believe they are simply fictional beings and elements of fairytales? Would it ever be sensible to stand before a World War 2 memorial and conclude that the war never happened? The denial of something we have not personally observed or experienced is not a sufficient reason in itself to deny it. Fifth, mankind abides by rules and laws common to all ages and civilizations. What accounts for this? Is it simply random chance that everyone knows that it’s wrong to murder, steal, or lie. Or, is it God that gave human law and put the recognition of them into human consciousness? What else could explain a young child’s sense of right and wrong? What can explain the guilt, shame and tears experienced by people who have done grievous evil decades and decades ago? What produces their current anguish and despair from the choices they thought at the time were good, honorable decisions? Certainly, these experiences have explanation. There are other and better reasons to believe that the Creator God truly exists: these we will explore next time. But for now, my hope and prayer is this: if you, through life’s countless trials, bad-breaks, unlucky days, have doubted that no one, including God, cares for you, I urge you to reconsider, for in Him alone He made you to find real life, joy and peace.