What is the evidence for the existence of God?

Lack of evidence for the existence of God is an argument against Christianity that I have heard several times recently. Often people argue that believing in God is a blind faith. Certainly as Christians we do have to take steps of faith, but that doesn’t mean there is no evidence for the existence of God. An example I heard once is a chair; there is plenty of evidence that the chair can support you, therefore you have faith that it will hold you when you sit on it.

Once of the biggest problems with trying to prove God often is that people are not willing to consider God. God is not an option to them, because they know that following Him will result in changes to their lifestyles. I urge you as you as you read this article to open your heart and mind to God, and allow Him to show you Himself. Consider the things we look at in this article, and please feel free to ask questions and challenge the things I say in the comments section below, by contacting me on Twitter (@danielnorman) or via email (daniel.norman@cornerstoneoutreach.org).

Before I began writing this article I took a moment to seek God’s help with this task. I found it ironic that I was praying to God for help to prove His existence, but it is important to remember that we cannot convince anyone of his or her need for Jesus without His help. My prayer to Him in Jesus name is that He would open your eyes, convict you of His reality and of your need to Him. Anyone who truly looks for God will find Him. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7.

Problems of not having God

The first area I would like to look at is the problem of not having God. Firstly I would like to discuss the issue of morality. The Bible teaches us that things such as murder and rape are wrong, and even without the bible most people know the difference between right and wrong. Murder, rape etc. are still regarded by the majority as being immoral. The majority of people also agree that is not wrong for us to eat meat – but why is there a difference between killing animals and killing people? Where did this sense of right and wrong come from? If we evolved this sense of right and wrong, then it doesn’t really mean anything. Why should we take one persons view over another? How can be say that murders are wrong? Without God we have an uncertain, relative view of morality. With God we have a certain, absolute view of morality – morality that does not change.

Another problem is the laws of logic and even reality itself. There are some very basic facts that, as far as I am aware, no one in there right might would try and dispute. For example when you drop something, it falls to the ground. Most of us would also accept that we exist. However when you take God out of the picture some very big issues arise. If we are the result of billions of years of evolution, then our brains and thought patterns are the result of billions of years of randomness. How then can we be sure of anything? How can you be sure you are even reading this article? Without God, nothing makes sense! Ken Ham, the president of AiG, says, “If there is no God, ultimately, philosophically, how can one talk about reality? How can one even rationally believe that there is such a thing as truth, let alone decide what it is?”[1]

The ‘footprints’ of God

I recently heard God being compared to an invisible dinosaur, that no one could prove existed, and no one could prove didn’t exist. One of the features of this dinosaur was that it didn’t have any footprints. I was thinking about this, and it occurred to me that God does indeed have ‘footprints’, unlike this dinosaur. There is plenty of contemporary evidence, or ‘footprints’, that shows that God exists.

I am going to look at this under 3 headings:

• Healing and other miracles
• Transformation of lives
• The Holy Spirit

Healings and other miracles

There are countless examples of people who have experienced miracles from the Lord God, the blind being made to see, the deaf being made to hear, cancer patients being healed etc. In my life I have seen the hand of the Lord doing things in my life to which the only explanation is that it is my God working! There are countless examples within my own life when I have prayed, and God has answered that prayer! I myself have experienced healing from God, and there are plenty of others who also have experienced healing. How do you explain this without God?

The transformation of lives

There are so many people who, after committing their lives to Jesus, have been completely changed. Drug addicts on the verge of suicide freed from their lives of addiction and sin, people full of violence transformed and now helping others, lives that were broken and desperate given a hope. This is God working! In my own life I am constantly being challenged by the Spirit to change, and God is slowly moulding me into the image of His Son. I look at myself even just a year ago, and I don’t recognise myself – God has made such a difference in my life!

The presence of the Holy Spirit

¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

John 16:14-15

When the Lord Jesus Christ was on the Earth in flesh, He told us that after He had ascended into heaven He would send the Holy Spirit to us, to help us, convict us and equip us for the spreading of the gospel. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent and He filled the disciples – “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4. The Holy Spirit has dwelt within the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ ever since. The Holy Spirit is still present within the true Church of the Lord Jesus today.

¹ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: ² You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. ³Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
⁴ There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:⁸ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

1 Corinthians 8:1-11

In his first letter to the Corinthians the apostle Paul describes the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different Christians as He wills. Paul lists some of the gifts that the Spirit gives, and all of these gifts can still be seen within the Church today. The gifts Paul lists are:

• The word of wisdom
• The word of knowledge
• Faith
• Gifts of healings
• The working of miracles
• Prophecy
• Discerning of Spirits
• Different kinds of tongues
• Interpretation of tongues

These gifts are still present within the Church – and are evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit there would be no Church today – and I know that I would not even be able to write this article without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is available for all believers who ask for Him!

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ

The majority of New Testament scholars accept the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as fact.

I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one face in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.

Thomas Arnold, Oxford University

The resurrection is an undeniable fact that is supported by an overwhelming quantity of evidence. The evidence that Jesus is the Son of God is an undeniable fact.

There are 4 facts that need to be explained about the death of Jesus, the most probable and reasonable solution being that Jesus was raised from the dead. They are:

• Jesus’ burial
• The discovery of his empty tomb
• His post-mortem appearances
• The origin of the disciples’ belief in his resurrection.

If you wish to explore the issue of the resurrection I would recommend reading William Lane Craig’s opening statement in his debate with Bart D. Ehrman at College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts in 2006. http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/DocServer/resurrection-debate-transcript.pdf?docID=621

We can also be certain that the Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God, and the Messiah. We can be sure of this because 1) He rose from the dead, as He predicted, and as the Old Testament prophecies predicted and 2) He fulfilled may other Old Testament prophecies. You can read more about this in the article – Who was Jesus?, http://cornerstoneoutreach.org/2011/09/part-one-who-is-jesus/

Romans 1:18-32

⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
²⁴ Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷ Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; ³² who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:18-32

God has made known to men that He is real, and that they need Him. “His invisible attributes are clearly seen” v20, and the knowledge of God is planted deep within everyone. Although most suppress this knowledge to justify their sinful lives, they know deep within them that this life style is wrong. The bible tells us that it is the Holy Spirit who moves and convicts us of our sin – I look back to when I gave my life to Jesus and I see that that is certainly true. The issue isn’t really whether or not God is real, but whether or not you are willing to respond to that conviction, and come to the Lord Jesus, repent and receive everlasting life.