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Does God Exist?
by Robert Kiser When sharing with the non-believer it does not always start with sharing from the Bible. Some people claim that they do not even believe that God exist. However Romans chapter one would tend to say that they do know of his existence that their denial is because of hardness of heart. Still one should be able to give some reason to the non-believer for their belief in God. The purpose of this writing is to help the Christian give the non-believer some reasonable answers for this belief. I know that God exist because 1. I know him. 2. I know that God exist because of the fact that the world is here and is full of design in everything from planets to flowers and atoms. The design is evidence there was a designer and a maker. 3. Evidence from the worldwide flood is indication that God not only exist, but he once judged the world already and the evidence of that is everywhere. 4. I know God exist because he has continued to communicate with mankind sharing with him things in detail about the future that no mere man could possibly know. (Prophecy) 5. I know that God exist because he has shared things about science that have proven accurate long before they were quote discovered by mankind. 6. I know that God exist because he was here in human form 2000 years ago. There are historical records of this fact. What makes his testimony credible is that his death and resurrection were told about before he was born. He himself also predicted his resurrection and there were more than 500 eyewitnesses to this event that lasted 40 days. Jesus even appeared to unbelievers. The resurrection of Jesus is an historical fact that can stand in a court of law. The bible says Jesus is God 7. I know that God exist because there are numerous accounts of people who have been clinically dead and have given accounts of God, heaven and Hell. 8. Great scientific minds of both the past and the present have continually believed in the existence of God. How do I know God exist? (1) I know him. Give an example of an answered prayer or your own testimony. This is a point nobody can effectively argue against. (2) I am here and you are here. In other words mankind came from somewhere. There was a beginning. There are really only two schools of thought of where mankind came from; Creation and Evolution. Creation says in the beginning God. Evolution says in the beginning Matter Sounds funny, but that is indeed what they are saying. Evolutionists teach single cells eventually evolved into a person. In other words the frog turned into a prince. (Fairy Tale not based upon knowable science.) There is more than one type of evolution taught. Micro evolution is true and we can see examples of it. A dog can be breed into other types of dogs, but it will always remain within the same kind of animal. It is still a dog it will never become an elephant! For the dog to become an elephant is Macro evolution which has NEVER been seen or proven. This takes a giant leap of faith with no direct evidence at all. The 2nd law of thermodynamics tells us that everything is reaching a state of disorder. In other words things die, rot and decay. We see this everywhere even your house will eventually fall apart without maintenance from an outside source like people. Evolution teaches the opposite that things over time can reach a state of order and design. This has NEVER been observed or proven. A tadpole may turn into a frog, but for a frog to turn into a prince is a fairy tale not science. Even Charles Darwin knew this was absurd. Darwin said that: "To suppose that the eye, (with so many parts all working together)....could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd to the highest degree." "Absurd to the highest degree." That's Darwin's own opinion of using natural selection to explain the origin of traits that depend on many parts working together." Christians believe that design shows evidence of a maker. In other words if I found a watch I would probably reach the logical conclusion that somebody made it because it has design and many intricate working parts. The bible tells us that both creation and the flood are knowable to mankind. 2 Pet 3:5-6 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. (NAS) Rom 1:20-22 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, (NAS) (3) There was a worldwide flood. God judged the world back in the days of Noah with a worldwide flood. The fact that he did this and there is evidence of the flood verifies that God exist. We know there was a worldwide flood because clams were found on top of Mt Everest and fossilized oysters were found high in the Andes mountain range in Peru. These locations are on different continents high above the ocean. How did they get there? They are there because of a flood produced because of God's judgment on the world. (Mt Everest) Holt Modern Earth Science, 1983 (Giant Oysters) Dailey American Republic, Friday March 2, 2001 (4) I know God exist because he has continued to communicate with mankind. Much of this communication has been recorded in written form. God has shared with people in the past future events that nobody could accurately predict yet God did it! We call them fulfilled prophecies. Automatically when referring to the bible people say it cannot be trusted yet it has NEVER been proven wrong I would like to start with a quote from Time Magazine. Time Magazine DEC.30,1974 "After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest scientific guns that could be brought to bear, the bible has survived and perhaps better for the siege even on the critics own terms. Historical fact, the scriptures seem more acceptable now than they did when the rationalist began the attack" The Bible has never been proven wrong in any of its prophetic messages. I will give one example of a prophetic message which came true. Isa 44:28-45:1 "It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.' And he declares of Jerusalem, 'She will be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'" Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: Notice Cyrus is mentioned by name although at this point he has not even been born. What's also interesting about this prophetic message is that at the time Isaiah wrote this the city was not yet destroyed and the temple was still standing. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came along and destroyed it about a hundred years later. Then about 160 years after Isaiah's writing the temple was completed because a Persian king named Cyrus gave the decree to rebuild the city and the temple. The American Peoples Encyclopedia vol.11, pg.395 dates the time of Isaiah's death at about 668 B.C. The same volume on pg. 611 states that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city and the temple in 586 B.C In volume 6 pg.688-689 of The American Peoples Encyclopedia we find that Cyrus liberated the Jews and allowed them to return to rebuild Jerusalem and even restored sacred vessels taken from the temple. This took place around 539 B.C the new temple was completed in 515 B.C vol.11, pg.611 This is an example of God communicating with mankind proving God exist. No man can make the predictions the bible makes and always be correct. Therefore fulfilled prophecies are evidence of the existence of God because we have recorded communication from him in the Bible. (5) I know God exist because of knowledge revealed that we did not know. I would like to mention one area where science and the Bible do meet together. Job 26:7 "He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing." Keep in mind that Job lived almost 2000 years before Christ. This idea that the earth was suspended on nothing was not even thought of by scientist for thousands of years after Job. Now with our satellites and trips into space we know this to be true. But that was not known in Job's day. The Egyptians declared the earth rested on pillars. The Greeks said it was carried on the back of Atlas. People believed many things but they did not come close to what we know to be true today, and what Job declared a few thousand years ago. (6) I know God exist because God was here in the form of man. Phil. 2:5-11 Jesus claimed to be God in John 10:30-33 even his enemies understood his claim when he stated "I and the Father are one." Furthermore he acknowledged he was God to Thomas John 20:28-29. Jesus claimed to be from heaven John 6:38. The Bible also tells us Jesus is the creator Col.1:15-16. Ok so Jesus claimed to be God. Did he leave us any evidence of this fact? Yes he did with the Dead Sea Scrolls we can verify all of the prophecies concerning Jesus were written before Jesus was born through Mary. There are numerous prophecies concerning the Messiah that Jesus fulfilled including his death and resurrection. Without even using the Bible we can show reasonable evidence that Jesus rose from the dead. For more detailed information concerning this see ReasonableAnswers.org from the home page click on "concerning Jesus". (7) I know God exist because many people have had experiences being clinically dead and have relayed information to us concerning heaven and hell. The Lazarus Phenomenon DVD gives an account of an Africa Pastor named Daniel Ekechukwu who died in a car accident in Nigeria. He later returned to tell of his experience. Secondly, Ian McCormack a young surfer from New Zealand died and returned after being stung by the box jellyfish The Search for heaven is a documentary DVD which examines the scientific studies, personal testimonies and experiences of those who have had a near-death experience some of these personal testimonies are more evidence that God exist 8. Great scientific minds of both the past and the present have continually believed in the existence of God. I will mention a couple from the past. Leonardo da Vinci although more famous for his paintings was also a scientist who believed in God. Isaac Newton famous for discovering gravity he also was a Christian who spent much time studying biblical prophecies. Concerning the prophecies in Daniel Newton once said "to reject Daniel is to reject the Christian religion.". I would like to comment about arguments against the existence of God. How can one prove anything does not exist? To know that something does not exist anywhere you would have to obtain all knowledge of everyplace at all times. As far as the existence of God we can offer sound reasons for this belief. In a court of law we can rely on circumstantial evidence. For example in a murder we might have the gun the ballistic report saying that the bullet came the accused persons gun and his fingerprints are on the gun. We could establish motive and other such things that would convict the person of murder even though there were no actual eyewitnesses to the murder. It is through this circumstantial type evidence that we will offer to show that God does in fact exist. Many people say evil in the world is an argument against God's existence. I would argue that what they think God should or shouldn't do about evil does not disprove his existence. That is an argument concerning his character which is not what this debate is about. God said that death would come from disobedience. Well we all die! To totally wipe out sin and the effects of sin by mankind this world as we know it would have to be destroyed; and it will be in God's time. God's character or how he does things is not the question of the debate. Whether he exists is the debate. Pay attention to how they define things be hesitant to agree even if it sounds reasonable. People in debates are often trapped by agreeing to false terms and false definitions. By Robert Kiser Robert Kiser is the author of a few free pdf books and the . Roberts books explains and defends the Christian Faith. His book also includes a section on Cults including Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses. https://archive.org/details/@robert_kiser Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |