Part 1b: Did God really create?

The evidence we are not alone.

What is one of the most upsetting things for you in this world? For me, it’s the abuse of power that causes suffering, and also false beliefs that give permission to behave in ways that create suffering. Because beliefs lead behaviour, beliefs matter!

In the Bible verses you read from Isaiah 5, Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” He said this because he believed their claim that there is no actual ‘evil’ was incorrect. Actual evil does exist – because a God who can objectively define what is good and bad within this creation exists!

Paul warned in 1 Corinthians 15 that if we reject the idea of God and of Jesus’ resurrection, we might as well “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Like Isaiah, Paul recognised that if there is no moral law-giver, then there is no actual moral law. This opens the way for great evil. Many people believe this. Many religions believe this too. As a result, morality is viewed as a matter of opinion or culture, and the pursuit of personal happiness easily then becomes more important than doing what is ‘right’!

If we consider the various religious ideas, for the atheist who believes there is no God, good and evil are just ideas – not realities. Human life is an accident, which also means there is no greater meaning or purpose to our lives – or hope beyond this life.

In the Eastern religions, while there is talk about good and evil, a core belief for many is that these things are just two sides of the same coin. While good and evil seem real to our experience, they aren’t actually real. Also, good won’t actually triumph over evil because they are both a part of the same ‘glue’ out of which we all mysteriously came.

In contrast, for the Jew, Christian, and Muslim (who all believe in a Creator God), good and evil are very real things. God is good and created this planet to be good. Evil is the bad stuff that is created through our choices to mistrust God and to live contrary to His pure and loving ways.

To bring us toward a conclusion: As far as logic goes, if actual good, evil, right, and wrong exist, then God exists! To put that differently, just as design needs a designer and information an author, moral laws need a moral law-giver. Without that moral law-giver, it’s all just opinion!

Christians believe there is a God because the evidence suggests it. Design needs a designer. Beauty needs an artist. Information needs an author. Irreducibly complex things need a mathematician and a highly skilled engineer. Moral laws also need a moral law-giver. In short, if the evidence suggests this is a creation, it has a Creator!

This is called ‘the inference to the best explanation,’ and it’s yet another reason why Christians believe this faith to be true.

Reflection questions

• In what way does the existence of things like human consciousness, free will, good and evil suggest there is a Creator?
• What was the point related to the illustration of Charles Darwin and the killing of Aborigines in Australia? How are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ defined if we deny the existence of a God?
• What does the ‘inference to the best explanation’ mean, and why is it such an important idea?
• What most convinces you that God exists?

For prayer

“Thank you, God, that you are good – not bad. Thank you also for giving us a moral law to help us find and protect what is good, while avoiding the bad.”