Is God Real?Намуна
So, Does God Exist?
Does the president of the United States or the Queen of England exist?
Not so that we can prove it.
We can doubt every reference to them in the media. If you claim to have met them, we could refuse to believe you.
Only if we met them for ourselves could we be absolutely certain that they are real.
Do love and friendship exist?
We cannot prove to you that our spouses love us, or that our friends are truly our friends.
We could tell you about the times they have expressed their commitment to us, but you could say they are lying. We could show you all the wonderful things they do for us, but you could claim that they are manipulating and misleading us.
You'd have to experience our marriages or friendships to know that they are real.
This is the nature of personal relationships, even with the God of the universe.
It seems that God has done everything he can do to prove his reality to us. The rational arguments for his existence demonstrate that faith is reasonable and logical:
- He has interacted with our world throughout human history and entered our race personally.
- He gave us a trustworthy written record of his creative work.
- He is available personally to everyone who is willing to trust in him.
As a result, you could argue that more evidence exists for God than for Julius Caesar or George Washington.
The biggest problem atheists have with believing in God is that such faith requires them to accept the supernatural. If you are a materialist, certain that supernatural reality cannot exist, no amount of proof or persuasion will convince you of a supernatural being. Once you conclude that the world must be flat, nothing in logic or experience can prove you wrong. The presupposition determines the conclusion.
Of course, believing that the supernatural cannot exist is a belief.
Materialism is a faith commitment. A materialist cannot prove that the supernatural does not exist, any more than a supernaturalist can prove that it does. The best we can do is to examine the evidence and then make a decision that transcends it.
You'll know God is real when you ask him to be real in you.
Scripture
About this Plan
The foundational question of belief is: Does God exist? In this devotional based on the book "How Does God See America?," Dr. Jim Denison offers arguments both for and against the existence of God. These answers will strengthen your faith, your evangelism, and your knowledge of apologetics. Ultimately, the existence of God leads to a surprising outcome: joy.
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