Does God Exist?預覽

Morals from Mayhem

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them. ... Romans 2:15 NIV

One of the most common arguments against the existence of God is the problem of evil. The argument often goes like this: If God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful, then He would not allow evil to exist. The fact that evil does exist means God is not all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful. And if God is not those things, then, if He does exist, why call Him God?

While the problem of evil is a very compelling, emotional argument against the existence of God, even many atheists agree that it is not an effective logical argument. But, what if I told you that the fact we have such a big problem with evil is actually evidence for God?  

Wait, what? How does that work?

Great question! Let me explain. Without a creator, we are pretty much left with one of two options for understanding evil: karma or chaos.

Karma is the belief that what goes around comes around. If you do good, you’ll get good. If you do bad, you’ll get bad. So, the evil that people experience is somehow deserved because either you, your ancestor, or you in a past life, did something that created the suffering you’re now experiencing. This is where this worldview runs into a problem. Because when we see the evil and suffering in the world, our reaction is that it “should not be.” But if karma is true, there is no unjust suffering or undeserved evil. Suffering and evil might be unpleasant, but they wouldn’t be wrong because they would be deserved.

The other option we have is chaos. This is the view that everything in the world, in fact the whole world, is all a product of random chance. There is no God behind it all. There is no rhyme or reason. There is no purpose. Everything is random. Here’s the problem with this view though: If everything is random, then evil isn’t really evil. It’s just the way things are. Suffering just is what it is. But if that’s the case, why do we feel so strongly that things shouldn’t be this way?

Only with a creator God do we have a standard of justice and beauty that exists before and above this fallen world. With a loving Creator, evil and suffering aren’t just unpleasant inconveniences, evil and suffering are violations of ultimate goodness. They are departures from the way things should be. They are a breach of the moral law that presses on all of us.

This moral law isn’t something we came up with on our own. It’s something that has influenced every civilization in every culture in every context throughout human history. In order for there to be a moral law, there must be a moral Lawgiver. 

That moral Lawgiver is the same being that created something from nothing and order from chaos.

Why should you believe Christianity is true? Because as we continue to look at the evidence, we find Christianity offers a much better, more coherent explanation for the origins of the universe, the fine-tuning of the universe, and the problem of evil than any other worldview.