Ps 53:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
Is there a God? This question eclipses all other questions that mankind might ask. More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than the answering of any other basic question. The whole tenor of human life is affected by whether men regard themselves as the supreme being in the universe, or acknowledge a superhuman being whom they conceive of as an object of fear or love and a force to be defied or a Lord to be obeyed.
1. The Biblical Argument. While the Bible is not a science book, it does deal with science. It is interesting to note that thousands of years before so-called modern science "discovered" certain aspects of our world, the Bible already spoke clearly of them. Things such as:
o the earth being round (Is. 40:22; Ps. 103:12),
o this round earth was hung upon nothing (Job 26:7),
o there is a curvature to the earth and the oceans are round (Prov. 8:27),
o the rotation of the earth (Job 38:12,14)
o the concept of Einstein's theory of E=mc2 can be found in Jer. 10:12,
o Zech. 14:12 describes the effects of nuclear warfare,
o the relationship of electricity to rain is refered to in Jer. 10:13
o Is. 50:3 talks about the heavens being black,
o Job 28:25 explains that air has weight,
o Job 25:5 tells us that the moon does not have its own light source,
o Eccl. 1:6 explains that the wind travels in circuits,
o Job 26:7; 38:6 give us the principle of gravitation,
o Job 38:31 gives the concept of planets rotating around axle stars,
o 1 Cor. 15:39 explains that all flesh is not the same, and
o Lev. 17:11 describes the blood circulatory system.
That would be more than enough to convince me that the Bible is a divinely inspired book that should be read and followed. But, this thinking cap isn't designed to see what the Bible says about God. I would like to use the logic of the atheist and that of the agnostic to show them the truth of the existence of God. This is the judo method, using their own arguments and science to show them the truth.
One of the most commonly held opinions of modern sophisticated Americans is that somehow science has disproved God or, as Julian Huxley said, they have reduced him "to simply the disappearing smile of the Cheshire cat." Has science disproved God? Consider the facts regarding the astronomical, the cosmological and the teleological arguments for God.
2. The Astronomical Argument. Astronomy looks at the largest portion of God's handiwork. The Bible says, "The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." It also states, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen." 90% of all astronomers believe in God. The 1st law of Thermodynamics, the 2nd law, Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, Edwin Hubbles plots of the velocity and distance of galaxies and the residual microwave energy in the universe all point to a creation event and a creator. Those who have most thoroughly examined his handiwork believe in God. Concluding his paper on the General Theory of Relativity, Einstein wrote not only of the necessity for a beginning, but of his desire "to know how God created this world... I want to know His thought."
3. There is the cosmological argument. Cosmos - order, structure, beauty - we get cosmetics from this Greek word. Quantum physics has demonstrated that at the level of subatomic particles, there is an irresistible urge of electrons toward symmetry and that there is an amazing cosmetic or orderly aspect to the universe. Consider some of the order in the universe:
Mark Twain once said, "The same Nature which delights in periodic repetition in the skies is the Nature which orders the affairs of earth. Let us not underrate the value of that hint."
Although the exact mechanisms relating sunspots and meteorological cycles, lunar and geological cycles, climate and crop, flora and fauna cycles are not fully understood, the coincidences of similar cycles are too pervasive to be explained by mere chance. The cosmological argument screams out "There is a God who designed and cares for His creation."
4. There is the teleological argument. Telos - the end... the view which sees that in the universe things are designed for a purpose, for an end. Atheists and evolutionists (sorry for the redundancy) detest the words purpose or teleology because they believe that the world has no purpose. It is all one gigantic accident, simply the concatenation of atoms that happened to come together in a chance fashion. It is hard for the human mind to disregard the fantastic number of evidences that Someone has been providing for our well-being.
a. The mass and size of this planet are just right. If it was 10% larger or smaller, life would not be possible upon this planet. It is just the right distance from the sun for heat and cold. Farther and we would freeze, closer and we would be baked.
b. Consider the tilt of the axis of the earth. No other planet has our 23 degree tilt. This enables all parts of the surface to have sun light. Without this, the poles would build up enormous ice and the equator would become intensely hot.
c. Consider the moon. God has provided it as a maid to clean up the oceans and the shores of all our continents. Without the tides created by the moon, all our harbors and shores would become one stench pool of garbage. The tides and waves based upon the moon's movement and gravitational pull aerate the oceans and provide oxygen for the plankton, which is the very foundation of the food chain of our world. Without plankton, there would not be oxygen and man would not be able to live on the earth. The moon is the right size and the right distance from the earth. Agnostic astronomer Robert Jastrow concludes in his book God and the Astronomers, "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
d. Consider the atmosphere. We live under a great ocean of air --- 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Spectrographic studies of other planets in the stellar universe show that no other atmosphere, no other part of the known universe is made up of these same ingredients. These elements are continually mixed by the tidal effect of the moon, giving man the right balance.
e. Consider the nitrogen cycle. It is inert -- if not, we would all be poisoned by different forms of nitrous combinations. Because of its inertness, it is impossible for us to get it to combine naturally with other things. God gets it out of the air and into the soil for plants by the lightning. 100,000 lightning bolts strike this planet daily, creating a hundred million tons of usable nitrogen plant food in the soil every year.
f. Consider the ozone layer, forty miles up. If compressed it would be only a 1/4 of an inch thick, and yet without it life could not exist. Eight killer rays from the sun bombard our planet. Without the ozone, we would be burned, blinded and broiled by them in just a day or two. The most deadly of these rays are allowed through the ozone layer in just a very thin amount, enough to kill the green algae, which otherwise would grow to fill all the lakes, rivers and oceans of the world.
g. Consider the thin rock crust beneath us, thinner than the skin of an apple in comparison. Beneath that is the molten lava that forms the core of this earth. So man lives between the burning, blackening rays above and that molten lava below, either of which would burn him to a crisp. Yet man is totally oblivious that God has so arranged things that he can exist in such a world as this.
h. Consider the water. Nowhere else in the universe do we find water in any abundance except here on the earth. Water, the amazing solvent, dissolves almost everything upon this earth except those things which are life-sustaining. The small drop is in itself ever so complex. It would take 5 billion people, each counting 1 atom every second, 30,000 years to count the number of atoms in a single drop of water. This amazing liquid existing as ice, breaks up rocks, and produces soil. As snow, it stores up water in the valleys. As rain, it waters and cleanses the earth. As vapor, it provides moisture for much of the arable land of this earth. It exists as cloud cover, in just the right amount. If we had clouds like Venus, Earth could not exist. But we have exactly 50% of the surface of the earth covered by clouds at any one time, allowing just the right amount of sunlight to come through. Without these clouds and the tilt of the earth it would be 176 degrees at the equator during the day and minus 220 degrees at night. As steam, it runs the powerful machinery that we have here on the earth. Other than bismuth it is the only liquid that is heavier at 4 degrees C than it is at freezing. If this were not so, life could not exist on this planet. When it is frozen, it is lighter and it rises. If this were not so, lakes and rivers would freeze from the bottom up and kill all fish. The algae would be destroyed and our oxygen supply would cease, and mankind would die.
i. Consider even the dust; the nemesis of the homemaker. If it were not for dust, we would never see a blue sky, Seventeen miles above this planet there is no dust from the earth, and the sky is always black. If it were not for dust, it would never rain. One drop of rain is made up of eight million droplets of water, and each one of those eight million droplets is wrapped around a tiny particle of dust. Think about that the next time you drink the rain water. But without it, the world would become parched and life would cease to exist.
j. Consider the human being and the wonder of God's design. Our life is based upon the blood that flows in our veins. The amazing red blood cell, created in the bone marrow, immediately gives up its nucleus when it reaches the bloodstream. For any other cell, this would mean death, like cutting the heart right out of a man. A red blood cell is formed like a doughnut with a thin membrane across the hole. Without a nucleus it is able to carry more oxygen for the body because of this membrane and the shape of the cell. If it were shaped like other cells, it would require nine times as many cells to provide oxygen for the human body.
k. Then there is the wonder of the eye. How could anybody look at a human eye and suppose that it just happened? Evolutionists tell us that where there is want, nature will provide what is needed. Can you imagine that we needed sight? No one had ever seen anything, but there was a need to see something. So nature created an eye. Imagine creating two eyes on a horizontal plane so that we not only can see but we also have a range finder that determines distances. When confronted with darkness the eye increases its ability to see one hundred thousand times. The finest camera ever made does not even vaguely approach such a thing, but the human eye does it automatically. The eye will find the object it wants to see and focus upon it automatically. It will elongate or compress itself. Both eyes moving together must take different angels to fix themselves upon what is to be seen. When the eye got ready to create itself, it also had the forethought for its own protection, and built itself beneath the bony ridge of the brow, and also provided a nose on which to hang the glasses that most of us need. Then it provided a shutter to protect itself from any foreign object. Inside my eye are 107 millions cells all working together to give me sight. I can distinguish a thousand shades of color. I can distinguish a spectrum of light so broad that the brightest light I perceive is a billion times brighter than the dimmest. How ludicrous to think that it happened by chance.
l. Consider what happens to your tears that continually flow across your eye. In order to keep the eye moist and clean, a wash is constantly supplied by a secretion for that purpose; and the superfluous or extra brine is conveyed to the nose through a perforation in the bone as large as a goose quill. When once the fluid has entered the nose, it spreads itself upon the inside of the nostril and is evaporated by the current of warm air which in the course of breathing is continually passing over it. It is easily perceived that the eye must want moisture; but could the want of the eye generate the gland which produces the tear, or bore the hole by which it is discharged --- a hole through a bone? Let the atheist or the evolutionist tell us who bored the hole in the bone and laid a water pipe through it for the dispersion of our tears. Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson said, "The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming."
m. Consider the incredible mind of man. Weighing but 3.3 pounds, it can perform what 500 tons of electrical and electronic equipment cannot do. Containing 10 to 15 billion neurons, each a living unit in itself, it performs feats that absolutely boggle the imagination. Just the eye alone sends the brain millions of simultaneous reports every second. The brain then absorbs a composite set of yes or no messages from all the rods and cones in the eye. It sorts and organizes them all and gives me an image of an object I hold in my hand.
n. Consider your immune system. Despite the fact that most microorganisms are necessary and good, throughout our lifetimes each of us encounters tens of thousands of different infectious bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Even more remarkable is the fact that most of the time our immune system disables these potentially lethal invaders before we ever show any symptoms of infection. At any given time there are more than 100,000 unique sentries posted throughout your body which identify invaders, sound the alarm, and even issue specific chemical instructions for their destruction. These sentries may also be thought of as tiny doctors who identify a potential illness, discover the cure, and apply it even before the infection gets underway. I have 50 billion active white cells prowling in my body right now. When an invader enters my body, the white blood cells somehow receive the alert and rush to the scene. They throw themselves around the bacteria and implode, destroying themselves and the invader. Just in case it is needed, there is a backup of white blood cells one hundred times larger in the bone marrow. The fact that even medical researchers are in awe over the design of our immune system verifies what the Bible says, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
o. Consider the ear on the side of my head. I can detect sound frequencies that flutter my eardrums as faintly as one billionth of a centimeter (a distance one tenth the diameter of a hydrogen atom). This vibration is transmitted into my inner ear by three bones familiarly known as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. When the frequency of middle C is struck on a piano, the piston of bones in my inner ear vibrates 256 times a second. Further in are individual cilia, comparable to the rods and cones of the eye, that transmit specific messages of sound to the brain. My brain combines these messages with other factors --- how well I like that kind of music, how familiar I am with the piece being played, the state of my digestion, the friends I am with --- and offers the combination of impulses in a form I perceive as pleasure. And, all of this just by random chance?
Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time, from the Big Bang to Black Holes), perhaps the world's most brilliant astrophysist in discussing the Big Bang theory stated, "It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us."
We are designed for a purpose. We live in a universe prepared and designed for us.
A couple of years ago, I read a Time Magazine article titled, "God is Dead." In that article, there was a picture of a wall in Europe. Upon it was written in big letters, "God is Dead. signed Nietzsche." Under it, some enlightened soul had penned the words, "Nietzsche is dead. ... signed God."
5. In conclusion, people who reject or ignore God do so, not because science or reason requires them to, but purely and simply because they want to! But the open-mined, logical and reasonable person will believe there is a God.
But, it's not enough to "believe" there is a God. You must "believe" in God. "Believe" (pisteuo) implies an action on your part. The man in Acts 16:30 had this on his mind when he asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (sodzo) - delivered from a black foreverness; a time of eternal torment; a time of excruciating pain and punishment for my sins; a total separation from the God who loved me and offered a way out. Paul's response was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." There's that word again: "believe." It means: to be persuaded of, to place confidence in, reliance upon, not mere credence, to believe and receive.
Humans have the freedom to choose who their master will be, but they do not have the freedom to choose no master.
Pleasant Thinking,
Dr. Kent Haralson - "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean
Berean Baptist / GMAU - not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways
West Palm Beach, FL USA - acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."
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