How do we know God is there?

How do we know God is there?

Asked by Someone

how do we know God is there?

It is often argued that God is there because of the beauty and complexity of the universe - ie. such a design must have a designer in much the same way that a wrist watch suggests that there must be a watchmaker.

We are now being presented with suggestions from the advances in science that there must be a great mind or power behind it all.

Arguments like this, however, can take us no further than the idea that there is an impersonal force, or creative mind that has set the universe in motion. While it is a long way from the Christian view of reality it is an interesting change in direction from the theory of the origins of the universe that have prevailed in recent generations (eg. the ‘big bang’ theory).

New scientific theory will speak of ‘design’ rather than ‘chance’, and ‘purpose’ rather than ‘random’ or ‘accident’. However, the main argument for knowing that God is there is the reality of the person of Jesus.

Christians believe that God has revealed himself so that we can know him. This makes perfect sense. If God wants to make himself known, only he can choose to do that. No amount of human effort could find God if he didn’t want to be known. God wants to be known. He has revealed himself completely in the person of Jesus.

This truth means that we can not only know that God is there, but also what God is like. We can know his character. We can know how to respond and relate to him. Jesus claimed to be God. He backed up those claims by his actions. He calmed storms. He healed sick people, and brought dead people back to life. He cast out evil spirits and demonstrated his power over the devil. He declared people to be forgiven, and when he was put to death, he rose again.

In other words he demonstrated that he had the sort of power you would only associate with the creator of the universe, and the author of life itself. If Jesus is not God when he claims to be, he is either a lunatic or a liar. A lunatic because he wasn’t God but thought and said he was. Or a liar because he knew he wasn’t, but set out to deceive people. (You cannot say he is merely a ‘good person’.)

But his life and actions prove that he is God - God the Son, who reveals God’s character, and the only way back into relationship with God the Father. We can be sure that God is there because of the historical reliability of the person of Jesus. We can be sure that he is personal, that he is just and loving because of the character of Jesus; that we can be forgiven and receive mercy because of the death and resurrection of Jesus as we turn back to him, surrender our lives to his authority and trust in his death for that mercy.

Answers are kindly provided by our friends at Christianity.net.au

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