Can You Prove God Exists?
A few months ago I got in to an argument about the existence of God on Facebook. I know I should have known better, but when someone says something untrue, sometimes you’ve just got to step in and say something…
The argument was essentially about whether we can prove God exists. If you’re a Christian reading this, it’s probably a familiar question to you. Or, if you’re a skeptic, one you may have asked yourself.
What can we “prove”?
When people ask me to prove God’s existence I begin by asking them what “proof” they need! I know it sounds a little cheeky, but it’s actually pretty important. Do they want God to speak to them? Do they need a miracle?
You see, when it comes to proof and evidence, the closest thing we can get to is what a lawyer calls proof beyond reasonable doubt (apart from mathematics, but that is another story). What this means is that when we are asked to “prove” something, what we need to do, is only provide enough evidence to convince someone that a certain claim is true.
For example, I cannot prove to you that my wife loves me. But what I can do is give you the evidence of 11 years of marriage and all the things she has said and done to give you proof that it is true. You then need to make a choice based on my evidence.
Some previous attempts to prove God exists
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, people have been debating who “God” is and what “God” is like. There are three main arguments that people have used:
1. If I can think about God then there must be a God.
In this argument, people argue that because God is the greatest being that they can conceive or think of, because they can think about him he must exist in reality as well.
I hear you say, “Just because I can think about a perfect island, doesn’t mean the Island exists!”
The point of the argument though is not about the perfect Island (or any other thing you can think about – for me the perfect hamburger!), but about the greatest “being” that exists.
2. If something exists, then an 'absolute being' must exist (especially since something can’t make itself).
Rather than moving from the idea of God to the reality of God (Argument #1), this argument begins with the world – what we can sense – to the existence of God.
Here are the basics of this argument:
1. Reality can’t be self created – that is a contradiction.
2. Reality is not an illusion – if reality is an illusion than nothing actually exists.
3. So if reality is not self-created, then something must have created it.
The main point is that following this logic, we are led to a reasonable conclusion that reality was created, and therefore there must be a God who created it.
3. Our world has an order and purpose, this points us to an ultimate designer.
Although our world can feel chaotic and out of control, the world around us moves to a pattern and rhythm every day. As we learn in science there is an order in our creation, and things happen in a regular way. The sun rises and sets. The seasons come and go.
According to this third argument, this is not by chance. It points us to a designer who has made the world and set it up, so we can live and flourish in the world.
Need more convincing?
Personally, I find none of these arguments by themselves, enough to prove God exists. They definitely point us in the direction of a “God”, but they do not point us to the God revealed in the Scriptures.
This is why we need God’s help to know he exists.
In Psalm 19:1 we read that “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands”. The problem is that we have all ignored God’s creation cry and followed our own thoughts about God.
What we need then is God’s word (Psalm 19:7) so we can understand who God is and what he had done.
What this means is that when we put our “Scripture Glasses” on, we can see and hear creation's cry properly and respond to God (with his help) as we should. What this means is that God’s word, the Bible, is the ultimate argument for God’s existence. It tells us the truth about ourselves, our world and how we can truly know that God exists.
It's also in the Bible that we find the ultimate proof for God – Jesus. The recorded history of Jesus in the Bible is something you can check up on. When you do, you will discover the evidence for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is overwhelming. Jesus claimed to be God, and in his physical death & resurrection, he proved it. Check out the evidence for yourself at The Christ Files.
Jesus tells us that when people see him, they see God (John 14:9). Have you checked Jesus out? Personally, I have found him to be best proof for God’s existence.
We recommend you check out this article for more information.