Does God Exist?  

Let’s begin this journey by recalling a childhood memory. Some of us have lived long enough to remember the ‘Tooth Fairy’ tradition. It worked like this: around five years of age we began to get a new set of teeth. As each tooth dropped out our parents encouraged us to place it under a pillow. During the night, we were told, the Tooth Fairy would sneak into the room and take the tooth. It would then be delivered to a fairy furniture factory where the tooth was put to good use making furniture for fairies. And to our delight, the kind wee critter would leave behind a coin, which we could spend as we pleased. We believed in the Tooth Fairy. The money was all the evidence we needed to believe that the Tooth Fairy existed.

Now, there is an assumption among sceptics out there in wonderland that belief in God is similar to belief in tooth fairies. They do not believe there is convincing evidence for the existence of God any more than there is evidence for tooth fairies. Those who believe in such ‘myths’ are to be pitied. Others take a more kindly view that as long as these beliefs are real to you, and provide you with comfort in times of stress, then by all means create your own super-hero and call he or she ‘God’. “If for you,” they say, “God is real, then he is real indeed!” Yet, for them, belief in a personal God is no more valid than belief in the Tooth Fairy.

Are they right? Is there no convincing evidence beyond reasonable doubt that God exists? Christians, as do Jews and Muslims, think there is. But we are reluctant to overstate our case. We cannot prove conclusively that God exists, but it can be established beyond reasonable doubt that God exists.

There are many reasons to believe that God exists. Here are three:

1. God is the First Cause:  
God is eternal and uncaused, but everything that begins to exist must have a cause. Julie Andrews was quite right when in the “Sound of Music” she sang, “Nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could.”

[i] The universe had a beginning...

[ii] Anything that has a beginning must have been caused by something else...

[iii] Therefore, the universe was caused by something else, and this cause was God.

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2. God is the Great Designer:  
The universe has order, design, and purpose behind it. There is a difference between the parts of a watch lying in a jumbled heap on a table, and an assembled watch ticking cheerfully. It is one thing to explain where the jumble of parts came from but quite another to explain how they came together in a working watch. Not only is the universe here, but it also runs like a precision watch.

[i] All designs imply an intelligent designer...

[ii] There is intelligent design in the universe...

[iii] Therefore, there must be an Intelligent Designer of the universe

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3. God as the focus of human need:  
Everything we really need exists. Humanity throughout the ages has demonstrated a universal need and desire to connect with a Supreme Being. This need cannot be easily dismissed as fantasy because the majority of the world’s population have always had religious inclinations and commitments. Like it or not, we are incurably religious.

[i] What humanity really needs exists

[ii] Humanity has a real need for God

[iii] Therefore, God exists