Four Good Reasons to Believe in God

1. Because of the Origin of Life

Have you heard the joke about the Big Bang? First there was nothing, then it exploded! Now, does that make sense to you? An atheist is someone who believes that nothing made everything.

But houses do not build themselves, nor do cakes mix and bake themselves. Our universe did not create itself. In Psalm 100:3, we read, 'Know that the LORD, He is God. It is He who made us, and not we ourselves'.

Who Made God, then? (the atheist asks)

1. An Eternal Universe

– with no beginning. However, only unchanging things are eternal – otherwise they decay and die. Our universe is like a bonfire burning up its fuel. It is not unchanging. If it were infinitely old, it would long ago have used up its heat, and all life would be dead. Our universe is not eternal.

2. An Infinite Regression of Causes.

A woman once interrupted Bertrand Russell, arguing that the earth is a flat plate that rests on the back of an elephant which is standing on a giant tortoise. Russell asked, "And what is the giant tortoise standing on?" The woman replied, "It is tortoises all the way down". If an infinitely long chain of explanations for what caused the universe is illogical and our universe is not eternal, there is only one alternative ...

3. There must be a First Cause

– itself uncaused, and uncreated: a self-existent Creator. Because God is, by definition, the eternal Creator, people asking the question, "Who made God?" are asking a logically contradictory question, like "Who is the bachelor married to?"

The first verse of the Bible tells us where everything came from: 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth' (Genesis 1:1).

2. Because the World Is Designed

The Greek philosopher Socrates argued that we are designed because of 'the position of our eyes and nose directly above our mouth to prevent that which is unacceptable for consumption'. We could add that teeth, lips, tongue, taste buds and salivary glands in the right place are all necessary for eating, too. When scientists look out at the universe, they see the same feature: everything is 'just right' for life. They call this the 'Goldilocks Effect'. For example, the earth is at just the right distance from the sun (not too hot or cold) and has a near-circular orbit, our planet has abundant liquid water essential for life, our atmosphere shields us from deadly rays, we are shielded from asteriods by the gravitational pull of a large planet (Jupiter), etc. Sir Fred Hoyle was so impressed with how precisely some of the physical constants are set that he said that 'a super-intelligence has monkeyed with with physics, as well as chemistry and biology'.

Our world contains even more amazing examples of engineering than space: birth, growth, sight, flight; creatures able to think, read and talk. Life on earth was designed by God.

Why are there so many problems, then?

If there is evidence of design and order in creation, there is also evidence of disorder and disease, disaster and death. Another ancient philosopher, Lucretius, said: 'Had God designed the world, it would not be a world so frail and faulty, as we see'. Why so many problems?

In the Louvre in Paris there is a statue called the Venus de Milo. For all its beauty, its arms have been broken off. Do we conclude from this defect that the statue was not designed? No, we conclude that something has happened that damaged the original design.

A Christian on board a ship went to see the Captain. The Captain said: "I don't believe in God. If my ship were in as much of a mess as the world is, I would lose my job". The Christian replied: "The reason the world is in such a mess is that there has been a mutiny". When mankind first rebelled against God, suffering, hardship and death entered our world.

3. Because of Morality

For the atheist, humans are nothing but matter. We are chemicals, animals, machines made out of meat, 'slime on a planet'. We certainly have no spirit. Yet, if we are just chemicals, why do evil, injustice and suffering trouble us? After all, we do not weep when we clean slime off the bathroom tiles. Mere matter has no sense of morality: there are no forgiving acids, compassionate vultures or vengeful hurricanes.

The problem is that we are troubled by injustice, evil and suffering: we loathe cheats, liars, thieves, double-crossers, rapists and murderers. But for the atheist, the world has 'no design, no purpose, no good or evil, nothing but blind pitiless indifference' (Richard Dawkins). Instead of bleating about evil and suffering, the atheist says we should just "get used to it". No wonder, then, that the worst mass-murderers in history have been atheists like Mao and Stalin (who compared murdering 35 million people to mowing the grass). The fact that we all (atheists included) have a sense of morality means we are more than matter or chemicals or animals. We have a spirit, like God. Our moral compass, the conscience, points to the fact that there is a spiritual world beyond the material – to God.

4. Because of Jesus Christ

One of the strongest arguments for atheism is that if God were all-loving and all-powerful he would remove all the suffering and evil in the world. God, however, seems to have "left the receiver off the hook" (Arthur Koestler).

One common atheist debating trick in the past was to pull out a watch and challenge God to prove His existence by striking the atheist dead within one minute. When nothing happened after a minute, the atheist announced he had proved God did not exist. Jesus was asked to do similar things: to send lightning from the sky to prove He was God's Son. Instead, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again”. Jesus was saying He would rise again three days after being put to death.

This is the reason why God is not interested in trifling little miracles like lightning-bolts: God has already produced the ultimate proof of His existence. He has come to earth as a human being, died the worst of deaths, and risen from the grave – pulling off the ultimate miracle. If we are not willing to consider that, why should God bother to provide any more evidence?

God has not left the phone off the hook: He 'loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life' (John 3:16). God sent His Son to pay the price for our rebellion, to die for our sins and to rise from the dead to prove it. God offers eternal life and forgiveness to those who turn back to Him, believing in His Son Jesus.