10 Arguments for the Existence of God

Is there evidence for the existence of God? What are valid arguments for His existence that are obvious?

Argument Number One: The Universe

David wrote most of the Psalms and in many of these he wrote that it was obvious that the universe was created and thus, demanded a Creator. David wrote in Psalm 19:1 that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Paul reiterates this in Romans 1:20 that “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” So we see that a creation demands a Creator and that we are without excuse if we deny this. The universe did not create itself any more than humans created themselves. The vast majority of scientists understands that the universe is expanding and had a beginning. A beginning demands a Beginner. Again the Psalmist declares “You have set your glory in the heavens” (Psalm 8:1). I would challenge any agnostic or atheist to show me something that exists that was not created. One of the most famous physicist once said that the universe exploded into being many billions of years ago but what was it before it exploded…non-being? It could not have not existed yet later exist. To say that the universe exploded into being is irrational. What was it before it exploded into being…non-being? It could not have not existed and then existed unless there was a cause for it to come into existence. To say it exploded into being would mean that it once did not exist or that it was not in a state of being before being.

Argument Number Two: The Human Conscience

The word “conscience” means “with knowledge.” Mankind has an internal conscience and inherently knows that certain things are wrong. We return to Romans again where Paul says that “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Romans 2:13-16). Paul is saying here that even the Gentiles, those that do not have the Holy Spirit, know right from wrong. One of the universals of human nature is that there are moral laws that humans are born with. Most people understand that killing is wrong even if they were not taught this. There is a law “written on their hearts” that was not learned but which God established in the human heart. There are morals, thereby we know by necessity that there is a Moral Lawgiver.

The design of both the universe and the human body … demands an Intelligent Designer.

Argument Number Three: The Argument of Design

A few years ago, scientists mapped out a single strand of human DNA. What was the cost? Nearly 30 billion dollars! Why did it cost so much? It was because of the enormous complexity of it. One simple strand of human DNA/RNA is more complex than all of the nation’s transportation systems, including highway, airports, and railways combined. That the complexity of the human body would just happen by chance is impossible. It would be like someone throwing several Scrabble games letters onto a gymnasium floor and coming up with the Declaration of Independence. The design of both the universe and the human body, not to mention the rest of living organisms, demands an Intelligent Designer. Information infers intelligence. This design was obviously intentional and with purpose, therefore the argument of design cannot be argued against.

Argument Number Four: Objective Truth

I once heard an agnostic, who is a person that may believe in a god but not a personal god or does not know if a god exists, said that there are no absolute truths. For the person that says that there are no objective truths, I would ask them “Didn’t you just make an absolute statement that there is no absolute or objective truths?” They just contradicted themselves by saying that there are no absolutes and saying it with absoluteness! To most of the world, truth is relative and it is subjective, but there are most certainly objective truths. Two plus two will always be four, regardless of a person’s feeling about it. Imagine a 1st grader saying to the teacher, “Well teacher, to you 2 + 2 is 4, but to me, it can be any number I want it to be.” That is as absurd as saying that there is no absolute truth and saying it as an absolute statement. This is totally irrational and illogical.

Argument Number Five: The Ontological Argument

The Ontological Argument has been around for a very long time. It is believed to have been first proposed by Anselm of Canterbury in 1078. In his Proslogion, Anselm stated that God is defined by “than that which nothing greater can be conceived,” and then argued that this being could not exist in the mind if it did not exist in reality. Just having the idea of their being some god makes us realize that there is something or someone greater than ourselves. Something that created must always be greater than that which is created. The writer of Hebrews said that “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything” (Hebrews 3:3-4). To not believe in the Ontological Argument would be like saying that the birdhouse is greater than the person who built the birdhouse.

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Argument Number Six: The Argument from Contingency

Most people may not have even heard of this argument but it is impossible to argue against. It goes like this:

If something now exists, then there must have existed something prior to it. If anything now exists, then something had to exist prior to everything that exists now. If nothing exists, then nothing would exist now, however if we imagine something or anything does not exist, we are contradicting ourselves because in order for us to be in a state of being and to be “imagining” we must exist.

For a creature to say that nothing exists is ridiculous because since the creature imagines nothing exists and that all things are just a reality, there would have to be a mind to imagine this in the first place, therefore the mind that imagines must exist. I took philosophy in college. My professor once stated that the world may just be an illusion and perhaps nothing exists at all. My argument is that since he made that statement, he must exist to make it and my mind heard this and so my mind must also exist…therefore he and I and all things in the universe do exist…otherwise how could he make such a statement if he didn’t exist? I secretly then thought if he is right, then why should I worry about our upcoming final exams!?

Argument Number Seven: The Moral Argument

There are moral objectives that exist in the world. If there were not, then no one would give a second thought to someone killing an innocent person. This is a nearly universal moral law that innocent people should not be killed. The Moral Law is an “oughtness” or that something ought to be done or something ought not to be done. Universal Moral Laws do exist. C.S. Lewis put it this way:

If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.

Objective moral values and duties do exist.

Therefore, God exists.

How clear that is. Mothers almost universally know that they should care for their babies. There are exceptions but these are called deviant behaviors and they are the rare exceptions. The overwhelming majority of mothers care for their children. They know it is their duty to care for their children and so they know they ought to and thus, they do.

Argument Number Eight: Miracles or Answered Prayer

There are so many thousands upon thousands of answered to prayer that have been supernaturally answered that the chances of the many prayers being answered by chance are impossible to calculate. History is so replete with examples of miraculous answers to prayer that no one single book could contain them all. Even those who do not believe in God must attribute this to something extraordinary and not of human cause or natural cause. Look at it this way regarding answered prayers:

Answered prayers exist.

Therefore their cause exists.

And their only adequate cause is God.

Therefore God exists.

You could never prove that the many thousands of answered prayers are just a coincidence to those who have received them. They can attribute them to no other possible cause. The Bible is chocked-full of miracles that have hundreds of eye witnesses that testified of seeing them. The impossibility of disproving them and explaining them away to the ones who experienced them or who witnessed them shows the validity of there being Someone or Something outside of themselves to ever having explained them and no natural cause or reason having been found.

Argument Number Nine: The Bible

At first glance, this may seem unlikely to be a solid, concrete evidence for the existence of God but how can you dispute the thousands of archeological discoveries that have validated biblical history and stories, the hundreds of prophecies fulfilled that were impossible to know at the time of their writing, and the fact that 40 authors wrote 66 books of the Bible with the vast majority not knowing each other, yet all are infinitely in agreement about the overall theme of the Bible. There are today about 50,000 digs at nearly 30,000 different locations that have supported the Bible’s historical record and validated it to be true. In archeology, anthropology, paleontology, and in history we know that the Bible’s authenticity stands firm despite its critiques. The fact that the Bible still exists today is attributable to God saying that His Word would abide forever (Psalm 61:2-7, Psalm 199:89, etc.). The Bible has been burned, banned, confiscated, restricted, outlawed, forbidden…yet it remains today and so will also abide into eternity.

Argument Number Ten: The Survival of the Jews and the Christian Church’s Growth

Many will live for a lie but few would die for one and so if the Christians throughout the ages died for what they knew to be a lie would indeed be ridiculous. Also, the effort to extinguish the Jewish nation that has been attempted for thousands of years has not happened. What of the other nations mentioned in the Old Testament that today do not exist and which were abundantly more powerful, populous, and significant? There are dozens of nations listed in the Old Testament that archeologists and paleontologists have verified to have existed but these nations that were much greater than Israel do not exist today. God promised to keep a remnant of His chosen nation alive but today try and find an Amalekite, Jebusite, Edomite, Sodomite, Amorite, Chaldean, Edomite, Canaanite, or Ammonite. In addition, these nations, Ashkelon, Cush, Amorah, Gilad, Gilead, and Ashdod, are now extinct. There is historical and archeological evidence for them but they no longer exist. What did God say about Israel? Jeremiah records in 31:35-37:

“Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name: ‘If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.'”

Israel still exists and God has sworn by His own name that the heavens and the earth will vanish before Israel will cease to exist and the church that Jesus Christ built is still here, after 2,000 years. He promised that “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The gates of hell is better translated that the gates of the grave or death can’t stop it. It is still here today and will also exist forever.

Conclusion

Since we know that God’s Word is true and that there is indisputable evidence that God does exist, why not bend the knee today if you have not already done so. I beseech you today to repent of your sins, confess them to God, to see your need for a Savior, and to put your trust in the only name by which you can be saved…Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). The evidence that He will forgive your sins (1 John 1:9) and that you can have His righteousness attributed to you (2 Corinthians 5:21) makes it abundantly clear that God exists and that He wants all to come to saving faith (2 Peter 3:9). I ask you to put your trust in the Savior while it is still possible (Hebrews 3:15) because today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Tomorrow may be too late.