Author : Wayne S. Walker
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6).
To please God and receive His reward, it is absolutely essential that we have faith in Him. Yet, as we saw in the last article of this series, not all people even believe that there is a God. One of the purposes of this series on “Evidences for Faith” is to examine the evidence upon which we can base a firm belief that God truly does exist.
Certainly, there are limitations in a study demonstrating the existence of God. The Bible itself makes no formal argument for God’s existence. It is merely a fact that is recognized from the very first verse on. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). Furthermore, man cannot know of God simply by his own wisdom. Paul wrote, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Such knowledge can come only from divine revelation.
We cannot prove the existence of God, or any other related truth, absolutely as we might prove a mathematical equation, because not everyone would accept our premises. Accepting God is a matter of faith, just as are many areas of scientific inquiry. Such faith is not totally subjective, because there is objective evidence upon which to reach such a conclusion. However, the decision still remains with the individual who is free to believe or not to believe. All we can do is to try to show from the evidence that it is more reasonable to believe in God than not to believe.
At the same time, those who affirm that there is no God can offer no demonstration or proof for their allegations besides their own philosophy and reasoning. Surely God wants us to believe in Him, but how can we decide one way or the other whether there is a God or not? We ought to have more objective evidence than one person’s experience or another person’s philosophy. Is there any such evidence? I believe that there is. To show the reasonableness of believing in God to someone who is an unbeliever, we can use what is called deductive proof. This is a self-evident method of reasoning that takes axiomatic principles and comes up with a conclusion. It is used extensively in mathematical and scientific studies. It can be applied to the search for God as well. And we shall begin our search in the next article of this series.
Those who are believers should never be daunted by the attacks of modern atheistic philosophy, because there is sufficient evidence for the existence of God, whether the die-hard unbeliever wants to recognize it or not. We must also remember that when a person categorically affirms that there is no God, he is obligated to prove it and he cannot do it. So while we may not be able to “prove” that God exists, as one might prove a mathematical equation or a chemical reaction, we can, as pointed out earlier, show from the evidence that it is more reasonable to believe in God than to disbelieve. This we shall endeavor to do, and this believers must do so that good and honest hearts can believe that “a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.”
