Does God exist?

Yes, I can be as certain of God's existence as I am of tomorrow's sunrise.

That answer is so important it had to come first.  In the rest of this post I will provide an explanation.  I will cover why I am certain of God's existence, why there are those who will never accept God's existence, and I will provide a few samples of evidence from the incredible amount of evidence for God's existence (including a few "proofs" for you philosophical types).


Why I am certain of God's existence

I can never prove God's existence apodictically, i.e., with absolute certitude. He exists apart from time of space. He is well beyond our human intellectual/reasoning powers.

However, while God is not provable, He is knowable.  And our faith is our bridge to understanding God.

I have already told the story of my history with God in this post.  And I have already told the story of why I believe in God in this post.  I will not repeat those stories here (I do recommend you read them), but to summarize: I am certain of God's existence because I know Him.

God is knowable.  If you seek Him, He will answer.

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." ~ Luke 11:9-10

For me, the personal stories of relationships and experiences with God are the best testament to God's existence.  You can also pray to God, go to Church, speak with a priest, or even do some serious research into the Bible, the history of the Church, the life of Jesus, the lives of the saints, and proven miracles.

These are the reasons I know God.  And if you are honestly seeking, then you will be led to God too.

"When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the LORD..." ~ Jeremiah 29:12-14

To summarize, God is knowable.  In knowing God, I can be as certain of His existence as I am of  tomorrow's sunrise.

Why there are those who will never believe

As I mentioned in my post on Faith, there are those who refuse to believe.  (And they existed in the time of Jesus as well.)  All of the evidence in the world could not convince them of God's existence because they have already made up their minds that He doesn't exist. They are not honestly seeking.

These people adopt a stance of extreme skepticism when it comes to religion.  They will say if it can't be touched, observed, and measured then it is not real.  But what about love?  What about heroism?  What about happiness?  You can't touch and measure any of those, but they exist.

The stance adopted by these people when it comes to God is practically solipsism.  (Solipsists doubt the veracity of everything, to the point where they are only really sure their own minds exist.)  This kind of extremist view applied to anything else is ridiculous.  It would mean that a person could not believe his clothes were real, he could not know whether other people actually existed, and we could never prove the sun will rise tomorrow!  It's just silly!

Those adopting this point of view towards religion would never apply the same point of view to rest of their lives...and you should point that out to them.

In short, even though faith in God's existence can be as certain as tomorrow's sunrise, there are some who refuse to see.  If this isn't good enough for some people, then they have bigger problems to worry about...like the world ending tomorrow.


Some evidence for God's existence

As I stated, for me, the personal experience with God is much more convincing than anything else, but there is abundant evidence for God's existence and below are five examples that might get you thinking...


Reasoning: An Argument for God

Here is an amazing six minute video from Father Robert Barron that makes a series of very convincing arguments to arrive at the existence of God.

Why do we believe in God?

Scientific: Creation is Ordered

The world and all creation is ordered.  From the arrangement of matter, to the existence of life, to the laws that govern the universe, there is order.  And it is ordered in a mind blowing way!  And it didn't have to be ordered.  It could have been chaos.  The fact that it is ordered supports the idea of a Creator who ordered the universe.

Continuing deeper into this theme.  If the values of some of the fundamental parameters of the universe were just slightly smaller or slightly larger, life could not have arisen.  We have:

• N = the ratio of the strength of gravity to electromagnetism
• Epsilon (ε) = strength of the force binding nucleons into nuclei
• Omega (ω) = relative importance of gravity and expansion energy in the Universe
• Lambda (λ) = cosmological constant
• Q = ratio of gravitational energy required to pull a galaxy apart to the energy equivalent of its mass
• D = number of dimensions

The probability of any of these variables being anything else is huge.  The chances for our existence are so infinitesimally small that you would have to worship coincidence to believe it happened by accident and not by God's design.


Moral: Right and Wrong Exist

1. Natural moral law exists.  
• No one actually believes in relativism.  
• No one believes theft, murder, or rape are okay. 
2. All humans have an innate knowledge of moral law
• Humans feel guilty when they do something wrong. 
• Even children immediately recognizes when someone has wronged another.  
3. This moral law does not come from man, but must come from an authority.
• Morality has no evolutionary value.
• If humans could change the law, they would.  
4. Therefor, there exists a moral authority higher than man that imparted this knowledge to man

The best summary of this I have ever read can be found in the book, "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis.

Logical: St. Thomas Aquinas' First Cause Argument

1. Things exist
2. Everything that exists was caused to exist by something else
3. There cannot be an infinite series of causes
4. Therefore, there exists a first cause which did not come into existence

Here is a great article discussing this.

Supernatural: Miracles Exist

Miracles are, by definition, events that defy the established rules of reality.  Science says they shouldn't exist.   But I bet you know at least one person who will testify to a miracle in their life.

Miracles point to the existence of the supernatural, of something beyond the rules of reality.  They are evidence of God's intervention in our lives.  While we could talk at length about the miracles performed by Jesus, let's look at an example you may not have heard before: the tilma of  Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This tilma (peasant cloak woven from cactus fibers) from 1531 bears an image of Mary.  It has been, and is still, on display at a church in Mexico.  The tilma, as can be seen above, is perfectly preserved despite being almost 500 years old.  In experiments to replicate the preservation, the fabric has disintegrated within 10 years.  Further, studies on the image reveal it is made with materials unlike any pigment on earth.

You can read more about the tilma in this article.

This apparition of Mary and the accompanying miracle of the tilma were responsible for the conversion of 9 million Mexicans between 1531 and 1541.

(In the appendix below I have links to additional arguments and proofs.)

In conclusion

My experiences make me certain of God's existence.  There are some people who refuse to believe.  There is evidence for God's existence all around you IF you are seeking with an open heart and an open mind.  

I believe this is the MOST important question of our lives.  You need to ask yourself:

Have you really given this question the thought it deserves?

Keep Pursuing (honestly)