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There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down
computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Comparing the human brain to a computer, he firmly declared
his atheistic stance.
Dr John Lennox’s reply to this statement turned it on its
head:
Atheism is a fairy story for people afraid of the light!
Who has the correct perception?
Are we just living in a sphere of darkness without God or
can we find evidence for God’s light and creatorial power?
Evidence for God’s existence
- The
order and design of creation.
This is the most compelling sign in my opinion. I cannot
look at the beauty and detail of creation without marvelling at the Creator.
In the 1980s theoretical biologist, Dr Hans Meinhardt, began
to wonder how the beautiful patterns of shells formed. As he researched, he
discovered that the rules which govern the formation of the patterns in nature
such as leaf arrangements, sand dunes and snowflakes, were the same for shell
patterns.
The inbuilt mechanism that produces such beautiful,
intricate formations points to intelligent design. If this world is a product
of mindless unguided natural processes as Richard Dawkins
claims, we would not expect to find laws of nature that demonstrate such order
and regularity in the universe.
Scientists are increasingly questioning Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution due to sophisticated data from more advanced scientific methods;
while adaptation occurs within species, the complexity of DNA rules out the
evolution of species. 21st-century genome sequencing proves that species
do not emerge from an accumulation of random genetic changes.¹
Listen to Dr Stephen Meyer’s explanation of how the
information encoded in DNA points to intelligent design:
2. The Bible
Science points to intelligent design; the Bible explains the
Source of intelligent design.
The Book of Genesis famously begins: B’reishit bara
Elohim … (In the beginning God …) The Hebrew grammar is unusual,
signifying a non-specific time in the past. Reb Jeff writes: “In the
beginning of the beginning that is always beginning, God created the creation
that is still.”²
When Genesis continues to describe the six days of creative
activity, the tense changes to a specific time in the past. Regardless of
what Christians believe about the period of the 6 days, the Bible does not say
how old the earth is.
While it is not a scientific book, it contains references to
facts proven by science.
Isaiah disproves the world’s flat-earth theory when
describing the ‘Holy One’:
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth. (Isaiah
40:22a, NIV)
The Bible mentions three times that the earth is ‘wearing
out’, corroborated by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that the
entropy of the universe will increase:
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment. (Psalm 102:25–26, NIV)
The hydrologic cycle is described in Job, Psalms and
Ecclesiastes, yet it was not understood until the 17th century:
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from, there they return again. (Ecclesiastes 1:7,
NIV)
I have written elsewhere about the reliability of the Bible
as a historical text (read here).
Precise prophecies in the Old Testament have been fulfilled regarding God’s
plan of reconciliation through Christ:
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we
considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:4–5, NIV)
While the divinity of Christ is refuted by many, God
incarnate walked among us according to the Bible:
… who being the brightness of His (God’s) glory
and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of
His power, when He had, by Himself, purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3, NKJV)
His resurrection proves He was the Son of God (Romans 1:4).
Further evidence of God
- Our
Conscience
There appears to be an innate sense of justice and empathy
in children who are too young to act on learned behaviour. Try giving a
two-year-old a gift in front of another two-year-old, or a different number of
sweets to both!
When former atheist C. S. Lewis was grappling with the
question of the injustice of the universe, he asked: “But how had I got this
idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some
idea of a straight line.” He concluded that morality and justice made
sense in a world he was trying to prove had no sense. He further deduced:
If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never
have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the
universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never have known it
was dark. Dark would be without meaning.³
The evidence points to a God-given conscience, providing a
moral compass for our behaviour.
2. Personal testimonies
Countless people have testified to the transforming power of
belief in God through the revelation of Christ and His sacrificial death.
American actor, Kirk Cameron, was a staunch atheist in his
youth. When he heard the Gospel message presented at a church one day, his
belief was challenged. He prayed that if God were real, He would reveal Himself
to him.
Through time and reading the Bible, Kirk encountered the
living God and sought forgiveness of sins. He is now an active Christian who
shares his beliefs publicly with thousands:
I can honestly tell you today that of all the places I’ve
ever been, of all the people I’ve ever met, of all the fun and exciting things
I’ve ever done, absolutely nothing compares to the joy of knowing Jesus Christ,
of knowing that my sins are forgiven and that I’m in a right relationship with
God.⁴
Lee Strobel, a former atheistic lawyer who set out to prove
Christianity was a fable, concluded: “I realized it would take more faith for
me to remain an atheist than to become a Christian.” He only found peace
in his troubled life by accepting “this free gift of forgiveness and eternal
life.”⁵
There are thousands of similar testimonies by converts to
the Christian faith.
Conclusion
We can conclude that belief in God is evidence-based, not a
leap in the dark. Science backs the claims of an Intelligent Designer due
to complex codes in DNA cells. The Bible, a reliable historical
document with real characters and events, reveals that God is the
Intelligent Designer who created the universe. Knowledge of God is
possible through our conscience and the spiritual dimension by accepting the
evidence of His presence through faith in Christ.
Personally, I have experienced God’s guidance, protection,
light and love over four decades. With Job, I can say:
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end
he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my
flesh I will see God. (Job 19:25–26, NIV)
***
References:
- https://aeon.co/essays/why-did-darwins-20th-century-followers-get-evolution-so-wrong
- https://www.rebjeff.com/blog/bereshit-in-the-beginning-of-what
- https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/359349-my-argument-against-god-was-that-the-universe-seemed-so
- https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/celebrities/the-biggest-celebrity-is-jesus.aspx
- https://news.gcu.edu/gcu-news/author-lee-strobel-shares-his-powerful-testimony-in-campus-appearance/
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