If Anything Is, God Is.

A couple of days back my four year old daughter said to my wife, "Mommy, tell me about God". They were not then in a conversation about God, or the Bible, or anything particular to that realm (though all things have to do with this realm). The question seemed to come out of nowhere as it broke through the common place activity of the hour. As Marian spoke to Tess about God, Tess asked to see God. Marian explained that God is an unseen Being, the invisible Reality. So of course the next question from my daughter was, "If God is invisible, then how do we know that He's real?" This question is asked by those who are 4, and 40, and 80. It is the same old question, and it is a question the Scriptures answer for us.

Romans 1, for example, says that knowledge of God is made plain to us because God has shown it to us (v19). The Apostle Paul goes on to say that God's invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (are not invisible)(v20). The invisible Spirit who is God has revealed Himself in the visible creation. The evidence for God's existence is so "plain" and "clear" says Paul, that those who disbelieve in Him are "without excuse" (v20). Those who don't believe in the Creator God of the Bible are not stupid; they're blind, and they suppress the truth God has made plain (v18).

Let me put it this way, somewhat philosophically: If anything exists, God exists. I know this because I am not insane. Crazy maybe, but not insane. I know that something cannot come from nothing. Nothing is nothing. There is no thing in nothing. Nothing is non-existence. And nothing comes out of non-existence. So if anything exists, a creator exists. If anything is, a maker is. That's just basic reason. You and I know of nothing without a beginning (excluding God). We know of nothing without an origin. So for a person to argue that in the reality that we occupy, there is no God, is asinine. But it's beyond asinine, it's a form of insanity because she is arguing against all that we all already know -- that if there is a something, it has an origin, and that origin must be a self-sustaining one. One may argue that the God of the Bible is not that origin, but he can't rationally argue for no self-sustaining origin. If a thing exists, it has an origin, and there is a creator. For anything material to exist, there must be a non-caused first cause. There must be an independent, outside creation reality,  with the nature and power and will to create.

You need not believe in the God of the Bible to believe in this rationale. You only need be a living creature, and trace backward the existence of anything. At some point you reach the point where you run out of material causes, yet, the thing whose history you are tracing still exists. For example, I am holding a pen. I trace its origins back to the makers of the plastic and the ink and the metal, and to the hands that put it all together in a factory, and even to the materials of the earth drawn out to make the plastic and the ink, etc. But eventually I can go no farther in the material universe, yet the pen is still in my hand. How is that possible? God is.

At the end of the day as I examine reality, that God exists makes perfect sense, while an absence of God makes no sense. Whether you're tracing the history of a pen or of a person or of the universe as a whole, the same old questions arise and the same old answer satisfies -- God is.

Biblical faith is not blind faith, but the opposite. It's eyes wide open trust in a God that has gone to great lengths to make Himself known, even creating a universe, and sending His Son into it, so that we are all without excuse.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky displays His handiwork. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard -- Ps 19:1-3.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him -- He 11:6.

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God" -- Ps 14:1a.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world -- He 1:1-2.