Published on 10/8/2007

"Where did God come from?" is a question all children ask. Skeptics say that he didn't. They can claim that evolution explains the design of the world; or that God's existence should be obvious; or that "God exists" has no logical meaning; or that innocent suffering casts doubt upon the idea of a benevolent God. How are we to respond?

Commentary

Where did Christopher Columbus come from? The standard answer is Genoa, but others trace him to Portugal or the medieval kingdom of Catalonia. Today's New York Times reports that DNA testing may finally solve the riddle.

We can claim that God exists because the Bible says he does. Of course, this is the very definition of circular reasoning. The Qur'an claims that there is no God but Allah (the Arabic word for "God"). The Book of Mormon obviously endorses the Mormon Church. We'd be shocked to find sacred writings which do not teach what their religion believes.

It helps that the Bible has outstanding evidence for its trustworthy nature. But even considering the manuscripts, archaeological evidence, internal consistency and fulfilled prophecy, we cannot prove that the Bible is divinely inspired or use it to prove that the God it advocates actually exists.

A second response is to claim that it is reasonable to believe in God, without trying to prove our assertion. This much we can certainly do. We cannot use creation or design to prove that a Creator or Designer exists, but such thinking is clearly logical. Skeptics may not agree that we are right, but they cannot prove that we are wrong.

This fact is of some significance. It would clearly be a veto to the Christian faith if we could not show that believing in God is at least rational. I would have a hard time getting you to join me in worshiping Martians, since no evidence could persuade you of their existence (I hope). But we can argue rationally that God made and designed the world. Even if skeptics credit evolutionary natural selection as the reason for life as we know it, they cannot prove that they are right. Their theory may be plausible, but so is ours.

Once we have demonstrated that faith in God's existence is reasonable, we can invite people to step from evidence into experience. As with all relationships, a relationship with God becomes self-validating once it is experienced. I know that God exists because I have met him for myself. His existence was reasonable before I met him, and compelling now that I have. But we can do even better, as we'll see tomorrow.