Why I Believe in God. The Basics

I am, by no means, a highly intelligent individual, but these reasons have given me a deeper understanding of why I believe in God.  If you want to read some dudes that are far smarter than I am who can give deeper explanations...check these out: 


The Francis Schaeffer Trilogy: The God Who is There; Escape From Reason; He is There and He is Not Silent

Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction by John Frame


The Reason for God by Timothy Keller


Here are my basic reasons: 


1. We are Most Like God, Not Some Impersonal Matter


Metaphysics, which I am no way a professional in this area, tells us that when something is brought into the world, it comes from something that is like them.  So, a tree that drops seeds from its branches will bring forth another tree, not a horse.  When a horse has a baby, it doesn't birth a 7-11.  My wife is due to give birth to our daughter in 4 days, not an iPod. 



We are personal beings, with thoughts, emotions, a moral conscience, wisdom, etc.  A big bang doesn't make sense to be the thing that created us.  A personal God that thinks, has wisdom, emotions, a conscience, etc. makes a lot more sense to have created us, because we are most like him, not some luck of the draw with impersonal matter that has none of these traits creating something with all of these traits.  It simply doesn't make sense.  Now, if we kept seeing Lego sets creating babies, we might have to rethink some of this, but the fact is, we keep seeing the same thing in creation that happened at the beginning.  Like kind coming from like kind.  


2. Evil Sucks...I Hope There is Meaning


Most people see evil around us and think, "there can't be a God, because of all the evil we see."  Actually, dismissing God because of evil doesn't solve things.  If there is no God, then who says what is evil and what isn't?  The moral majority?  So if we all decided it was cool to kill prostitutes on the streets, does that make it right?  Where do we get the understanding of what is good and what is evil?  It can't merely come from culture, because then we can't tell headhunters that when they kill your dad on an expedition to their land that they are wrong.  We have to just allow it because it is part of their culture.  What if people decided it was cool to rape children?  Who can say that they are wrong?  There has to be One who says what is right and wrong for everyone.  Now, will there be some cultural understandings of right and wrong? Yes.  But what about the big issues?  Based on this understanding of culture creating right and wrong, who could say that Hitler was wrong for wanting one white race without Jews and down syndrome children? 


Not only do we have an issue of what is evil if we don't have an ultimate moral authority, but what about the meaning of evil in our generations?  Without God: cancer, rape, tsunamis, famines, war...all tragedies have zero meaning.  They just happen because we haven't been perfected yet as humans.  With a God, because he is infinite with all wisdom, can allow this stuff to happen for a greater purpose.  God creates purpose for this brokenness.  


On a much smaller scale, and I don't want you to think this is equal to those huge tragedies.  But, I allow my child to fall off of his bike when he is learning so that he'll ride a bike.  His injuries seem small in the bigger scope of learning to ride a bike, as riding the bike is the end goal.  


If being like God is the end goal.  If glorifying his name for all eternity is the end goal, then these finite diseases and tragedies can have an ultimate, eternal purpose.  God is not seen as evil to allow these things to happen, if he is giving the gift of eternity with perfection in the end. Without a God, they have no purpose and we are left empty. 


3.  The Bible & My Heart Testifies to This Fact


The Bible, over and over again, continues this huge story of a God in history that continues to point towards a day when the Messiah would come.  Over and over again, prophecies came true and then when Jesus entered earth, he completed most of the prophecies and when he returns again, he'll complete the remaining ones.  The Bible was written by 40 authors over 1500 years and it's like one person was writing it based on the harmony and pointers forward to both the first coming of the Christ to the second coming of the Christ.  It is quite astonishing to see over and over again the Bible speaking truth to the understanding of it's ultimate author: God. 


I could go on and on to God's own testimony in his Word, but we'll leave that off for another time.   Just know that if you read the Bible as one huge story...it all fits perfectly together...was this just dumb luck? Or was there, and is there, one grand Author who tells the story, is in the story and is making the story happen? 


My own heart also is a testimony.  My heart continues to tell me that there is something more in this life.  It keeps longing for something greater.  I keep trying to fill it with temporary things, but it is never satisfied.  


Let me elaborate. 


I thought as a kid, "If I could just get some Nike basketball shoes...I'd be good." I finally got my first pair in the 7th grade.  I was still the same and found out that I still wanted more.  I then thought this: 

• If I could just graduate high school
• If I could just graduate college
• If I could just have sex
• If I could just get married
• If I could just get a good job
• If I could just buy a house
• If I could just have kids
• If I could just have my own business
• If I could just...

This just keeps going.  I keep thinking if I could just have this next thing...I'll be good.  The problem is that my heart keeps wanting more and I am a "want factory."  The more I succeed, the more I want.  It's a vicious cycle of emptiness.  In the end, I see that my life is much like the movie "Groundhog Day", if I allow this to continually happen.  

Have you never woken up and thought, "What really makes today any different than yesterday?" If this life is all about a life without a God who rules it, it becomes a life of "live for today, because tomorrow isn't promised, but will be basically the same as today if it comes."  

My heart testifies that there has to be something more to this life than the same ole thing as yesterday.  Not only that, but think of those people in starving countries.  It's easy for us to get comfortable in our lives in the Western world, but what about those that are starving each day?  Is that really it for them? Was it just for them to show up, starve then die? 

In the Bible it tells us that God has put eternity in each of our hearts.  The reason is that he wants us to know that there is something more out there.  This life isn't about us living out Groundhog Day.  This eternity in our hearts will drive us all crazy, unless we understand that there is a God, He is here with us and he desires to be in relationship with us.  He wants to put an end to our Groundhog Day and fulfill that eternal longing that we all have in our hearts.  Why can he fulfill that eternal longing? Because he is the only eternal One, everything else is finite.  So, no matter how much we try to fill our hearts to shut it up from its longing...we'll always be searching for something more, because all those things are finite.  It's like trying to fill a bucket with water, when the bucket has holes in the bottom. 

I know this isn't an exhaustive list.  I'm sure many smart people can shoot holes in my arguments, but this is primarily why I believe there is a God.  

Hope this helps.