Belief In A God You Can't See

Does God exist? What is the evidence for God?

Belief In A God You Can’t See

Bart Larson, Chaplain

GraceReflections.com

“All scripture references from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 — International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.”

DEDICATED TO JUSTIN

This booklet is dedicated to Justin, a 16-year-old atheist who was a patient at a psychiatric hospital where I was chaplain. After one group, Justin said to me, “Bart, do you know the thing I don’t like about your groups?” I said “No.” He said, “You make me think!” After being discharged from the hospital, Justin got into a fight with his father, went down to his basement and hung himself. I wept. This booklet is dedicated to all the Justins in our world who are searching for a reason to live .

INTRODUCTION

I would like to invite you on a journey that could possibly change your life. What is our destination? To find out whether God exists. I know this is a tall order. You may or may not even believe in God, and that is okay. I know you have your reasons. I would rather travel with an honest doubter than a closed-minded believer. Before we leave, I have two favors to ask of you. The first is that you cut me some slack. Before you write me off, will you at least read what I have to say? That is part of being open- minded. Which leads me to my second request: will you reserve judgment on this booklet until you have read all of it? Wait until we have reached our destination before you pass judgment on the trip itself. You may find this voyage mentally, emotionally and spiritually

challenging, but I guarantee you, once you reach port, it will have been worth the journey. There was a man in a mental institution, so the story goes, named George who believed he was dead. No matter what anyone would say or do, no one could convince him he was alive. One day a young mental caseworker had a brilliant idea. He said, “Tell me, George, do dead men bleed?” George thought for a minute and said, “No, dead people don’t bleed.” The caseworker took a needle, pricked George’s finger, and squeezed. A small drop of blood appeared. George’s eyes grew big as he saw the blood, and he said, “Well, what do you know! Dead men do bleed!” If you have your mind made up like George, no matter how much evidence I present, I cannot convince you of anything against your will, nor will I try. But, if you are interested in arriving at the truth, it is crucial that you maintain an open mind. That is the one thing I cannot give you as we embark on this journey.

The fact is, the question of God’s existence, whatever that is, will affect you forever . Only a fool would ignore something of such eternal magnitude. Let me begin by asking you a very blunt question: “Do you really want to know the truth about God?” This is not as crazy as it may sound. If you are like most people, you are starting this trip with some emotional baggage. You may have deep emotional reasons and/or hidden agendas for not wanting to believe in God, like the woman who said, “I refuse to believe in a God who would allow my father to sexually abuse me when I was a child.” Or, like the man who said, “I don’t want to believe in God because it would interfere with my sex life.” Or, “I’ve known too many religious hypocrites who tried to cram God down my throat.” Or, “The tho ught of there being a God terrifies me. ” I sympathize with these people. However, if there is a God, God is under no obligation to

meet their or our objections. The issue is one of existence , not preference . It is an issue of truth. We must adjust our beliefs to what is , not what we would like to be true. Does God really exist? That is the issue before us. Can you identify your baggage? Fear? Hurt? Anger? Pride? Prejudice? Mistrust? Selfishness? I’m not so concerned about the baggage you’re taking with you, as long as you acknowledge you have it. After all, it is hard, if not impossible, to change or heal what you are unwilling to acknowledge.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

The most awesome concept to ever enter the mind of man is the possibility of God’s existence. Our trip begins with a simple question, “Does God exist?” If you already believe in God, this part of the trip should be rather easy for you. If you don’t, what I am about to share will probably take you out of

your comfort zone, which is probably good since most genuine growth in our life occurs outside our comfort zone. There are several reasons why you should settle the issue of God ’s existence . First is for the sake of truth. Wouldn’t you hate to wake up on the other side of this life, assuming such an afterlife even exists, only to discover that you’d lived a lie and turned your back on eternal truth? There are few things worse than truth known too late . Second is for peace of mind. By deciding whether God exists, you can put your mind at ease. If you conclude there is no God, you can pretty much be the center of your own world, your own little god . You win. You are basically free to live life however you want, at least up until you die. On the other hand, if you search for God and find God, then, in a sense, you also come out a winner, for now you are tapped into the source of life and the creator of all pleasure,

the creator of all that is. Do you know the only way to lose? By being too cowardly, or too arrogant, to seriously confront the issue of God’s existence head-on. Belief in God is not some casual hit-or-miss proposition. What you believe about God will affect the way you see and experience yourself, others, and all of life. If you are used to putting time, effort, and resources into getting what you want in this life, which is but a split second compared to eternity, why not put some serious thought and effort into something you know is going to affect you, one way or the other, for time and eternity ? To help you better understand what is at stake, let’s assume we have two people: John and Mary. John believes there is no God. Mary, on the other hand, is convinced God exists. Question: “Does it matter who is right?” Take a look at life through the eyes of John and Mary and decide for yourself.

Let’s begin with John. Let’s assume for a moment that John is right, and there is NO GOD. How would John say life came into existence? Answer: he would probably say that the whole universe, and all life, evolved from nothing . He would likely view himself as the by- product of a series of evolutionary chances that occurred over several billion years. Would John say humans have any basic worth or value? " No." If we are nothing more than a bunch of chemicals accidentally stuck together, how could we have inherent value or worth? Animals, plants, people, etc. would only be things . We’ d be nothing more than an accidental freak of random chance with no intelligent design and no inherent worth or value. Would there be a purpose for our existence? John would say, “No.” If life on earth is nothing more than something the universe belched out by accident, how could there be a higher purpose? Life for John would be a short party,

at best. Once the party is over, it’s over forever . In John’s opinion, would real moral rig hts and wrongs exist? “No.” According to his naturalistic, materialistic beliefs, if man is merely an advanced life-form in the animal kingdom, John would likely view society’s teaching about right and wrong as cultural, or as the result of some self-preservation genes. John would probably look upon truth as relative ; in other words, always subject to change. “What’s true for you may not be true for me.” There would be no such thing as absolute truth, no definite right or wrong. How could mere atoms stuck together by random chance care about truth? The one exception might be when it comes to science. People like John tend to treat science as sacred. However, John must watch how he expresses his belief that there are no absolutes . If he says, “There are no absolutes,” he just made an absolute statement! If John

says, “There is no such thing as truth,” he opens himself to the question, “And you know this to be true , John?” Philosophically, all such statements are self-contradicting, which poses a real problem for those who consider themselves rational, scientific thinkers. Besides, how could rational thought have come from an irrational source? If absolute truth does not exist, then why should we believe anything that science or anyone says? Wouldn’t truth merely be a figment of our imagination? Since John would not believe in moral absolutes of right and wrong, good or evil, logically he could justify doing anything he liked. After all, if there is no God, then there would be no moral laws behind the universe. Correct? Anything would be fair game. Practically speaking, rape, sexual abuse, stealing, or even murder would not be wrong if there is no such thing as wrong . We recoil at such thinking, but that is the stark reality of

John’s position taken to its logical conclusion. If people are merely a conglomeration of chemicals and nothing more, then why should it matter how you treat them? That type of thinking is behind much of atheistic Communism: “What’s the big deal about killing people if it is for the good of the state? Latest statistics still show that 100% of every generation will die. If John is right, and there is no God, then what? On his tombstone they will write, “The End!” John’s life for time and eternity will be over. For John this thought could be very depressing. All his accomplishments and aspirations will end at death. Whether John was the CEO of a large company or a janitor, a multi-millionaire or a street bum, would make absolutely no difference. Dead is dead. If John has no divine spirit, and there is no God, then in the larger scheme of things, his life will have meant absolutely nothing. — “Sorry John!”

Now, let’s look at life through Mary’s eyes. Let’s assume, again for sake of argument, that GOD DOES EXIST. How would Mary answer these same questions? How would she say life came into existence? Answer: She would say that, by whatever means, God created not only her, but the entire universe. Whether it took six days [instant creation] or six billion years, the universe would show signs of intelligent design. Time is not the real issue. Anyone with eyes intuitively knows that whether it takes an artist, like Michelangelo, days or years to sculpt a masterpiece, it is still a work of art. Would Mary say people have real value and worth? “Yes.” According to her beliefs, people were conceived in the heart and mind of an intelligent God. Since God wouldn’t create junk, we must be of great value. Such a belief could dramatically increase her sense of confidence and self-worth. She would probably be more likely to treat people, born or unborn,

with dignity and worth, because in her belief system all people, to some degree, bear the image and likeness of God. Do you suppose Mary would believe she has a special reason or purpose for living? Yes. Her purpose is probably to know and love God, and to do God’s will by helping and serving others. Life on earth, for her, would be preparation for eternity. For her the best is yet to come. Would Mary believe that good and evil, right and wrong exist? Of course! If there is divine intelligence behind the universe, then that which conforms to that divine intelligence would be right, and things which violate that intelligence, would be wrong. She would say, “Good is good, and evil is evil. What Hitler did was evil. Good and evil are not to be confused.” Like John, someday Mary is going to die. If she is right, and there is a God, then what? On her tombstone they’ll write, “Only the Beginning!”

By looking at John and Mary, can you see how John’s worldview might lead to feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and despair? Life would be no more than “a tale told by a madman, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (William Shakespeare, “ Macbeth” ) Mary’s view, on the other hand, could give her a sense of purpose and hope. While such differences do not prove, or disprove, the existence of God, such beliefs, or lack of beliefs, do affect how you and I face each new day. Every day we live is either one day closer to death and eternal nothingness, or else one day closer to everlasting life of one sort or another. Imagine a piece of chalk the size of a telephone pole [50-60 feet tall], and a chalkboard hundreds of miles long. Pretend you take that huge piece of chalk and draw a thin line that goes and goes and goes — until the chalk runs out. Think of it as a timeline representing eternity, except with eternity the

chalk line never runs out. Now put a tiny dot at the front end of that line, and let it represent your whole life here on earth compared to eternity. First, does it matter whether God exists and who is right, John or Mary? Sure it does! If there is no God, you might as well erase the line because when you die, the party is over, forever. In which case, you should drink all the enjoyment you can out of this tiny speck of time, because that is all you will ever get. On the other hand, if God is real, and there is an afterlife, then nothing on earth could be more important. You are literally at the beginning of forever , be it good, bad or otherwise. Things such as war, national freedom, terrorism, cancer, education, your career, money, marriage, family — even sex — would not begin to compare in importance to that which will impact your eternal existence. A trillion years from now, you’ d still be at the front end of forever .

It is a sobering thought, but true; at this very moment, you and I are only one breath and one heartbeat away from eternity. And depending on who is right, John or Mary, we are each facing either eternal nothingness, or never-ending life of some kind. Most of us are like the little ant at the base of Mt. Everest. It is so easy to get focused on our tiny anthill that we miss the big picture, namely God and eternity versus eternal nothingness. Two men were talking about Bill Gates, one of the richest and most powerful persons in the world. The one asked the other, “How much money do you think Bill Gates will leave when he dies?” — His friend thought and said, “All of it!” A million years from now it will not matter whether you drove a new Corvette, or an old car with rusted fenders, whether you lived in a shack or a mansion, whether you were educated or uneducated, were rich or poor, or what kind of relationships you had.

What will matter a million years from now is whether God exists and whether there is life after death. Your life on earth is either all there is, the end of the road, or it is the first stop on a never-ending journey. Please hear me. You have absolutely no say in this matter! All you can do is try to determine which destination is true, and adjust your life accordingly. Until you settle the issue of God’s exis tence, I doubt that you will ever know true peace of mind, especially as you near the end of your life. I’ve been a hospice chaplain for over twenty-five years. I work with the terminally ill. I can tell you that it is much easier to live as an atheist than to die as one. Speaking as one who has ministered to thousands of terminally ill patients, of the few atheists I’ve known, most did not die well. For them there was no light at the end of the tunnel, no hope, only nothingness and non- existence awaiting them.

ATHEISM OR AGNOSTICISM?

Since the advent of the theory of evolution, many in our society, especially teenagers, college students, and faculty are finding it politically correct to declare themselves as either atheists or agnostics . These two terms have their roots in the Greek language. In Greek the letter “a” means “no.” The word for God is “theos.” Therefore, an “a -theo- ist” [atheist] is one who says there is no God. The term agnostic comes from the word “gnosis,” from which we get the word knowledge . An agnostic is one who does not know whether God exists. So, which is the most open-minded: atheism or agnosticism? Actually, agnosticism is by far the most open-minded. For an atheist to claim there is no God is a bit arrogant and quite narrow-minded. To assert that in this vast universe billions of light years deep, that in this

dimension, or in any other dimension of reality, that there is no God is quite presumptuous. A person would almost have to be God to have such knowledge. Claiming to know there is no God would be like two fleas on a dog in Kansas debating the existence of kangaroos in Australia. They’re in no position to say, and neither are we to emphatically say there is no God. It is not intellectually honest to claim to know the unknowable. To say there is no God is not based on facts. What concrete proof is there that God does not exist? None! — At least agnostics acknowledge their limitations; that, just possibly, there could be a God outside their realm of knowledge. There are two types of agnostics: those who say, “I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” and those who say, “I don’t know, bu t I am open to knowing.” Philosophy professor, Peter Kreeft, said, “the great divide is… not between finders and nonfinders, but between seekers and nonseekers.” I agree. Are you a seeker? If

you are, and if God exists, then I believe God is more than big enough to show you. And because I believe God is personal, I believe God desires to show you. The question is whether you are open to being shown. After all, no amount of believing can bring God into existence if God does not exist, nor can any amount of doubt destroy God if God does exist. You should not believe in God because it will make you feel good, although it will, but because belief in God is a matter of truth . It has nothing to do with sincerity or having good feelings. As a child I believed in Santa Claus. It certainly made me feel good, and I was quite sincere in my beliefs. However, I was sincerely wrong. It is hard to believe something in your heart, unless you first hold it to be true in your head. That is why doubt often precedes faith . It’s okay for you to ask the tough questions. In fact, you should.

The search for God might be compared to the little boy who went fishing for the first time. He had never seen a real fish, and for all he knew fish were a figment of the imagination. His dad taught him how to bait the hook, toss it in the water, and then watch for the cork to bob. After an hour or so of fishing, without so much as a bite, the boy was becoming quite agnostic about fish. Then it happened. His cork bobbed and went under the water. His fishing line began to move. He felt a tugging on the other end. All of a sudden his agnosticism about fish changed to fear. “What’s on the other end of the line?” “Will it hurt me?” “Maybe it’s a shark!” The search for God is much the same. I cannot tell you what you will find on the end of your line, but I respect anyone who has the courage to throw his/her line in the water. All I can do is help you bait the hook. People who begin to grasp the issues of God’s existence and how complex our universe

is will likely have unanswered questions. I confess that as a believer in God, there are days when I am totally overwhelmed by the whole notion of there possibly being a God. My mind cannot comprehend how awesome and powerful a God it would take to create our universe, and the other dimensions of reality physicists now believe exist. My brain short- circuits even thinking about it. On the other hand, atheists who think critically must also have days when they must surely doubt their unbelief. I cannot imagine how anyone can look at our universe with all its complexity, beauty, and apparent design, and say all of this just happened by chance — that from non-life came life, that from unthinking matter came thoughts and feelings, and that blind atoms bumping into each other could eventually produce an Einstein, a kitten, a rose, a butterfly, a baby, or the human eye. And further, how could all of this have come from absolutely nothing? Evolution assumes

that either energy and/or matter have always existed. In logic, this begs the question . Evolutionists assume an unproven part of their argument to be true, and then build their whole case upon something that is unproven. Where did energy and/or matter come from for evolution to happen? To me, it seems there had to be an uncreated First Cause, God, who started the whole process. If you believe in the Big Bang Theory, who lit the fuse? Is it logical or scientific to believe and teach that out of nothing came everything ? — Has that ever been demonstratively shown to happen? Let’s both acknowledge at the outset: There are no easy answers when it comes to the existence of God ! True answers? Possibly. Easy answers? No. Moving from atheism to honest agnosticism, to me, is the first step in being open to all truth. Unless one is all- knowing, ruling out the possibility of a God is neither good science nor good philosophy.

GAINING PERSPECTIVE

There are three books that drastically altered my concept of the universe: The Cosmic Mind Boggling Book by Neil McAleer, Galaxies by Timothy Ferris, and Visions of the Universe by Dr. Raman Prinja. Could such a vast and complex universe as ours have come about purely by random chance? You be the judge. To help put things in perspective, let’s take two journeys: one across our universe, and the other into the realm of atoms. Fasten your seat belt and let the journey begin. On the first leg of our trip, we are going to take a journey to the sun. If there were a highway from earth to the sun, at fifty-five miles per hour, it would take us approximately 193 years to drive there. Now, since we’re having such a great time, let’s say we decide to take a little drive on over to Proxima Centauri, which is one of the stars in the Alpha

Centauri triple-star system. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our earth, not counting our sun. Driving at fifty-five miles per hour, how long do you think it would take us to drive to Proxima Centauri? To give you an idea, we could drive for 50,000 years, 100,000 years, 500,000 years, a million years, 10 million years, 20 million years —and we wouldn’t even be halfway there! Finally, 52 million years later, at fifty-five miles per hour, we would arrive at Proxima Centauri, the closest star to earth! Light currently travels at 186,000 miles per second, which is roughly 6,000 billion miles per year. In the time it would take you to say “1001,” which is approximately one second, light from the light bulb in the room where you’re likely reading this, could have traveled around our entire earth almost seven and one- half times (if it went in a circle instead of a straight line). Traveling at this incredible speed, it still takes light from Proxima Centauri

almost 4 1/3 years to reach earth, while it takes light from our sun slightly over eight minutes to reach earth. Wikipedia says the depth of the known universe is currently 46.5 billion light years deep in every direction. Our sun and eight planets make up what we call our solar system, which is part of the Milky Way galaxy, which is made up of an estimated 200-400 billion stars. Our sun is just one of those stars. Think about this: if it might take us roughly 52 million years to drive from one star to another star at 55 mph, imagine how long it would take us to drive to all 200-400 billion stars. And, did you know, if we reduced our Milky Way galaxy down to the size of North America (Canada, the United States and Mexico), our sun and all the planets would fit inside a coffee cup? — If you looked inside that cup, our earth, if you could see it at all, would only be a pinpoint of light. I don’t know about you, but that blows my mind!

Based on the most recent information, astronomers estimate that there are not just billions of other galaxies, but trillions of galaxies. Many, like our Milky Way, would be made up of 100-400 billion stars each. Some think there could be as many stars in our universe as there are grains of sand on the earth. At the time of this writing the largest known galaxy, “IC 1101,” is approximately one billion light years away and is thought to have trillions (not just billions) of stars. Some astronomers once directed the Hubble Telescope at what looked like a tiny black speck in space, about the size of a grain of sand held at arm ’s length . Then they took a twelve-day [1,000,000 second] time exposure of that speck. When they enlarged the photo of that speck what do you think they saw? — Galaxies, galaxies, and more galaxies! Bottom line: we have no clue where our universe ends, nor how big it is. Astronomers who speak of almost being able to see the outer edges of the

universe are only making guesses based on their presuppositions. One of the largest stars we can see with the naked eye is a star located in the southern sky in the constellation Orion. The name of the star is Betelgeuse , pronounced beetle juice . It is the upper-left reddish star jus t above Orion’s belt of three stars. Betelgeuse is approximately 160 million times larger than our sun, with a diameter of approximately 250 million miles. If our earth were the size of a golf ball, by comparison, our sun would be a ball 15 feet high. Betelgeuse would be a ball 2 miles high! If there were a tunnel through the center of Betelgeuse, driving at 55 miles per hour, it would take us roughly 1,600 years to drive through that tunnel. [Remember, it would only take 193 years to drive from here to the sun.] If Betelgeuse was where our sun is; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter’s orbits could all fit inside of it.

And if you think Betelgeuse is big, the star, VY Canis Majoris, makes Betelgeuse look like a grain of sand. [Watch: Youtube, Louie Giglio, “How Great Is Our God .”] Even in our wildest imagination we cannot remotely fathom the vastness or size of our universe. In similar fashion, neither can we truly comprehend atoms, the physical building blocks of the universe.

A LOOK AT ATOMS AND CELLS

Atoms are the smallest, self-contained things in our universe. Your body, the world and anything physical, is composed of atoms. Some are light in weight, like helium, while some are heavy, like iron. Each atom has a center, called a nucleus. Going around the nucleus, millions of times per second, are incredibly small particles called electrons. The bigger the atom, the more electrons it has. It used to be thought that electrons orbited the

nucleus in neat little circles. Scientists now believe that electrons fly all over the place, like bees swarming around a hive. Since cells are made up of atoms, I once asked a friend of mine, who does cancer research, how many skin cells am I looking at if I look at the tiniest thing I can see on my skin. I thought he’d say a few thousand cells. He said I’d be looking at least half a million skin cells! And, as you know, inside every cell is our DNA which is made up of over 70 billion atoms, and over three billion DNA codes, and that is only a small portion of each cell. T his doesn’t count the many sub-atomic particles that scientists say make up each atom, such as the electrons, protons, neutrons, etc. Did you know that to count all of the atoms in just one cell of your body, at one per second, would take you over 300,000 thousand years? Every cell in your body contains DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which contains the genetic blueprint for your entire body, similar

to the blueprint a building contractor uses. It determines everything about you physically — your eye color, the size of your nose, etc. It is like a library of written, highly sophisticated intelligent information. Our bodies read DNA. DNA is not like a bunch of letters randomly thrown together. With technology scientists could take the DNA from any cell of your body, and create (clone) another you, just like you. If you took one strand of DNA from any cell in your body, and stretched it out, scientists guesstimate it would be 6-10 feet long. It is estimated that the human body, depending on the size of the person of course, probably has between 50-80 trillion cells. If you took all the DNA from all 50-80 trillion cells in your body, and attached them end-to-end, it would be long enough to go around our entire solar system; our sun and all the planets! [Pause to reflect on that before reading any further!]

Every time a cell divides, that strand of DNA divides in half, and with the help of messenger RNA, duplicates itself; all three billion codes. To help us understand how incredible this is, Dr. Chuck Missler (Youtube) said (paraphrasing): “Imagine a thin fi shing line 120 miles long that is so thin that it is invisible to the naked eye. Then you stuff all 120 miles of that line inside a beach ball, grab one end of that tiny line and you begin pulling so that it divides it into two new DNA strands, each 120 miles long; without getting tangled! Proportionately, that is the process that happens every time DNA molecules divide to make a new cell. ” And, if this isn’t amazing enough, this doesn’t even count the metaphysical parts of you, such as feelings, rationality, morality, etc. How could trillions of atoms all come together by chance to make a thinking, breathing, feeling human being, with a conscience, like yourself? Just the fact that we can speak, think, hear, interpret sound waves, see, and process

thoughts in a split second [a bit slower for some of us…just kidding], or make sense of anything is astounding. The fact that you can read and process this booklet is a miracle given all the billions of functions that are happening simultaneously in your body right now. Now that you know some of the complexities of our universe and our bodies, and the not-so- simple cell, what are the odds that all of this could have come about by chance? Atheistic evolutionists use the concept of probability and chance to argue their case for evolution. Considering the ages of our universe and our planet, doesn’t it sound reasonable to think there might be enough time for almost anything to occur by chance? Using statistics, the science of probability and chance, is this within the realm of possibility? The answer is an overwhelming, “N O! The odds of life coming about purely by chance is a mathematical impossibility of infinite proportions!” Let me explain.

If I had four ping pong balls numbered 1 to 4, and I reached my hand into a basket and randomly drew one of the balls out of the basket, the odds of my drawing out the number one ball the first time would be 1 in 4. Assuming I didn’t put the balls back into the basket each time I drew one out, and if I ran this experiment thousands of times, on average, the odds of my drawing all four balls out in order would occur, 1 in every 24 tries [4 x 3 x 2 x 1=24]. Now, instead of four balls, what if you had 300 ping pong balls, and they were numbered consecutively from 1 to 300. [Think of it as a giant lottery. Just pull all 300 balls out in sequence, and you win the wealth of the entire world.] So, what are the odds you could randomly draw all 300 balls out in the right sequence? The odds of you drawing the number one ball would be 1 in 300. The odds of getting all 300 balls in order would be 300 x 299 x 298 . . . x 2 x 1. That equals 1 x 10 614 ,

which is the number “1” with 614 zeros after it. As elementary as this is, remember that every time you put a zero at the end of a number, the number gets ten times larger. Add a mere five zeros to a million, and suddenly you have one hundred billion. This number has 614 zeros. It’s incomprehensible! Do you recall how tiny atoms are? Imagine how many atoms it would take to fill our universe. As incredible as it seems, you would stand a far better chance of randomly picking out one tiny pre-selected atom out of our entire universe by random chance, as you would to just draw out 300 numbered balls in order! In other words, it is statistically impossible ! Now, let’s apply these principles to real life. Could a one-celled organism have evolved by chance? The odds of billions of DNA molecules, in the simplest cell that is able to reproduce itself, occurring by chance, in the right order, is not a number with 614 zeros after it, but tens of thousands of zeros after it. Before you read

further, take a minute and think about that. When Darwin spoke of the “simple cell,” he was totally wrong. There is no such thing as a simple cell ! The cells inside our bodies are complex beyond comprehension. Atheists sometimes try to get around the problem of the first cell forming by chance by saying something very scholarly like this: “I agree that at present we cannot account for how the first cell came into existence. However, the evolution of a protozoa-like cell is a matter of natural selection. And, natural selection is not a matter of mere chance. It is a matter of mutations in the DNA molecule brought about by changing environments. Such mutations are quite frequent.” I have no problem believing in mutations within species. I know natural selection occurs. However, let’s be honest. There would have to be a whole lot of mutating going on for a single- celled microscopic organism to eventually mutate and evolve into a 50-80 trillion-celled

human with a complete respiratory system, vascular system, brain, digestive system, a set of seeing eyes, etc. As good as some arguments sound intellectually, one cannot just assume the first cell came into existence by chance, and then proceed with the theory of evolution. Please understand: without the first cell, there is no theory of evolution! In 1991, John Horgan, the atheistic senior staff writer for Scientific American , reviewed the status of all existing scientific theories for the origin(s) of life. His analysis was that there is no plausible way life could have begun by chance. — That has not changed. For sake of argument, let’s just pretend for a moment that some DNA did occur by chance. Do you realize that there still would be no living cell? All you would have is the “engine,” but no body. You’d only have one of the twenty “rooms” which make up a human c ell. For life to occur there would also have to be “. . .

carbohydrates, lipids, high energy phosphates, hormones, carotenoids, alkaloids, RNA, the correct pH, a lipid cell membrane with pores just the right diameter to allow the passage of substances in and out, an endoplasmic reticulum for protein synthesis and intracellular transportation, transfer RNA, ribosomal RNA, messenger RNA, Golgi sacs for the synthesis and packaging of glycoproteins, hundreds of mitochondria to supply the energy needs of the cell, lysosomes for housing digestive enzymes, ribosomes by the thousands for protein production, centrioles to aid cellular division, a nuclear membrane to house the chromosomes and nucleoli for producing RNA-protein complexes.” [L. Margulus: “Microbial Evol ution On The Early Earth,” in Chemical Evolution , Ref. 6, P. 481]. — Yeah, I knew you knew that! And, even if all of these components were present, it still would not guarantee life. All of these parts would have to come together in just the right proportions, at just the right

time, in just the right climate, with just the right temperature, not too many ultraviolet rays from the sun. And, of course, without proper cell-food the poor little cell would die. “Oops ! Go back to square one. Better luck next time. Maybe you’ll luck out and it will happen by chance in another 100 b illion years.” With all of these obstacles, atheistic evolutionists face several other major problems, one of which is the Law of Entropy . This scientific law states that all objects, if left alone, tend to move from a state of order to a state of disorder and decay [e.g. bodies decompose, cars rust, mountains wear down, clocks run down, stars burn out]. And of course, complex molecules such as RNA or DNA begin to break down! For atheistic evolution to work, not only would our first cell have to overcome odds approaching infinity, but it would also have to reverse the Law of Entropy . Time is actually one of the greatest enemies of evolution! Go to any cemetery

and see if there is any evidence of dead bodies evolving into new life forms since all the chemicals needed for life to occur are there. Another problem evolutionists face is irreducible complexity. Some things are so complex and interdependent upon each other that a whole cluster of things would all have had to evolve at exactly the same time, in just the right way, for them to work. For example, think of a simple mouse trap. If any part of the trap is missing it will not function. Now let’s apply this to the human species. Since we are sexual creatures, it wouldn’t do any good for a fully developed male penis to evolve if there weren’t a fully developed female vagina somewhere. How could they both have evolved at the same time, in two separate creatures, and in such a way as to produce life as complex as what I’ve just described? Without trying to be humorous, a half-evolved penis would serve no function at all. For it to work, it would have to be fully functional from

the start or little Johnnie would never be conceived. And, without a fully evolved vagina and uterus with an egg to receive the sperm little Johnnie would never be born. — “Sorry, Johnnie. Tough luck kid!” Whether we’re talking about grasshoppers or humans, male and female organs evolving together, in so many different ways, in so many different species, poses an irreducibly complex problem of infinite magnitude for evolutionists. — You have probably heard the question: “So, which came first: the chicken or the egg?” Ah, but there is another question they’re failing to ask: “Was the egg fertilized?” You see, you need both a female chicken and a male rooster to bring forth a baby chick! Darwin correctly thought that evolution could not occur unless everything could be explained through a series of small, gradual evolutionary changes. The problem is, it can’t! Darwin just hit an insurmountable wall called irreducible complexity.

Another problem facing evolution is that for evolution to work, and for new organs to evolve, new genetic information must be added to existing DNA. Merely scrambling existing DNA would not work. It would only mess up the existing DNA. If a blind fish wants sight, then new sight-DNA codes of astounding complexity must be added to form the eyes. Where do these new codes come from? How do they know to interface with existing codes? By random chance? — Impossible! There is another scientific problem: random mutations are almost always destructive. We end up with cancers, sterility or deformities, like a cow with a fifth leg growing out her shoulder. Only under the most controlled settings in genetic laboratories can mutations be manipulated and made to work. In other words, it takes intelligence . Realistically, the case for an Intelligent Designer is far greater than skeptics like to admit. Who came up with the silly notion that

everything in the universe can be explained by means of naturalistic causes? Why rule out the supernatural and the possibility of an all-wise Creator? Where does the evidence point? If someone insists that everything in the universe can only be explained naturally, and they ignore all evidence for there being a God, then of course evolution will win by default. It is like stuffing the ballot box. If you remove all votes for God, then of course evolution will win. However, if all the evidence is counted, then contrary to popular opinion, the evidence overwhelmingly points to a Designer God of infinite wisdom. If you’d like to learn more about intelligent design and irreducible complexity, I highly recommend Case For A Creator by Lee Strobel, and Darwin’s Black Box by Dr. Michael Behe, a biochemist. only Let me lighten things up a bit as I show the absurdity of denying obvious intelligent design. Let’s i magine a society of computers debating

whether man exists. Since computers live in the realm of electrical impulses, they would never have felt nor seen a human. One computer might say, “I reject the notion of man because such a concept interferes with my sexual freedom. If I want to interface [have sex] with Sally Hard D rive, I don’t want some man telling me I can’t do it.” Another computer might say “Man is sur ely a myth, for we can trace our evolution from the primordial metal fields of wire and solder, which formed the first computer chip by chance, to calculators, to personal computers, to mega computers like our Uncle Mac and Aunt Microsoft. Who needs man? The evolution of computers is so obvious!” One computer might respond, “Yes, the concept of man is rather frightening. If man exists, then rumors of the pulled plug may be true after all! Further, it would mean that we are accountable to man for our performance. I totally reject such a scary notion.”

Still another computer might say, “To believe in man is an emotional crutch. Only computers with little memory, minimal processing capabilities, and dependent personalities would find comfort in believing the ancient myths about man's existence.” Stupid you say? Computers could never evolve purely by chance, not in a billion years. It takes intelligence. That is my point! So, how did they get here? Computers are nothing compared to the human mind and body. If computers could never evolve by chance, how could a vastly more complex life-form, such as man, evolve by thoughtless chance without intelligence guiding it? Atheistic evolution requires an infinite amount of faith to believe that life on earth came about by random chance without divine intelligence. I’m sorry, but I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist! Some people think life on earth began when some extra terrestrial beings, E.T.’s, from other

worlds came to our earth. If that were so, who created those life forms? This theory simply shifts the question of God’s existence to other planets. The odds of chance evolution occurring there, I assume, would probably be about the same as here on earth. — Zero! Whenever we see obvious design, we always assume there is a designer. For example, if I looked up in the sky one day and the clouds spelled the words, “Eat at Joe’s Pizza," I w ould n’t say, “Wow, what a coincidence”? No, I’d assume that Joe had probab ly hired a pilot to do some skywriting. If I went to eat breakfast on Father’s Day, and I saw some alphabet cereal on the breakfast table in the shape of a heart with the words inside it, “Daddy, we love you,” I wouldn’t assume some alphabet cereal got accidentally spilled on the table. In other words, whenever we see intelligent messages of any sort, we intuitively know they did not happen by chance. So, how are the

intelligent messages contained in our DNA any different? One night a woman brought her husband into the psychiatric hospital where I used to do after-hour admissions. The man was totally plastered (drunk). During my questioning, I asked him if he went to Alcoholics Anonymous. He said, “No, I don’t believe all th at God-stuff! ” His wife sitting beside him said, “Well, you should believe in God!” He responded, “I don’t believe there is a God!” I couldn’t resist, and I said, “I think I can almost prove to you that there is a God.” I asked him, “Do you see that beautiful picture behind you?” He turned to look, and right above his head was a beautiful painting. I asked him, “Would you believe me if I said there was an explosion at a paint factory, and it blew paint everywhere, and just by accident made that painting?” He thought and said, “No.” I asked, “Why not?” He said, “It couldn’t happen.” I

responded, “So, whenever you see design, there is usually a designer, and whenever you see art, there is usually an artist, right?” He thought for a second and said, “Yeah.” Then I said, “Tell me, when you look at a gorgeous super-model, an Arabian stallion, a rose, a New England fall, or a butterfly, do these look like things the universe belched out by accident, or do you see design?” He may have been thinking about a super- model, but he finally said, “Design.” I replied, “Then there must be a Designer, and that is God.” He muttered some profanity and said, “You got me!” You may ask, “Tell me then, who made God?” Obviously, I can’t answer that question, but let me share some thoughts you may find helpful. I believe God has revealed certain truths about Himself. One is that He has always existed. God is without beginning or end. So, how can God be eternal you ask? Ironically, it was Albert Einst ein’s Theory of

Relativity that has given us a possible answer. Time is relative, not constant. Einstein proved that as an object approaches the speed of light, time slows down. Were we to achieve light- speed, time as we know it , so I’m told, would cease. If there were a being [God], who lived in the realm of light, God would not exist within time. Time would exist within God. Scientifically, an eternal God can exist. This could also explain some of the supposed contradictions between the biblical account of creation being six days and some of the longer periods of times suggested by geology. God could have been creating the world at near light speed. The Genesis record would record it in days. Scientists would say the same time period was millions or billions of years. According to the laws of relativity, if I’m not mistaken, both could be true. Let me state the obvious: if God were to explain to us all the mysteries of the universe, His detailed explanations would

probably make about as much sense to us as astrophysics would make to a baby . We don’t have to understand something in order to believe in it, or enjoy it [e.g., electricity, gravity]. Further, if we cannot understand the cosmos, all the way from the tiny atom with its sub-atomic particles, all the way up to our universe, now believed to be at least 46 billion light years deep, what would make us think that we, with our finite minds, could ever comprehend the God who created it? Rather than denying the reality of God, maybe we should instead consider bowing our knee and humbly worshiping the One who made it. I hope you d on’t let your intellectual pride, or the fear of what others may think, keep you from accepting a logical, rational belief in God. Is there anything you are pretending not to know abou t the facts I’ve presented ?

WHAT IS GOD LIKE?

For the rest of this book, I am going to assume God exists. For me the question is not, “Does God exist?” but rather, “Since God does exist, what is God like?” By using our minds and by looking at the universe around us, what can we learn about God? Let’s start with a very basic question: “Can something come from nothing?” The rational answer is, “No.” This is an undisputed scientific law that I’ve never seen refuted. If something can’t come from nothing, is it rational to believe that a God without intelligence could create people with intelligence? No. That would make no sense whatsoever. God must be highly intelligent beyond comprehension. By sheer observation of our universe, we can also surmise that God must be powerful, frightfully so. Further, could a God without personality create people with personality?

Probably not! It only stands to reason that God has personality, since God created love and joy that are components of personality. Could a God without feelings create people with feelings? No. Could a God without sight, hearing, a sense of touch, the ability to taste, and the ability to smell, create creatures with these five senses without possessing, in one form or another, these same qualities? Again, the probable answer is “No.” It doesn’t stand to reason that God would not possess all of these qualities in some fashion. In like manner, could a God who cannot communicate create people who can communicate? No. That would be illogical. Let me interject one caution at this point. Using this line of reasoning, some wrongly conclude that if there is evil in the world, then God must also be partially evil, which is the Hindu view of God. I disagree for two reasons. First, if God is all wise and all good, as I believe God is, God would know all things,

including how things would be if they weren’t good. For example, I have never murdered anyone, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what murder is. That God should allow evil, as He obviously does, does not mean that He is evil. His allowing the possibility of evil is, I believe, necessary; at least for this time in human history. Let me explain. God created us as choice- makers with free wills so we would not be robots. At stake was whether we would be able to freely love, versus be programmed robots that had to love God because we had no other choice. For example, if I said, “I’ll tak e you out for lunch, and you can have whatever you want. You can have pizza, pizza, or pizza. What would you like?” That would be no choice. In like manner, God could have said, “I’ll give you a choice: you can love Me … or you can love Me … or you can love Me.” Again, that would be no choice. For real love and goodness to exist, without us merely being robots, there had to

be an alternative, a real choice God gives us. As difficult as this may be to accept, the choice God gives us is the freedom to choose evil over good, even though it breaks His heart. Are there consequences for the choices we make? Of course! There may be hell to pay for those who chose evil, such as those who abuse children. (I would not want to be in the shoes of some unrepentant child molester on judgment day!) Otherwise, where would God’s justice be in the universe if evil went unpunished? The second reason God could not be evil is because He wrote the rule book. By definition, God is the only one who can truly label good “good,” and evil “evil.” Whatever He says goes. Our judgments of God matter little. If God created us, who are we to sit in judgment of Him? We would be using brains that God created to criticize the one who made us. That would be like a character in a book criticizing the author for the way the book was written.

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