The Existence of God (Part 2)

               Alright, we have established the fact that God is fact.  However, does everyone recognize Him as such?  Unfortunately, they don't.  But someday, they will.  Philippians 2:10-11 says, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

                What, then, do we do with those who don't view God as fact?  One option it to show them that the Bible is true and then point them to verses that talk about God and His existence.  We will cover this later in the series.  If they reject that, then what?  Believe it or not, we can offer evidence and, in a sense, "prove" that God is alive and well.  Just like we can offer scientific evidence and show that there is a north and just like we can examine mathematics and demonstrate that two plus two has to be four, so we can look at the world and show (with a bit of thinking and logic) that God does in fact exist.  

                I'm going to use C.S. Lewis' method for proving God's existence as laid out in his book, Mere Christianity.  Step #1 is to prove that there is a Law of Human Nature, a right and wrong, a Moral Law.  Step #2 is to prove that something or someone beyond us is behind this Moral Law.  Step #3 is to prove that the Power behind the Moral Law is the perfect God that the Bible describes.  Now if you read the book, it is not as simple as I am making it out to be.  In reality, there are many sub-arguments you have to make, ideas you have to prove wrong, and other details that you must sort through in order to get the conclusion that God exists.  I will try to make it simple and cover the main material in order to give you a basic idea as to how Lewis comes to his final verdict.  Thus, if it seems as though there are holes in my argument and seemingly unconnected thinking, it is because I cannot paste Lewis' entire work into the blog.  Instead, I would strongly encourage you to read the book and see C.S. Lewis present his extraordinary, yet convincing argument in full detail.  For now, here are the three general steps in summary form.

                Step #1: Prove that there is a Law of Human Nature - an ultimate right and wrong.

                C.S. Lewis begins his work by pointing his readers to times in their lives where they have observed an argument.  The book says, "They say things [in the argument] like this: 'How'd you like it if anyone did the same to you?' - 'That's my seat, I was there first' - 'Why should you shove in first?' - 'Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine' - 'Come on, you promised' (Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. HarperCollins Publishing. 1952. p. 3)."   The point Lewis tries to make is that for some reason, everyone - young and old - tend to appeal to this "Law" that they think everyone ought to follow.  They try to point out that it is wrong to steal, good to be respectful, wrong to lie, and many other examples.  For some reason nearly everyone seems to recognize these standards and try to abide by them as though they know them to be absolute. 

                People may claim that they have different standards.  They may say that they have no problem with stealing from others.  However, if you confront them and threaten to steal their belongings, they will go on and on saying that, "It's not right!  You can't do that!  That's my stuff!  You have no right to take it!"  In the end, they too recognize that there must some Law of Human Behavior that must be right and must be obeyed.  It is an interesting, but obvious phenomenon.  If you think about it, it should be obvious that there is a right and wrong that people know to obey. Now a complete discussion of whether there is absolute right and wrong and absolute truth is a very interesting topic that must be saved for another occasion.  Thus, in order to move on, we'll stop there. 

                Step #2: Prove that there is someone - a power of some sort - behind this Moral Law.

                Next, Lewis asks a question.  What is behind the Moral Law and how did the universe come to be this way?  He notes the two general views: "First, there is what is called the materialist view.  People who take that view think that matter and space just happen to exist, and always have existed, nobody knows why; and that the matter, behaving in certain fixed ways, has just happened, by a sort of fluke, to produce creatures like ourselves who are able to think...  ...The other view is the religious view.  According to it, what is behind the universe is more like a mind than it is like anything else we know.  That is to say, it is conscious, and has purposes, and prefers one thing to another (p. 21-22)."  Now since we are trying to prove that the God of the Bible exists, we must prove that the second option is right (Do you see how our everyday reasoning assumes that there is a right and wrong?).

                C.S. Lewis begins a very detailed discussion to prove that there is a something behind the Moral Law.  Unfortunately, it is way too intricate and long for me to explain.  Thus, let's look at part of the conclusion: he has figured out that there is, "Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in me as a law urging me to do right and making me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong.  I think we have to assume it is more like a mind than it is like anything else we know - because after all the only other thing we know is matter and you can hardly imagine a bit of matter giving instructions (p. 25)."  If that doesn't make much sense, he is simply observing that there is something causing him to know right and wrong - someone who came up with it.  Since we already know that everyone recognizes this right and wrong, something or someone must be behind all of it. 

                Step #3: Prove that the Someone behind the Moral Law is the God that the Bible describes.

                That's quite a jump, so it will take a bit longer to prove this step.  Lewis addresses many of the different options as to who this Someone is and what their role is in the universe.  Of course, it would take forever to analyze all of them.  So, we will just look at his comparison between the Christian view of God and another view called Dualism.  "Dualism means the belief that there are two equal and independent powers at the back of everything, one of them good and the other bad, and that this universe is the battlefield in which they fight out an endless war...  ...The two powers, or spirits, or gods - the good one and the bad one - are supposed to be quite independent.  They both existed from all eternity.  Neither of them made the other, neither of them has any more right than the other to call itself God.  Each presumably thinks it is good and thinks the other bad.  One of them likes hatred and cruelty, the other likes love and mercy, and each backs its own view (p. 42)." 

                Hold on to your hats as we look at the problems that Lewis finds in Dualism.  "Now what do we mean when we call one of them the Good Power and the other the Bad Power?  Either we are merely saying that we happen to prefer the one to the other...   ... or else we are saying that, whatever the two powers think about it, and whichever we humans, at the moment, happen to like, one of them is actually wrong, actually mistaken, it regarding itself as good.  Now if we mean merely that we happen to prefer the first, then we must give up talking about good and evil at all.  For good means what you ought to prefer quite regardless of what you happen to like at any given moment.  If 'being good' meant simply joining the side you happened to fancy, for no real reason, then good would not deserve to be called good.  So we must mean that one of the two powers is actually wrong and the other actually right."

                Lewis continues, "But the moment you say that, you are putting into the universe a third thing in addition to the two Powers: some law or standard or rule of good which one of the powers conforms to and the other fails to conform to.  But since the two powers are judged by this standard, then this standard, or the Being who made this standard, is farther back and higher up than either of them, and He will be the real God (p. 42-43)."  Doesn't this sound more like the God that we Christians acknowledge? 

                If all of that was hard to follow, that's all right.  This is pretty deep stuff!  The slower you read it and the more times that you read it, the more sense it will make.  Of course, we do not have time to look at how C.S. Lewis proves some of the specific attributes of God.  I hope, though, that you can see how we must face the fact that a God exists; and furthermore, that we have the choice to either obey this Moral Law He has put within us or disobey it.  Whether you are a Christian or not, you know in your heart that you should obey it.

                Again, don't think I am ignoring God's Word by using this Scripture-absent method.  I just want you to see that our God is obvious whether or not you acknowledge the Bible or not.  Remember though, He is still fact!

Matthew          

The Existence of God (Part 1)

                Okay, summer is over and it's time to get back to writing!  I'm excited about this next series.  We are going to look at God and His existence.  Just like with "The Authentic Word of God" series, I want to examine this new topic in several different ways.  I want to try to show that we must acknowledge God's existence whether we have the Bible or not.  But since we have proven the Bible to be true in the last series, we can use its words to undeniably display the existence of God.  Finally, I want to address a few arguments and questions concerning God's nature.   If you are ready to explore, let's go!

                There is something we must recognize as Christians before we try to prove God's existence.  Sometimes we can get absorbed in proving biblically related arguments and trying to figure it out ourselves that we miss the big picture: God exists whether we like it or not!  A pastor, whom I greatly respect and encourage you to listen to, discussed this issue (seriously, you have to check this guy out; he's the best speaker I have ever listened to).  His name is Eric Ludy with the Church at Ellerslie (you can learn more about him and listen to his sermons at www.ellerslie.com), and he had this to say: 

                "Two plus two equals four.  And no matter what you do, it will always equal four; no matter how you feel about it, it will equal four; no matter your experience on planet earth of having bad experiences with the number two, it makes no difference!  Two plus two equals four!  In other words, you have no say in it.  It is true outside of you.  It is known as a fact.  And God is fact!  He is not wishful thinking.  That is a very important thing for you to notate in your soul because the enemy will make an appeal and he will say, 'Look at this.  The natural evidence says this God is merely a concept, God is merely an illusion, God is merely a thought.'  No, God is fact.  God is real.  God is true...  ...There is a north whether you acknowledge there is a north or not.  Two plus two equals four whether you acknowledge it or not...  ...Two plus two equals four - it always will.  God is who He says He is and He defines truth.  Whatever God says goes!"  ("The Anatomy of Faith" sermon by Eric Ludy)   

                It's a very good illustration.  No matter what we would like to believe or what our personal experiences tell us, God is real and He exists.  I've never really viewed God as a fact.  I mean, I've recognized Him as actually existing, but to say that He is a fact puts it in much stronger terms.  We must think this way as Christians: God is God and that's the way it is.

                Here is the challenge: Since God is real, have you made your faith real or is it a nice little way of living based on the notion that God might possibly be around?  Live your life in such a way that those around face the fact that God exists.  Face that fact in your own life as well.

Matthew