What Philosophical Argument For God Is Difficult To Refute?...

Like Aristotle reasoned, the “First Cause” (Causa Prima) or the unmoved mover. According to the law of motion from Newton, an object at rest tends to stay at rest…. Who caused the first motion and got the ball rolling? Who banged the Big Bang? Nothing happens by itself but every event must be caused. Nothing causes itself. If you heard an explosion outside, you’d wonder what caused it—it didn't just happen by itself.

There can be uncaused causes but not uncaused events. Self-existence is not only possible but rationally necessary—the necessary Being. God is that uncaused cause because He is eternal and therefore had no beginning. If there was no first cause, there would be no beginning, but we know there was a big bang. What existed before the singularity? What existed before that? ad Infinitum. If you say, “It was just there, that's no different than saying God was just there.

If you say that something existed before that to cause it, it was either caused or uncaused and you only compound the question and must admit there has to be a first cause or self-existent force, being, or thing that is eternal. Science doesn’t generally accept the fact that matter is eternal or the theory of an eternal universe. This is often called the cosmological argument for God and refers to the law of cause and effect. The so-called kalam cosmological argument states that everything that begins to exist has a cause, the universe began and therefore has a cause (most believably God); also, everything in the time-space continuum has a beginning.

“For every house is built by someone; but God is the builder of all things,”(cf. Heb. 3:4). That’s why the Bible begins: “In the beginning God….” We must begin with God in the equation to remain rational. We cannot assume everything had a beginning or was caused because then there would be nothing in existence for it’s impossible to cross infinity and infinite regress is impossible—you must begin somewhere with something or someone. A was caused by B caused by C … somewhere you run out of letters.

Why Isn't God A Myth Like Santa Claus?

 Santa Claus is a tale based on truth of a man named Saint Nicolas who actually lived. It is more of a legend that has developed progressively over time and is not immediately believed after the saint died. Jesus was immediately worshiped as God. Now, speaking of God, it’s better to speak of Jesus who claimed to be God. His story was written within two to three decades of His death with no time for legend to develop. There’s no comparison. This type of argument is a false equivalency. The apostles denied they were writing myth or fairy tale (cf. 2 Pet. 1:16). He was a historical person, not a myth with much secular corroboration.

It is written that His resurrection proves His deity (cf. Acts 17:31; Romans 1:4). Now, many people wanted Him to prove His claim, so He rose from the dead to prove it and this is arguably the most attested fact of antiquity “with many infallible proofs.” (cf Acts 1:3). Also, the fact the apostles died as martyrs and eyewitnesses is compelling evidence: people do not die for a known lie. Volumes could be written of all the circumstantial, historical. literary, legal, and testimonial evidence of this historical fact.

No one has ever successfully refuted the facts that support it like the fact of the empty tomb, over 500 eyewitnesses, the removed stone, the changing of the Sabbath, the growth of the church, the New Testament, the undisturbed graveclothes, the conversion of the apostles (especially of Paul), to the transformation of the Roman Empire from paganism and barbarianism. Christ is regarded as the central figure in Western history and civilization and not just its biggest revolutionist.

Also, just for the existence of God, there are philosophical and logical arguments and scientific evidence. One can not believe due to a lack of evidence.

If God Is Timeless, How Can He Operate In The Universe?

 God is always relative and timeless in that time is not of the essence as far as He is concerned. He is not the slave of time nor defined and confined to it as He created the time-space continuum that we are limited to and can not escape. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and relative to all time and no time in particular. He related to us in time and has entered time for our sakes to speak to us and intervene in our affairs. Providence rules over all events, things, persons, and creatures—-creation with not even a maverick molecule or toss of the die outside His sovereignty.

Thus He orchestrates all history for His own plan and will. He beholds all time in one vision or concept without reference to any limit because He is eternal and had not begun in time but is outside time. It should be pointed out that God entered history in the person of His Son Jesus. He not only operates in the universe but controls and manipulates it to His will and purpose.

Why Do Some People Need Evidence To Believe In God?

 You should need evidence for anything you believe or you’re being gullible. Without evidence, faith is blind faith. God doesn't expect us to kiss our brains goodbye or to commit intellectual suicide or anything.

The Bible says there is sufficient evidence in nature and there is enough to make us without excuse and the fact is plain to us (cf. Romans 1:19–20). For example, Doctor Luke says that the resurrection had “many infallible proofs.” (cf. Acts 1:3). And Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens declare the glory of God.

But God will not accommodate intellectual arrogance and expects us to search for Him and to be willing to obey Him. Jesus promised that if we will be willing to do His will, then we shall know (cf. John 7:17).

What Is More Important To You, Faith Or Proof?

 I see this as a false dichotomy. You can have faith and proof and God doesn’t expect us to kiss our brains goodbye or to commit intellectual suicide or to have blind faith (without evidence). If you put God to the test and demand your kind of proof before you’ll believe, He will not accommodate you. God needs not to prove Himself to anyone and has given all the evidence necessary in the Bible. Note: evidence isn't always definitive, compelling, objective, or authoritative.

How do you define faith and proof? Faith can be seen as trusting in what you have good reason to believe and knowledge in action; what’s wrong with that? Everyone has faith in something; faith in science is still faith. You can have faith in yourself and your own reasoning. All knowledge is contingent and begins in faith with some presupposition that cannot be proved, even in math. Proof and evidence are often used interchangeably. Proof can be seen as just an argument or reason to believe: evidence. The apostle Luke said that there “were many infallible [or convincing] proofs” for the resurrection and he was a doctor and must have known something about proof.

There are many philosophical arguments for the existence of God, for example, but you cannot either prove or disprove God beyond a shadow of a doubt; there's no “smoking gun” evidence either way and both theists and atheists are persons of faith. No amount of evidence would make you believe without any possible doubt either way. There is never enough proof or evidence for someone who doesn't want to believe something, even in religious matters.

Note: there are different categories of evidence such as in law, science, philosophy, history, and literature. In science, something isn't held as true unless it is demonstrable and observable (repeatable and measurable); these types of evidence don’t hold water for metaphysical matters and go beyond the parameters of the scientific method. In a court of law, truth (it must be beyond a reasonable doubt, not all doubt), is by oral and written testimony and considered evidence. In history, for example, corroborating texts and artifacts are considered evidence. No one can not believe in God, for instance, due to the lack of evidence of seeing all the evidence in nature and God says no one has an excuse and that this is plain to see.

If God Is Perfect, Why Isn't Creation?

 He could’ve created a universe without sin, but then there could be no love and ultimately no free will or choice to obey or disobey God. Evil was once good and is a perversion, distortion, or parasite of good. When God did create everything, He did say, “It was very good.” But God couldn’t grant us free will or choice and then prevent us from using them to disobey or hate Him. Love and obedience must be voluntary and a choice. So God inevitably created the possibility of evil.

As far as the fact that everything cannot be perfect, that is hard to define since perfection involves immutability and eternity (it cannot improve or need improvement, nor change for the worse). Note that this world is only a staging area for eternity and heaven will be perfect, and no sinners will be there or it would no longer be perfect. This world is temporary and a test or trial for the next. Even hell will be perfect: perfect justice.

What’s more, nature is always in a state of flux! You never step into the same river twice! Only God cannot change and is immutable and unchangeable in nature or attributes. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow! We will always be in need of improvement and always on a learning curve. God’s knowledge is perfect—past, present, future—all things logical and possible. We are confined and limited to the time-space continuum but God is immaterial and spirit.

Only God can be perfect and He could not create another God and creation by definition isn’t perfect because it was created and perfection implies being uncreated or eternal without beginning,. But there can only be one Supreme Being who is Almighty in the same reality or cosmos. The closest we see to perfection in this life is Jesus because He is the Son of God and without human flaw—-sinless,

How Do You Prove Evil Exists Without God?

Don’t you know that Adam ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? They go hand in hand and can be distinguished but not separated. Good and evil are metaphysical ideas and not physical ones. They can be logically deduced but not proven by normal means as you would think. Note that you cannot prove anything without making some assumption that cannot be proven, even in science they assume that nature is orderly, consistent, and knowable and put faith in the scientific method. NOTE: All knowledge is contingent and begins in faith!

You would have to first assume that good exists, and then define evil as its privation, distortion, or twisting. For instance, if you assume justice, injustice must also exist by definition whether realized or not; also laws exist so lawlessness must also even if not reckoned; and if there can be righteousness, there is also unrighteousness by nature. An atheist may even assume he is good without God in the equation and even think evil of others or think they are evil compared to him (not God!).

Note: there’s no perfect evil but it’s always mixed with enough good to deceive just like lies that have an element of truth—enough to make you immune to the real thing or the ultimate Truth with a capital T. That’s why cults thrive—they have enough truth to inoculate from the truth and reality which it corresponds to.

It is difficult to define good without God in the equation as Plato defined God as the only Supreme Good and standard of it to recognize it by. How can you conceive of justice without a Judge, order without an Orderer, laws without a Lawgiver, righteousness without rights? You may ask how is this possible, yet Communists believe in justice without a Judge and laws without a Lawgiver. Atheists will tell you they are or can be moral without a moral center to the universe, God the Judge.

If there were no moral or good and evil, what is the purpose of our conscience or moral compass (given us by God)? Does anything repulse you at all, not even the Holocaust? Is there anything you wouldn't do because of your principles, scruples, or inhibitions? That’s why we see good in light of evil, light in view of darkness, blessings in spite of cursing, love in contrast to hate!  Soli Deo Gloria! 

How Can I Know There Is One God And The Bible Isn't Propaganda?...

 Short answer: God told us by various prophets, signs, wonders, miracles, and even by sending His Son to save us.

The God of the Bible declares that only He knows the future and is able to prophesy. There are over 2000 predictive prophecies fulfilled in Scripture, not just a few lucky guesses. No other so-called Scripture has any prophecy whatsoever. Jesus fulfilled 333 of them!

The God of the Bible is the only one whose Scripture has scientific, archaeological, historic, geographic, and cultural facts to back it up and invites scrutiny. Many have tried to disprove it and if you dehistoricize it, the religion would be totally discredited.

No other religious founder besides Jesus claimed to be God and proved it by miracles, signs, wonders, and teachings, especially the historic fact of the resurrection which may be the most variously proved event in all antiquity.

Do We Need Evidence For God?

"The only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point."  --Athanasius
We begin with God and explain the universe of ideas, we don't reason to God but from God!  

Unbelievers don't want to believe in evidence because the evidence is stacked against them and they're looking for a loophole to justify themselves.  Find out for yourself:  Ask them just what evidence they have found that proves there is no God!  They will have to answer far more questions for God's existence than they can argue against God, as we will see.  God needs no evidence to exist and merely assumes you have realized His existence--He doesn't need to prove Himself!  The Bible even presupposes and assumes God:  "In the beginning God...."  The Bible doesn't seek to apologize for God or offer any proof but even says those who deny Him are fools.  It is a matter of the heart, not the intellect, for denial of God is intellectual suicide and people suppress the knowledge they do have.  They are in a state of denial!  It is convenient for their lifestyles to deny a God who is the moral center of the universe.

What we know about God is not a matter of speculation or conjecture, but revelation and faith, we cannot have laboratory conditions or put Him in a test tube or conduct an empirical investigation on a God who is not tangible, visible, nor audible to us but dwells in another dimension. He isn't subject to scientific analysis--there can be no laboratory conditions--because He's not observable, measurable, verifiable, repeatable, experimental, predictable, testable, variable, nor controllable.  God has revealed Himself to us and in the Bible we see this consummated, personified, and incarnated in the personhood of the God-man, Jesus Christ.  Where we start determines where we will end up!  We must begin with Truth with a capital T to find God.   We don't start with the universe to explain God or explain Him away, but start with God and explain reality and the universe.  We don't conclude with God in the equation; rather, we start with God in the equation.

Man's problem today is to forget God and take Him out of our reckoning and life's equation.  God makes no apologies and owes no one an explanation for His works or actions.  He is too kind to be cruel, too deep to explain Himself, and too wise to make a mistake, it has been said.  The problem with the infidel and you cannot argue him into the kingdom.  There is always enough evidence or conviction for the willing but never enough for the unwilling.  Even if convinced he will be of the same opinion.  There isn't enough evidence to dissuade the willing, nor enough to persuade the unwilling.  This is because God cannot be rationalized but only known through faith by a work of grace.

Unbelievers are people of faith too, they just place it in their own logic and philosophy and ultimately that science has all the answers or can find absolute truth. Using science to harness truth out of its proper domain is not science but scientism--there are ways to truth outside of science and some knowledge isn't subject to science:  ethics, morality, philosophy, theology, et cetera.  The infidel puts God on trial and to the test, thinking they can judge God when He is their Judge.  The point is that all knowledge is contingent except God's and we all begin our quest for it in a leap of faith, accepting something or someone's word as truth we cannot prove. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge!  It's never a matter of reason versus faith but which set of presuppositions one is willing to accept.

We are all at the stage in our faith at the onset of believing but still needing God to help our unbelief.  Miracles, for instance, never force belief but only bolster and support faith and even produce a desire for more miracles.  God is not in the business of miracles on demand or doing biggie, showy, miracles to amaze us into faith.  Miracles don't make faith--faith makes miracles!  Everyone should realize that juries convict on the preponderance of the evidence, not all of it--which isn't available--and in the direction of the evidence.  Often they must rely on merely circumstantial evidence or witnesses with little corroboration.  But the biblical rule of thumb is to rule in favor of the defendant lest an innocent man perishes by mistake.

Also, history is not subject to scientific inquiry because it's nonrepeatable by nature and cannot be observed or measured.  There are no living witnesses to antiquity!  But the resurrection is arguably the best-attested fact in ancient times.  Christ's resurrection is a matter of history and the circumstantial evidence is most compelling!  In fact, Luke says there are many "infallible proofs." The Bible needs no defense or evidence for it is self-attesting and appeals to no higher authority than itself or it wouldn't be the final authority!  You cannot logically say that it's true because it's never been disproved, but a person only need read it with an open mind and find out for himself--he can prove it himself!  Legally, the burden of proof is always on the party disputing the validity or genuineness of the document.

The only way you can prove God is to limit Him or put Him in a box, and this cannot be done and if we could He wouldn't be worthy of our worship because the finite cannot grasp or contain the infinite.  We do have arguments and evidence though for Him--and evidence isn't conclusive but only a reason to believe- but no smoking gun proof that makes us believe against our wills.  He leaves faith up to our own decision but the Hound of Heaven is wooing us and is able to convict us and even make the unwilling willing and turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh--for the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart!  But you cannot disprove God either, for it's illogical and impossible to prove a universal negative without being all-knowing and everywhere at once.

You can argue for God by realizing He makes sense of everything.  We don't need a holy grail or theory of everything in science; what we need is enlightenment from God and return to our roots to Christianity as the mother of modern science.  It's like saying we believe in the sun, not because we see it, but because we can see, and see everything else!  Could you imagine someone not believing in words yet speaking them?  We only believe in love because we've experienced it, not because its existence has been proven to us! Where did all the abstracts come from?  For instance, what about heroism, honesty, fair play, aesthetic appreciation, conscience, good faith, altruism, fairness, equity, generosity, truth, honor, bravery, courage, et cetera?   God makes sense of history and of the world, seeing it as having meaning and going somewhere, even telling a story with lessons to learn.

Even science is explained by God and wouldn't have arisen without Him in the picture.  How can we explain the Big Bang or the beginning without a Beginner? If we have "creation," we need a Creator!  How can we posit design without a Designer?  Since we have art, that necessitates an Artist. Things appear to be in order and according to specs:  what about an Orderer?  They want to shun hell but they believe in justice without the Judge!  How can we explain the principle of biogenesis (which denies spontaneous generation) or that life only comes from life without a source of life?  How can we see the Anthropic Principle (or the fine-tuned earth) without realizing a God of design, beauty, intelligence, harmony, and intention?  It looks like our Creator intended it this way.  One scientist wrote a book entitled The Privileged Planet to prove this principle.  Where did the first DNA, the metabolic motor of life, come from, if  DNA only comes from DNA?  How can we explain the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics without God in the calculus?  If we must offer proof, so must the infidel!

Thinking in the abstract, where did love come from and how can you measure it or define it.  Measuring three feet of love is absurd!  How did we come to know of good and evil if they don't exist and there isn't a source?  Why do we have such a concern for right and wrong and a moral compass if there isn't a God who is the moral center of the universe?  How can there be purpose, design, beauty, art, order, and musical harmony without God or one of purpose, design, and intent?  How can there be wrongdoing and crime without a Judge?  How can there even be good without a source of good or Supreme Good as the standard?  History makes no sense without seeing it as His story and having a beginning and ending or consummation and of meaning instead of being circular or cyclical?  Basically, how can we believe in the existence of truth without a God of truth as its source?

Cosmologically speaking:  When we realize the law of causality or of cause and effect, we realize that there must be a First Cause because an infinite regress is illogical and it's impossible to cross infinity--the chain in the link has to begin somewhere. Note that we can know nothing for sure without the principle of cause and effect!  But nothing can cause itself and be its own cause, and therefore everything must have a cause except this one uncaused cause that got it all started--no beginning means being eternal and nothing would exist without this beginning; however, God had to begin everything somewhere in time, for everything captive to the time-space continuum had a beginning and God created time, space, and matter, and so had no beginning--being eternal implies having no cause. In short, God is not an effect, and is independent of time and therefore needs no cause, being self-existence or dependent on no one or nothing. Indeed, there are so many constants and fixed laws in the universe that it makes it look like God has a pure mathematical mind, which is what Einstein postulated.

Note:  We are the evidence:   Our very existence is rigged and we are a miracle!  The biggest miracle is seen in the conversion and transformation of a believer upon salvation. We cannot explain our existence, much less God's!  We will find that a little philosophy may incline one toward atheism, but true knowledge begins with God in the equation we may think we can reason to God, but reason tells us some things are beyond reason; we can only reason because of God of reason and our gift of reason!

Christians have simple, not simplistic faith, but not enough to be an atheist!  The Bible says that unbelievers suppress the truth; this implies they know the truth! We must ask the unbeliever if he would repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior if given sufficient evidence.  The problem is always the same:  Not that they cannot believe but they won't and will not believe!  Believers are not Christians because of the evidence who were convinced against their will, but because the Holy Spirit made believers out of their sincere hearts, wooing them and turning hearts of stone into ones of flesh.

The conclusion of the matter is making decisions based on facts and evidence, not whim or feeling--without which it ends up being merely blind faith.  We must be willing to follow the evidence with an open mind wherever it leads.  We will never find truth--and all truth meets at the top according to Thomas Aquinas--unless we admit we could be wrong, as Socrates said.  In other words   Soli Deo Gloria!  

How Big Is Your God?

We can boast of our faith, but faith progresses in natural states: from no faith at all to defying faith--hatred of God at least admits His existence; from little faith (actually no one really has no faith, they just suppress the truth they know and the God revealed to them); next they go to doubting faith--we all have doubts, an element of faith; to rebelling and/or independent, even rogue faith; to misunderstanding but sincere faith; to misdirected and ignorant faith; to accepting faith; to acknowledging,  understanding and comprehending faith; to open-minded and learning faith, to saving faith; to eager, zealous, obedient faith; to expressing faith; to seeing and discerning faith; to confessing faith; to witnessing faith; to overcoming faith; to following faith; to sacrificing and loving faith; and finally, to serving and a disciplined faith in one's calling and gifting--but note that the faith should always be a growing, forward-looking, and advancing faith--it is never inert or stagnant!

(Note I am not dogmatic about the order of my list of progressions of faith per se, since it may vary in individuals.)  That's why Romans 1:17, NIV, says we progress through faith all the way "[I]n a righteousness which is by faith from first to last." God doesn't insist on perfect faith, but sincere, unfeigned faith is what's a prerequisite for salvation (cf. 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:5)).

We must not boast of the size of our faith, for we shouldn't boast of something we received from God and didn't conjure up (1 Cor. 4:6)--faith is given not achieved or viewed as a meritorious work, but a pure gift of grace (cf. 2 Pet. 1:1; Phi. 1:29; Eph. 2;8-9; Acts 14:27; Acts 16:14; Acts 18:27).  Though it's a gift we must exercise it for good and prove it by good works.  And we should always pray for bigger faith as long as it's in the right object, which is Jesus--we want God-confidence, not self-confidence!  God may just reveal a bigger Personhood to us with resultant, increased faith.  Faith is only as valid as its object:  It's the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, that matters and saves not our faith; i.e., faith doesn't save, Christ does.  We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!  Faith is merely the channel and means!  Grace is the source and justification, faith the channel and method, and Christ the means and reason via the sacrifice.

We can have a lot of faith in the wrong Jesus or false god or idea of God, and that will not save; we must reject those who teach another gospel, a different Spirit, and the wrong Jesus, as Paul admonished us in 2 Cor. 11:4 and Gal. 1:7.  Every religion thinks highly of Jesus, but we must accept Him for who He claimed to be--the Son of God.  Muslims have great faith in a false imposter of a prophet and a god named Allah. You could say that it matters not how big your faith in the long run (and it only takes the faith of a mustard seed to be saved) but how big our God.  Our God cannot be put in a box or labeled by our criteria or standards, and certainly not limited or confined by our definitions or conceptions.

William Carey, the father of modern missions, had the right idea of faith in stepping out of our comfort zone into the domain of faith.  He preached a famous sermon and motto:  "Expect Great Things from God, Attempt Great Things for God."  It goes without saying that too many of us think small and have little expectation from our God.  Think Big!  We can go no further than our dreams and only in the direction of our purpose and calling in life with God's approval.  Saint Theresa set out to build a convent and when asked about her resources at her disposal, she replied she had 12 Pence.  They tried to make it clear to her that even Saint Theresa couldn't build a convent on 12 Pence!  But her comeback was that she "and God can do anything!'  If God is in it, He will provide the resources and means--you can bank on that according to Paul in 2 Cor. 9:8 and in Heb. 13:21!  Our God is the God of possibilities, for with Him nothing shall be impossible (cf. Luke 1:37, KJV; 18:27; Matt. 19:26!  Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 32:27 (cf. Jer. 32:17), "Is anything too hard for the LORD?"  (Cf. Gen. 18:14).   Never count God out, nor leave Him out of the equation!

NOTE:  THIS IS A LONG PARAGRAPH BUT ONLY DELINEATES DIFFERENT MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD TO US IN CHRIST.  Christians too often limit their God by putting Him a box like preferring to think of Him merely as their Father, their Savior, or even man upstairs, believe it or not!  But we are really committing idolatry if we fall short in our idea and conception of God.  He reveals Himself in manifold ways; such as these personifications: as our Lord of all, Author and Finisher of our faith, Enabler for God's will, Teacher that inspires us to learn, Wisdom to apply to every situation, Redeemer to fellowship with Him and other believers, Friend (even Confidant), Lover of our soul especially when we feel alone, Judge that is fair and understands our case, Justifier when no one understands our case, Advocate when the facts and status quo seem counterproductive to peace and we need Him on our side, Healer of all our diseases, Balsam for every sore, Balm for every wound, Defender when attacked, Protector from the onslaught of Satan, Reconciler in broken, estranged relationships, Banker who forgives our debts and writes credits not debits to our divine account,  Peacemaker during quarrels, Holy One who convicts us, Glorious One that is worthy and shares His glory and makes us awe and amazed, Sanctifier who makes us holy and doesn't give up on us, Go-between (Intercessor, Mediator, or Middleman) when we are alienated, Maker or Creator to whom we are accountable and find our purpose, Farmer who sows good seed, Potter Who makes us for a purpose, Sustainer of the universe down to every last molecule, in whom we live and move and have our being, Substitute for our sins at Calvary, Exemplar to emulate, Shepherd to lead us to green pastures and feed us, Lawgiver to give us a sense of law and to rely on, King over all the earth and its kingdoms, Orderer and Organizer of our life putting everything in its place and priority, Designer (or Architect) of the intricacies of life, Planer of our goals to make sure we're with the program because He has no Plan B, Artist that we admire and expresses Himself so beautifully, Answerer to all our questions and doubts, Light at the end of the tunnel, Explainer in Chief when we just wonder why,  Illustrator of our life situation, Purposer that gives us purpose, a mission, and calling to fulfill, Counselor in lost causes or crises (Life Coach if you will), Umpire calling all the shots, Referee looking for foul play,  Coach calling the plays of the game of life, Comforter when we are in need of someone being there for us, Consoler in time of need and bereavement, Provider when we are needy, Director of all minutia in our life even as a micro-manager of the cosmos that shows us the Way), Producer of the show of a lifetime financing His will, Author (of the Word, our predestination, election, and salvation), Disciplinarian when we need to learn a lesson in the school of hard knocks and get back with the program, Sovereign One that we can trust will do the right thing for "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28) for all things are under His control and sovereignty (cf. Eph. 1:11), Pilot who guides us to keep us on course, de facto Leader that shows us the way, Inspirer to God's will, Convicter to show us our wrongdoing, Motivator to energize us from our inertial and lethargy, and even Benefactor, for whom it pays to serve and gives fringe benefits and perks, et al., and this list isn't complete, exhaustive, or definitive--He is everything we need Him to be (that's why His name is I Am Who I Am...).

There is a reason God has no predicate in His name and we cannot describe Him fully or exhaustively but can know Him personally and experientially.  When we have a need, God is there ready to meet it, saying, "I Am ...  here to aid you for all your needs!" He foots the bill of our needs and has the right job description and domain or authority to fulfill them.  Indeed, He's the Great King of the universe that doesn't just reign but rules, He's the dependable Rock we can truly rely on, Captain of our soul, and Master of our fate--worthy of all our trust and worship.  In short. we don't just believe in God but in the One who is there and ready to come to our aid in any crisis, trouble, or time of need: He believes in us so we're never hopeless, He is on our side so we cannot lose, and He is with us so we are never alone.

As believers, we are the heart that God loves through, the hands that God gives a helping hand though, the listening and sympathetic ear through which God hears, and the voice through which God speaks--He uses us all in unique ways according to our election and calling, of which we ought to confirm according to 2 Pet. 1:10.  In fact, when we start to realize how big God is and what He is capable of, our faith automatically increases exponentially and we realize how small and insignificant we are, especially how sinful we are in light of His holiness and justice.   We utter with David in Psalm 8:4, "What is man?" [That God takes consideration of Him].  All in all, when we contemplate God, we are humbled and challenged intellectually, our minds are boggled and enlarged and blown away by His greatness, glory, and goodness.

People with small faith have a small God--though it may be enough to save, they will never be satisfied in God nor desire and enjoy Him.   It is a good thing to say, "My God is bigger than your God!" if you get my drift.  It isn't a matter of book-learning or of academics but of realizing who God is and knowing His capabilities and what He can do with us as part of His plan.  Our God cannot be too big!  God is infinite and we will never realize just how big He is in all eternity!  God is whomever He chooses to be and whatever He chooses to be for us.

Cf. Dan. 11:32, HCSB, "The people who know their God will be strong and take action ["and carry out great exploits" in the NKJV]) these people see how God chooses to manifest and reveal Himself in such manifold manners.  One example is the threefold office of Christ:  As our High Priest He puts us right with God as the Sacrifice Himself; as our Prophet He makes us aware where we fall short, aware of our ignorance, and teaches us; and as our King He frees us from the dominion of slavery to sin, setting us free, and rules over us--in fact the more we let Him rule, the freer we are and all the more power over sin we have simply by letting Him be Lord.  When He is Lord we are so glad that He is Lord, for He alone is worthy--this is meant as a comforting consolation.

By way of analogy, some people have small dreams or no dreams in life and end up in "nowheresville" as a "nowhere people" but some are satisfied with a small world with little impact or influence.  We all ought to pray to God to increase our horizons and the size and significance of our orbit, so we can influence the culture for Christ and transform it by being a light in a dark world.  The prayer of Jabez in 1 Chron. 4:9 is for God to make us a blessing and to have a greater outreach.  It is notable also that Zechariah 8:13 says that we are saved in order to become a blessing as our cup overflows!  Einstein considered a success by any standard, said that we ought not to strive to be a successful person, but one of impact!  Mother Teresa, now canonized, and who wouldn't call this success? is known for saying that God doesn't call us to success but to faithfulness!

Mother Teresa lived in virtual poverty, having to take that vow for her church, but Habakkuk lost nearly everything and still praised God in Hab. 3:18, HCSB, as follows: "[Y]et I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!"  It should go without saying that we really don't realize we need God and how big He can be and is until we have come to the end our rope or thrown in the towel or even of losing everything.  Then we find out that God is a big God and He is all we really need--all else is extra and we are stewards of. It should be of comfort to realize that God hears all our prayers:  None are too trivial for Him because everything is trivial to Him, and nothing is too big for He is Almighty, and He cares because He loves us all as His children.

In conclusion, only as we see God for who He is are we properly oriented to reality and have a God's eye view on the world and its events.  Since "all truth is God's truth," as Augustine maintained, and Plato said that in order to live in reality he must know what God is really like, so we have no excuse for God is expressed fully and personally in the person of Christ as His icon, express image, and personification--all we need to know of Him is in Jesus, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells!  In the final analysis, the faith you have is the faith you show and it's foolhardy to trust a small, ineffectual God--true faith always expresses itself and is shown not said: we prove our faith and demonstrate it because it's an abstract idea and concept.

CAVEAT:  WE NEVER WANT TO BE ACCUSED OF HAVING TOO SMALL A GOD OR OF HAVING THOUGHTS OF GOD THAT ARE TOO HUMAN, WHICH PUT HIM IN A BOX AND LIMIT HIM.  ALL THIS IS SO VITALLY IMPORTANT TO OUR SPIRITUAL WELLBEING BECAUSE WHAT WE THINK OF GOD IS THE MOST TELLING TRAIT WE HAVE.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Who Created God?

"Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" (Hebrews 3:4, CEB). 
NOTE:  WE ARE ASSUMING EVERYTHING HAS BEEN CREATED!  

This is a trick question since God is the Creator Himself, and no one else can create ex nihilo (out of naught) but Him.  The question implies God can be created or that there is a Superior Being to God in the same universe!  If God were created then He would not be Creator but created, and would not be eternal but captive to time with a beginning like us. God exists independent of the time-space continuum and therefore has no beginning (being eternal) and therefore cannot be created.   But this is the one question that led to Bertrand Russell's faith collapsing--he couldn't reconcile this.

Nothing can create itself, or it would be a contradiction in terms--both a creator and created, both existing and not existing before itself!  We know from the rules of logic that nothing can create itself nor be its own cause.  Anything that has a cause is not eternal; God is eternal, and therefore uncaused. There can be causes without a cause but not an effect without a cause--God is no effect and not a creation but the original Cause and Creator.  If someone caused God or created Him, that person would be the Creator or First Cause, Causa Prima, or Primary Mover of the cosmos--we define God as the Uncaused Cause, Uncreated Creator, Prime Mover, or Unmoved Mover.  This is His self-existence or aseity.  God is independent of everything and everyone and needs no one or nothing, not even a cause.

This is all Cosmology-101 (or dealing with causality--nothing just happens by itself!) and it demonstrates that you cannot cross infinity or infinite regress is impossible.  That means that you cannot have an endless series of finite causes, but must have a first cause to start the chain of events.  Every event has a cause (if an explosion happened, you would want to know what caused it).  According to the kalam cosmological argument for God, "everything that begins to exist has a cause"--the universe began to exist and therefore had a cause or Beginner, while God didn't begin to exist and has no cause (creator)!  But God is no event and a living Being that doesn't change, while being created implies being changed.  God is the perfect One who needs no improvement, who cannot change for the better since He's already perfect and cannot change for the worse since He is perfect and needs no change or improvement and is immutable, according to Arthur Pink.

None of us will ever have a grasp on the creative act of God and the know-how of it, but we must accept God as our Creator by faith since faith pleases God.  It is not too difficult to imagine something uncreated:  where did love come from? where did justice and righteousness come from?  what about fairness and mercy?  God is love and without love, there would be no God--that's His essence.  God needs no one and is a Law unto Himself with no one to be accountable to but Himself; i.e., He is also self-sufficient and meets all His own needs without us. He is complete in and of Himself.   If He wants something He creates it.  In this sense, God is the only free Being in the universe who can act freely and without restraint on His wants.  We are fortunate that God wants us by His grace!

By contrast, men like to say they are self-made men, but this means they worship their creator, which is themselves!  We need God--He doesn't need us!  He is our judge; we are not His judge or critic. God shares of Himself and blesses us with gifts to be used as gifts back to Him; i.e., He gives us faith as a gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to Him!  In closing let me state that God is the Supreme Good and the standard and measure of goodness--the ultimate plumb-line.  Without God, we would not know good--where would the idea come from if not God?  And so goodness just exists as part of God's nature and it wasn't created either.          Soli Deo Gloria!

The Beginning Of Time...

"For by him all thing were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together"  (Col. 1:16-17, ESV). 
"(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God" (Heb. 3:4, ESV). 
"[I]n hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began" (Tit. 1:2, ESV). 
[W]ho saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began" (2 Tim. 1:9, ESV).  

The Bible begins unapologetically "In the beginning God...."  It assumes and does not prove, there is a God behind creation. This isn't just the way the Bible begins but the beginning of all logic, thinking, and rationality or reason.  Any other assumption is incoherent!  In Stephen Hawking's book, The Brief History of Time, he postulates the Big Bang as its origin (the Bible declared this in Genesis).  Just like you cannot have a design without a designer so you cannot have creation without a Creator. This is known as a teleological proof of God's existence.  

Paul says in Romans 1:20 that men are without excuse because of the abundant evidence in nature. Immanuel Kant said that two things amaze him:  The starry skies above and the conscience within.  God is self-existent, in that He owes nothing nor anyone for His existence.  We, on the other hand, owe our very being to Him (cf. Acts 17:28).  He is the sole, primary cause of the cosmos and the uncaused cause, as the Greeks said. Everything that begins to exist has a cause, but God didn't begin to exist, but is eternal and therefore no cause and is not an effect.

Genesis is vital to the Bible because there is only one logical alternative:  "In the beginning matter/energy (quantum)."  The idea of "In the beginning nothing" is a matter of intellectual suicide because the Greeks ventured:  Ex nihilo, nihil fit, or out of nothing, nothing comes. Imagine the negation of everything and nothing existing!   Absurd.  Everything in the time-space continuum has a beginning, but don't jump to the conclusion that all that there is had a beginning because this would be fatal to science, logic, philosophy, and even religion.   If ever there was a time when nothing existed, there would be nothing now.  The theory of an eternal universe, it has been demonstrated, is untenable--evolutionists cannot swallow this bitter pill of there actually being a "beginning."

There has to be something transcendent, they reasoned, because we exist.  God is therefore eternal--the alternative is that matter is eternal, and that is disproved due to the Big Bang, or the beginning of the time/space continuum.  Nothing can create or cause itself--it is illogical!  The order has to be that first there was a Thinker, then a thought, then an action leading to creation or thing.  It is so much easier, to begin your reasoning with God and then explain the universe rather than beginning with the universe and explaining God or the cosmos! Napoleon was asked if there was a God? He replied, looking to the heavens:  "Who made that?"

The existence of God and a Thinker is evident because we are thinkers which necessitates a Higher Mind for our existence and creation.   Life only comes from life because of the genetic and metabolic motor, DNA, only is made from DNA.  That begs the question:  How did the first DNA arrive?  It must be by creation, which is only logical.  There is a required Supreme Being thinking and planning everything--that's why we have a "fine-tuned" (who tuned it?) universe and the earth is made in the Anthropic Principle, or designed perfectly for human habitation--the "Creator" just happened to get things right!

Athanasius Kircher designed a model solar system and when his superior saw it, he asked who made it. Kircher told him, "No one, it just happened!" The man balked at accepting and thought Kircher was trying to pull one over on him.  He said, "Well, you believe the whole universe just created itself!"  In the rules of cosmology, nothing "just just happens" but every effect or event must have a cause:  The Big Bang couldn't have just happened by chance or accident, but someone or something intelligent was behind it to pull the trigger.  The only plausible explanation for our universe is that there is a God behind it who made it on purpose for His purposes--He told us to subdue it. 

God created the time-space continuum and is therefore outside the limits of both being eternal and having no beginning or cause.  He is not confined, limited, nor defined by time, which He created!  NB:  Scripture mentions the so-called beginning of time in two places in the New Testament:  2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2 cited above.  This was before scientists even speculated on the subject and even though there was no beginning, as recorded in Genesis 1:1!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Knowing Your God

"If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?  If man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?" says Blaise Pascal, quoted by Billy Graham, who calls this our "dilemma." If you've ever felt that God is keeping a low profile like the psalmist in Psalm 89:46, "How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever?"  "...He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him": (Heb. 11:6).  Francis Schaeffer said that Christianity is "about the God who is there."  If you have wondered about this, read on.

Sometimes God seems MIA or missing in action; even Job replied, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him" (Job 23:3). Also in Job:  "Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night?"(Cf. Job 35:10)   We all have at sometimes wondered of the "whereabouts" of God, but James says, "Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto thee" (James 4:8).  It is our fault if we don't find Him.  Isaiah says that God conceals Himself, though He reveals Himself:  "Truly You are a God who has been hiding Yourself" (Isaiah 45:15).   God will be found by those who are not even seeking Him too, according to Isaiah 65:1 which says, "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me: I was found by those who did not seek me."  God doesn't take triflers seriously if you want to really know God.  Your testimony must be:  "I was lost, but now am found."   We do not find God in reality, He finds us!  No one can come close to God and remain unchanged!  "Seek the LORD, and live..." (Amos 5:6).

I quote Daniel 11:32 as follows:  "...but the people who know their God will display strength and take action [other translations render it:  do exploits or firmly resist him, i.e., the opposition]."  To know God is to love God and the highest calling we have is to know God:  "...but let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows Me..." (Jeremiah. 9:24).  God will authenticate Himself to you because God is no man's debtor.   When we find God--and as Pascal said, "I would not have found Him, had He not first found me,"  We must be prepared for an encounter and reckoning.  How can we know God?  First, we must seek Him with our whole heart-- "Prepare to meet thy God," says Amos 4:12.  This is always true; we never know when or how we will meet and confront our God.

Let us look at the wisdom of Job:  "Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace!" (Job 22:21).  It wasn't until Job actually acknowledged God that he was truly humbled and realized his self-righteousness.  Hosea's theme is to know the Lord, even though we are backslidden:  "Let us know the LORD, let us press on to know the LORD" (Hosea 6:3).  God's main peeve against Israel was that there was "no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1).  What is true worship?  Read Hosea 6:6 which I quote:  "For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

To know God we must seek Him with our whole heart.  Jeremiah 29:13 verifies this:  "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."  Isaiah offers similar advice:  "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6).  Hosea says "...For it is time to seek the LORD..." (Hosea 10:12).  In seeking God, He wants us to acknowledge Him and His presence.  One of God's names is YHWH Shammah, or "the LORD who is there, (Ezek. 48:35). Paul says to the Corinthians:  "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells is in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16).

Some people think that everyone is on a mad quest to find God! In reality, they are trying to get the benefits without the Benefactor!  God says that there "is none that seeks Him" (Rom. 3:11).  The search for God begins at salvation, according to R. C. Sproul, not before salvation, because God finds us, who are lost sheep.  Jonathan Edwards proclaimed seeking God as the main business of the Christian life.

The promise that He will be found is in Matthew 7:7 said by Jesus Himself:  "....seek and you shall find...."  "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him":  (Lamentations 3:25).  Here are two promises:  "If you seek Him He will let you find Him." and "O LORD, You have not forsaken those who seek You"  (Psalm 9:10b).  A warning to the wise is sufficient:  "He did evil because he did not set his heart on seeking the LORD" (2 Chr. 12:14).  Even Hezekiah, the godliest king of Judah, sought the LORD in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 when threatened by Assyria's armies.

If you put God in a box, you will not find Him; you are restricting Him, like saying:  "I  just like to think of God as the Great Spirit in the Sky or as the Heavenly Father, or the Man Upstairs--well do you see what I mean?  We must be willing to acknowledge God for who He is and that means accepting the truth no matter where it leads--you will not ever find the truth if you are not willing to go where the facts lead and admit you could be wrong.

The highest calling we can have is to know God and the most rewarding relationship is our one with Him--if we pass this on to our children in passing the torch we have done our duty as a generation. Knowing God makes you strong in your faith and able "to do exploits" and not falter in faith.  The ultimate goal of knowing God is to be like Him or to be sanctified.  Jesus said, that He came "not to be served, but to serve" (Cf. Mark 10:45)  It is the same with us, in that we will have a servant's heart and realize that true greatness is not in how many people serve you, but in how many people you serve.

God is both transcendent and immanent (distant or removed and near):  "'Am I a God who is near,' declares the LORD, 'And not a God far off?'  'Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?' declares the LORD.  'Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?' declares the LORD." God is not bound by the time-space continuum and confined to our dimensions.

The only relationship that fully satisfies and fully rewarding is one with our Maker (we are made for Him and can only find happiness in Him); and we are like a vacuum that only God can fill, according to Blaise Pascal, and Augustine also said that our hearts have a need that only God can satisfy [paraphrased].   Paul said to the Philippians:  "... that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10).   The ultimate questions are:  "How big is your God?"  The answer is that to know Him is to love Him!  The biggest challenge you can give is to live for something bigger than yourself and your concept of God affects this--don't think small, but aim high with God on your side!
Soli Deo Gloria!