Faith and intellect agree: It is impossible for God not to exist

A lot of people – including way too many Christians – accept the completely mistaken notion that, while faith sides with belief in God, intellect informs skepticism.

That is wrong. Both faith and intellect lead us to the same place – not only that God can exist, but that it is impossible for Him not to exist. It is also impossible for the character of God to be anything other than what the Bible says it is.

Here’s why: Logically, any force stronger than you has the ability to exercise control over you, or even to destroy you if it chooses to do so. That’s common sense.

Now here is a simple fact that any scientist will tell you is true: In the context of nature, matter can neither be created nor destroyed. It merely changes form.

So what do these two points have to do with each other?

Since nature cannot create matter, matter has to either a) have a creator that is eternal and supernatural in character, since such a creator must be able to operate outside the constraints of nature; or b) be eternal itself.

Now, if matter is eternal, then the universe is eternal. That would mean it had no beginning. It simply has always been.

But even atheist scientists don’t claim that. They say it started with a Big Bang. Stephen Hawking even argues that, when the universe was created, something came from nothing. In other words, matter was created, but presumably this was a one-time event, and all the matter that would ever be created was created in this one moment.

So what was the force that created matter? Hawking argues that it was nothing. It just happened randomly. But that is impossible. Physics tells us that nothing happens unless there is a force behind it.

So if the universe is not eternal, and had a beginning, then the force driving its formation had to have been stronger and more powerful than the universe itself. Otherwise, how could it have set such an astonishing event in motion? It couldn’t.

Now, having established that there must be a creator, let me explain why that creator must be all-powerful, exactly as the God of the Bible is described. I’ll start by asking you this question: Why aren’t you all-powerful? The answer is that there are forces stronger than you that limit your power. Why can’t you pick up a 2,000-ton rock? OK, you’re not strong enough, but what that really means is that the weight and mass of the rock represent greater force than your physical strength can hope to equal. That is the limiting force to your power. You have some strength, but when it meets up with a force it can’t counter, you reach the limits of your strength.

Nothing is all-powerful if there is any force that exceeds it in power. So whatever force has more power than all other forces must, by definition, be subject to no limiting factor. If you are subject to a limiting factor of any kind, then the force behind that factor is more powerful than you.

Something, somewhere, is more powerful than all other forces, and as such is subject to no limiting factors, and as such is by definition all-powerful. And if a force is all-powerful, it has both the ability and the sovereignty to control all of nature.

Because of His decision to reveal Himself to us through the prophetic writers of the Bible, we know a great deal about this all-powerful force. We know He is holy. We know He is loving. We know He is wise. We know He is merciful. We know He is interested in what is happening in our lives. We know that He has set out moral guidelines for how we are to live. And we know that He created everything – including each of us – for His glory and for His pleasure.

So how do I know that God is exactly the God the Bible says He is? Because He is all-powerful. “Huh?” you ask. Simple. An all-powerful god who was not a god of love would torment us. That is clearly not the God we have. So if God is all-powerful, and is a God of love, then He would not permit a fraudulent testimony to pass itself off as the true revelation of Him. In doing so, God would allow Himself to become the victim of a fraud of man. He would not do that.

Now, you ask, what about other religions? What about the Koran? What about the teachings of Buddhism and Hindu? I didn’t say He would silence all frauds. I said He would make sure that the true revelation of Himself would be made known and protected for those ready to receive Him. Yes, there are fraudulent teachings, and yes, people fall for them. But the true revelation of Jesus Christ with the spiritual power that accompanies it comes only through the Old and New Testaments. Those with discernment can easily spot these frauds. Those who think there is an equivalence between the Bible and false religions are lacking discernment because they are not interested in knowing the true God.

I think the most wondrous thing about God is that, while He is all-powerful by nature, there is nothing forcing Him to be loving. And yet He is. How horrible would it be if God were a mean, vindictive creator who spoke creatures into existence only to torment them for his own amusement? Thank the Lord that He is not like that! Not one of us is responsible for His loving nature. He is, and each of us benefits from it. And yet people still rebel against Him. That boggles my mind. I understand that spirits of pride, anger, lust, jealousy and many others oppress us and deceive us into rebelling against our loving Creator, but I am still astounded by the willingness of people to be influenced by such creeps.

But we could talk about the character of God all day. What we’ve shown here is that logic and intellect affirm faith. You are not going to get to a truly loving and intimate relationship with God through your intellect. That is a matter of the heart. But your head, if you engage in intellectual honesty, affirms the faith of your heart.

God exists. The skeptics are the ones engaged in sloppy and anti-intellectual thinking. If you use your head, you can only come to one conclusion. Not only does God exist, He must exist. And aren’t you glad He does?

.