How Can We Know There Is A God?
How Can we know there is a God?
How can we know if He is the God of the Bible?
If God is a loving God, why is there Evil and Suffering?
Faith Based on Evidence, Salvation Based on Faith in God
The creation account in the Bible happened, just more than a few thousand years ago. This view is called Old Earth Creationism (OEC) and it’s based on evidence from science, which this website references. This means there has to be a Creator God and it has to be the God of the Bible as the creation of the universe from nothing requires a Creator God to have happened. The use of evidence from science helps to re-establish the reality of God and the authority of the Bible for believer and unbelievers. We believe the Biblical Hebrew allows for the “days” (YOM) in Genesis 1 to be long periods of time, as demonstrated by Adam not dying within 24 hours of eating the forbidden fruit.
The Big Bang is God creating the universe (space, time, matter, and energy) from nothing (The Big Bang is Genesis 1:1, Hebrews 11:3, Titus 1:2) and that the Big Bang means there must be a Creator God – regardless of how long ago it happened. Even time had a beginning. There are claims that the universe was static and without beginning, but those arguments fail primarily due to entropy. Science tells us that time and space are somehow connected; so when there was no space, there was no time. The book The Creator Revealed by Dr Michael G Strauss (Physics Professor at Oklahoma University) does a good job of explaining it - see the video from him in the tab Evidence for God from Creation from Nothing.
You can’t get a universe from nothing without a Creator God. The only question is if the Creator God is the God of the Bible or some other god. The Bible is the only holy book that claims the universe was created from nothing by a God who acted before the beginning of time, so God is either the God of the Bible or some unknown god. All non-biblical religions have a god who is bound by this universe and by time. A God who creates the universe including time, cannot be bound by this universe or by time.
It’s important to understand the narrative of Genesis 1 is told from the point of view of the surface of the earth (Genesis 1:2) and that the sequence of Genesis 1 matches the development of the earth as viewed from the surface (see video of How the Earth was Made in the tab of Evidence from the Development of the earth). We understand now that the earth really was once covered in water while the continents rose from the water after the atmosphere started to thin. The atmosphere thinned from darkness (thick dark cloud of Job 38:9 – similar to current day Venus but with water vapor to make it dark) to hazy (let there be day and night at the surface – Day 1) and then to clear once photosynthesis from plants and algae removed the water vapor and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Day 3) so that the sun, moon, and stars could be seen from the surface for the first time (Day 4). You have to investigate the Hebrew to see that it says the Sun and Moon had already been made before they could be seen. Day 5 is the explosion of life in the ocean and ends with the survival of the birds when the dinosaurs went extinct. Day 6 is land mammals, and mankind is indeed the last living creature made as shown by the fossil record. There is no way the bible could get the sequence of Genesis 1 correct without the Creator God also being the God of the Bible.
Regarding evolution – we agree with “micro “evolution but do not support “macro” evolution. While bacteria do become resistant to antibiotics, the change of body forms from one species to another doesn’t hold up. No amount of micro-evolution has turned a bacterium into something bigger or a bird into a 4-legged animal. Biologists have tried to make it happen and they cannot do it. The evidence for macro evolution is the same evidence for the evolution of automobiles but no one say automobiles evolved on their own. Also, there is no workable explanation for the origin of life. (Google Dr James Tour – Rice University)
We support the existence of Adam and Eve – with DNA analysis being our best evidence for them. We believe they saw animals die, which is how they knew what death is. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was necessary to keep them alive which is why it was there. We don’t really know how long ago they lived, and the genealogies were not meant to give a date for Adam and Eve or how long ago the earth and universe were created. It’s also apparent there are gaps in the genealogies in Genesis which reinforces the claim that the genealogies were not meant to age the earth. The best evidence for Noah’s flood is the 200+ cultures around the world that all have a story of a flood that wiped out humanity except for a few survivors in a boat. The bible seems to support the idea that when God created Time, he created all of time. Because all of Time has already been created, God knows what is going to happen as evidenced by the fulfilled prophecies from the Bible. We (and Satan) are bound by Time, but God is not.
We support the existence of Adam and Eve – with DNA analysis being our best evidence for them. We believe they saw animals die, which is how they knew what death is. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was necessary to keep them alive which is why it was there. We don’t really know how long ago they lived, and the genealogies were not meant to give a date for Adam and Eve or how long ago the earth and universe were created. The best evidence for Noah’s flood is the 200+ cultures around the world that all have a story of a flood that wiped out humanity except for a few survivors in a boat. It’s also apparent there are gaps in the genealogies in Genesis. When God created Time, he created all of time. Because all of Time has already been created, God knows what is going to happen. We (and Satan) are bound by Time, but God is not.
Mankind was to be exposed to evil and suffering in the Garden of Eden but not to have to experience it (If Adam and Eve had not sinned). We experience death, suffering and difficulties because of the Fall so we will appreciate Heaven and not choose our will over God’s will when we are with Him. Our proper response to suffering is to call out to God for help and salvation – which enables God to show us He really does care for us as well as bringing us into deeper community with God and other believers through the sharing of our sorrows and our joys. All of us need to acknowledge and believe (trust) in the Lord God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth; and ask His Son Jesus Christ to be ruler and master in our lives, for the forgiveness of our sin, and for our reconciliation with God in this life and the life to come.
On Suffering and Evil
The age-old question people have about God is why is there suffering? Why do I have suffering and difficulties? Why does God allow evil to exist? Isn’t this world supposed to be comfortable? Some people want to judge God for “God’s sins” of allowing bad things to happen, for inequalities, for opposing sexual acts that the Bible says are abhorrent, and for acts of violence by people in the Bible and the Christian church. The Bible gives the answer to the problem of evil and suffering but we have to understand what was the sin of Satan, Adam and Eve; why did they sin; what were God’s choices when they sinned; And why does God want us involved in the effort to destroy evil? The problem of evil is really the problem of what to do about Satan.
One thing to keep in mind is that Creation (science) is now telling us that there really is a God, and it really is the God of the Bible. It also means there really is a Satan and it really is the Satan of the Bible. The Bible tells us that Satan wanted to overthrow/destroy God (Ezekiel 28;11-19, Isaiah 14:12-15) and so became evil. Satan did not appreciate what he had in his relationship with God and his pride and envy drove him to rebel. The Bible seems to tell us that the fall of Satan broke God’s heart and possibly surprised God. The Bible also tells us that its not possible to just live with evil. Evil wants to destroy God still and to destroy us but we must be exposed to and possibly experience evil to understand the need to destroy and remove evil. God wants us to love what He loves and to hate what He hates – to hate evil. Satan has a way of making evil seem good and good to be evil which is why we must learn to hate evil as God defines it lest it destroy us. The Bible prescribes a Due Process for condemning evil on a corporate/government level and to abhor evil but not take vengeance ourselves at a personal level, but to overcome evil with good on a personal level.
It’s important to understand that when Satan fell, God had a choice. He could have simply annihilated Satan and the fallen angels, or he could expel them and try to bring some kind of good from the tragedy. If he just destroyed them and replaced them there was no “good” that could be obtained from the tragedy of Satan’s fall (and no assurance it would not happen again). God created Adam and Eve after the fall of Satan perhaps with the intent of obtaining some amount of good from the fall of Satan by exposing us to him, similar to immunization. The temptation from Satan in the Garden of Eden was “shouldn’t we want to be like God knowing good and evil?” It’s likely that Adam and Eve would have come to the knowledge of Good and Evil if they had never eaten of the wrong tree as they were being exposed to Satan in the Garden of Eden. But by exerting their own will in defiance of God’s good will, they (and thus We) want to be our own god to replace God the Creator, which is exactly what Satan wants us to desire and what Satan wants as well – to replace God. We want to decide for ourselves what is good and what is bad and what we desire is going to be different than what God desires. Adam and Eve (and Satan) did not appreciate what they had before they sinned.
Because of our sin, Satan was made ruler of the world according to Jesus (John 12:31 and 16:11), which means that Satan is to blame for the natural evil (sickness, accidental deaths, natural disasters etc.) that happens (Job 1&2) as well as personal evil. God allows natural and personal evil to happen as part of the immunization process against us wanting to replace God; so we will understand the need to destroy evil; and so we will understand that God is not obligated to save us (Job 40:8-14). He saves us because He loves us, not because He is obligated by our works. Because we are born into an impossible situation (and God knows it), God offers to save us by His Grace rather than by our works if we will accept. God wants us to repent of the sin of Satan and the sin of Adam and Eve of wanting to be our own god. Ask the real God to be in charge of your life. God will not be obligated for anything regardless of a person’s “good life and works” unless we acknowledge that He (the God of the Bible) is real, and we ask Him to be in charge of our lives and cleanse of our sin. God shows us we can trust Him that the next life will be free of suffering by sending Christ to suffer on our behalf if we will follow Him. God’s reason for creating us was to create new creatures (us) but to make some of us immune to the temptation to want to replace God with ourselves before annihilating evil completely.
God tells us “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8) so we may not be happy with what God says is good and what is evil. The problem is that people can talk themselves into believing just about anything is ok. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were able to justify killing millions of people and some people think sexual abuse of children is ok. While we may not (will not) always understand why God is doing something or allowing it to happen; it is better to be in the hands of God than in the hands of man.
He put us here to find out who wants to be with Him. This life is really a filtering mechanism to find out “Who Wants to Be with God?” He stands at the door of your heart and knocks asking “Do you want to be with me? Will you let Me in?” He will take us through the difficult times in our lives and He will put us in community with people who care about us because of their love for Him. We will suffer loss here in this life, but He is preparing us to appreciate the life to come – and that is what this life is all about. Will you follow Him?