Silverton Evangelical Church


"There's no real evidence that God exists"

 


our take on it



Is there any evidence for God?

 

There's a lot we could say on this one. But here are just four questions we'd ask.


 Sunrise over the world

 What are the odds of all this happening by pure chance? The forces at play in the Big Bang had to be matched to one another to an incredible level of accuracy for life to emerge. It's been compared, by one science writer, to the chance of shooting a water pistol at a 12-inch target on the other side of the galaxy - and hitting a bullseye. In his book The Emperor's New Mind, mathematician Sir Roger Penrose tried to work out the chances of the initial conditions being just right at the moment of the Big Bang. His answer: one chance in 10123. Which is an incredibly small possibility!

 

Why does every culture in the world have a belief in God?  You won't find a human civilization anywhere in which there is no religion. It seems to be hard-wired into the human system that we instinctively look for God. The Religious Experience Research Unit, founded at Oxford by biologist Sir Alister Hardy, has concluded that "religious experience is biologically natural to human beings".

 Stonehenge - looking for God centuries ago

 Millions claim to know the living God

 

What about all the people who claim to have a relationship with God right now? Across the world there are millions of people who believe they have experienced the friendship of God through the reality of Jesus. After almost a whole century of atheist propaganda in Russia, there were more Christians in the country than there had been before the Revolution. In Communist China today, the Christian church is growing in an unbelievable, unstoppable way. Wow, that's a lot of deluded people, if there really is no God at all.

 

How do you account for Jesus?  Jesus Christ has affected the lives of more people worldwide than any other figure in history. He has convinced millions that they can know God through him. Yet he came from an obscure province of the Roman Empire, had an extremely short career, and died like a criminal. He was the most brilliant, penetrating ethical teacher that his country had ever seen - and yet he clearly claimed to be God. There's no culture in the world today where he has no followers who believe his claim; he's worshipped everywhere. If God doesn't even exist, what do you make of the bizarre story of Jesus?

 Jesus - a mystery... or The Master?



IS THIS A FULL ANSWER?  Of course it isn't. It's just a bunch of provocative points
to get you thinking - and arguing. If you want to carry on the conversation, just get in touch!

 


THINK IT THROUGH


A few questions to mull over. Take your time.

 

 


FOUR MORE VOICES

 

1. In a YouTube video of under six minutes, Eric Metaxas shows how daft it is to say that science has ruled out God. Powerful stuff. 


Eric Metaxas


 

2. "After years as an atheist, convinced God did not exist, Marilyn Adamson began to question the possibility of God." As a result she's written a page called "Is There a God?" - providing six crisp reasons for saying Yes, there is. 


Marilyn Adamson


 

3. Robert H Nelson  is a distinguished thinker - Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.  He thinks that recent developments have made it much more likely that God really is there, and so he's written an article entitled "Arguments why God (very probably) exists".


Robert H Nelson


 4. If you have half an hour to spare, Dr Vince Vitale has an absorbing lecture on YouTube entitled "How do I know God exists?"  The talk was given to an audience of mainly younger people, but it's valuable for listeners of any age.


Dr. Vince Vitale's lecture



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