On the Existence of God

Throughout history, philosophers have argued over the existence of God. In modern times, we have public debates over the question of whether the Origin of Man is explained by Creation or by Evolution. I find it most amusing that learned scholars on opposing sides of the debate each considers the other to be a fool.

Well, call me a fool. I believe God created the heavens and the earth. For some, that will be the cue to stop reading here. But if you would read on, I will give my best shot at explaining why I believe this.

By way of introduction, I am an electrical engineer. Father of five, grandfather of seven. Church attender for the better part of the past 50 years. I have no training in theology or philosophy. I think a lot.

Questions

Let’s start with the premise that Truth is absolute – either God exists or not – and that if God does exist, he is a Being. A person. We have to start somewhere, and arguing outside these boundaries will frustrate both of us.

It is curious how the existence of God is even a question to be asked. It is such a foundational question to explain our own existence, that one would think there should be no question at all. But here we are, asking it.

Along the way, let us also consider three sub-questions:

If there is a God, why would he be so hard to perceive?
A similar question, a bit more presumptuous, is: why would God hide himself from us?
And since we’re asking questions: why do we care so much whether God exists? The dog doesn’t agonize over whether there is a God; why should we?

Testimonies

We learned in grade school of our five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. Everything we have known and experienced physically in our lives has been perceived through these. Some claim that they have seen, heard, or touched God; if this were a physical occurrence, then it would have employed one or more of the five senses. Others have suffered near-death experiences, in which they claim to have caught a glimpse of the afterlife. Many of these accounts bear striking similarities with one another.

The testimonies of people claiming such firsthand experiences are often compelling. Sometimes, hearing such a testimony is all someone needs to be convinced of God. The Bible is filled with the testimonies of people of old claiming firsthand encounters with God. For the skeptic, though, it’s not unreasonable to expect that this might not be enough to believe there is a God.

The Human Body

Let’s take a look at a few of the physical and spiritual qualities that make up the human. First, the physical aspects.

The human body is a remarkable biological machine. All of our organs are each highly focused on a specific task, and work in cooperative synergy with one another to create a cohesive whole with singular purpose.

I already mentioned our five senses. We have intricate organs that enable us to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, with great precision, over extremely wide dynamic ranges. Our bodies, incredibly, have the ability to self-heal to a remarkable extent. We have amazingly complex systems for processing food; converting energy; circulating, oxygenating, and filtering blood; mitigating pain; fighting disease; keeping balanced. We have a musculoskeletal system that gives us the ability to walk, lift, and grasp objects. We can speak our mind, and even sing, for others to hear and understand. And we take all of this for granted, without appreciating how breathtaking it all is.

It gets more amazing the deeper one studies the minute details of the human anatomy. The individual components of the eye, for example – the lens, cornea, iris, pupil, retina – are each utterly amazing in how they carry out their functions in harmony to produce focused, high-resolution, stereoscopic color vision, in conditions ranging from very bright to very dim light. The eyes and ears, when operating in pairs, provide spatial abilities that would not be possible had we only one of each. It is said that each of the 30 trillion+ cells in the human body is like an entire city of biological activity.

And reproduction! We can reproduce! And we do so, often! And, most beautifully, doing so involves Love (including, ideally, both its physical and spiritual aspects).

The human body is like an incredible orchestra of individual instruments playing in unison, and the expression of a human life like a beautiful symphony.

A marvel of design.

As an electrical engineer, I have spent my career designing complex systems involving microcontrollers, sensors, and interfaces. Although I have been immersed in the development of technology for most of my life, I am still incredulous of humanity’s astounding technological achievements.

High technology hasn’t come about by happenstance. Countless generations of humanity passed with little technological progress until, in the 1800s, James Clerk Maxwell discovered, and quantified, the relationship between electricity, magnetism, and light. This was a turning point in history, when technological progress suddenly began to accelerate. Maxwell, now considered the founder of the field of electrical engineering, was followed by increasing numbers of men and women who trained to become scientists, physicists, and engineers, and who devoted their life’s works to collaboratively develop the technology that surrounds us today. Today, the smartphone alone represents the cumulative works of millions of engineers and scientists over the past two centuries.

And yet, nothing mankind has achieved can compare in the least with the remarkable complexity, intricacy, and beauty of the human being.

Design takes effort.

And a Design requires a Designer.

The Human Soul

Now, I would like to touch on the spiritual qualities of the human.

I read somewhere: “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

Yes.

Humans possess an incredible collection of invisible, non-physical attributes and abilities that science is at a loss to explain, or even measure.

Our invisible attributes are many: Our consciousness (i.e., self-awareness). Our instincts, reflexes, and urges. Our thoughts, ideas and memories. Our sense of logic, and our deductive powers of reasoning. Our wide range of emotions. Our volition (i.e., will, or ability to make decisions). Our morality (i.e., discernment of right and wrong, and of justice). Our appreciation for art, music, and beauty. Our ability for introspection (e.g., soul-searching). Our faith in the unseen. Our capacity for love, in all its forms and expressions. And our deep need for love. These, and many others, are all essential qualities of the human soul.

Many have attempted to systematically quantify, harness, and control some of these unseen characteristics of the human being (sometimes with disastrous consequences). The embarrassing truth is that we haven’t even a clue as to where these qualities even are, let alone how they actually work.

Despite this, scientists, in characteristically detached manner, explain dispassionately how the process of natural selection necessarily caused the human soul to evolve along with the body over millions of years.

Really, now.

Tell me, for example, how the kind of love that would cause a person to selflessly lay his life down for another is explained by the process of natural selection.

Tell me how the developing proto-humans who wept when listening to an emotional interlude were more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation than those who were more stoic.

The vast sum of human knowledge pales in comparison to the things we don’t understand. And the best attempts of science to explain where we came from fall flat.

It is not foolish to admit you don’t know how something works.

It is foolish to conjure an inadequate explanation for something mystifying, and proffer it as scientific fact.

Proof

So, how can we explain the fact that we are here, or why? Where did we come from?

You don’t need a textbook.

Look inside yourself. Take a deep look into your soul. The awesome work of art that is uniquely You could not possibly have happened through random mutations and natural processes.

The beauty, complexity, and nuances of the human soul, and the incredible power of Love, could not have happened by accident. They could only have been the result of an exercise of the will of a creative Being who himself has the deepest understanding and appreciation for love and beauty – a being who, in fact, authored them.

The existence of God is proven by the existence of you.

Faith

Some hold that science and faith are incompatible. Science is disciplined, rigorous, based on observable evidence. Faith, on the other hand, is, by definition, based on that which cannot be seen.

I submit that science and faith are not only compatible, but are in fact complementary to one another, and are both essential for a balanced and complete understanding of the world.

We exercise faith all the time, without giving it a thought. For example, most of us interact daily with other people. Other souls. We don’t see their souls; we see their bodies. But we know their souls exist. If we can’t see their souls, how do we know they exist?

By faith. Faith is the belief in something you can’t see. We couldn’t function in life if we didn’t accept some things by faith.

Similarly, you have never seen the spirit of God. But the existence of your soul – and of the billions of other souls on this planet – point to the existence of God.

The evidence for a Creator is, I believe, so compelling, that faith should hardly be required in order to be convinced of his existence.

You are a soul. And as a soul, you have inherent abilities for analysis and to make judgments and decisions. I submit that you not only have these abilities, but you carry a solemn responsibility to use them to discern the Truth.

Why? Because we are, each of us, exceedingly valuable. Priceless, in fact. And the owner of something of such high value – a human soul – has an intrinsic moral obligation to see that it is not deceived.

Answers

Now, let’s revisit the sub-questions I posed earlier.

First, if there is a God, why would he be so hard to perceive?

For an intelligent being to have created the universe, it is logical that he would have had to first exist independently from the universe, before it was created. He would already have existed in a different realm altogether than the three-dimensional world we live in – a spiritual dimension, if you will – and no doubt would have continued to exist in that realm after creation.

Therefore, God’s primary realm of existence would logically be outside our sphere. It should be no surprise, then, that we can’t see him.

This is not to say that it would necessarily be impossible for us to perceive God, as he might well include in his creation ways for us to do so. Or he might choose to interact with humanity at some level. But these would be at his prerogative.

Second. Why would God hide from us? Posed in this form, this question implies that God is being intentionally deceptive. This, frankly, is an egotistical view. It suggests that the Creator ought to bow to the creation’s whim as to whether or how he ought to be perceived.

In fact, God is not hiding from us. Our physical, three-dimensional bodies are simply incapable of physically sensing him, a spiritual Being who exists in a spiritual dimension.

To perceive God, we need to think outside our three-dimensional box. And that is something only our soul, and not our body, is equipped to do. It will require Faith to recognize that he exists.

Third. What compels us to want to know of the existence of God, when the dog (for example) doesn’t give it a thought?

Unlike the dog, something in the human soul longs for purpose and meaning. The human asks, “Why am I here?” If there were no God, the search for an answer to this question would be futile. But if there is a Creator, then our purpose would derive from his purpose for creating us. This human need for purpose and meaning is what compels us to ask whether God exists.

What is the source for this yearning for purpose? I suggest it was the Creator who placed that desire within us, and that he did so as an impetus for us to seek him. Why would he do that? I believe God created us to experience relationships: both with himself and with each other. He wants us to discover him. He wants us to delight in him, as he delights in us.

A Minor Help

If you have trouble imagining that anyone could possibly be so intelligent and powerful as to create the entire universe and everything in it, well, good. We’re not supposed to be able to understand God. He’s too big, and our minds are too small, for us to be able to grasp the idea. That’s the point of faith.

But here’s a small example that might help you grasp the concept that someone could be so smart and so capable.

Consider those few exceptionally gifted people we have seen on talk shows and in videos. I am referring to the rarities in the world: the autistic savant who can recite the digits of pi to 10,000 places, or who can memorize an entire telephone book. (Remember telephone books?) The young boy who can explain advanced theoretical physics, with original insights. The little girl who paints masterpieces. We marvel with incredulity at their abilities, so astoundingly far above our own.

We forget, though, how amazing even the most ordinary person is.

Now, if individuals demonstrably exist who can perform such amazing feats, why is it so difficult to believe that One might exist who is capable of far more? Why do we limit our imagination?

The Bible

So, now what? Once we have concluded that, yes, in fact, God does exist, what should we then do?

Lo! Here is an ancient text, the Bible. It was written thousands of years ago, by about 40 authors, over the course of 1500 years. It is revered by billions. Millions have died defending it. It is the foundation of the Christian and Jewish faiths. The Bible not only provides answers to the very questions we have posed, but also documents many historical events in which God interacted personally and physically with mankind. Much of the biblical record correlates strongly with the archaeological evidence.

Would we not be remiss to disregard such a resource?

If you have not read the Bible, now would be a good time to start. Don’t try to read it from cover to cover, like a novel. Some parts are insufferably dull, and you would soon give up in discouragement. (I am thinking, in particular, of the books of Leviticus and Numbers.)

A good place to start reading is the Gospel According to John, the fourth book in the New Testament.

Disbelief

Why do so many resist the idea of God?

There are many reasons. I will touch on two of them.

First, as I have said, faith is based on the unseen. And, powerful as the evidence for a Creator is, it can still seem irrational, illogical to put one’s faith in something or someone whom you cannot see or touch.

I get that. That’s why I’ve written this essay. I’ve tried to present a logical rationale for establishing a foundation for faith based on the evidence of God’s work. If you’ve made it this far, I hope you agree with my conclusion.

The second reason I think many people resist the idea of God is basic human Pride.

I have said that God created us to have a relationship with him, and with each other. Naturally, our relationship with him must be on his terms. He gets to make the rules, because, well, he’s God. According to the Bible, a proper relationship with God starts with the need for us to acknowledge our place.

What is our place? It is this: We are the Created. He is the Creator.

God has given us free will. The ability to make choices. He wants us to make good choices.

The Bible brings up the uncomfortable matter of sin. It’s a big deal. It accuses us of doing evil. Many are unwilling to acknowledge that they don’t measure up. So they reject the entire premise.

What a tragedy, that pride would lead many to push away the One who loves us, even to the point of denying that he even exists.

Conclusion

A sea of godless people in the world today marches for the right to dispose of human lives.

Do not be deceived. There is a Creator. He loves each person, deeply. He loves you, deeply.

Set aside your disbelief. Take the first step, and acknowledge that there is a God.

Further reading:

Andy Thinks