What if God really exists? Part 7 – God speaks

 In earlier blogs, I am discussing the question of God's existence and that it is possible to know that God does exist and even to know God. I also asked such questions as:

If such a being exists, can we know? (Yes)

How can we know? (Logic demands it– Necessary Being)

Has this God communicated to us in any way?

Did this Being leave any signs or hints that it exists, like a painter signing his art? (Yes - creation)

Has this Being interacted with us-- or anyone at all ---in any way?

We may also ask questions such as, “If such a being exists, is it good?

Is it benevolent towards lesser creatures or pay any attention at all?

Does this God set things in motion and then move onto something else, leaving us to our own decisions? Can we get its attention and perhaps win awards or favors? Or the opposite? That is, incur God's disfavor or wrath?  I suggest that you read the series in order and that you should start here:

What if God really Exists?

Through logic and careful observation of the existing universe, we can know that God is necessary, self-existent, eternal, a god of order, a god of law, a god with intelligence, a god of logic, a god of life, a god of beauty, a god of morality, a god of justice who is omniscient and omnipotent.

You can read that here:

The observable attributes of God

But can we know more? Has this self-existent God communicated with us in any way? Perhaps He has. It seems reasonable He would communicate with us or reveal Himself in some way other than creation (known as “natural theology”) if He existed. Throughout the world and history, there have been several books created claiming to be the Word of God. The Torah, the Quran, the Book of Mormon and the Christian Bible are some of the most known. There are also other works that are considered inspired like the Bhagavad Gita, the teachings of Buddha and the Tao Te Ching, but they do not directly claim to be from God that I am aware. Because the authors do not make a direct claim to be the word of God, we will not consider them.

So how do we know which ones are, if any, truly from God? It is possible none are from God. Just because a work claims to be divine does not mean it actually is. It has been demonstrated that God created an orderly universe, including the law of non-contradiction. It has also been demonstrated that God is just and therefore not a God of falsehood. Using these two concepts, we can know which writings are truly the Word of God.

The Bible and the Quran teach different and contradictory ideas and beliefs about God. The Bible says Jesus is God, the Quran says he is not god but just a prophet. The Quran claims that the Bible is the Word of God, except for the “Tahrif” or corruption that has been found. That is, if there are differences between the texts, the Bible is wrong. To claim that the Bible is God's word but contains errors, implies a contradiction in rationality and goes against the character of God. In the Quran are also found mathematical errors, self-contradictions, scientific errors, and other errors. The author is also a confessed false prophet.¹ This would indicate a false claim by the Quran as the true word of God.

The Book of Mormon teaches ideas that contradict the Bible and the gospel such as that Jesus was a created being (not God) and that Lucifer is his brother. The Book of Mormon makes claims of places and people that cannot be confirmed by archaeology or history.² These would indicate a false claim by the Book of Mormon as the true word of God as well.

So what about the Bible. Is it the word of God or not? The Bible has been accepted by most scholars, both secular and religious, as a reliable work of history. In fact, Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, is said to be a historian of “the first rate” and his works are written with great accuracy and detail. Archaeology also has shown over and over the Bible to be an accurate historical source.³ So, it can be said with confidence that it is, in general, an accurate, reliable book of history, at the very least on the same level as other books of history.

Another confirmation of the Bible as an accurate source are the thousands of manuscripts found. Over 25,000 manuscripts confirm that Bible we have today is the same Bible that was written thousands of years ago, some dating before 200A.D. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the accuracy and completion of the Old Testament even before Christ was born. No other book has anywhere near the sources available to confirm the accuracy of the original manuscript.

However, the Bible is full of more than just a reliable historical record and that is not its prime purpose. The Bible claims to be the word of God over 3000 times. There are miracles recorded and incredible things like a great fish swallowing Jonah, a great world-wide flood, fire from heaven, talking animals, angels, demons, prophecies, etc. How do we account for such things? Do they contradict laws of science or logic? So either it is the word of God or a sham that should be discarded.

If the Bible is a reliable source of history and in that source there are claims of fantastical things recorded such as miracles, we cannot completely dismiss the record of those miracles. God, who is omniscience, omnipotent, omnipresent and the creator of all things is outside of the created order and is certainly capable of doing miracles. God is not only omnipotent, but the only potent. As the only self-existent, eternal being, He is the only one capable of doing certain things outside of the created order. This is sound and reasonable. So we cannot rule out miracles just because it goes against a secular, materialistic belief system. Miracles are recorded in the Bible from eye witness accounts, many times by multiple people. We need to consider the possibility of miracles taking place in history. Miracles point to and are there to confirm the events and words recorded as being from God. Miracles are used by God to confirm that a messenger is truly from the real and living God.

Prophecy is one of those supernatural concepts that points to the Bible being from God, more than any other in my opinion. Hundreds of prophecies have been written and fulfilled, sometimes with minute detail hundreds of years later. It is something anyone today can confirm. Jesus himself fulfilled over 300 prophecies. There are also many other predictions that included the nations surrounding Israel such as Edom, Babylon, Assyria, Tyre, Egypt and others. Most have been fulfilled.

Scientific and statistical probability also confirm the Bible. Despite every effort, no scientific law or discovery has been proved to contradict the Bible. There are may claims of proofs, but none that can be confirmed. In fact, I would say science and history actually confirms the Bible over and over. The fact that Jesus fulfilled hundred of prophecies (or even just ten!) written in the Old Testament (that we have proof was complete before he was born) is so unprobable mathematically as to be supernatural.

With all of these supernatural events and prophecies authenticating the Bible, therefore, the Bible out to be received as divine. The Bible contains the doctrine of its own inspiration and is more than a generally reliable and historical record. It is a divinely inspired record. It is God's Word. It is God communicating with us.

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen...” Deuteronomy 18:15

And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.” Joshua 3:9

1Bible vs Quran

2The Bible vs the Book of Mormon

3How archaeology confirms the Bible; GCI.org

What if God really exists? Part 6 -The observable attributes of God

In earlier blogs, I am discussing the question of God's existence and that it is possible to know that God does exist and even to know God. I also asked such questions as:

If such a being exists, can we know? (Yes)

How can we know? (Logic demands it– Necessary Being)

Has this God communicated to us in any way?

Did this Being leave any signs or hints that it exists, like a painter signing his art? (Yes - creation)

Has this Being interacted with us-- or anyone at all ---in any way?

We may also ask questions such as, “If such a being exists, is it good?

Is it benevolent towards lesser creatures or pay any attention at all?

Does this God set things in motion and then move onto something else, leaving us to our own decisions? Can we get its attention and perhaps win awards or favors? Or the opposite? That is, incur God's disfavor or wrath?

I suggest that you read the series in order and that you should start here:

What if God really Exists?

`In the last two blogs, logic has shown that God must exist as a Necessary Being that is beyond just matter, energy. The Big Bang cannot explain the universe, it can only be explained by God alone.

So God does exist, but is that all we can know about him? Logically, can we only affirm the deist, theist or the agnostic? Not at all. As was mentioned in the last blog, the universe is complex and concepts exist within creation that cannot be adequately explained logically by materialism, as much as atheistic scientists and philosophers try to do so based on their belief system.

God is a being of order. Laws of physics control how the universe operates. The Laws of Motion and the Laws of Thermodynamics guide how objects interact. Metaphysical laws guide molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles in ways we are still trying to comprehend. The universe is complex but not random or chaotic. We have 3 primary colors and three secondary colors that combine to create all colors. Music is in scales that can be ordered. Gravity moves the heavenly bodies with mathematical precision. The planets move with such accuracy that we can predict exactly what the sky looked like thousands of years ago. These laws that govern the universe had to be created as part of the universe. Lawful order in the cosmos demonstrates an orderly, lawful and intelligent Creator.

God is a being of logic. Logic is not a man-made construct developed by Aristotle. The laws of logic, such as the law of non-contradiction, would still function even in the farthest reaches of the cosmos. The fact that logic exists and affects the universe, demonstrates it was there from creation.

God is a being of life. Life exists. The earth is full of it in every corner, from the clouded highs to the depths of the seas. Life is complex and diverse. With life comes emotions and intellect as well as reproduction. Life is unique and cannot be explained materially despite the claims of illogical and unproven evolutionary theories. There are no discovered powers or laws within the DNA or molecules to bring about life or change life from one kind of being to another kind being. There is great adversity and complexity within a kind, but not the power to create new kinds of life. The spark that is life comes from God himself.

God is a being of intelligence. In order for there to be logic, order, law, or life, there must be intelligence. Scientists speak of evolutionary processes moving through time and reacting or “deciding” to change in order to survive or improve. A dinosaur cannot “decide” to grow feathers. DNA or cells or molecules in a creature cannot “decide” this either. These entities do not have intelligence, they react to laws of life and physics and within the limits of these laws. An intelligence being can create and work with these properties.

God is a being of beauty. Color, music, savoring aromas, fine textures and overall beauty also demonstrates an intelligent Creator. He is a God from which beauty comes. If we were only beings of materialism, beauty would mean nothing. We may not even notice it. Beauty is not needed for the functioning of the materialistic world. Instead, we are deeply moved by it. Our appreciation of beauty points to a Creator who brings about beauty.

God is a being of morality. What about morality and love? To a materialist, these would be meaningless constructs of chemical reactions. “Two pieces of meat lying on a table says they love each other.” It is foolishness. The idea of morality points to something beyond humanity. There also seems to be a universal law of morality. For instance, almost everyone would say murder is wrong, even if we define in differently in different societies. If you look closely at morality with logic, a precision develops in these moralistic laws, demonstrating a uniformity that it is not obvious upon first glance. C. S. Lewis explores the idea of a universal moral law thoroughly in Mere Christianity. Most recently in western society, moral relativism is failing (as it must logically) and giving way to a secular and liberal moral ideology that is being thrust on all people. What is this secular liberalism based on? The personal opinions or moral ideas of people with authority. But these people in authority are finite in wisdom and knowledge and biased in agendas (and morally corrupt). However, this also must fail and even collapse for it cannot be sustained as it is. Morality, logically, must come from an all powerful and perfectly good God.

What about justice? The concept of justice exists, but does true justice exist? We experience injustice regularly. This experience is either personal or witnessed in society. A person is murdered and the murderer is not found or is overlooked by the authorities. Personal property is damaged or stolen and no compensation is given. In order for there to be true justice, it must go beyond this life experience. Justice cannot be ultimately found in this mortal life. Justice points to an afterlife and a proper judgment in that afterlife. For proper judgment, there must be a perfectly moral and good Judge. This Judge must not only be perfectly moral, but all-knowing so that there is not some unknown or hidden factor that may affect the understanding of the cause. In order for justice to prevail, this Judge must be able to completely enforce the proper verdict, otherwise it may not be carried out and justice still fail. That implies an all-powerful Judge. God is a being of justice that is all-knowing and all-powerful.

Through logic and careful observation of the existing universe, we can know that God is necessary, a god of order, a god of law, a god with intelligence, a god of logic, a god of life, a god of beauty, a god of morality, a god of justice who is omniscient and omnipotent. All this points beyond any mythological being or materialistic secularism, but points in the direction of the God that is described in the Bible.

What if God really exists? Part 5 – God alone

In earlier blogs, I am discussing the question of God's existence and that it is possible to know that God does exist and even to know God. I also asked such questions as:

If such a being exists, can we know? (Yes)

How can we know? (Logic demands it– Necessary Being)

Has this God communicated to us in any way?

Did this Being leave any signs or hints that it exists, like a painter signing his art? (Yes)

Has this Being interacted with us-- or anyone at all ---in any way?

We may also ask questions such as, “If such a being exists, is it good?

Is it benevolent towards lesser creatures or pay any attention at all?

Does this God set things in motion and then move onto something else, leaving us to our own decisions? Can we get its attention and perhaps win awards or favors? Or the opposite? That is, incur God's disfavor or wrath?

I suggest that you read the series in order and that you should start here:

What if God really Exists?

In the last blog, we came to the conclusion that “God” must exist based on the need for a first cause that is a self-existent, eternal Necessary Being. This is a logical necessity.

You can read that here:

What if God really exists- Part 4 - Necessary Being

Some may challenge the concept and say things such as:

What about the Big Bang theory or other theories of origin?

Could not matter and/or energy be eternal instead of assuming “God”?

First, let me say, I am not a scientist. However, a rudimentary understanding of science and logic are all that is needed to proceed. Lets look at the Big Bang theory. According to the theory, all matter and energy was compressed into a point of singularity that exploded billions of years ago. The latest adjustment to this theory now says that it must be “inflation” instead of a “bang,” but still millions of years ago and still the same basic concept.¹ What both of these distinctions of the theory are not able to answer is: What caused it to explode (or change) 13.8 million years ago (or whenever is the latest guess)? How did it and everything else come to exist originally? Something must be eternal and self-existent (able to exist in and of itself) that caused all to happen and come into being. Any other origins theory would have the same dilemma. Stephen Hawking claims nothing existed before. He then goes onto state this “nothing” was actually “something” that moves in a time that can be imaged as more circular rather than linear and is basically eternal.² Hawking believes this without any evidence whatsoever, yet Christians are criticized for what we believe with much reason and evidence.

What about the foundation of all material - matter and energy? Could matter/energy possibly be eternal? One of the problems with this is that matter is constantly changing. The laws of motion says an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.³ So the question is, how did it get started? Where and when will it stop? Did it have a beginning and will it end or will it forever move? The law of thermodynamics tells else that us that matter and energy cannot be destroyed but move towards equilibrium and that the entire universe is moving towards entropy.⁴ This implies it will not go on forever in a sustaining way. The universe is governed by laws of physics which give limits to its changes and actions. If something is always in a state of change, especially if these changes are caused forces outside of its own entity, then it cannot be existent of itself (self-existent). To overcome these problems, other ideas like multi-verses are theorized, but they have the same dilemmas. You will not find the answers to the universe by only looking in the 'box'. You need to look outside of the universe to find the Author.

Another problem with such theories that try to get rid of God through theories of origin is they cannot adequately answer the origins of other facets of the universe such as: the laws of logic, the existence of life, and concepts of such things as love, good, and evil (universal morality). Can a material universe explain these concepts? I know that scientists claim that all these things came from the material universe. That is, life was sparked from the matter and energy and evolved in more and more complexity. Living being then invented such things as love, morality, logic. However, these things seem to part of the created order and not something that man invented. The idea of life is still a mystery to most. Scientists cannot replicate it or truly explain it. Morality seems to be universal and beyond the material existence. Same with the laws of logic, which laws we have been assuming as I write these blogs. Logic is a law of the universe that goes beyond the earth, and is not man made. ⁵

These concepts imply an intelligent, eternal creator and not a materialistic origin of all things. The Necessary First Cause could not have been a big bang or an big inflation or just the eternal changing of matter and energy. God alone is the only possible eternal, self-existent, necessary being. So the next discussion will be what we can know of God.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

-Romans 8:19-20 (ESV)

1Surprise: the Big Bang isn’t the beginning of the universe anymore, Big Think; October 2021 It is interesting that the article admits to being ignorant of origins, yet still says it must have happened based solely on 'faith'. “Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we can no longer speak with any sort of knowledge or confidence as to how — or even whether — the universe itself began. By the very nature of inflation, it wipes out any information that came before the final few moments: where it ended and gave rise to our hot Big Bang. Inflation could have gone on for an eternity, it could have been preceded by some other nonsingular phase, or it could have been preceded by a phase that did emerge from a singularity. Until the day comes where we discover how to extract more information from the universe than presently seems possible, we have no choice but to face our ignorance.”

2Before The Big Bang: Stephen Hawking Says Nothing Existed At Singularity; International Business Times; 3/4/2018 Hawking has only pure speculation. “...he says anything that existed before the beginning of the universe as we know it has no role at all to play in everything that came after, and can therefore be completely left out of any theories we formulate to explain our observations. This is because he believes the universe at the moment of Big Bang was a singularity, a time when “all the laws of physics would have broken down. This means that the state of the universe, after the Big Bang, will not depend on anything that may have happened before, because the deterministic laws that govern the universe will break down in the Big Bang. The universe will evolve from the Big Bang, completely independently of what it was like before.”

3Laws of Motion, wikipedia

4Khan Academy, The Laws of Thermodynamics; Khan Academy

5The Biblical Basis for the Laws of Logic, Dr. Jason Lisle, Biblical Science Institute