To prove something simply means to demonstrate that it is so. To prove the existence of God simply means to demonstrate that He does exist. There are two ways to prove something: empirically and rationally.

Empirical proof uses the five senses to make observations. This is what we know as scientific proof. Scientific proof is limited to empirical data.

Proving something rationally means giving the best explanation to fit the facts. We will attempt to use both methods to demonstrate that God exists.

There are many arguments for the existence of God. However, space limits us to briefly discuss only four.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

If God doesn’t exist, then 3 ramifications logically follow:

1. Life has no ultimate significance. Since you end in nothing, you are nothing. This is Nieztche’s philosophy of nihilism (nothing).
2. Life has no value. With no God, there are no absolute values and the idea of sacrifice is illogical. Why make sacrifices if there are no absolute values? You just die in the end.
3. Life has no purpose—the goal is to die.

THE PROBABILISTIC ARGUMENT

The Probabilistic Argument says that we should choose the cleanest, neatest way possible to explain the phenomena. Five phenomena need to be explained:

1. Religious experience. Throughout history, people everywhere have worshipped a higher being. Paul Little says, "Anthropological research has indicated that among the farthest and most remote primitive people today, there is a universal belief in God. And in the earliest histories and legends of people all around the world, the original concept was of one God, who was the Creator. An original high God seems once to have been in their consciousness even in those societies which are today polytheistic." (1)
2. The existence of the world
3. The design of the world
4. Miracles
5. Morality

THE DESIGN ARGUMENT

Our universe demonstrates a tremendous amount of order and complexity. Numerous examples could be given, but we’ll limit our discussion to two areas: the Conditions for Life, and the Origin of Life.

Conditions Necessary for Life

Scientists are discovering that the values of the Universal constants (such as gravity, electromagnetic forces, etc.) fall into an extremely narrow range that allow for life to exist. Small changes in these values make life impossible and in many cases make the existence of the universe impossible. Some examples (among many):

1. If the force that holds together particles in the nucleus of an atom (strong force) were only 2% weaker, hydrogen would be the only element in the universe. If it were only 2% stronger, hydrogen would be rare in the universe. Either way, life would not exist. (2)
2. If the expansion rate of the universe was—less by 1 part in a million million, the universe would have collapsed very early—greater by 1 part in a million, galaxies, stars, and planets would never have formed. (3)
3. Since any of the constants can be expressed as a function of the velocity of light, any change in the velocity of light would change these constants. Hence, the slightest variation in the velocity of light would negate the possibility of life. (4)

1. If the planet’s gravity is too strong, the atmosphere would retain too much ammonia and methane. If it’s too weak, the atmosphere would lose too much water. (5)
2. If the rotation period of the planet were too long, daily temperature differences would be too great. If too short, atmospheric wind velocities would be too great. (6)
3. If the thickness of the planet’s crust is too thick, too much oxygen would be transferred from the atmosphere to the crust. If it’s too thin, volcanic and tectonic activity would be too great. (7)

The earth’s size is perfect. If the earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. It the Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter. (8)

The earth’s distance from the sun is also perfect. If the earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the earth’s position to the sun and life on Earth would be impossible. (9)

Based on all the conditions needed for a planet just to sustain life (let alone contain life), Hugh Ross concludes, "that much fewer than a trillionth of a trillionth of 1% of all stars will have a planet capable of sustaining advanced life. Considering that the universe contains only about a trillion galaxies, each averaging a hundred billion stars, we can see that not even one planet would be expected, by natural processes alone, to possess the necessary conditions to sustain life." (10)

The Origin of Life

In order for life to exist, it is necessary to have molecules which are complex enough to provide minimal life functions such as processing energy, storing information, and replicating. The complexity of DNA is such an example. It is estimated that the information stored in one single cell is greater than all the letters of the largest library in the world. (11)

Walter Bradley stated, "The production of molecules such as protein, RNA, and DNA from a prebiotic soup is extremely difficult to imagine." (12) In fact, the possibility that the basic building blocks of life (simple proteins) could be formed from non-life (prebiotic soup) is extremely small—about 10 to the 40,000. (13)

Statistics like these prompted Sir Fred Hoyle to give this analogy, "What are the chances that a tornado might blow through a junkyard containing all the parts of a 747, accidentally assemble them into a plane, and leave it ready for take-off? The possibilities are so small as to be negligible even if a tornado were to blow through enough junkyards to fill the whole universe!" (14)

Harold Klein commented, "The simplest bacterium is so damned complicated from the point of view of a chemist that it is almost impossible to imagine how it happened." (15)

Conclusion

Concerning the design and order of the universe, we’re left with only two options. Either it all happened by chance, or there is an intelligent designer behind it all. Which do you find to be more probable?

THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

The Cosmological Argument is based on the principle of causality, which states: Everything that begins to exist must have a cause.

We know that something cannot come from nothing. Therefore, there must be something that is eternal.

We’re left with two options. Either the universe itself is eternal and has always existed, or something else that is eternal created the universe. Let’s explore these options.

The Universe Had a Beginning

Several scientific facts confirm that the universe had a created beginning.

First of all, the standard Big Bang model says that space, time, matter and energy all came into existence approximately 15 billion years ago. Obviously then, the universe had a created beginning.

Another confirmation of the created beginning of the universe is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics simply states that in a closed system (like the universe), heat is diffused to colder bodies until a state of equilibrium occurs, where all matter and energy are evenly distributed evenly throughout space.

Now if the universe were eternal, then there would have already been enough time for this equilibrium to occur. But since the universe is not in a state of equilibrium, then the universe must not be eternally old. Hence, the universe must have had a created beginning.

If the universe had a created beginning, it logically follows that the universe had a creator—God.

Scientists are beginning to accept the possibility that the universe was created by God.

George Smoot said, "What we have found is evidence for the birth of the universe…it’s like looking at God." (16)

In addition, Frederic B. Burnham declared, "The scientific community is prepared to consider the idea God created the universe a more respectable hypothesis today than at any time in the last 100 years." (17)

How about you? Which do you think is more probable, that God exists and the universe is a product of His intelligent design? Or, that God doesn’t exist, and the universe came about by an incredible chance? Are you willing to bet your life on that chance?