t{squared}: Does God exist?

Posted on August 29, 2012 by MB@NewLifeSteward • 7 Comments

theology

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Fair Warning: It’s late, and I’m tired, so this is going to be brief.

TIP: Hover over the references to read them. :) cool huh?

How do we know God exists?

There are two basic answers. By now you should know what one is going to be…

1. God created man with an inner sense of His existence. See Romans 1.

  • People can choose to deny this sense either because of sin or irrational thinking (Psalm 13:1; 53:1; and 10:3-4).
  • People can also choose to suppress the truth about God even after they know it (Rom. 1:18 and following).
  • People can strengthen this awareness through living in the Holy Spirit and knowing God more deeply (Rom. 8:15-16; Eph 3:17, Phil 3:8, 10; Col 1:27).

2. Evidence of God’s existence is found in Scripture and Nature

  • The Bible just assumes God exists (Gen. 1:1 “In the Beginning, God…). If we believe the Bible is true, then we must believe God exists.
  • Everything in nature testifies to a Creator (Acts 14:17; Ps 19:1-2).
Traditional Proofs (these are fancy terms used in academic settings):
  1. Cosmological argument: everything has a cause, therefore the existence of the universe must have a cause–>God.
  2. Teleological argument: the order and purpose of creation testify to a Creator–>God.
  3. Ontological argument: I don’t really get this one, so I’m gonna give you exactly what Grudem says: “The ontological argument begins with the idea of God, who is defined as a being “greater than which nothing can be imagined.” It then argues that the characteristic of existence must belong to such a being, since it is great to exist than not to exist.” (143). huh?
  4. Moral argument: man has a natural sense of right and wrong, therefore there must be a God to establish what is right and wrong.

Application:

While we have discussed the various ways we can know that God exists, here is the bottom line: We cannot know God exists unless God enables us to know He exists. We are utterly dependent on Him. <—-Like it? Tweet it! (2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Cor. 1:21; 1 Cor. 2:5)

I am tired tonight because we attended a Shane and Shane concert at our church, so that set my evening routine back a bit. I’m glad we went. They sang this song, and I think it’s applicable here. We must beg God to enable us to know Him, love Him, serve Him. We cannot do it on our own.<—That’s Tweetable, too!

Click over the view the video if you’re in a Reader or e-mail.

Here I am
One more day of not
Loving Him the way He asks
In fact my heart is singing praises to the things
that make me feel alright

So I’m sinking fast like a stone heart should
And on the way down
I’ve done what I could
To try and try to turn this stone to flesh

I’m haunted by my God
Who has the right to ask me
What by the nature of my rebellion
I cannot give.

So I beg for you to move
I beg for you to move
I beg for you to break through

So here I am
Got my deeds for the day
All my cute little words about
How I am saved
Am I saved?

Could I love you with my mouth like a church kid should
At the end of the day
My words get burned as wood
Oh, but I was good.

I’m haunted by my God
Who has the right to ask me
What by the nature of my rebellion
I cannot give.

These songs are noise
In your ears
A clanging drum
You want my love

Have you struggled with the existence of God? How did He show Himself to you?

If you are new to t{squared}, I am using Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine to guide this study! The numbers you see in parenthesis refer to page numbers in this text.

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This post is linked with thanks to:

Thought Provoking Thursday
Thoughtful Thursday
Thankful Thursday
Proverbs 31 Thursday
Life in Bloom
Thrive at Home Thursday

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Filed Under: Loving God
  • http://www.newequus.wordpress.com/ Mindy @ New Equus

    This is great Mary Beth…and I love the song! And your tweetable (as always) is very tweetable! ;)

    • http://newlifesteward.com/ Mary Beth

      Why thank you ma’am. And thanks for sharing on Twitter!

  • http://dogfuranddandelions.com/ Elizabeth @ DogFurandDandelion

    I had to go read this chapter myself, to consider the ontological proof. And then I checked in Ryrie’s “Basic Theology,” where he words it like this (36):

    “(a) we have an idea of a Most Perfect Being;
    (b) the idea of a Most Perfect Being includes existence, since a Being, otherwise perfect, who did not exist would not be so perfect as a Being who did exist;
    (c) therefore, since the idea of existence is contained in the idea of the Most Perfect Being, that Most Perfect Being must exist.”

    Seems a bit more understandable, in my opinion. Since life (existence) is greater than death (non-existence), then if there is a God, He must be wholly life.

    • http://newlifesteward.com/ Mary Beth

      Oh that makes much more sense!!! Thank you for doing that!!

  • http://dogfuranddandelions.com/ Elizabeth @ DogFurandDandelion

    Also, to answer your question about struggling with God’s existence – something a teacher of mine suggested when I was going through a period of doubt, was to simply pray “God, if you’re there, show yourself to me.” And He does, in myriad ways!

  • Sisterlisa

    ”
    We cannot know God exists unless God enables us to know He exists. We are utterly dependent on Him” This is exactly why I never condemn people who do not yet believe. In all things…grace. My we all be more patient followers of Christ and avid lovers of humankind.

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