A great deal of evidence supports the reality of a Creator, and this article explores compelling arguments for God’s existence by outlining several foundational proofs. In my book If God Is Good, I provide a comprehensive summary of these theological and philosophical perspectives.
The cosmological argument cites the world’s existence as evidence of an uncaused, eternal being who created and sustains it. This perspective explores evidence for God’s existence by noting that either something comes from nothing—an unscientific notion—or a first cause existed prior to everything else. Francis Schaeffer argued in He Is There and He Is Not Silent that a personal first cause, God, accounts for both the material and personal elements of life, whereas a purely material cause cannot.
The transcendental argument suggests that no part of human experience or knowledge has meaning apart from God’s existence. Without a divine foundation, we lack a sufficient explanation for order, logic, and rationality. Since both Christians and atheists rely on the consistency of reason, this shared reality serves as powerful evidence for God. This further explains reasons to believe in God based on the very structure of human thought.
The moral argument claims the existence of universal moral values—what humans generally recognize as right and wrong—has no explanation or objectivity without God.
The design argument looks at the universe, noting its clear organizational structures that indicate an intentional complex plan. This argument warrants a broader summary.
How can such high-level design exist without a designer? To claim that chance accounts for the world’s order and extreme complexity is irrational.
While the design argument has ancient roots, modern science has infused it with stunningly persuasive implications. Atheist Richard Dawkins admits in his book The Blind Watchmaker, “There is enough information capacity in a single human cell to store the Encyclopedia Britannica, all 30 volumes of it, three or four times over.”
We now know what Darwin couldn’t imagine, nor could his theory have begun to explain: DNA stores information in the form of a four-character digital code, with strings of precisely sequenced chemicals that transmit detailed assembly instructions. DNA builds protein molecules, the intricate machinery that allows cells to survive.
Consider the most complex software program you’ve ever used. Could it have developed on its own, without an intelligent designer? Of course not. How much more ridiculous is it to suppose that time, chance, and natural forces—on their own—produced the far more complex DNA?
Scientists once likened the components of living cells to simple LEGO blocks. Now they know that “cells have complex circuits, sliding clamps, energy-generating turbines, rotors, stators, O-rings, U-joints, and drive shafts.” None of those tiny engines work unless all parts are present. Hence, they must have coexisted from the beginning. That’s what biochemist Michael Behe calls, in his book Darwin’s Black Box, “irreducible complexity.”
Non-Christian physicist Paul Davies writes:
“We now know that the secret of life lies not with the chemical ingredients as such, but with the logical structure and organizational arrangement of the molecules. … Like a supercomputer, life is an information processing system. … It is the software of the living cell that is the real mystery, not the hardware. … How did stupid atoms spontaneously write their own software? … Nobody knows.”
I think there’s a better answer than “Nobody knows;” namely, the atoms didn’t write their own software. God did.
For more, see William Lane Craig’s article “Does God Exist?”
Sean McDowell, who teaches at Biola/Talbot, has a self-described passion for equipping the church, and in particular young people, to make the case for the Christian faith. Check out the videos on his YouTube channel.
These are some of my favorite books on apologetics:
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel
- Evidence That Demands a Verdict (updated 2017), by Josh McDowell
- The Reason for God by Tim Keller
- Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig
This article originally appeared on epm.org and is reposted here by permission.