Evidence for God’s existence

Ok there are three types of evidence or proof:

1.      Mathematical

2.      Scientific

3.      Personal

I’ll deal with all of these in turn, and try and keep it brief, so if you think I’ve not covered anything in enough detail or that due to lack of detail I’m trying to bluff my way though this then please tell me and I’ll write something on that topic that is a lot more detailed.

So then number one, mathematical....

Ok, there isn’t a formula or anything (well not to my knowledge) proving God, this is because with current pure maths, it can only prove something within its domain, and God is out of this world and so not within the mathematical domain, so maths can neither prove nor disprove God with a formula.

So we move onto statistics, which might I say is the most boring part of maths ever, all you do is number crunch, but might I add those numbers are facts and can’t be argued with.

Here is one case:

Researchers in California started out with about 400 patients recovering from heart problems. Half the patients received prayer (from a distance), the other half didn’t. Nobody in either group was told there was any praying going on.

According to Dr. Dale Matthews, a professor at Georgetown Medical School, those patients who were the targets of prayer had half as many complications and they had a lower rate of congestive heart failure than the patients who were not prayed for.

So in number form:

400 patients, 200 being prayed for, 200 thought not to be.

A 50% decrease in problems occurred, which in my opinion is quite a big difference.

Here are two more examples, but I don’t have the exact figures for them so I won’t spend too much time on them.

1.      Lincolnshire police are using prayer to stop crime, and I hear it’s working!

2.      Also remember World War 2? Well we were losing the air battle but then the country was called to pray and the tides turned, hmm interesting thought, WWII won though prayer.

Well now onto science...

Well where do I start this could go on for ages and you would all get board so I’ll just cover a few key points, well one actually, evolution. To start with if you have a Christian friend that tells you that evolution and Christianity walk side by side there wrong! Now I’m not saying that science and Christianity don’t go together, because they do, and I’m going to use science to disprove evolution...yes that’s right I’m going to use science to back up Christianity.

So evolution where to start, well the age of the earth; if the earth is thousands of years old like the bible says then evolution couldn’t happen and you would need a God to make life in that space of time, but if it is millions/billions of years then evolution happened and the bible isn’t correct and so there doesn’t need to be a God.

So why do we think the world is millions/billions of years old? As far as I know it’s mainly down to radiocarbon dating, so I’ll deal with this one.

Did you know that carbon dating can only actually date things that are thousands of years old!? This is due to the fact that carbon dating compares the amount of non- radioactive carbon (carbon 12 - 12C) to radioactive carbon (carbon 14 - 14C), there is science behind it but I won’t go into it. But basically once something dies the ratio between ¹⁴C/¹²C gets smaller and so we have a clock that starts ticking when something dies. But if something ages past something like 50,000 years old, should theoretically have no detectable 14C left, and so can’t possibly give you millions of years let alone billions!

Here are 14 reasons why there is a young earth:

1.      Galaxies wind themselves up too fast.

2.      Too few supernova[1] remnants.

3.      Comets disintegrate too quickly.

4.      Not enough mud on the sea floor.

5.      Not enough sodium in the sea.

6.      The earth’s magnetic field is decaying too fast.

7.      Many strata[2] are too tightly bent.

8.      Biological material decays too fast.

9.      Fossil radioactivity[3]  shortens geologic “ages” to a few years.

10. Too much helium in minerals.

11. Too much carbon 14 in deep geologic strata.

12. Not enough Stone Age skeletons.

13. Agriculture is too recent.

14. History is too short.

As you can see there’s a list of reasons why the earth is younger than what some of the scientists say.

Finally we come to Personal…

Ok we’ve covered math’s and science, but did they really “prove” God, well they might stir thoughts about whether there is a God or not, but if you ask me for me to truly believe in a God I would need to have had an experienced Him for myself, here’s how J. John puts it:

“You can’t prove God by math’s or science it is emotional like a kiss, a kiss can be described as the approach of 2 pairs of lips with a reciprocal transition of microbes and CO₂,now if someone said that to their girlfriend they would give them a slap”

And to be honest who could blame them, a kiss is emotional and trying to explain it using science or math’s just degrades it, and makes it seem like a passionless action.

The same is with God, trying to explain God or prove him though science and math’s makes him look like a load of statistics or the result of the young earth. Whereas the fact is God is love(1John 4:8), and as far as I know love is an emotion and so can’t be explained or proved by math’s and science, although they can help, you need to experience it for yourself to truly believe.

If your sat there and are not sure whether God is real or not just say this simple prayer, I mean it’s in your head no one’s going to know, and it might just change your life for the better!!!

“Dear Lord, I don’t know if you exist, but if you do show me that you do.”

Now don’t expect immediate results because God doesn’t work in our time he works in His, but He will answer.

If your sat there think WOW! God is real and I want to experience him and let him into my life then pray a prayer like this one:

“Dear Lord, I know I have done wrong, and thank you that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, please may you forgive me and come into my life.”

See neither of those prayers will take very long to pray, and if you prayed the second one then I would advise you tell someone and ask them what to do next, if there is no one to ask, then my advice would be get yourself a bible and read it, and pray.

Thanks for hanging in there

God Bless

Dave

Acknowledgments:

 This was proof read by: Ashley, charlotte sweetman

http://www.youmeworks.com/sendablessing.html - fact about hospital statistics

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/carbon_dating.asp - carbon dating

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4005.asp - 14 reasons for young earth

How can God allow suffering?

To start with the fact pain exists and we try and tell God that it’s not fair shows that we have a conscience, and a conscience is a God given thing, and so the fact we have a conscience shows that God exists and so must have a reason for suffering. (The best place to find out about God is to look in the bible, Deuteronomy 32:34 talks about how just God is, and Colossians 1:16-17 tells of how God is in control.

So we know that God is just and in control, but the question still remains:

“How can god allow suffering?”

The answer is God didn’t intend for the world to have suffering in, I know this because when God created the world in Genesis 1 he doesn’t mention the word suffering anywhere, and by this I know that God didn’t want suffering in the beginning. But as Adam and Eve were livening in perfection they sinned by eating the apple of knowledge Genesis 3:6, (which God told them not to Genesis 2:16). As punishment for this God cursed the world Genesis 3:17-19, and this is where earth quakes and volcanoes come from etc.

Also human beings aren’t robots, this is stated in Romans 1:18, and so we can make choices, like to hit someone or not to hit them or to shoot them or not to shoot them.

So we know why suffering is there so what is God going to do about it?

I can tell you now the world will not stay as it is now (Romans 8:18-21)! I know shock horror, the world you know and love might not be around tomorrow, so what’s God going to do with this world, well to cut a short story even shorter, he’s going to destroy it! Why? You might say. Well God hates suffering and the only way to get rid of it is to get rid of sin altogether and don’t worry he’s making a new perfect earth.

Now you might be wondering how do I get in to this all new world that this God of yours is going to make? It’s simple really just tell Jesus you’re sorry, yep that’s it nothing more. This is because Jesus died on a cross (it’s called being crucified). But how does this buy you a ticket into heaven, well to make it brief, God has always wanted something to be punished (or sacrificed) instead of us (so we can live), in the old testament God used the blood of a lamb or cow, etc. To cover up the sin of the person who was making a sacrifice, Jesus on the other hand was the perfect sacrifice and so is capable of getting rid of sin not just covering it up. How is this relevant to you? Well when God destroys this world Jesus will judge everyone who walked on this green planet (or whatever color u think it is), and that includes  you, the only thing is, he’s not judging on whether you have done  (i.e. good things or bad things) and he’s not judging you on whether or not he knows you (or u know he exists), but he is looking to see if u have asked him into your life. If u haven’t then when he looks at you he see’s sin but if you asked Jesus into your life he takes the sin away and so you are left with perfection. God also suffered too, because Jesus was wholly God so when Jesus died on the cross God felt it, and all this to get rid of suffering. Just think about all those times you have said God doesn’t love.

Dave

I can't take full credit for the information here because it came from a seminar at Keswick, but I hope u enjoy it all the same.

oh and it was proof read by Lucy and Laura

Finally a word of encouragement given by Ant my cousin Romans 8 v 38-39

For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below — there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Acknowledgments

Proof read: charlotte sweetman

Did God Create Evil?

The university professor challenged his students with this question.

"Did God create everything that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then God is evil".

The student became quiet before such an answer.

The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?"

The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colours and study the various wavelengths of each colour. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present." Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?" Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.

These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name --- Albert Einstein