Apologetics Faith & Science Philosophy Theology

Does God exist?

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  • God of the gaps
  • who made God?
  • divine hiddeness
  • problem of evil & suffering

  • kalam cosmological argument
  • fine-tuning of the universe
  • contingency argument
  • moral argument
  • ontological argument
  • resurrection of Jesus
  • supernatural
  • personal experience

Arguments for God’s existence

Pietro Perugino Cat79a Transparent

There is basically four views of God:

  • theism: God created the world and sustain it
  • materialism: there is no God
  • deism: God created the world and that’s all (no interaction)
  • pantheism: the universe is God

By God, I don’t mean the stereotypical old man in the sky, but someone who’s essence is His own existence (ipsum esse).

Who is God?

We cannot scientifically prove God’s existence strictly from empirical evidence, because God isn’t made of matter or atoms. God isn’t a human invention, but a Someone who we discover. It’s like the law of gravity: we didn’t invent it, we just discover it. Pagan gods are made in man’s image (fantasized idols), while in reality, man is made in God’s image (Gen 1:26). That’s the mistake people always do.

To argue for God’s existence, we have to make it clear what we mean by ‘God’. This table gives us a general overview of the difference between the typical and generic ‘gods’ of mythology and the God (Yahweh) described in the Bible1 and understood by philosophy (we can know God by reason alone, without the Bible).

Difference Pagan gods God (Yahweh)
Identity Force of nature Being itself (ipsum esse)
Number Many (pantheon) One (alone)
Origin / cause Have a birth (theogony) None (pre-existent)
Knowledge Need to acquire (have limitations) All-knowing (omniscient)
Needs Sacrifices to feed them None (self-sufficient)
Nationality Local deities for 1 tribe in particular Universal
Limits of power Bound by magic (magic is manipulative) None (all-powerful - omnipotent)
Change Affected by time (grow, mature, get stronger, get weaker, get old, etc.) Never (stays the same)
Equal forces Balance of good & bad gods None (sovereign)
Lifespan Can die, and "reborn" Eternal (not affected by time)
Morality Amoral (nature isn’t morally good or bad) Goodness itself: sin is measured by how it comforms to his will
Image / representation Idols, statues, human figures Invisible
Attributes Composed (have body parts) Simple (not made of composite - God’s essence = attributes)
Presence Parthenon (mostly in the sky) Everywhere (omnipresence)

Kalam cosmological argument

  1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
  2. The universe began to exist
  3. Therefore the universe has a cause

That cause must transcend time, matter & space (timeless, space-less, immaterial, powerful, intelligent, and personal)

  • timeless: that cause must be eternal (independent of a beginning and end) to activate time in the universe
  • space-less:
  • immaterial:
  • powerful:
  • intelligent: the universe is overly complex, only a very intelligent mind could have create it
  • personal: that cause must freely chose to trigger the beginning of the universe

Fine-tuning of the universe

  1. The fine-tuning of the universe is either due to necessity, chance or design
  2. The fine-tuning of the universe isn’t due to necessity or chance
  3. Therefore, the fine-tuning of the universe is due to design

  1. Every design has a designer
  2. The universe has highly complex design
  3. Therefore, the universe has a Designer

Contingency argument

  1. Somethings exist
  2. Things exist either contingently or by the necessity of its own nature
  3. The universe is contingent
  4. Therefore the universe has a cause that exists by its own necessity (self-existent)

Supernatural argument

  1. If God exist, then God would make miracles to happen
  2. Miracles do happen
  3. Therefore, God exist

  1. Scientism/naturalism is false
  2. Supernatural things happen
  3. Miracles are possible
  4. Miracles can’t be caused by natural ways
  5. Once a miracle gets in the natural world, it acts naturally
  6. Miracles are from God
  7. Therefore, God exists

Moral argument

William Lane Craig‘s version:

  1. If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist
  2. Objective moral values and duties do exist
  3. Therefore, God exists

Ravi Zacharias‘ version:

  1. If evil exists, then good exists
  2. If evil and good exists, then there’s a moral law to distinguish both
  3. If a moral law exists, a Legislator exists

Ontological argument

  1. It is possible that a maximally great being exists
  2. A maximally great being exists in some possible world
  3. If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world
  4. If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world
  5. A maximally great being exists in the actual world
  6. Therefore, maximally great being exists

Resurrection of Jesus

  1. If Jesus’ resurrection happen historically, then God is the best explanation on how it happened
  2. Jesus did historically resurrected
  3. Therefore, God exists

Experience of God

God can be experienced through many things, by small steps:

  • mystical experience through prayers (ex: God’s warm love, voice)
  • perfect timing in your life that can’t be explained by chance alone
  • good fruits coming out from a spiritual experience

This evidence is much harder to measure empirically because it is highly subjective.

Argument from motion

  1. Things change (from actual to potential)
  2. Nothing change itself (it obeys laws of nature)
  3. Laws of nature must be defined by a cause unaffected by its own law (namely ‘un-natural’)
  4. We can’t have an infinite regress of moved mover
  5. There must be an Unmoved Mover (pure Actuality in itself unaffected by time)

Suppose you have a wagon. By itself, it doesn’t do anything, it can’t move by itself. If you add more wagons, they will still not move. You can get an infinite number of wagons, still doesn’t move. If you see a chain of a wagon moving, it’s because it has a locomotive that pulls it and makes it move. The locomotive itself isn’t affected by the wagons. Its strength must be proportional to the weight of the wagon. A kid cannot push a car, but a big muscle guy can. So what causes the movements and changes in the universe must be infinitely powerful. And at the same time, not be affected by the changes in the universe.

Argument from mathematics

  1. If God does not exist, the applicability of mathematics is just a happy coincidence
  2. But the applicability of mathematics is not just a happy coincidence
  3. Therefore, God exists

Argument from desire

  1. For every desire, an end goal exists to sustain it
  2. We long for transcendent things, greater than this material world
  3. Therefore, a non-material (spiritual) end goal does exists

Recommended books

  • Edward Feser – “Five proofs of the existence of God”
  • Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek – “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist”
  • William Lane Craig – “On Guard: Defending your faith with reason and precision”

  1. Yehezkel Kaufmann, “The Religion of Israel: from its beginnings to the Babylonian exile” translated And abridged By Moshe Greenberg, (Jerusalem: Sefer Ve Sefel Publishing, 2003)

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