The opening words of the Bible, "In the beginning, God . . ." immediately confront us with a supreme being. No argument. No defense to "prove" His existence, as if there were some kind of debate going on. Bible writers take it for granted that He exists, and are even so strong in their conclusion that they condemn the man who denies His existence. "The fool has said in. his heart, there is no God," appears twice in the Bible (Psalm 14:1 and 53:1).

From another viewpoint, however, we may say that the Bible literally abounds with demonstrations of God's existence. His wisdom, His power, His purposes stand out on page after page. It is only in this Book that we can obtain an exalted and comprehensive picture of His greatness, grandeur, and glory. A study of God, as revealed by the Bible, cannot help but evoke from us the exclamation of David. "Thou art great, 0 Lord God, for there is none like Thee, neither is there any God besides Thee . . ." (2 Sam. 7:22, see also Deut. 10:17 and Psalm 86:10). Let’s talk about the evidence:

We see the "name" G. O. D. on delivery trucks, but the name is used only to catch attention for Guaranteed Overnight Delivery. The name catches attention because almost everyone seems to know about "God." Almost everyone believes in a God or supreme being of some kind. Almost every person in the world is "religious" in his or her own way. But what does a person mean when she uses the word, "God?" The definitions vary greatly.

1. The great Santa Claus of the sky. His main purpose is to be laugh and pass around the gifts, especially to those who have been good.

2. A celestial kill-joy. He peers "over the balcony of heaven looking for anyone who seems to be enjoying life, when He finds such a person, He shouts, 'cut it out down there,’" because He automatically associates a good time with sinfulness.

3. A sentimental old grandfather. He does not know what we are doing, or if He does, He simply pats us on the back and says, "Have fun, but don't be too bad." He may occasionally give real bad folk a little slap on the wrist.

4. A supernatural policeman. He patrols the world and sooner or later punishes evil and rewards good.

5. An impersonal force or mind, or influence without feeling, emotion, or will. The world is run by principles and forces. Einstein held this view.

6. A pantheistic god, locked up in nature (Mother nature). God is nature and nature is god.

B. The God of the Bible. The Bible consistently portrays a picture of a living, active, loving personality. He has all the attributes and characteristics of genuine person. In addition, He is transcendent, i.e., He is above all. Yet He is imminent or everywhere. He is omnipresent. His being pervades the entire universe. One cannot go anywhere He is not. The logical conclusion from these qualities is that there can be but one God. As the little Sunday School girl acutely observed, "there simply is no room for another god." He possesses infinite power, knowledge, and intelligence. He has none of the shortcomings, confinements, limitations, or weaknesses of human creatures. This same picture is repeatedly painted by every author in the Bible.

C. Three evangelical definitions of God.

1. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, "God is spirit, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth."

2. H. B. Smith states, "God is a spirit, absolute, personal, and holy, infinite and eternal in His being and attributes, the ground and cause of the universe."

3. A. H. Strong in Systematic Theology declares, "God is the infinite and perfect Spirit in Whom all things have their source, support, and end."

A. God's trademark is stamped upon every person. Belief in God is inherent in humans. The consciousness of God with the realization of an accountability to Him is universal. People everywhere have this inborn awareness. No nation or tribe on earth has been found which is "irreligious" or "atheistic." A person's worship may be laced with superstition and demonism. He may be polytheistic or the worshiper of a multitude of gods, such as the sun, moon, or other works of the Creator. But even in its lowest, most degenerate state, humanity has never been atheistic.

Atheism is always introduced into a culture or to an individual by civilized thought. It is not natural. It is learned. Think about that. Humanity is unique in having this consciousness of a supreme being. Humans didn’t start out "empty," with no concept of a supreme being, and then through the centuries gradually develop or manufacture the idea. Instead we have always possessed a consciousness of God.

Where did that consciousness originate? If there is no God and life is accidental, why the pervasive belief in God? The apostle Paul argues that the source of our God-consciousness is God Himself. "God has put this knowledge [about Himself] in their hearts" (Romans 1:19 NLT). Solomon agrees with this conclusion: "God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart. . ." (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT).

To what can we attribute, then, the huge variety of opposing concepts of God? Our own ability to twist God’s revelation. Paul says, "yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like" (Romans 1:21 NLT). The problem was not information; the problem was will. Our forefathers "knew God," but they "wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks." They refused to respond positively to the information they possessed. They weren’t impressed with God’s revelation of Himself. They refused to worship Him, or even thank Him for what He had given them. Instead they turned to create their own gods. They got busy at religion.

It is not a surprise that God’s trademark is stamped on every person. Think about the difference between us and animals. Have you ever seen any hint of "God-consciousness" among animals? Do horses pray before they dig into their oats? Do worms worship? Humans seem to have this God-consciousness embedded in their beings so that it cannot be erased. It is as though God were saying to us, "I exist, because you know down deep in your being that I exist."

It is also significant that we seemingly cannot rid ourselves of this concept. Even so-called atheists cannot obliterate this concept from their thinking. The story is told of a convert to atheism, who gave this "testimony" at a meeting. "I have finally gotten rid of the notion that there is a God, and I thank God for it."

Mao, former leader of China's millions, is quoted as having said that he had an appointment with God. Stalin's daughter, raised in a godless, atheistic atmosphere, commented after coming to this country, that she could not rid herself of the inner conviction that there is a God.

B. Every effect needs a cause. We live in an "effect," a beautiful world with an incredible variety of plants and animals. Billions of stars are swirling around us. Billions of people live on our planet. Was this marvelous "effect" caused? Or was it an accident? Two important principles need to be recognized here:

l. Nothing can come from nothing. Whether I put one zero or 10,000 on a blackboard, the sum total would be nothing. Even if I multiplied 10,000 zeros by 10,000,000 the net result would still be zero. Dr. A. E. Maness has stated it this way: "The rational mind knows that something cannot spring from nothing. Such a truth as that needs no proof. It is self-evident. What kind of demonstration could make it clearer than it is? All the imaginable zeros of infinity could never make one. Nothing is the only thing that can come from nothing, and since nothing is not a thing, no kind of a thing can come from nothing. So the conclusion of our syllogism is correct, Something always was. Something always has been. The popular mind says, 'The something that always was, is God.'"

If we start without God, or with a void, an emptiness, or nothing, insofar as the origin of the universe is concerned, we will forever have nothing. The evolutionist's formula goes something like this: no person, plus nothing, plus five billion years (more or less), multiplied by millions of blind but fortuitous chances, have produced a myriad of miraculous accidents resulting in this marvelous universe.

This contradicts all logic and reason. It is contrary to everything we know in human experience. We cannot suddenly have an explosion, for "nothing" simply cannot produce an explosion. We cannot suddenly have the appearance of a seed, life, matter, or energy in some mysterious or unexplainable manner, for "nothing" cannot produce life, matter, or energy. Even the insertion of billions of years in an attempt to explain the evolution of the earth, sun, and stars, together with in all of its complex forms, does not help to bolster this theory.

2. The cause must be adequate and comprehensive enough to satisfactorily explain the effect. It naturally follows from the foregoing that the presence of the most elementary and primitive thing owes its existence to some cause. That cause must be adequate to explain its existence. Even simple things may require complex causes. Take a toothpick, for example. A toothpick is simple. As an experiment, try to make one to resemble either the flat or round kind which we buy from the supermarket. To whittle one from a piece of lumber to precise measurements and sand it smooth on all four sides or make it perfectly round would take some effort. Extend the experiment and attempt to produce by hand a whole box of toothpicks. What a time-consuming and almost impossible task that would become. Common and humble as the toothpick may be, it is the effect of a cause that has to be comprehensive enough to explain its existence. Suppose we started with nothing and added five billion years. Would you expect that we would get a box of toothpicks?

If you were to buy a new Honda today, you would receive a complex and highly developed piece of transportation, consisting of several thousand parts. Not one of those parts is surplus or accidental. Neither did they evolve or develop in some mysterious fashion over many years. In fact, any predecessor of the Honda, such as perhaps a four-wheeled wagon, if left to itself in an open field for centuries or millennia, would have long ago degenerated into a pile of junk or dust. The only sufficient cause which logically explains your new Honda, is a factory, covering many acres, filled with robots, complex machinery, skilled workmen and engineers, and comprising a huge organization with the sole purpose of building the auto and selling it. The Honda factory is an engineering marvel. But the Honda factory is but a child's toy when compared with the incredible intricacies of the universe.

We have around us thousands of amazing "effects." They all call for sufficient causes. Let’s mention three important "effects" that are left without a sufficient "cause" when we cancel out a Creator:

MATTER. What caused matter? The earth, for example, is 25,000 miles in circumference, but as a planet it is but a speck in the universe. The sun, 92 million miles away, is about 1,300,000 times the size of the earth. The astronomer considers the sun to be a small star. Betelgeuse, another star, is 365,000,000 miles in circumference. Beyond our solar system are stars, planets, galaxies, and quasars so distant and so huge that the finite mind can scarcely comprehend the figures used by the astronomer. If the earth were represented by a ball one inch in diameter, the nearest star, Alpha Centaury, would have to be placed nearly 51,000 miles away. Imagine the thickness of this page which you are reading to be the distance from earth to the sun (92 million miles). The distance to the nearest star (4 ½ light years) would have to be represented by a stack of paper 71 feet high. The diameter of our own galaxy (100,000 light years) would be a 310 mile high stack of paper. Where did all of this matter come from? What cause is great enough for this immense effect? It does not satisfy the rational mind to say that somehow or other these planets developed accidently and randomly over billions of years.

ENERGY. What caused energy? Our universe is using energy at a prodigious rate. The earth travels about 1,000 miles an hour, or a mile in three to four seconds, one complete revolution each day. What is the unbelievable power that propels this earth and keeps it spinning day after day, year after year, at this incredible, yet regulated speed? All the force on earth combined would have no more effect in starting or stopping this globe than a bug could stop the wheels of a giant locomotive. J. H. Fabre says, "to communicate to that mass the speed which animates it now and to carry along continents with the speed of a cannon shot requires a power which the mind cannot conceive of."

The earth's speed is actually quite slow. Jupiter rotates at about 28,000 miles an hour or about eight miles a second. Other planets spin at such dizzying speeds as to leave Jupiter in the dust, so to speak.

Where did all this enormous energy come from? It does not satisfy the rational mind to say that somehow or other this earth is a piece of matter that broke off from another piece and started to spin. What started the spinning? What keeps it going precisely at this speed, so accurately that split second timing is kept?

LIFE. What caused life in all of its multitudinous varieties and forms? We marvel at the wonders of marine life in its simplest form, like jelly fish, to complex giants of the sea, such as the one-hundred-ton whale. Birds, animals, insects, plant life, abound in almost an infinite number of diversified forms. Over 200,000 different kinds of beetles have been catalogued.

What explanation can we give as to how this manifestation of life originated? What cause is great enough for this incredible effect? The believer's explanation, though simple, is fully satisfying to the logical mind: "God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves . . . and every winged bird . . . God made the beast of the earth . . . and cattle . . . and everything that creeps on the earth . . . God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:21, 25, 27).

It is illogical and irrational to state that life originated by accident and that it has achieved its present complex forms by sheer chance.

Thus evidence for the existence of God lies in every "effect" we see around us. Even we ourselves are clear evidence of an amazing "Causer." To say that all of these effects are simply accidents is not sufficient. We would never try to do that with Corvettes, and watches, and toothpicks.

C. Every design needs a designer. Everywhere in this universe we see design, purpose, and a specific, useful goal. The presence of design always points to personality, and in the case of creation, a personality with wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge to an infinite degree.

There is a huge difference between a collection of parts and a design for that collection of parts. A clear design for a bunch of parts demonstrates the presence of a designer. The Boeing 747 airliner, for example, capable of flying ten miles or more a minute, consists of thousands of intricate parts, specifically designed, and engineered for the sole purpose of providing a machine that flies many people fast. Design is evident in the smallest washer and rivet. Absolutely nothing is left to chance or guess. The plane is the result of the combined thinking and planning of thousands of intelligent, purposeful draftsmen, engineers, and craftsmen in numerous fields, utilizing every imaginable skill. Computers, instruments, and machinery, many with fantastic capabilities are utilized. Yet, when compared to the complexities of design, purpose and capabilities of life, the jet plane is an elementary and in many respects a clumsy product. Someone has commented that for human life to have developed by blind chance would be as ridiculous as to say that a giant Boeing 747 plane (weighing about 375 tons) resulted from a tornado sweeping through a large junk yard.

The noted statistician, Roger Babcock, commented that it would be a statistical. impossibility for the human body to have originated by chance. The design of the body for the various tasks it performs can be the result only of an infinite wisdom resident in the God portrayed in the Bible. Consider the following statistics: The body is a walking furnace, daily dissipating 2,500 Calories of energy, enough to bring 25 pots of coffee to a boil. It maintains a temperature of 98.6 within a degree or two. If this temperature drops, nerve signals to various parts of the body increase oxidation. If the temperature rises, blood vessels of the skin dilate, causing perspiration through millions of sweat glands to cool the skin. The human body is an unbelievably complex organism consisting of thirty trillion cells. It would require 4,000 volumes to describe and explain the complexity of each one of these cells.

To declare that life evolved from some rudimentary form, which at various successive stages developed increased capabilities of not only surviving but adapting itself to its environment and constantly developing new abilities, is to ascribe to it an infinite wisdom and intelligence which is illogical and incredible. To accept such theory requires a great deal of credulity or gullibility.

A Christian engineer had a friend who strenuously denied the existence of God. The Christian with much thought and patience constructed a miniature of the solar system in which he presented the earth, the moon, and the various planets in their relative sizes and positions to each. One day the atheist noticed this ingenious piece of work and asked, "Who made that?" The Christian replied, "Why, nobody. It just came by chance." "Nonsense," was the

somewhat irritated response. "Somebody must have made it. Why don’t you just tell me who it was." The Christian answered, "you say that this poor miniature of the solar system could not have arisen from an irresponsible cause. And yet you insist that the wonderful and mighty works around and above us are a mere fortuitous combination of atoms. How do you explain your inconsistencies?"

Design requires intelligence. Intelligence connotes personality. Personality of such magnitude as to produce the world and all that is in it points to God.

D. Morality needs a supremely moral Person. People have a knowledge of right and wrong, a code of righteousness, of "ought-ness" engraved in their very beings. They have consciences. Whether civilized or in a backward condition in a jungle, the Ten Commandments are written upon their hearts (Romans 2:15). Conscience says, "do" or "don’t," "you should," or "you should not." In the breast of every son and daughter of Adam is a Moses, thundering the law of a Holy Judge from an invisible Mount Sinai. Lying, stealing, immorality, coveting, etc., are wrong. Honesty, goodness, justice are right. People instinctively know this.

The popular line is that we developed this moral code over thousands and millions of years. The truth is that it is instinctive, built into our being. Where did we get this standard of rightness and wrongness, of justice, purity, and honesty? There must be a supreme Law Giver, One Who is infinitely just, righteous, and holy, Who built this code into us.

No other part of creation possesses this standard of morality. Animals act according to instincts. A lion cub can be raised and seemingly domesticated. But it cannot be taught right and wrong and can never be trusted. Its killer instinct may assert itself in the most unexpected circumstances. A moral code cannot be taught to the brute creation.

Leander S. Keyser states that these facts give evidence for the existence of God as follows:

1. "The mutual adaptation of the world as a moral arena and of man as a moral agent connotes design, and wise design as well; but we have seen that design connotes intelligence and will, and thus leads to God as the Creator."

2. "The moral could not evolve merely by means of resident forces from the non-moral. Therefore, the source of the moral regime of the world must be moral, which again leads back to God."

3. "Morality can be predicted only of rational personalities; never of mere things or animals. Therefore, the Ultimate Ground or Source of morality must be a rational personality, which again leads back to God*"

"The Bible teaches the doctrine that God exists, that He is the source of all good, and hence of moral reality, and that He administers the moral law in a moral universe. Therefore, on this most vital issue the Bible and reason agree" (A System of Christian Evidences, p. 195).

E. Beauty needs an artist. Beauty and loveliness in the world suggest a supreme artist with a sense of infinite beauty and sublimity. For example, the human physique is a work of art. The face, nose, mouth, eyes, ears, hair, are all esthetically proper, appropriate, and appealing. Imagine a woman with only one eye, placed in the middle of her forehead, a Cyclops, if you please. Fancy a man with an ear attached to the back of his head. We would immediately be repelled by such an appearance, because it would not be esthetically right. It would offend our sense of beauty and propriety.

Although there are over six billion human beings in the world, each one different from the other with varying degrees of beauty and loveliness, their facial and physical features are esthetically appropriate.

We have within ourselves the capacity to appreciate and enjoy beauty, loveliness, and art, whether in a human being or in creation generally. Where did we get it? Beauty gives evidence of purpose and design, which leads one directly back to God, the artist and designer. Leander S. Keyser wrote, "Man has an esthetic faculty by which he is able to appreciate and enjoy beauty. How does it occur that the beauty of the world and the esthetic faculty in man correspond so wonderfully? Evidently this agreement came about by design, but as we have seen, design connotes intelligence, and intelligence means personality, which once again leads back to God."

"The Bible teaches that God made all the beauty and sublimity of the universe . . . . The Psalmist breaks out in this rapt language, 'The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge' (Psa. 19:1-2). Christ pointed to the lilies of the field and declared that 'Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these' (Matt. 6:28-29). Thus we see again that the teaching of the Bible and the conclusions of reason are in beautiful accord" (A System of Christian Evidences, p. 196).

The story is frequently told of the child who asked her mother, "Who made the world"? The mother replied, "God." The child then asked, "Who made me"? Again, the answer was, "God." Then came the question, "who made God"? Another child slanted the question this way: "Did God make Himself"?

Bertrand Russell in his book, Why I Don't Believe in God, stated that he asked his parents and relatives, "Who made God?" No one could give a satisfactory answer. Russell says that since everything must have a cause, then God Himself must have a cause. Since he was unable to find an answer to his question, he decided that he simply could not believe in the existence of God.

Such an argument scarcely does credit to the reputed intellectual capacities of such a man. It would seem that in his eagerness to grasp at some straw that might rationalize his unbelief, he has run roughshod over numerous indications of God's existence.

As creatures of time, with finite limitations, we are unable to comprehend or to fathom a timeless, eternal God. It is almost presumptuous to think that puny creatures like us would venture an answer to this question. The ability to do so would almost demand that we be gods ourselves or an equal with God. On the other hand, a moment's reflection will suggest that the idea of eternity is irreconcilable with any theory of beginning. To theorize that God must have had a beginning would require His creation by a previous being, even though such creation might have taken place ages ago and that God in turn would have to have been originated by yet another prior being, and so on, back infinitum. The net result of such reasoning would still not bring us to any beginning.

Faith says that since God exists, He must always have existed and always will exist. He would not be eternal if His eternity had a beginning or might have an ending. Faith accepts this simple proposition and is satisfied. Admittedly, the question still exists. It cannot be answered because of our ignorance and earthiness.

Further, the security and order of our universe would be endangered by the fearful prospect that God's existence could somehow or other be terminated at some future date and succeeded by another god. Such a succession of deities would tax common sense and borders on the ridiculous, if not actual blasphemy.

If it be argued that every effect must have a cause and that God Himself is an effect, we would answer that this argument cannot be applied to Him. He is and must necessarily be the lone exception to this rule. At best, we could say that God is an uncaused effect. His infinity demands His eternity. This is Scripture's testimony of God and of Christ. He is "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," "the first and the last," the "I Am That I Am."

You have heard the statement that there are no atheists in fox holes. Strangely enough, a loud, bold, brazen, soldier changes when the guns are aimed at him and he faces death. He suddenly discovers his utter helplessness and desperate dependence on a being greater than himself when facing imminent death.

The atheist's assertion, "there is no God," cannot be supported. Think of what that statement implies. Does the person know all things? Perhaps the one fact he doesn’t know about is the fact that indicates God’s existence. Has the person been everywhere in the universe? Perhaps the one place he has not been is the location of the presence of God. How does the atheist know that God is not on Jupiter? Or Pluto? Or a star 100 million light years from here?

During the early stages of their space explorations, the Soviets made arrogant claims of the non-existence of God. We quote the following: "Our rocket has by passed the moon. It is nearing the sun, and we have not discovered God. We have turned lights out in heaven that no man will be able to put on again. We are breaking the yoke of the gospel, the opium of the masses. Let us go forth, and Christ shall be relegated to mythology."

Such talk sounds like the discoveries of a one-year old who for the first time toddles past the threshold of the front door to behold the world without, and concludes that the world has been cleansed of all dogs.

Such childish statements provoke the scorn of God. "He Who sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision" (Psalm 2:4). We simply know too little to be dogmatic about the billions of facts and locations we know nothing about. It is no wonder that the Bible declares, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Atheism is not the denial of an intelligent mind but rather the willful rejection of overwhelming evidence by a morally darkened and hardened heart.