How could we ever know if God exists? We can't see, hear, touch, smell, or taste Him.
We can't weigh Him like we can a five-pound bag of potatoes.
We can't put God under an electron microscope to prove what He looks like on an atomic level.
So how can we know that God exists? We freely admit that belief in God
is not the result of literally seeing God's Spirit or touching His actual essence.
What we have at our fingertips, however, is a mountain of irrefutable, indirect,
credible evidence that testifies on God's behalf.
First, consider the fact that matter demands a Maker.
A study of the material universe reveals that every physical effect
must have an adequate cause that came before it or was simultaneous to it and is greater than it.
The US flag that stood tall on the surface of the Moon in 1969
was neither eternal nor without a cause.
Its existence on the Moon demands a sufficient cause.
Some leading atheists contend that nothing gave rise to the universe.
But the fact is as renowned atheist Richard Dawkins admitted
common sense doesn't allow you to get something from nothing.
At one time in the past, the material universe did not exist.
Then at some point, it came into existence. But since matter is not eternal
and it cannot create itself from nothing, then something outside of the material universe
must have brought it in to existence.
Indeed, the very existence of matter demands a Maker.
Second, life demands a Life Giver.
Life doesn't pop into existence from nothing.
Neither the puppy at the pound nor the bacteria on the doorknob spontaneously generated.
Every scientist--whether theist or atheist-- knows this observation to be true.
In the material universe, life arises from previously existing life of its own kind.
Life cannot spontaneously generate from non-living chemicals.
Thus, a supernatural intelligent mind must have created living things.
If in nature life always arises from pre-existing life,
how did the first physical life come into being?
Did it somehow break the most fundamental law of biology--the law of biogenesis--
and arise from non-life or is there another possibility?
Dr. Antony Flew who for the second half of the 20th century
was one of the world's leading atheistic thinkers was forced in the end to conclude,
"The only satisfactory explanation for the origin of such end directed,
self-replicating life as we see on earth is an infinitely intelligent Mind."
Third, design demands a designer.
Everyday observation reveals and confirms the obvious fact
that complex, functional design demands a designer.
Cars and computers, pianos and projectors all require engineers, technicians, and tuners
for them to exist and function properly. But what about the universe as a whole?
No honest, informed person can rationally deny the fact that the universe
is extremely fine-tuned and functionally complex.
From the Earth's precise orbit around the Sun,
to a shore bird's 15,000-mile yearly migration pattern,
to the amazing digestive system of the human body,
there are literally millions of examples of fine-tuned design in nature.
Anything in the physical universe that exhibits complex functional design
demands an intelligent designer.
Since the universe exhibits complex functional design,
the universe must have a Designer.
Finally, consider the fact that intelligence demands an intelligent creator.
Intelligence is defined as, "the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge;
the ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations."
It's not difficult to identify certain things that have some measure of intelligence
while recognizing other things that have no intelligence.
Human-beings obviously have an extremely high level of intelligence.
Man has built spaceships that he can guide 240,000 miles to the moon
while both the Earth and the Moon are in motion.
What humans have consistently observed in nature is that
intelligence demands previous intelligence.
The reason that humans in the 21st century are intelligent
is because our ancestors were intelligent.
The reason that animals have some measure of intelligence
is due to intelligent creatures that came before them.
But dust doesn't give way to organized dust particles
that have the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
Water doesn't think. The mindless mud that evolutionists contend gave way to
intelligent life on Earth is nothing but a delusional tale unsupported
by everything we know from observation and experience.
Neither nothing nor inorganic matter ever produces intelligent creatures.
So how did the first creatures come to inhabit the universe that were intelligent?
Just as the first life demands a supernatural life giver,
so the first intelligent beings demand a self-existent,
miracle-working creator of intelligence.
Atheism irrationally says that everything in the physical universe came from nothing.
It contends that random chances produce precision
and that life popped into existence in nature from non-life.
Atheism says that an explosion caused exquisite order,
that a well-designed universe could come about without a designer.
Atheism implies that intelligence is ultimately the result of non-intelligence.
Theism on the other hand is absolutely rational.
Since matter demands a Maker, life demands a Life Giver,
design demands a Designer, and intelligence demands an intelligent Creator.
As former atheist Antony Flew so eloquently said,
"I must say again that the journey to my discovery
of the Divine has thus far been a pilgrimage of reason.
I have followed the argument where it has led me and it has led me to accept the existence
of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient being."