Is There Any Evidence That God Exists?

If faith is trusting what God says is true, it’s reasonable to expect God’s truth to line up with reality. In other words, there should be evidence in the universe of God’s truth. The apostle Paul explicitly affirms that, even apart from the Bible, God has given us clear evidence of himself.

In Romans 1:20, Paul writes: “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

In essence, God has left his “fingerprints” all over his creation for us to see. This means that no one will be able to stand before God one day and excuse their disbelief by claiming a lack of evidence.

Here are three classic examples of evidence-based apologetics (defences) for God’s existence:

1. The cosmological argument

Cosmology is a branch of astronomy concerned with the study of the origin and development of the universe. One of the greatest apologetics for God’s existence, is the observable evidence for the universe’s beginning.

Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) wrote: “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

This captures the core of the cosmological argument. It proceeds from the law of causality, which states that every effect must have a sufficient cause. So, whatever caused the universe, had to have sufficient power to do so and not be caused by anything else. It must be eternal and “bear the reason for itself within itself.”¹ This can only be God.

Some may object, suggesting that this leaves the door open for an eternally existing universe. This had been the belief among many philosophers and scientists in the past.

But in 1929, Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble telescope is named) found concrete evidence that the universe is in fact expanding outward from a center point. The implications were that if you reversed time far enough into the past, there would be a point at which the universe started.

The implications of the cosmological argument are that whatever caused the universe to come into existence, can’t be found inside the universe. It must exist eternally outside of the universe with sufficient power to bring it into existence.

In 1970, Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose published research confirming the inescapable fact that the universe had a beginning point at some finite time in the past. In 1996, Hawking remarked: “almost everyone now believes that the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the big bang.”²

The implications of the cosmological argument are that whatever caused the universe to come into existence, can’t be found inside the universe. It must exist eternally outside of the universe with sufficient power to bring it into existence.

This fits perfectly with the very first truth that the Bible reveals to us: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

2. The argument from design

Another strong argument for God’s existence is the clear signs of design present throughout the universe. Cosmologists have recognized these signs for decades. As they continue exploring the physical properties of the universe, there’s more and more recognition that the universe as we know it couldn’t exist without an unimaginably delicate balance of variables.

A purposeful universe fits perfectly with the biblical explanation of God as the Creator of everything.

Roger Penrose was a mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science. Aside from his research with Stephen Hawking, he’s famous for calculating the odds of the universe as we know it developing by chance.

By his calculations, those odds are 1 in 10^10^123. That is 10 with 10123 zeros after it! This number is so unimaginably large, it led Penrose to conclude: “I would say the universe has a purpose. It’s not there just somehow by chance.”³

A purposeful universe fits perfectly with the biblical explanation of God as the Creator of everything. The Bible reveals the true story of a loving God who creates for a purpose. His creation is meant to display his glory, declare his wonder, and demonstrate his wisdom. The ordering of the universe screams design!

Christians are not surprised or puzzled by this, because God has revealed himself as the designer. As Psalm 19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

3. The argument from morality

The moral argument for God’s existence essentially argues that objective moral values and duties do exist. That means there is a moral right and a wrong, which are the same for all people in all places for all time. This counts as evidence for God in two ways:

1. Moral obligation is something that can only be owed to a person. Atoms and molecules cannot hold us morally responsible. Since God is a personal God, he can hold us morally responsible.
2. In order for something to be truly right or wrong for everyone, you must appeal to an authoritative, universal moral standard or moral law that exists outside of ourselves. If there’s a moral law that exists outside of us, there must be a moral law giver. This can only be a supernatural, personal, moral God.

However, not everyone believes that right and wrong are universal or objective. They believe that morality is subjective, something each individual chooses for themselves.

Most recognize the fatal problem this poses if taken to its logical conclusion. As Ravi Zacharias put it, “Some people choose to love their neighbours, while others choose to eat them. Which would you prefer?” It’s obvious that if everyone chooses right and wrong for themselves that life would be unlivable.

The typical solution is to argue that each person can choose, so long as they aren’t harming anyone else. What they fail to see, is that in order to rescue subjective morality, they have to impose an objective moral standard: “don’t harm your neighbour”.

But where does this standard come from and why should people obey it? Who says everyone should follow it and why should we listen to them?

There are things that we all know are right and wrong because God our creator has “written them on our hearts” (Romans 2:15).

The fact is that objective moral standards do exist. There are things that we all know are right and wrong because God our creator has “written them on our hearts” (Romans 2:15). His grace is what makes life in this world livable by restraining the evil that humans could do by impressing his commandments upon our consciences.

You can be confident in God’s existence

As you can see, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to find evidence for God’s existence, and there’s much to be found.

No amount of “proofs” can compel a person to place their faith in Jesus. But presenting evidence for the truthfulness of God’s Word and the gospel will not only build your own confidence in trusting God’s Word, it can also help you to break down the barriers of doubt that keep others from believing.

Footnotes