WHY THE GOD OF THE BIBLE?

 

 

 

Even if this book has succeeded in at least neutralizing your charges that the God of the Bible is evil, there remains the question: “Why do you believe that it was the God of the Bible who created everything? Perhaps, instead, it had been other gods.” One skeptic challenged:

 

·       Even if you are correct and all scientific and "naturalist" explanations eventually lead back to a supernatural accounting, you have absolutely no basis to determine WHICH supernatural explanation is the actual truth. All you have is a book that says, "This is the truth," among a million other books claiming the same thing but with completely different explanations.

 

In response, I think that the evidence best fits the biblical description of the biblical God. In the same way that a book requires an author, the universe requires a competent Creator. Furthermore, this Creator must be all of the following:

 

ETERNAL AND UNCAUSED

How do we account for anything? There must be a sufficient, uncaused Causer—who doesn’t require a prior cause—from whom all else originated. In fact, causation makes no sense without an uncaused, eternal Causer. Without such a God, there is nothing that possesses an adequate cause or explanation. If instead, the universe was eternal and uncaused, there could never be a rational explanation for anything. Why? Because everything would require a prior cause—which would lead to an illogical, infinite regress of causation.

 

Besides all that, if time is infinite and eternal, it would be impossible for an infinite number of years to ever arrive in the present.

 

In addition, only an uncaused Causer is capable of accounting for how this world of molecules-in-motion is maintained. For one thing, the immutable and universal laws of science would need a transcendent explanation if everything else in the universe is in constant flux.

 

OMNIPOTENT

The cause must always be greater than the effect. To create and then to harmoniously hold all things together--including the immutable and elegant laws of science—requires an all-powerful God. There are many realities that depend on an omnipotent God: existence, freewill, consciousness, objective moral truth, life, DNA, the immutable laws of science, answers to prayer, and the fine-tuning of the universe, to name just a few.

 

OMNISCIENT

The world requires the design and harmony that can only come from omniscience. We have no evidence of a god tampering with the laws of science trying to improve any mistakes. It seems that, instead, God had an adequate understanding of what He was doing from the very beginning. This interpretation also puts the kibosh on the possibility that there are multiple, necessarily finite, gods. Such a panoply of gods would be unable to account for the stability of the universe and its laws. Multiple gods would also defy the principle of parsimony, also known as Occam’s Razor, which requires the simplest explanation. A theory that requires many parts also requires many leaps of faith, and the more such leaps are required, the less probable the theory. The biblical understanding of God provides the simplest, most sensible, and satisfying explanation of how the world was created and how it continues to be maintained.

 

RIGHTEOUS

The fact that God is righteous explains our desire and willingness to do the right thing, even when our emotions tell us to run. A righteous God provides the only possible basis for objective moral truth and meaning, the things that our hearts crave. Otherwise, society would be a competition between many different wills and ideas, all trying to dominate the others through raw force.

 

Besides, if our creator is evil, there would be no reason to be good. Rather, any attempt at goodness might infuriate him. Instead, the moral laws inscribed upon our conscience tend to accord with those of the God of the Bible.

 

JUST

In a world without an omniscient and supremely moral God of justice, society would need to invent just laws to maintain order. Parents would still need to teach their children the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, and just and unjust. In that process, those same parents would be playing “make-believe” with their kids, teaching them that these non-existent entities of right and wrong have some sort of authority over their lives. In the same way, teachers would need to play make-believe and instruct their students that it is wrong to bully and to cheat. Any laws enacted in such a society would be no more than reflections of the evolving social conventions of those in power.

 

Once the God of the Bible is rejected, people would have to live disingenuously in many other areas of life.  People would have to imagine that all of the following could exist without believing in God: freewill, human responsibility, honor, meaning, equality, human rights, and integrity.

 

ONE

The harmony and immutability we find in science is best accounted for by the existence of a single God, rather than in a competition among many gods, which would create insurmountable disorder.

 

LOVE

Creation as we know it seems to be incredibly fine-tuned to fulfill our desires and needs. It satisfies all of our longings for food, drink, family, friendship, sex, and aesthetics—all in a way that shows us that the Creator loves us. In addition, His love will eventually satisfy the rest of our needs in His promised heaven.

 

God’s miraculous answers to our prayers also confirm His love for us.

 

TRUTH

God is the one sought-after unifying principle or cause. God’s truth satisfies our need to know and systematically understand how all knowledge fits together. Even our planet seems to be precisely situated in a place that maximizes know-ability. Consequently, truth is not only knowable but elegant. Just look at the precise and elegant laws that make science and learning possible!

 

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All the above suggests that the creation, including ourselves, is the product of no less a god than the God of the Bible. No other Source can better explain the reality that we navigate—even our own psychology—than the God of the Bible.

 

Besides everything that I have mentioned in this chapter, there are many reasons to believe that the Bible is divinely authored: The miracles of the Bible, fulfilled prophecies, biblical wisdom which has changed lives and elevated Bible-centered cultures, and internal and external supportive evidence. We need to remember these truths. Consequently, Moses continually reminded Israel of all the multiple reasons they had to trust in their God:

 

·       …you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. (Deuteronomy 7:18–19)

 

Fear can control our lives. Therefore, we must remember our God, who can empower us! It is only when I recall His truth that I am enabled to stand against adversity and threat.