The initial statement of the Apostle’s Creed is one of the simplest, but also the foundation of everything that comes after:
I believe in God.
Fun Fact to start us off right: the Bible never attempts to prove the existence of God.
You may hear the claim that the Bible “proves” God’s existence, or skeptics may ask people to prove God exists from the Bible, but I would argue that scripture is actually fairly silent on it. Rather than prove God’s existence, the Bible simply assumes God’s existence from the very first line: in the beginning, God… No elaborate arguments, just start off with what He did.
Does that mean that belief in God is just “blind faith”? Are Christians expected to just accept God’s existence with no thought? Some Christians certainly make that claim, and argue that the first step in serving Jesus is to take that blind leap of faith.
But I would argue that it’s rare in the Bible for God to ask people to believe without evidence. The majority of the time, it will be, when God asks people to trust Him, it’s phrased like “I am the God who brought you out of Egypt…” or something similar. In other words, God says “remember what I did in the past, now trust me for the future.” It’s faith based on past events or experience, which may be either subjective or objective.
Exhibits A through C
So what evidence does the Bible give for that trust? Number one, it basically says “you [the reader] already know there is a God; it’s no good pretending you don’t.” In Psalm 14, the author dismisses the discussion with “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” James argues that even demons believe in God. In other words, it’s so ridiculously obvious that anyone who says otherwise is akin to people arguing for a flat earth or the moon is made out of green cheese or the Star Wars prequels are good. We all “know” God exists just because we are people.
However, that might not be enough for you, which is fair. The other main argument the Bible makes is creation itself. In Psalm 19 we read: the heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. In other words, the wonder and awe of the universe indicate there must be a creator that is also wonderful and awesome. (sidenote: notice the implication that we are to study creation to gain knowledge. Go science.)
In Romans , the Apostle Paul writes: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made. Again, creation is the evidence of God’s eternal power and divine nature. Though he himself is invisible, the results of him are visible in the world around us. You want evidence for God? Just look outside.
In addition, the Bible indicates that proof of God is seen through his supernatural power. When the Israelites doubt God, there are miraculous provisions of water or food, or lightning to incinerate a few folks. In the New Testament, when John the Baptist starts to doubt Jesus, Jesus replies “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. “ In other words, the proof is in the miraculous (and in service to the outcasts, more on that below).
I understand that people argue “yes, if I saw something miraculous, I would believe.” Maybe that’s true, maybe not. I can’t speak for why God does or does not do miracles when we want him to. I know I for one would like Him to regrow a few limbs from time to time to make witnessing easier. But unfortunately He won’t just do whatever I ask, which is frustrating but not really surprising. I just know that we have testimonies of people both ancient and modern that we can choose to accept or not.
Proofs Outside the Bible
Of course, even if the Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time proving God, that doesn’t mean Christians haven’t tried to prove the existence of God over the years. We won’t get into all of them here, but the most famous of these, at least in Western culture, are:
- Quinque Viae (“The Five Ways”) by Thomas Aquinas, essentially a discussion of five different ways to prove God exists. Roughly translated, they are the Unmoved Mover, First Cause, Contingency, Degree, and Ends.
- Proslogion (“Discourse”) by Anselm, which argued for God’s existence from “being,” i.e. that being/person which is greater than that which can be conceived.
- Kalam Cosmological Argument, which argues that anything that began to exist has to have a cause, and is supported by William Lane Craig among others.
- Fine Tuning, which argues that the Universe and Earth is so precisely tuned to the existence of humans that it defies the odds of chance. This is presented by both believers and non-believers, but if you want somewhere to start, try Reasons.org under the leadership of Hugh Ross.
- Consciousness, which is part of more complex arguments, but essentially argues that our ability for abstract thinking and consciousness cannot (yet) be explained through natural processes, it is an indirect evidence of something beyond the physical universe.
You will notice that none of these ideas are expressly discussed in the Bible. However, if you want to look at sources outside the Bible for God’s existence, these will give you somewhere to start.
For myself, I have read these arguments, and they all have strengths and weaknesses, but I’ve come to believe that most people do not come to believe in the existence of God from argument. Rather, people come to God when Christians love other people, when we give up ourselves to help those less fortunate, or when we take the time to live life with those in our communities. Seeing Christ in Christians will draw more people to God than any argument.
And then they too may believe in God.