The Bible tells us that the fool has said in his heart that there is no such being as God (Psalm 14:1), that God does not exist. But why is that? We meet atheists all of the time, and (some of them) do not seem foolish. Some of them are academics. There are atheists with college degrees, some atheists are professional philosophers. What the Bible is expressing here is that the stance known as atheism is a foolish stance. To believe that God does not exist often leads one to deny fundamental aspects of reality. In this way, the Bible declares, the fool says that there is no God. In defense of this claim, I present 5 reasons that atheism is stupid.
I filmed a class that I gave on three arguments for God’s existence as well. If you want to hear more detail than what I provide in this article, watch the video, which you can find on the right (on the right is the first part of it. In the YouTube video description, you will see part 2).
1 – The existence of the universe.
Often, when asked to explain why they believe in the existence of God, people will find themselves just saying, “look around us.” They will cite the existence of the natural world as evidence for the existence of God. This is precisely what Paul did as well He said, (Romans 1:20) “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
That is because, if it exists, it must have an explanation, either, that it is eternal, or, an explanation beyond itself. Just imagine that you are walking along and you come across a ball. You wonder where it came from, and your friend says, “oh, it just exists, inexplicably.” Obviously, that would be ridiculous. But expand that ball to the size of the earth, or even the entire known universe. It still needs an explanation. That explanation cannot be natural, because nature cannot cause itself anymore than a man can be his own father. It must be supernatural, timeless, spaceless, and immaterial. Therefore, God exists.
For a detailed discussion of this argument, please read my article Why Does Anything At All Exist?
2 – The Big Bang.
Scientists have discovered that the universe does not just go back and back forever. But that it had an absolute beginning. The agnostic physicist, Alexander Vilenkin, said, “it is said that an argument is what it takes to convince reasonable men, and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the idea of a past-eternal universe. They have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning.”
He said ‘problem’ because atheists do not like the way the evidence points. If the universe had an absolute beginning, then it must have had a cause beyond itself, (unless you are willing to defend the idea that the universe just popped into being, uncaused, out of nothing – a scientific and logical absurdity). As the cause of nature, space, and time, this cause must be supernatural, timeless, and spaceless. Therefore, God exists.
For a detailed discussion of this argument, please read my article The Kalam Cosmological Argument
3 – The design of the universe.
In recent decades, scientists have discovered what is known as cosmological constants. These are elements of the universe, which if altered even a little, then life could not exist. The astronomer, Doctor Hugh Ross, calculates that there are 122 of these cosmological constants. This realization has brought multiple atheist scientists to believe in God. Doctor Frank Tipler said, “When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of physics as we now understand them. I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics.”
The existence of intelligent life falls into a vastly small life-permitting range. To suggest that they came to be by chance is something like suggesting that the DMV’s random license plate system produced a plate that says “BOBISCOOL” for a man named Bob. It is overwhelmingly more probable that the cosmological constants are a product of design. Therefore, God exists.
For a detailed discussion of this argument, please read my article Is The Universe A Design?
4 – The design of mankind.
The most common argument for design has been the design of biological organisms. Charles Darwin is said to have explained away this design with the theory of macro-evolution. He hypothesizes that organisms had a very simple beginning, and evolved to complexity. But what Darwin did not have access to was the DNA molecule. The first life, that he thought was simple, was not simple at all.
The atheist biologist, Richard Dawkins, pointed out that a single DNA molecule has more information than 1000 encyclopedias. To suggest that this came to be by chance is something like suggesting that the Library of Congress came to be by an explosion in a printing shop. We all recognize that messages only come from minds. DNA is an extraordinarily complex message. Therefore, DNA came from a mind. Therefore, God exists.
5 – The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
When most Christians want to express why they believe in Christ, they will say that he rose from the dead, therefore proving his claims. However, they are usually unable to prove that or provide any evidence for it. So, most people think that the resurrection is just something that one believes in by faith, or not. But there are a number of confirmed historical facts that are best explained by the resurrection.
Historians have come to a consensus that the following biblical claims are true: Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea; Jesus’ tomb was found empty; the disciples had experiences of Jesus alive after his death, and the disciples came to believe so strongly in the resurrection, as to be willing to die for the truth of that belief. Most historians hold to these facts. The best explanation of these facts, that makes the most sense of them, is that God raised Jesus from the dead. That is why the historian, Doctor NT Wright said, “As a historian, I cannot explain the rise of early Christianity, unless Jesus rose again, leaving an empty tomb behind him.”
I went into this more thoroughly in my article, Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?
Why do you believe in God? Leave a comment!
If you would like to discuss further, come join our Theology Discussion Group