How Do We Know God Exists

Does the Bible seek to prove the existence of God?

Apologetics: 4 Approaches

The Classical Approach

A two-step method

Establish theism (the belief that God exists) through a series of philosophical arguments. These arguments include the argument for God from causation (the cosmological argument) and the impossibility of an infinite regress of moments before this one (the Kalaam cosmological argument). The classical approach would also address the demands of finely tuned and highly specified natural systems.

Bring in historical arguments that narrow down theistic options, leaving only Christianity as the viable option. Here the apologist might address the challenges of religious pluralism, the reliability and preservation of the biblical text, with their centerpiece as the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Evidentialist Approach

Similar to the classical approach

One step instead of two: the evidentialist treats one or more historical arguments as being able both to indicate God’s existence and activity and to indicate which variety of theism is true.For the evidentialist, historical arguments, properly presented and supported, answer the inherent questions that arise in the classicalists’ first step.

The Cumulative Case Approach

A many-step approach

Logic, history, science, and philosophy all stand on equal ground. In other words, one may start with any element of the case, and depending on the response, appeal may be made to some other element to support or reinforce the claim that Christianity is true.

The ultimate goal is to argue for the biblical worldview as a whole.

The Presuppositional Approach

Fundamental principle: the presupposition of the truth of Christianity has maximal explanatory power.

Only Christianity explains and accounts for both creation and corruption, our longings for truth, good, beauty, and justice, and it takes evil seriously.

Cornelius Van Til. For Van Til taught that Christianity alone is the key to unlocking human experience. Logic, beauty, the fundamental assumptions underlying modern science, morality, and human dignity are rendered meaningless unless grounded in the biblical worldview of creation-fall-redemption.

Arguing for the Existence of God

Natural Revelation

Psalm 19 (ESV)

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech

and night to night reveals knowledge…

Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world…

Romans 1:20 ESV

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Objectively speaking, there can be no rational basis for doubt about the existence of a transcendent personal creator, and thus there can be no excuse for unbelief.

Presuppositional

There is a Creator

some say that people and the universe are just there and are not created. People who take this position assume autonomy over their lives and everything that they experience. They necessarily must assume self-sufficiency.

There is a Provider

God’s providence is the working of his power to uphold, guide, and care for his creation. The providence of God leaves no room for chance or competition between God and another power. God, as the primary cause, causes everything, but this does not remove the ability of creatures to cause or act.

There is a Prophecy Fulfiller

God tells us what he is going to do.

Then he tells us how he did it.

Finally he interprets what he has done.

There is a Miracle Worker

The resurrection of Jesus in particular is often referenced in an attempt to demonstrate the existence of God.

But people reject all of this

To this fact, Van Til responded:

In our great concern to win men we have allowed that the evidence for God’s existence is only probably compelling. And from that fatal confession we have gone one step further down to the point where we have admitted or virtually admitted that it is not really compelling at all. And so we fall back upon testimony instead of argument. After all, we say, God is not found at the end of an argument; He is found in our hearts. So we simply testify to men that once we were dead, and now we are alive, that once we were blind and that now we see, and give up all intellectual argument. (Cornelius Van Til: “Why I Believe in God”)

The real reason people reject God’s existence

Romans 1:18 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

No line of argumentation will change this fact.

There's no explanation for the blessings we all experience, even in this broken world, other than the fact that there exists a God of awesome and generous grace. He graces us with his patience, he graces us with his provision, he graces us with strength, he graces us with wisdom, he graces us with moral awareness, he graces us with mercy, and the list could go on and on. (Paul Tripp)

Other Arguments

Cosmological Argument

seeks to demonstrate that that the existence of the universe, or some phenomenon within the universe, demands a causal explanation originating in a necessary first cause beyond the universe.

Every move (effect) must have a mover (cause)

Teleological Argument

design requires a designer, and thus the appearance of design in the natural world is evidence of a supernatural designer.

Moral Argument

aims to show that only a theistic worldview can account for objective moral laws and values.