The Five Questions

How do we know that God exists?

This question often is difficult for individuals that want an ironclad proposal of knowledge of God’s existence, often claiming that whatever is offered as evidence needs to amount to “proof.” I would submit that this conversation would be better served to revolve around the fact that the existence of God is the best explanation that we have by what has been made known to us. Said differently, our knowledge of God in this sense is a body of evidence that gives us our faith. Although there are dozens of theological, philosophical and evidential proofs that argue for and support the existence of God, I am going to focus briefly on three:

The Fine Tuning Argument

Miracles and Fulfilled Prophecy

The Person of Jesus Christ

Fine Tuning Argument

This argument is a philosophical argument that has gained steam in the last 50 years. This argument is also known as the teleological or design argument. Among other things, this view quantifies the mathematical near impossibility that anything exists at all. The fine tuning that would need to exist in this universe to permit life is so incredibly improbable on chance, the best explanation is that it was designed. The argument would continue then that nothing can be designed but by a designer. It is this designer, we call God.

The argument speaks to the cosmological variants that would need to exist to allow for life in the first place; both to create a universe from the now widely accepted Big Bang Theory, down through the constants that would need to be in place to allow for human beings, or any living thing to exist. Scientists have identified dozens (last count I believe is 34) of physical constants that would need to occur just perfectly to make the universe fine tuned for life. These include things like the appropriate nuclear force, gravitational force constant, electromagnetic force constant, entropy level etc. To quantify the mind-boggling “chance” that any one of these could happen, let’s look at the Big Bang and the creation of the universe as one example. Conrad Hilario has a blog post from 2019 (https://conradhilario.com/content/tag/fine-tuning+of+the+universe) that touches on this by referencing physicist Paul Davies who said of the constants necessary for the Big Bang to create the universe:

“It is virtually impossible that the universe came to have these correct parameters for life by chance, because so many of these numbers must all lie in such a small range of values… If the initial explosion of the big bang had differed in strength by as little as 1 part in 10^60, the universe would have either quickly collapsed back on itself, or extended too rapidly for stars to form. In both cases, life would be impossible… An accuracy of one part in 10^60 can be compared to firing a bullet at a one inch target on the other side of the observable universe, twenty billion light years away, and hitting the target…”

Hilario goes on to say, “You might say, ‘I’m a pretty good marksman.’ But you’d also have to be blindfolded, since we’re talking about chance. If you aim and hit a target, you introduce intent, which implies design.”

One light year is equivalent to six trillion miles. If you multiply that by 20 billion, there’s your target. Keep in mind that this is only one of 34 constants (there are scientists that argue for more); all of which would have had to come in to existence and remain in existence just perfectly to sustain life, and had any developed in any way differently life could not exist. What’s more, all 34 constants contain odds just like the one quantified above. The resulting number that would require calculation incorporating them all to have occured just right, is quite literally incalculable.

One of my favorite Christian philosophers and apologist, William Lane Craig, sums up this fine-tuning argument nicely on his Reasonable Faith blog from a video series with Bobby Conway by saying:

“The argument from fine-tuning is a version of the argument for design that appeals not to biological examples of design, but to the initial conditions of the universe that are put in at the beginning of the universe in the Big Bang itself. And this argument can be simply summarized in three steps. Premise one: the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design. Premise two is: it is not due to physical necessity or chance (and here you would present arguments to disqualify those two alternatives). Three: therefore, it is due to design. So, this argument, if successful, gives us a cosmic designer of the laws of nature and of the universe.

It is this designer, I would call God.

Miracles and Fulfilled Prophecy

Our scriptures make a lot of claims about God. One of those claims is that he is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end, eternal and all-knowing God. Scripture makes the claim that God, and God alone can foretell future events. But claims are nothing more than words on pages. Unless… unless, we have real evidence to believe that God can predict future events. Psalms 139:4 says, “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.”

Scholars differ on the number of prophecies of future events that are recorded in the Bible. On the low-end, some argue for something near 1,000, and I have seen as high as 2,300. Of this total, the bulk of these we can show have been fulfilled accurately (many are predicted of events yet to come). For this illustration, the exact number is unimportant. The central person of scripture is the person of Jesus Christ. And there are hundreds of predictions/prophecies about Him alone. Let’s take a small sample size of these and think critically about the implications.

Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Numbers 24:17 Jesus would be from the line of Jacob, line of Jesse, line of David Micah 5:2 Jesus would be born in Bethlehem Isaiah 7:14 Jesus would be born from a virgin Hosea 11:1 Joseph would be warned to take Jesus to Egypt for a time to protect him. Isaiah 6:9-10, Psalm 78:1-2 Jesus would teach using parables, but those who heard Jesus’ parables would not understand Isaiah 40:3-4, Isaiah 9:1-2 – Jesus’ ministry would be preceded by a voice calling in the desert, but would begin in Galilee Isaiah 42:1-4 – Jesus’ message of salvation would extend to the Gentiles Isaiah 53:3 – Jesus would be despised and rejected   Zechariah 9:9 – The King would come riding on a donkey Zechariah 11:13 – Jesus would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 – None of Jesus’ bones would be broken Leviticus 17:11 – Jesus would die and pour out his blood for the atonement of sins Numbers 21:9 – Jesus would be lifted up Psalm 16:10 – Jesus would not be abandoned to the dead Psalm 22– Jesus would be forsaken, mocked, mouth parched and bones extended, His feet and hands pierced while soldiers cast lots for this clothing Psalm 31:5 – Jesus would commit his spirit to God Psalm 68:18 – Jesus would ascend to heaven

In Peter W. Stoner and Robert C. Newman’s book, “Science Speaks ,” they attempt to quantify the probabilities of prophesy fulfillment in the Old and New Testament canon. The book touches on 60 specific prophecies that were given in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth; focusing on the odds that any man could ever fulfill those predictions. Specifically, their research calculated the odds of any one man in all of human history fulfilling just eight of the 60 major prophecies about the life of Jesus Christ. The conclusion they reached was that the probability that Jesus Christ of Nazareth could have fulfilled even eight prophecies would be 1 in 10^17. That's 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

Stoner illustrates this by commenting: “If we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar, and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”

Jesus Christ

Let me be bold. I would argue that perhaps the greatest argument for the existence of God, is the person of Jesus Christ.

For the unbeliever, I would humbly ask the following question:

Whether you believe in God or not, would you be willing to consider that He exists if the following were in fact, true?

There was a verifiable man in history that claimed to be God. This mans’ birth, life, teachings, physical location, and death were predicted by dozens of people who did not know one another, and lived over thousands of years in various locations. These prophets claimed to be messengers of God and claimed to be given power by God to record His words, even predict the future. These mens words were so important, a chosen group of people were entrusted to record their words exactly. They were tasked with being set apart through all time to protect these oracles until this predicted man came, so that no man on earth could doubt their truthfulness. These people carried these oracles and words down through the ages against every odd imaginable. And in God’s sovereign wisdom, God narrated a real story in history to teach us of Him, by using these fallen, chosen people to show us a redeemer was coming to save mankind.

And then something unfathomable happened.

This man that was predicted, actually arrived in the location those prophets said He’d be. He arrived in the time period they predicted, in the manner they predicted, to the ancestral lineage they predicted. This man was born as predicted, in a miraculous way as predicted. He lived and did all that was prophesied of Him as predicted. This man was born supernaturally, lived supernaturally, possessed powers to defy the physical laws of nature that govern our earth. But then, this man predicted His own death, burial, and resurrection on the third day. He described it in advance through men and by His own words. He was then in fact raised from the dead as He claimed. This man was resurrected in a supernatural body and ascended to heaven in the sight of eye-witnesses. This was witnessed by real men and women, at a real time in history. And this man, claimed to be God. God almighty. He claimed to be the King of the universe. The true God, the one and only God. This man lived a life they predicted, did deeds as they predicted, performed specific miracles as predicted. This man Jesus was predicted to be the Messiah, God almighty, and the savior of all mankind.

This is what I believe.

I not only believe this with all my heart by His grace through faith, but I believe that the best explanation for the literal evidence we possess in history, in fact shows that all of the above really happened.

If this were in fact true, what would it say about what anyone knows of this world? Only an almighty, all powerful, omnipotent, eternal and supernatural being could do any of these things. One that claimed to be God, the creator of the universe. If the evidence points to this being true, could anyone in good faith not admit that this in fact would be a powerful statement for an existence of God?

Biblical Claims of God

Our scriptures teach us from the first verse in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There was nothing, but suddenly, there was something. The Big Bang is widely accepted by science, and that the rest of the word of God delivered in scripture calls our attention to how we can know that there is a God. Lexham Survey of Theology says:

“The great majority of arguments demonstrating that God exists are a posteriori arguments. This should not be surprising, as Christian theologians have traditionally understood the Scriptures to be teaching that the observable universe reveals the existence of its Creator.”

Said differently, we can know there is a God by just looking at the reality in front of us. The passages most notable to a posteriori arguments might be:

Romans 1:19–20 “Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 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, so that they are without excuse.”

Psalm 19:1–5 “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. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.”

Acts 14:16–17 “In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

Lexham Survey of Theology Proofs of God’s Existence

• A posteriori demonstration: inferring, from observed realities, the existence of an unobserved cause of these realities (inferring the cause from observation of some effect).

Lexham Survey of Theology (Proofs of God’s Existence)

The great majority of arguments demonstrating that God exists are a posteriori arguments. This should not be surprising, as Christian theologians have traditionally understood the Scriptures to be teaching that the observable universe reveals the existence of its Creator. The most important biblical passage on this subject is Romans 1:19–20, where Paul states that “what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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.” The traditional interpretation of these verses understands Paul to be saying that all humans are culpable for rejecting those truths about God which can be known via rational observation of creation (a posteriori arguments). Other passages which have been traditionally interpreted as teaching the same truth include Psalm 19:1–5, Acts 14:16–17, and Acts 17:26–27.

Examples of the first approach (a posteriori demonstration) include the “five ways” of Thomas Aquinas, various forms of the cosmological argument, the kalam cosmological argument, the argument from objective morality, Augustine’s argument from the existence of objective truth, and, among others, the argument from design or order (which is to be distinguished from Aquinas’s teleological argument).

New Testament VI: Romans (Revised) Known through Creation

KNOWN THROUGH CREATION. APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: The energies of the divine being have always been invisible by nature, and they are never revealed to anybody directly, but they are made known through the creation. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

THE VOICE OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. CHRYSOSTOM: God has placed the knowledge of himself in human hearts from the beginning. But this knowledge they unwisely invested in wood and stone and thus contaminated the truth, at least as far as they were able. Meanwhile the truth abides unchanged, having its own unchanging glory.… How did God reveal himself? By a voice from heaven? Not at all! God made a panoply which was able to draw them more than by a voice. He put before them the immense creation, so that both the wise and the unlearned, the Scythian and the barbarian, might ascend to God, having learned through sight the beauty of the things which they had seen. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 3.

New Testament VI: Romans (Revised) A Training Place for Souls

A TRAINING PLACE FOR SOULS. BASIL: You will find that the world was not devised at random or to no purpose, but to contribute to some useful end and to the great advantage of all beings. It is truly a training place for rational souls and a school for attaining the knowledge of God. Through visible and perceptible objects it provides guidance to the mind for the contemplation of the invisible. HOMILY ONE, CREATION OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH 1.6.

How do we know that the Bible is authoritative and reliable?

“Not a list of authoritative books, but an authoritative list of books.”

In answering this question, I will outline answers that will first distinguish between the two words: Authoritative and reliable. In my mind, the authority of scripture would be broken down in to a threefold defense as I will outline below, whereas reliability I would argue is an issue of why we have good reason to not only trust scriptures authority, but also an evidential claim as to why we ought to have good reason to believe what scripture says has been accurately transmitted down through time.

“Thinking about scriptural authority must start with the fact that Scripture views itself as a message from God. One appeals to Scripture in this matter not for proof but for information. If the Bible claimed no unique authority as God’s self-revelation, there would be no reason to assert that authority. There would also be no reason for absolute commitment to biblical teaching. On the other hand, if the Bible does in fact present itself as God’s authoritative Word, then one must reckon with it as such, by receiving that Word or rejecting it.”

G. W. Bromiley, “Scripture, Authority of,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 362.

To the question whether Scripture itself claims any special authority, the twofold answer is that the OT and NT everywhere imply this, and that they sometimes give it direct and open expression. It is implied, e.g., when, Moses is said to have received from God both the moral law and also detailed cultic and legal statutes. The prophets maintained that they spoke not their own words but words that God had given them. Christ spoke with authority (Mt. 7:29) because of His awareness that He spoke not merely as a teacher but as the eternal Son. The apostles spoke boldly because they had received the Spirit (Acts 2:1–36) and thus believed that they spoke God’s word, whether quoting the OT, appealing to Christ’s teaching, or presenting the gospel as the Spirit directed them.

The answer is implied by the OT’s frequent references to writing as well as speaking. God told Moses to record the defeat of the Amalekites in a book (Ex. 17:14). At the giving of the law God Himself wrote the first tablets ((32:16), and Moses wrote “all the words of the Lord” (24:4). Joshua wrote an account of the covenant at Shechem in the book of the law of God (Josh. 24:26). Josiah treated as authoritative the book of the law that was found in the temple (2 K. 22:8–16). Jeremiah committed his oral messages to writing (Jer. 36:1–4), adding to the record when the king destroyed the first scroll (vv 27–32). Ezra read and expounded the law so as to teach the redeemed community how to fulfil its covenant obligations (Ezra 8).

In the NT Jesus Himself gives abundant testimony to the written form of God’s Word. He answered the tempter with a threefold “It is written” (Mt. 4:3–10). He saw in His ministry a fulfillment of the passage from Isaiah that He read at Nazareth (Lk. 4:16–21; cf. Isa. 61:1f.). He predicted His death and resurrection on the basis of what was written (Lk. 18:31). He showed His disciples how everything had to be fulfilled that was written about Him in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms (24:44). Along similar lines the Evangelists stressed the foretelling of His person and work in the OT (e.g., Mt. 1:22f.). Paul’s preaching to his own people consisted largely of a demonstration of Christ’s messiahship from the OT (Acts 17:2f, 11). Other NT writers quoted the OT with the same deference as Paul (cf. 1 Pet. 1:24f.; 2:6–10; Jas. 2:21–25; He. 1:5–13; 2:5–8; etc.). Indeed, two explicit statements give the stamp of distinctive divine authority to the OT writings: 2 Tim. 3:16, which says that all Scripture is inspired by God, and 2 Pet. 1:20f, which states that no “prophecy of scripture” came by human impulse but “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

G. W. Bromiley, “Scripture, Authority of,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 362.

The Bible is authoritative because it is divinely authorized; in its own terms, “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tm 3:16 niv). According to this passage the whole OT (or any element of it) is divinely inspired. Extension of the same claim to the NT is not expressly stated, though it is more than merely implied. The NT contains indications that its content was to be viewed, and was in fact viewed, as no less authoritative than the OT. The apostle Paul’s writings are catalogued with “other scriptures” (2 Pt 3:15, 16). Under the heading of Scripture, 1 Timothy 5:18 cites Luke 10:7 alongside Deuteronomy 25:4 (cf. 1 Cor 9:9). The Book of Revelation, moreover, claims divine origin (1:1–3) and employs the term “prophecy” in the OT meaning (22:9, 10, 18). The apostles did not distinguish their spoken and written teaching but expressly declared their inspired proclamation to be the Word of God (1 Cor 4:1; 2 Cor 5:20; 1 Thes 2:13).

Carl F.H. Henry, “Bible, Authority of The,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 298.

Is a person who has never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus still able to be saved (i.e. indigenous people who have never heard the gospel, infants/children who die unexpectedly, people who are intellectually disabled, etc.)?

How would you share the gospel with an unbeliever?

The fall arises out of man’s free decision to reject personal communion with God and restrict himself to the autonomy and self-sufficiency of his own nature.

Christos Yannaras, The Freedom of Morality, ed. Costa Carras with Christos Yannaras, Kallistos of Diokleia, trans. Elizabeth Briere, 3rd ed., Contemporary Greek Theologians (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984), 29–30.