...from the desk of Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

6 January 2008
#309

Faith Questions - 1

Is God Real?

The Psalms 19

How clearly the sky reveals God's glory! How plainly it shows what he has done! Each day announces it to the following day; each night repeats it to the next. No speech or words are used, no sound is heard; yet their message goes out to all the world and is heard to the ends of the earth. God made a home in the sky for the sun; it comes out in the morning like a happy bridegroom, like an athlete eager to run a race. It starts at one end of the sky and goes across to the other. Nothing can hide from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect; it gives new strength. The commands of the Lord are trustworthy, giving wisdom to those who lack it. The laws of the Lord are right, and those who obey them are happy. The commands of the Lord are just and give understanding to the mind. Reverence for the Lord is good; it will continue forever. The judgments of the Lord are just; they are always fair. They are more desirable than the finest gold; they are sweeter than the purest honey. They give knowledge to me, your servant; I am rewarded for obeying them. None of us can see our own errors; deliver me, Lord, from hidden faults! Keep me safe, also, from willful sins; don't let them rule over me. Then I shall be perfect and free from the evil of sin. May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer!

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion to His glory and our edification.  Amen.

Elwood P. Dowd has a 6-foot tall best friend named Harvey. Now there’s nothing unusual about that except that Harvey is a rabbit. In fact, he is an imaginary rabbit.

This is the story line of a Pulitzer Prize winning play that was later made into a movie, starring my favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart.

Now we all know Jimmy Stewart as the star of … (“It’s A Wonderful Life”).

Elwood Dowd is about 40 years old, a wealthy bachelor, and likes to hang out at the local pub philosophizing about life. And his drinking buddy is this imaginary rabbit named Harvey. Now we never see Harvey in the movie. We just see his shadow on the promotional posters.

You’d like Elwood. In spite of his belief in Harvey … he’s a nice guy, and he loves to do good for other people. Even so, his sister, Veta, who thinks he’s nuts, tries to get him committed to a sanitarium. And this is where the fun begins because by the end of the movie Elwood is able to convince the mental hospital staff that Harvey is real, and it’s Veta that gets committed.

The message of the movie is obvious … a little bit of fantasy never hurt anybody. In fact, if you have an imaginary friend who helps you out, if you have an imaginary friend who has a positive impact upon the lives of people … that’s great. You’re not crazy.

Question … is God this kind of imaginary friend? Go ahead and believe in God if you want to, if that gets you through the day, great, you’re not crazy. But is God real?

This is the first of four questions we’re going to look at in this sermon series called “Faith Questions.” These are the big questions that people have struggled with for centuries. Questions that I hope each of you have wrestled with at one time or another.

Questions about the existence of God; questions about the creditability of the Bible; questions about the problem of evil and suffering in a world that’s supposedly being run by an omniscient, all-powerful, good God; questions about the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ.

These are the questions we’re going to be looking at over the next few weeks, starting today with … is God real?

Let me say right up front, I don’t think this series will convince any diehard skeptics to become committed believers. There are just too many questions for me to answer in these four brief messages.

Rather, these messages are for those of you who are already committed to Christ.

And I’m praying that by the end of this four week series you’re going to be encouraged that what you believe is not only reasonable it’s better than any of the alternatives. This is an intelligent rational faith that we’ve been called to.

Having said that, if you have not yet come to faith, but are honestly and sincerely open to spiritual things, it’s just that you’ve never been given good answers to your questions … then listen up.

God never requires that you take a blind leap of faith. I hate it when I hear that said. Faith yes … blindly never. There are intelligent answers to this question … is God real?

Now the 19th Psalm gives us four evidences for God’s existence.

C.S. Lewis, who taught literature at both Cambridge and Oxford, said that these are some of the best lyrics in the history of the world. And in this Psalm we find four arguments for the existence of God.

#1 … the evidence of creation.

“How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory! How plainly it shows what he has done!”

The Psalmist argues that there’s all sorts of evidence out there in creation, particularly in the skies, that points to the existence of God.

Dr. James Boice was a Bible scholar, and actually one of my heroes in the faith.

He says that you can sum up what the Psalmist is saying with 3 words; 3 words that describe the ample amount of evidence in creation that points to God.

The first word is continuous. The evidence is continuous.

“Each day announces it to the following day; each night repeats it to the next.”

All day long, and one night after another … the evidence keeps coming at us from creation.

The second word is abundant. It’s overwhelming. If you look at the stars, it’s there. If you look at the human body, it’s there.

The third word is universal.

“It starts at one end of the sky and goes across to the other.”

There is nowhere you can go and get away from this evidence. God’s fingerprints are everywhere. The evidence is continuous, abundant, universal.

So what does the evidence say about God?

Two things … First it says that He is a powerful first cause. In the early part of the 20th century astronomers noticed that about a dozen galaxies were moving away from the earth at a high rate of speed.

And they eventually concluded that that outwardly propelled motion must be the result of a universe having a beginning because of a gigantic fireball explosion which they called … (the big bang).

What this means is, if the universe has a beginning it must have a cause, a powerful first cause. Well, how about God?

How did the universe begin? God! This is referred to as the argument from cosmology. (That’s not to be confused with cosmetology.) Cosmology is the study of the origin of the universe. Cosmetology is the study of the beautification of the skin, hair, and nails. (Mary Kay was not a cosmologist.)

Now cosmology says that everything that has a beginning has a cause.

The universe has a beginning, so its’ powerful first cause must be God.

Now atheists object to this; they say that even little children can blow apart the argument from cosmology. Have you ever said to a child, “God made everything”? What’s the question that the child immediately asks? … (Who made God?) So the atheist says, “See, now you’re stuck, you have nowhere to go.”

Wrong! The argument from cosmology doesn’t say that everything has a cause. It says that everything that has a beginning has a cause. The universe, we now know thanks to scientists, has a beginning. So the universe must have a cause. God has no beginning; therefore He doesn’t need a cause. You tell that to a child, and do you know what? Kids get it.

The second thing we learn from creation is that God is an intelligent creative designer.

The Psalmist says go out on a clear night and look at the sky and you know what your natural reaction will be? “Who made this?” Think about the sun, and our connection to it.

Some intelligent creative designer has to be behind this. Certainly creation points to that. And it’s not just the sun, it’s not just the stars … it’s these bodies of ours; think about the mechanics of this thing. It’s a single blade of grass. It’s the complexity of an atom.

Now the skeptic asks, “what about evolution? Doesn’t evolution explain away our need for God?”

Let me say a couple of things about evolution, and I certainly don’t have time to cover this in depth.

First, believers don’t deny all forms of evolution. Every now and then someone will ask me, “Rande, do you believe in evolution?” I say, “It depends. Are we talking about micro-evolution or are we talking about macro-evolution?”

Micro-evolution says that variations have taken place within species over periods of time. And I say, “Makes sense to me.”

Certain birds have developed bills that allow them to pierce through bark of a tree to get insects for food. Giraffe’s necks have extended to reach higher and higher branches in trees.

And other animals have developed skin and fur colors that allow them to blend in in the jungles or in the forest. And I say, “makes sense to me.”

But then we go to macro-evolution which says that there have been transitions between species, from one to another. And so for example, humanity can actually trace our origins back through the apes and even to sea creatures.

Now the trouble I have with macro-evolution is that the fossil record doesn’t support it. And even Charles Darwin knew this. Writing in the 19th century when he first proposed his theory he said that he really couldn’t prove the transitions between species through available fossil records. “But,” he said, “we will discover fossils and we will see the transitions.”

Okay, fast-forward 125 years, David Robb, the curator of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago writes, “We now have a quarter of a million fossil species. But the situation hasn’t changed much. In fact, we have even fewer examples of evolutionary transition than we had in Darwin’s time.”

The fossil record doesn’t show transitions. You know what it does show? It shows the sudden appearance of all the animals fully formed.

The second thing I want to say about evolution is that it’s coming under more and more criticism by well respected scientists. Back in Darwin’s day we didn’t know much about the complexity of living organisms. We didn’t understand just how intrinsically things were designed.

So today we’ve got scientists like biochemist Michael Bee who argues in his book, “Darwin’s Black Box,” that Darwin’s theory is just too simplistic.

He explains that a complex organ like a human eye cannot possibly have been formed by numerous successive slight modifications. The evidence of creation points to the existence of God.

Secondly, there is the evidence of Scripture.

The law of the LORD is perfect … The commands of the LORD are trustworthy … The laws of the LORD are right … The judgments of the LORD are just.

The Psalmist uses a wide variety of terms to refer to God’s written word in these verses. He calls it God’s laws, commands, judgments. Those terms refer not only to God’s rules in Scripture; they also refer to God’s comprehensive revelation of Himself.

How do we know there’s a God? Well, Scripture reveals Him to us. It not only points to His existence, it gives us a lot of specific information about Him. It tells us about His values. It tells us attributes of His character. It tells us what activities He’s up to in our world. It tells us the expectations He has of our lives.

The skeptic says, “Well, wait a minute, you can’t use that argument. You can’t argue from the Bible for the existence of God. That’s biased reasoning.”

Actually, it’s very logical reasoning. Let me explain what I mean by that. Let’s suppose for just a moment that there is a God. That’s our hypothesis. There is a personal God. How do we test that?

Logically speaking, if there is a personal God He would want to be known. He would want to communicate, to reveal Himself to people. He would want to communicate in a way that was not vague or ambiguous or open to misunderstanding. He would want to communicate in a way that was clear and understandable. He would want to communicate with words, if you will. He would want to communicate in writing. And lo and behold, when I open the Scriptures, that’s exactly what the Bible says about itself. This is a written revelation of God telling us who He is and what He’s like.

The skeptic then says, “Okay, I’ll concede your argument, that if there is a personal God, He would want to communicate with people, and might even do it by the written word, but how do we know that the Bible is the written revelation of who God is? There are all sorts of writings out there that claim to be revelations from God, how do we know that the Bible is the revelation?”

That’s a great question. My answer is … come back next week. Next week we’re going to look at the credibility, the trustworthiness of the Bible.

Today, all I want to do is make a simple, logical point, that if there is a personal God, we could assume that He would want to communicate with people; and would do so in a clear fashion.

And that’s exactly what the Scriptures claim for themselves.

Now imagine you’re walking along the beach and there’s no one else there. And as you’re walking mile after mile, you see patterns in the sand. You conclude that some of those patterns have been caused by waves, the tide coming in and going out. And some of those patterns are the result of debris that has washed up on the beach. And some of the patterns have been caused by sand crabs that have been scurrying around. And some of the patterns are the result of the wind whipping across the top of the sand.

But as you walk suddenly you come to some writing in the sand. And the writing says … “Harry loves Norma.” What do you conclude? Don’t you conclude that there’s a person, Harry, who exists out there? In fact, he’s probably been on the beach just a little bit before you. And the writing not only points to the existence of Harry, it tells us something specific, something special about Harry. What do we learn about Harry? … (He loves Norma.)

In creation God gives us a general revelation of Himself. But if you want to know specifically who God is and what God’s like … you need a written communication.

Theologians refer to creation as God’s general revelation … we get some general ideas about what God is like looking at what He has made. Theologians refer to God’s written Word, where He reveals Himself specifically, as special revelation.

And it’s this special revelation that gives us details about who God is.

If there is a God, and you want to get to know Him, you’ve got to get into His Word. That’s why I keep harping at you over and over to read your Bible. That’s why I put a daily reading list in the LINK each month. Reading this Book will change your life. It will convince you of the reality of God.

It’s in Scripture that He reveals Himself specifically to us.

Is God real? The evidence of creation points to Him. The evidence of Scripture points to Him.

Thirdly, the evidence of morality points to Him.

“None of us can see our own errors; deliver me, LORD, from hidden faults! Keep me safe, also, from willful sins; don’t let them rule over me.”

David is concerned about his faults. He wants God to forgive his sins. He wants God to help him live a sinless life. Now where did David get this innate sense of right and wrong?

If we’re just random collection of atoms, if we’re solely material beings, if there’s no spiritual dimension to us, if we’re nothing more than fully evolved beasts, where did our sense of morality come from?

Scripture has a clear explanation of that … the Bible tells us that we have been made in the image of a moral God. The Bible tells us that God has hotwired into every one of us this inherent sense of right and wrong.

The Apostle Paul says that we can take a nonreligious person who has never been exposed to God’s written Word, and do you know what we’ll discover? “Their conduct shows that what the Law commands is written in their hearts. Their consciences also show that this is true, since their thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them.”

Where does this morality come from? I think this morality points to the existence of a moral God who has made us in His image.

In fact I would argue that the reason some people don’t want to believe in the existence of God is because they have a hunch that if there is a God, He might want to have a say in what is right and wrong in their lives … and they’re not about to give that up. They want to make their own rules.

So, if there is no God there is no objective standard of morality. You can do whatever you want. But our innate, inborn sense that there is a standard of right and wrong out there, to which we are accountable, is evidence that God exists.

So, does God exist? We have the evidence of creation. We have the evidence of Scripture. We have the evidence of morality. And we have the evidence of experience.

“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O LORD, my refuge and my redeemer!”

The Psalmist has an intimate relationship with God. The skeptic says, “No he doesn’t. He just thinks he has a relationship, but there is no God, so you can’t have a relationship with a God who doesn’t exist.”

And the Psalmist says, “Phooey!” (Right here in the original Hebrew, “Phooey.”) The Psalmist says, “Don’t tell me what I know by experience. I have developed a relationship with God. And this God cares about the very words that come out of my mouth and the thoughts of my mind.”

“I have gotten to know God, and He has become my refuge and my redeemer.” Now I know that the argument from personal experience is not a conclusive one, but it does carry some weight.

You see, if there is no God, then how do we explain the desire for spirituality of some sort that is so prevalent in the human race. We’ve had several hundred years of scientific enlightenment, modernism … why this move back to spirituality? Why can’t this desire for spirituality just be killed off?

How do we explain, if there is no God, the dramatic changes that have happened to millions of people who claim that God has helped them overcome addictions? That God has helped them rebuild troubled marriages?

God has helped them gain a concern for the poor? That God has caused them to become social champions for causes like public schools, and hospitals, and the abolition of slavery. These are all projects of Christ followers.

How do we explain the decision that so many have made to surrender their lives to God if God doesn’t exist?

In the past few years Ardie Maiden, Rick Skiba, Mike Hopkins, Dodie Golz, Sara O’Hara, Sue Hart, Patty Britton have stood up here and talked about a personal God in their lives.

So, to any who are honest and sincere seekers … check out the evidence of creation. Check out the evidence of Scripture.

Check out the evidence of morality. Check out the evidence of personal experience. There is a God who wants you to know Him.

And for you, who do believe in God, I have a question to ask you. I was reading something in preparation for this message that I never thought of before. There are not 2 groups out there when it comes to God; there are actually 3 groups.

First there are the theists. This comes from the Greek word for God; there are people who believe in God.

Secondly, there are people who are atheists; who don’t believe in God.

But there’s a third group; they are the apathiests.

They believe in God, but it just doesn’t make any difference in their lives … the apathiests.

If you believe in God … does it make a difference in the way you live? Does it make a difference in the way you do marriage? Does it make a difference in your time priorities? Does it make a difference in how you spend your money? Does it make a difference in the way you serve others? Does it make a difference in your standards of morality? If you say you believe in God, please tell me that you’re not an apathiest.

Let’s live in 2008 like people who believe what we say we believe and get the word out … God is real.

        MARANA THA.