Ok, I am happy to discuss
scientific evidence for creation, but first I would like to point
out something. You seem to indicate that you have great confidence
in science, which, the last time I checked, means that which you can
actually see, touch, experiment on, etc.. Yet you state:
"I
don't believe in God and yet I still exist don't I?"
What scientific evidence
do you have that God does not exist? You apparently have come to a
firm belief that you cannot begin to substantiate from science.
You can say, perhaps, "I
see no evidence that He exists," or "I cannot understand how, if He
exists, things are in the condition that they are." But short of
going everywhere in the universe and being sure that you know of
everything that exists in the universe, how can you say that God
does not exist?
I was once an agnostic.
At least, I could defend that logically. I could say that I,
personally, did not know that He exists. But how can you defend,
from either a logical or scientific point of view, the position that
He does not exist?
When a person says that
which I know cannot be proven scientifically, it tells me that
something more is going on than merely scientific scepticism. The
person has a reason or motive for not wanting God to exist. Perhaps
what he means is that he doesn't like or understand the God of the
Bible, and thinks that he has clear scientific reason to reject the
reliability of that record, so he has come to the conclusion that
the God of the Bible does not exist. But even assuming that the
Bible is not literally true, that would hardly prove that God does
not exist.
I know that when I was an
agnostic, I believed that it was for scientific reasons. Later,
looking back, I realized that it was not scientific reasons which
were the primary reasons for my skepticism. I became a skeptic
because I WANTED to be, because I had been taught that God required
certain things of me that I did not wish to do (or not do).
Therefore skepticism appealed to me, and I found "good" reasons for
doubting.
When someone made
Christianity attractive to me, it was not hard for me to believe. I
still needed some answers. But now I could see many very convincing
evidences for the existence of God which I completely could not see
before.
From my own experience,
and from observing many others, I have come to the conclusion that
very few--if any--people are objective on this subject, even if they
think they are. We are able to see and understand the evidences for
the point of view that we subconsciously want to see.
To me, the greatest of
all objective evidences that God exists is that I exist. I live in
a tremendously complex body and mind that even the wisest person
cannot understand. For me to conclude that there is no mind greater
than man--that such a wonderful design came about by accident--is
not logic at all, but willful blindness. If, knowing about that
incredible design, I refuse to acknowledge that some mind designed
it, it is because I do not wish to see that.
Certainly nothing in our
observable experience would lead to the conclusion that complex,
working machinery could come about without a mind to design it.
Computers don't just happen. Yet my mind will do many things that
even the best computer will not do. The basic question is: Which
came first, matter or mind? Did matter make mind, or did mind make
matter?
I believe that most
people who become athiests, or skeptics of one kind or another, do
so for one of about three reasons:
1. Believers that they
have known have so misrepresented God to them that they don't want
to believe in Him.
2. They want to live in
ways that they, deep down, do not believe that God would approve.
They would rather disbelieve in God than to change their ways.
3. Someone has convinced
them that brilliant people are all skeptics and it is stupid to
believe. They don't want to be stupid, and they do want to be
brilliant, so they won't believe.
When a person has these
kinds of motives for not wanting to believe, there is little use
giving him scientific evidence. He isn't going to see and accept it
anyhow. But when, on the other hand, he begins to sense his
deep-down need for someone or something greater than himself, and to
reach out for this, then there is so much scientific evidence that
he ends up wondering how he could have been so stupid as to not
believe.
This can happen from a
study of such evidences as we have on the website. But often it
happens from his simply looking around at the universe and realizing
that it is illogical to believe that such order and system came
about without wise planning and design. And a person who is willing
to believe has another kind of evidence that a skeptic knows nothing
about, and would merely scoff at if he did. It is subjective
evidence.
If I saw and talked with
a ghost regularly, that, to me, would be excellent evidence that one
existed. It would be no evidence to you, as you would merely decide
that I was crazy and hallucinating. My subjective evidence would
not convince anyone but me unless they knew me well and had
confidence in my word. That would be subjective evidence, for
me, for the existence of ghosts,
But every true Christian
has subjective evidence for the existence of God. I know, for
instance, that when I gave up skepticism for Christianity, I found
an inner peace and happiness that I certainly did not have before.
I know that my life changed very much for the better. I watched the
same change happen in my husband's life, and in the lives of my
children.
I know that, where before
I had been constantly lonely, even in a crowd, now I was never
lonely. I had a sense of God's presence with me, of companionship,
of a friend so real that I could reach out and touch him mentally,
if not physically--a sense of safety and peace and love that I had
never known before. You can say it is all a delusion. You have
every right to say that. But to me, it is very good evidence.
When you have that kind
of evidence, the scientific evidence for the reliablility of
scripture is great--but not the primary reason for believing. To a
real Christian, God's existence is so obvious that believing His
word is not difficult, although learning to understand it can be a
challenge sometimes.
If you want your
skepticism, you are welcome to it. You can sneer and go away
feeling superior to the "ignorant" Christian. But it is yourself
that you are cheating.
If, on the other hand,
you would really like to know if there is a God or not, it is easy
to talk to Him. Just ask Him to reveal Himself to you, and help you
to know for certain. If you are sincere, He will do that. And then
you will know. Then come back and ask me about the scientific
evidences, and you will see them all over the place.
Jeannie
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