“Is belief in God rational?”

How many of us have questions that we would like to ask God? How many of us have doubts about God that lead us to be skeptical about God? How many of us, if we are really honest, would say that there are times, maybe many times, where we are skeptical about God and even question if there is a God?

Maybe I have just described you. Maybe you do not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing. You are not sure about whether or not there is a God, let alone whether you should follow Him or live for Him. Or maybe you would say that while you believe that there is a God, you are skeptical about what people who say they are Christians claim about God and what they say about how God acts or does not act in the world or in the circumstances that people experience in their day to day lives. Or maybe you are a follower of Jesus, but find yourself with questions about God and how He acts or does not act in the world that cause you to struggle with skepticism.  

During the next several weeks we are going to spend our time looking at eight questions that those who are skeptical of Christianity pose as a challenge to the Christian faith. And as we go through this series, my hope and prayer is that we would address these eight questions that challenge Christianity in way that engages the skepticism that these questions provoke  and provide answers that serve to develop confidence and convictions about God and His character and activity in the world around us.

This week, I would like for us to ask and answer the question “Is belief in God rational?” In other words, is it reasonable or rational to believe in God? Or is the idea of God irrational?

Now when it comes to the question “Is belief in God rational?”, as Bill Kynes points out, many people tend to approach the question of whether there is God in the same what that they would approach the question “is the earth round?” In other words, many people want to approach the question of God’s existence with the same approach that they would use to determine something scientifically or to prove something logically.

And because of this reality, the guiding assumption that drives many people in their search for an answer to the question of the existence of God is that only standard that can be used to answer the question of God’s existence is the scientific method. In other words, for many people, the driving assumption that drives their search for the answer to the question of God’s existence is that only what can be known and proven scientifically counts as being true.

But is that assumption true? Is only what can be known and proven scientifically true? After all, we all claim to know that things that are true that can in no way be proven by scientific methods. For example, to claim that torturing babies is wrong is not something that can be proven scientifically. As a matter of fact, any time we make any kind of moral judgment we are making a statement that is outside the realm of what science can demonstrate as being true.

Even ardent atheists agree with this reality. For example, Richard Dawkins stated “Science has no method for determining what is ethical”. In addition, is it even reasonable to expect that science could prove that God exists? After all science is about understanding what exists in the material universe. However, no one thinks that God exists as an object in this material universe as something that can be observed and measured. Instead, God exists outside this universe.

Also, there are other things that we believe exist but cannot be measured scientifically. For example, can you see an object called love? Does love exist as a material object that you can see and purchase at Wal-Mart? Can you measure love with a Geiger counter? Can you measure justice with a thermometer? No, you can’t. And in a similar way, scientific methodology is not equipped to determine or prove God.

Now a natural question that arises here is “Well Dave, if science cannot be used to provide determinative proof of God’s existence, then what about logic or philosophy?”  If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that you are asking a great question. And while there are many philosophers who have tried to answer the question of God’s existence through logic and philosophy, even most Christian philosophers concede that there is no singular argument from philosophy or logic that conclusively demonstrates that God exists.

But, if science and philosophy cannot prove the existence of God, then where does that leave us? So is it irrational to believe in God? Is belief in God unreasonable for rational people? While there is no singular argument that conclusively proves the existence of God, there are many pointers to God. In other words, there are many arguments that provide a persuasive and rational reason for the existence of God.  So I want us to look at five of these pointers that point us to the existence of God.

The first pointer is the pointer of existence. The pointer of existence addresses the question “why is there something rather than nothing at all?” In other words, where did all this come from? What caused all this? How did all this begin? Now a natural response to this question could be “The Big Bang”. But where did the “Big Bang” come from?

I mean, is it reasonable and rational to think that something really comes from nothing? And there is something within all of us intuitively that senses that the answer to that question is no, something does not come from nothing. You see, God is the one necessary being- God is the uncaused cause of everything that exists.  Now it is important to understand that this argument from existence is not proof of God. People could argue, for example, that matter has always existed. But that position contradicts the widely held conviction that if things can either exist or not exist, those things need to have a cause to come into being so as to exist.

Now that leads us to the second pointer that points us to God, which is the pointer of design. You see, not only does the question “why is there something rather than nothing at all?” point us to the concept of God, there is the question “Why do we fit in this world? Why does the universe fit together and function the way it does?”

There seems to be some design to the universe and how we fit into the universe. Even beyond the arguments that are made by science through evolution and natural selection, science has not been able to adequately explain the deep design that surrounds such things as the speed of light, the force of gravity, and the irreducible complexity of our universe.

Now while some atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, argue that this universe is just one of many universes and that ours simply has the constants for us to be here, there is no way to prove that argument one way of the other. The pointer of design points to the reality that the design of the universe points to a designer of the universe.

And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of Romans, we see a man that we know today as the Apostle Paul point to this pointer of design as an argument for the existence of God. So let’s look at Paul’s argument together, beginning in Romans 1:18:

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

Now to fully understand what Paul is going to communicate in these verses, we first need to wrap our minds around some of the 50 cent church mumbo jumbo talk words that Paul uses here. When Paul uses the word wrath, this word refers to God’s just and right response to selfish rebellion and sin. This is God’s perfect justice resulting in a rightful response to the wrongdoing and injustice of others.

In addition, when Paul uses the word revealed, he is revealing for us the reality that the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel makes fully known God’s just and right response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity. You see, for God to allow selfish rebellion and injustice to go unpunished would make Him unjust. God’s very nature dictates a response to rebellion and injustice. And God’s justice is revealed in the gospel against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness, simply put, is leaving God out. Ungodliness is a failure to acknowledge God and thus dishonoring God by leaving God out. Ungodliness is not just horrible acts of rebellion and sin; it is ignoring God.

The word unrighteous, simply put, is not being right with God or the truth about God. Unrighteousness involves being at odds with God and the truth about God that results in acts of selfish rebellion and sin. When Paul uses the word suppress here, this word means to hold down or ignore something. Paul’s point here is that God justly and rightly responds to humanities failure to acknowledge God and being at odds with God as a result of living our lives as though He does not exist.

Now a natural question that may arise here is “well Dave, how do I suppress the truth about God? I mean to suppress or ignore something requires evidence of that something. So what evidence is there that there is a God that I am ignoring and living like He does not exist? Paul, anticipating this question, provides the evidence to prove that humanity is guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist what he says next. So let’s look at this piece of evidence together, which is found in Romans 1:19-23:

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. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Here we see Paul reveal for us the reality that we suppress the truth about the existence of God that is revealed within us when it comes to the evidence from creation. When Paul uses the phrase that which is known about God is evident, Paul is revealing for us the reality that God clearly reveals the truth about His existence to all humanity through His creative activity in the universe in a way that is understandable and can be clearly seen.

But notice where Paul says God reveals the truth about His existence; the clear and plain truth of God’s existence is within us. You see, in the core of every human being is an intuitive sense that there is something out there bigger and beyond us. Something within in us provokes a clear and plain concept of a Creator. Paul then unpacks this further in verse 20 by explaining that since the creation of the universe, God’s character, power, and nature have plainly and clearly been on display. God’s wisdom, God’s might, God’s greatness, God’s goodness, and God’s creativity is evidenced in the universe around us.

When Paul uses the words seen and understood here, he is explaining that God’s existence has been noticed and perceived in a way that has been grasped and comprehended by humanity throughout history as a result of His activity of creating the universe. Across cultures and continents, across calendars and centuries, humanity has been provoked to worship something that they clearly comprehended as their creator.

And because of this intuitive perception that all humanity experiences regarding the reality of the existence of something bigger and beyond us, called God, all of humanity is without excuse. In other words, no human being can say that they did not know that God exists, because the evidence that God exists is overwhelming through the creation.

However, in verses 21-23 Paul explains that humanity rejected the evidence of God’s existence through creation to instead chose the path of foolishness. Humanity foolishly chose to refuse to live their lives in a way that enhanced God’s reputation; instead they chose to ignore Him. Instead of expressing appreciation for all the blessings and benefits that God gave humanity within the creation, humanity foolishly chose to ignore Him.

While all of humanity was able to clearly perceive and understand that God exists and created the universe, yet all of humanity worthlessly rejected that truth and proceeded to live life as though God does not exist. Instead of responding to the clear and plain evidence of God’s existence has been perceived and comprehended through His creation by worshipping God, all of humanity has foolishly chosen to worship the creation.

Whether it is in the image of an animal, the image of position, the image of possession, or the image that we seen in the mirror, all of humanity chooses to worship something other than God than God, which is called idolatry. Paul here is pointing the readers of his letter to the pointer of design.

Tomorrow, we will look at two more of these pointers that point to the existence of God?