Is believing in God logical? That’s a great – and common – question.
I can remember when I believed in God simply because my grandparents said so, or Billy Graham said so.
Eventually, I discovered something that revolutionized my faith…
The Biblical Worldview is accepted by faith – but not blind faith.
It was shortly thereafter I momentarily set aside my books on theology and began consuming literature written by both Christian and non-Christian authors regarding the laws of physics, cosmology, astronomy, and biology.
Recently, I finished a solid biography on Isaac Newton (Laws of Motion, Law of Universal Gravitation, and inventor of Calculus) who strongly believed in God. The biography I’m presently reading on Johannes Kepler, a Christian, (Laws of Planetary Motion) prompted me to post this blog.
Back to those early years of discovery.
I was introduced to physicists, astrophysicists, astronomers, professors of advanced mathematics, and philosophers from the likes of Harvard, MIT, Yale, Notre Dame, Oxford, and Cambridge – many of whom were once ardent atheists – who came to faith in Jesus Christ not in spite of science – but because of science.
Christianity, I was quickly learning, is an intelligent faith.
Not only has all of this strengthened my own faith, but it’s given me the quiet confidence to engage in intelligent dialogue with others regarding the Christian faith. No arguing. No defensive remarks. Just mutual respect and honesty. We always leave friends, looking forward to further discussion.
I used to read David’s familiar prayers with limited understanding of what he must have been thinking…
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens… The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” (Psalm 8:1, 3; 19:1-2)
I suspect David felt the same awe then as I do today, even though I’m reading about the findings of empirical science three millennia later.
Consider the following: our planet is rotating at approximately 1000 mph, while simultaneously orbiting our sun at almost 70,000 mph, while our solar system is simultaneously orbiting the center of our galaxy at over 500,000 mph, while our galaxy is simultaneously speeding outward via cosmological expansion so fast scientists, at this point, begin using “Star Wars” terms like “mega-parsecs.”
Yet… instead of flying off the earth with centrifugal force (think: the old merry-go-round/playground spinner), we’re still able to relax in our easy chair as though we’re perfectly still. (Einstein gave us insight into this phenomenon with his Theory of General Relativity.)
Another mental image: imagine walking along a nature path as you’ve no doubt done before. You come to a pile of rocks, random in position like you’ve seen many times before. As you continue your hike, a little ways farther, you see more rocks. But these are formed in a way that spell out the Preamble to our U.S. Constitution. This is a picture of what science finds in cosmology, astronomy, and biology. In space, they find inexplicable order. In biology, they find information – “instructions”.
In a word, they find design.
Further, astrophysicists claim the same laws of physics that apply to our little corner of the universe apply to every last corner of the known universe. In his book, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil DeGrasse Tyson asserted,
“This universality of physical laws tells us that if we land on another planet with a thriving alien civilization, they will be running on the same laws that we have discovered and tested here on Earth.”
The argument for design, as opposed to unguided chance, is overwhelming.
As I continue to study, I am arrested by the precision of cosmological and biological design. Everything from “the universe on a razor’s edge” to the information of our DNA (all 3.1 billion codes) existing in every one of our 30+ trillion cells force me to arrive at the conclusion that to believe this all happened by random, blind, unguided chance is neither reasonable nor logical.
Even the champion of 20th century atheism, Antony Flew, finally confessed, “I must abide by the truth of Plato’s Socrates and follow the evidence where it leads.” That evidence led him to a belief in God.
Granted, one can agree with modern science and still not have to believe in God. But, logic dictates design demands a Designer.
So, if one is honest, the biblical worldview honestly should be given serious consideration.
When someone boasts “science has proven there is no God” it’s vital to understand they’ve now moved from the realm of science to the realm of philosophy. In short, they’re just sharing their opinion based not on science but on their personal interpretations of science. The claim “science alone can discover truth” is self-defeating since the claim cannot be verified using science. God can’t be proven in a laboratory; but neither can he be disproven in a laboratory. The better setting is a courtroom.
I would encourage you to abandon any presuppositions or bias, then critically and carefully weigh the evidence of the various worldviews.
Every worldview is a “faith worldview.” Atheism, agnosticism, naturalism, etc., all require a great deal of faith.
Yale Law School grad and former atheist, Lee Strobel, said it best,…
“To continue in atheism, I would need to believe that nothing produces everything, non-life produces life, randomness produces fine-tuning, chaos produces information, unconsciousness produces consciousness, and non-reason produces reason. I simply didn’t have that much faith.”
nick