Why I Am Not An Atheist
God is Obvious
If you talk about God for very long with various people, you are sure to get a debate as to who or what He is. But the view of God that is the most puzzling of all to me is the view that a small percentage of people espouse. That is the belief that God doesn't exist at all. I am, of course, referring to atheism. Indeed there are many reasons to believe in God which are so compelling that it is beyond me how anyone that has any thinking capabilities can doubt it. There are many reasons that I am not an atheist. However, there are two that are extremely convincing to me.
I. The Design of the Universe
To me, the idea of there being a God is self-evident. The Bible says it well when it tells us: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands" (Psalm 19:1). Indeed, even agnostic or atheistic scientists, who are honest, have had to admit that this universe has an "appearance of design." What an interesting phrase for intelligent people to use. And yet they say it with a straight face as if it is the most natural of things to believe. How can something appear to be designed, if it isn't? The answer is that it can't.
There is a term called the "anthropic principle" which comes from the Greek word anthropos, meaning man or mankind. This principle sees the fact that this universe is uncannily suited for us humans. Even the liberal TIME Magazine had this to say in a recently published article:
“The universe seems uncannily well suited to the existence of life. Could that really be an accident?” (Time, “Cosmic Conundrum,” November 29, 2004, page 58).
In that same article they went on to say:
"Many of the most fundamental characteristics of our cosmos—the relative strengths of gravity, electromagnetism and the forces that operate inside atomic nuclei as well as the masses and relative abundances of different particles—are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn’t exist."
II. Life Only Comes From Life
Beyond the fact that the universe shows design, and that it is uniquely adapted for life, is the sheer miracle that life exists at all. Where does it come from? In this universe in which we live, it comes from another life form. Life gives birth to life. There is absolutely no evidence that abiogenesis has ever happened, or ever will happen. Abiogenesis or biopoiesis is the supposed natural process of life arising from non-living matter such as simple organic compounds. This theory was discredited years ago and now Science has no real explanation as to how any living things came into being. Some have even postulated that life somehow originated on other planets and was brought here from outer space. it is crazy what lengths people will go to in order to leave God out of the equation.
But not only is the existence of life in question, the complexity of it is marvelously astounding and hard to envision coming from blind evolutionary chance.
It is interesting that even the single cell is so complex it cannot be successfully explained away by chance. There are an estimated 50 trillion cells in the human body. The simplest of cells has an estimated 100.000 parts. And many thousands of different operations are taking place in each cell continuously. Each of these wonders of creation is like a miniature factory, and it is a marvel that no human being has even come close to duplicating.
The evolutionary theorists continue to argue for their impossible theories of organisms over the eons eventually adapting and changing into the myriads of multi-celled creatures that we have today. The truth is, that evolutionary theory is simply not possible because life cannot happen by itself. And even if it were possible for one species to adapt and change to the point that it becomes a different species entirely, dead matter cannot suddenly, or even over time, become alive. Scientists cannot explain the origin of a single cell, let alone what we see today.
Conclusion
Of course we cannot, in this short article, go into all of the different arguments for the existence of God. And I certainly have not even touched the surface of the areas I've already stated. However, the two which were given here seem to me to the most compelling arguments to accept the existence of a divine creator. I have other reasons for believing that this creator God is the God of the Bible. That will be the focus of another article which will be written soon. But my prayer is that this writing will be a starting point for those who are searching for the answers to life and the meaning of existence. If you seek the Lord, He will be found. He's not trying to hide from you. The whole universe is crying out His glory! I pray that you will as well.