Post #3 Believing the evidence in Scripture and nature

           The existence of God, what a noble philosophy to explore, don’t you think? I am back with yet another post on the philosophy of the existence of God again with help from Wayne Grudem’s book Systematic Theology and today’s sub point is “Believing the evidence in Scripture and nature.”(p.142) But to review my last post, I talked about “Humanity’s inner sense of God”(p.141) and how both history and mankind proves this to be true. Man sees the world around him and realizes that there must be a creator in a world of creation, “God has shown it to them.”(Rom. 1:19), but some decide to deny this truth so they, “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Rom. 1:25). This much is very evident in today’s society. Moving on to today’s sub point, “Believing the evidence in Scripture and nature”(p.142), Grudem starts with, “In addition to people’s inner awareness of God that bears clear witness to the fact that God exists, clear evidence of his existence is to be seen in Scripture and in nature.”(p.142) Christians believe that the words that are written, both in the New Testament and the Old Testament, are “God breathed”(2 Tim. 3:16) therefore Scripture alone is evidence for his existence, “The evidence that God exists is of course found throughout the Bible. In fact, the Bible everywhere assumes that God exists. The first verse of Genesis does not present evidence for the existence of God but begins immediately to tell us what he has done: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” If we are convinced that the Bible is true, then we know from the bible not only that God exists but also very much about his nature and his acts.”(p.142) Paul also later affirms, in the New Testament, that God can be seen in nature as well. “The world also gives abundant evidence of God’s existence. Paul says that God’s eternal nature and deity have been “clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Rom. 1:20). This broad reference to “the things that have been made” suggests that in some sense every created thing gives evidence of God’s character. Nevertheless, it is man himself, created in the image of God, who most abundantly bears witness to the existence of God: whenever we meet another human being, we should realize that such an incredibly intricate, skillful, communicative living creature could only have been created by an infinite, all-wise Creator.”(p.142) So the point that is being made is that human beings are clear evidence of God. Why? Because it could not be possible for not only humans, but also the natural world itself, to come into existence without being created. If one were to claim that humans and everything in the natural world are ramifications of evolution or the big bang theory, than why couldn’t a working wristwatch evolve? If all of the materials are natural and can be found on earth, why didn’t those elements come together to form a functional wristwatch? Because the watch had to be created which in turn required a creator. If that is so, how could a human being, something that is far more complex and precise than a watch, just happen to evolve due to a certain chain of events? The human being was and is a creation as well as the entire universe. We were deigned by an awesome, all knowing, and precise creator. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”(Genesis 1:27) Until next time.