According to Dictionary.com, “prove” means “to establish the truth or genuineness of [something], as by evidence or argument" 1. So if the question is, “Can we establish the truth or genuineness of the existence of God through evidence or argument?” the answer is YES! There are many evidences that prove God's existence, and we're going to cover a few key ones.
At a crime scene, a detective is often able to discover clues that will prove who committed the crime or what happened. Even though the detective was not there to see the crime with his own eyes, these clues help him uncover the truth. In the same way, even though we cannot see God or touch Him, He has given us clues to help us see that He exists.
One of the most recognizable pieces of evidence that God exists is creation. Psalms 19:1 and Romans 1:20 make that point very clear. But how does creation prove that God exists? One argument is called the cosmological argument which is an argument based on science. Basically, this argument says that, through science, it has been discovered that the universe had a beginning. (That is, the universe has not always existed.) And if the universe had a beginning, then there had to be something or Someone to cause or begin the universe.
Time, space, and matter all had a beginning. So whatever caused/started/created the universe had to be timeless, spaceless, and immaterial since time, space, and matter didn’t exist in the beginning. Only God is timeless (eternal, lives outside of time), spaceless (without physical limits), and immaterial (God is spirit; John 4:24). God must exist because only God is qualified to be the Creator of the universe—including time, space, and matter.
Another argument is called the teleological argument, which says that is if there is a detailed design in something, then a designer is required. In this universe, there are over 100 narrowly defined factors that must be just right for the universe to exist 2. If any of them were off just by a small decimal point, life would not be possible on earth, and the universe would cease to exist.
A few examples include the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere, gravitational pulls, the expansion of the universe, the thickness of the earth’s crust, and the placements of the planets 3. There is no way that the universe could have happened by accident, random chance, or by itself. This accurately designed universe required an intelligent (all-knowing) and all-powerful designer (Psalm 147:4-5)—God.
Another definition of the word “prove” pertains more to the subject of science, testing, experimentation, or analysis 4. In this sense, the answer to the question, “Can we prove God’s existence with the scientific method?” would be, “No, the scientific method cannot prove that God exists.” God cannot be observed or proven in a lab. But proving that something is true doesn’t rest solely on what can be seen or touched. There are a lot of things that are true and that have good evidence to show that they are true without using the scientific method.
For example, historical events cannot be proven in a lab because they are not repeatable. We, today, cannot travel back in time to observe events beyond our lifetimes. Yet we can be confident that certain events happened in the past or that certain figures in history existed because of the evidence that was left behind, such as writings by said figures, the writings of witnesses, or archeological evidence that can be tied to these writings.
The writing that God has given us is a clue that He exists is His Word. This is referred to as internal evidence because it comes from inside God’s Word, the Bible. The people who wrote the Bible did not write from their own authority but acknowledged that God was the author of their words (2 Peter 1:20-21). Some of the things these authors wrote down were prophecies God made about the future. There are over 1,000 prophecies in the Bible, and about half of them have been fulfilled so far 5.
For example, 150 years before a king named Cyrus was even born, God told Isaiah to write down a prophecy that King Cyrus was going to free the Jews from captivity so they could go back to Israel and rebuild the temple—and that is exactly what happened (Isaiah 44:25-45:7; 2 Chronicles 36:22–23). There is no way Isaiah could have created that prophecy on his own. Precisely fulfilled prophecies are a clue that God exists because they were written down hundreds or even thousands of years in advance of the actual events; they could only come from an all-knowing God. Prophecies are just one type of internal evidence from God’s Word.
After Jesus had risen from the dead, one of His followers wanted proof that Jesus was alive. He said that he must see Jesus with his eyes, put his hands on the nail marks, and touch His wounded side—only then would he believe that Jesus was truly alive (John 20:25). So Jesus appeared to him and revealed His nail-scared hands and the wound in His side, saying, "...Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29 NIV).
When Jesus said those who that had "not seen Him and yet have believed" in Him are blessed, He was talking about US! Even though we haven’t personally seen Jesus with our eyes, we can believe that God is real and that Jesus is God because of the evidence that has been left behind—like archeological finds, historical writings, testimonials, internal morality, logic, science, and more!
Have you ever pretended not to hear something your parents asked you to do? Because if you didn't acknowledge that you heard them, then maybe you wouldn't have to be responsible for doing what they said? Sometimes people choose not to believe evidence about God because they don’t want to be accountable to Him (Romans 1:18-20; Psalm 19:1; John 5:39-40; Luke 16:19-31; James 2:19). The issue is not a lack of proof, but that people aren’t willing to believe or sometimes even acknowledge the evidence that's right in front of them.
Historians and anthropologists recognize that belief in some supernatural reality has been common to almost every human being who has ever lived. The number of people who completely reject even the slightest concept of a "higher power" is incredibly small. This, at the very least, points to the fact that humans can naturally perceive a supernatural reality just as sure as they might see, hear, taste, or touch a physical reality.
God has left evidence to help us understand and know that He does exist and that He desires a relationship with us. All we must do is look at the clues and accept the truth we find.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." —Matthew 7:7-8
REFERENCES: 1. “Definition of Prove | Dictionary.com.” www.dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/prove. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022. 2. Geisler, Norman and Turek, Frank, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Crossway, 2004, pg. 150. 3. ibid., pg.98-105. 4. “Definition of Prove | Dictionary.com.” www.dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/prove. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022. 5. Payne, J. B., The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, Baker Pub. Group, 1980, p. 674.
Yes, God has provided evidence to show that He exists. Only God qualifies as the Creator of the universe (time, space, and matter), and only God possess the knowledge and power to design our universe (Psalm 147:4-5). The Bible is also a clue that God exists (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Romans 10:17). God told the authors what to write down, including prophecies about the future that later came true (2 Peter 1:20-21). Only God could do this. Even though we, today, have not seen God with our eyes or touched Him with our hands (John 20:25), there is enough evidence provided for us to believe that He exists.
Hanna loves spending time with kids and teens. She enjoys being detectives with them to investigate God's Word to discover truths to answer any questions. She is the co-author of a newly published apologetics curriculum for children and teaches one online for highschoolers-adults. To learn more about her ministry you can visit networkerstec.com. For fun, she likes to play Ultimate Frisbee, read historical fiction, and paint.
