| EVIDENCE OF GOD
According to the bible, God's name is Jehovah/Yahweh (Psalms 83:18). (King James Version, Bible in Basic English). Yahweh is a God who is a singular being that created all that there is. (Genesis chapters 1 and 2). This includes the galaxies, planets, atmosphere, land, animals, plants and people. God demands exclusive devotion, He will not tolerate veneration of other gods (Exodus 20:1-5, Deuteronomy 4:24, Nahum 1:2). Yahweh has many good qualities. He is a fair God (Deuteronomy 32:4), a patient God (2 Peter 3:9), and the personification of love (1 John 4:8). He loved us humans enough to provide a way for us to regain His favor in spite of our sinful tendencies (John 3:16). He is also our Father (Matthew 6:9, Matthew 23:9, Romans 1:7). Yahweh is a God of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Philippians 4:9). Many people find this curious, because in the Old Testament He commanded the Israelites to make war and wipe out the surrounding nations (Deuteronomy 2:33-34, Joshua 2:10). How is this a God of peace? The nations that were to be destroyed were not obedient to Yahweh. They refused to submit to His authority. In doing so, they committed gross sins, such as burning their children alive in sacrifice, worshipped demons, and other things God abhorred. (Deuteronomy 32:17, Jeremiah 7:31, 2 Kings 16:3, 2 Kings 17:17,31). As these scriptures point out, these things were an absolute abomination to Yahweh. Since they would not cease these vile practices, Yahweh had to take vengeance for it, which is righteous because vengeance does belong to Him (Deuteronomy 32:35, 1 Samuel 24:12, Jeremiah 51:6). God never killed those who turned back from their evil ways (Jonah-entire book, Joshua 2:1-21, 6:20-23). God does not prefer to kill anyone, and would much rather we turn back from sin (2 Peter 3:9). Nowhere in the bible has God killed a right-hearted person in punishment. Now, the question remains: How do we know that the whole concept of God isn't really a man made concept? What evidence is there that a real, true God exists in the universe? This is something we can reason on together: So think about this: If something as simple as an pen must have a designer, how much more so would something more complicated, such as a living amoeba, a flower, a heart, need a designer in order to exist? Intelligent design makes better sense in this case. Another example we could use is the structure of our solar system. Astronomers have been able to peer so deep into space that they have found innumerable other galaxies, not just the stars and nebulae of our own galaxy. They have found clusters of galaxies and different star systems, planets, nebulae, quasars, novae, etc. Yet, do you know what it is they are not finding out there? They do not find one single planet that is comparable to Earth. Our planet is a perfect jewel, designed specifically for our inhabitation. They simply cannot find another planet like ours. We have a layered atmosphere with a particular mix of gases which filters out ultraviolet rays, burns up incoming space debris, stablizes the planet's surface temperature to keep it viable for life, and keeps us breathing. No other planet can boast such an incredibly versatile atmosphere. Then we have the abundance of water on earth, a main staple for the continuation of all life. Not only do we have vast amounts of water, but that water is teeming with life forms. No such parallel has been found anywhere else in the universe. The earth is also self perpetuating: Water cycles, oxygen cycles, reproduction cycles, etc. And that's not all. We also have the fact that we are exactly the best distance from the sun: Any closer, the seas, lakes, and rivers would dry up and all life would turn to dust. Any further away, all life would freeze and Earth would remain a frozen wasteland. Instead, our position is perfect. And it's not just our position with the sun, our position with our moon is just as perfect as well: Our moon is vital for the tide cycles. Any closer or any further in it's position would create havoc with our global coastlines on a daily basis. Getting away from the Earth, we continue to see the utter perfection of the solar system around us. For example, the planet Saturn has many many moons, unlike the Earth, which has only one. It is necessary for Saturn to have so many because some of them function as "shepherd moons". The gravitational pull from the shepherd moons serve to balance the pull of gravity from Saturn itself, allowing the planetary rings to remain in place without distortion. Without those moons, Saturns rings would eventually become sucked right into the planet, essentially destroying them. The planet Uranus also has many moons, some of which are also shepherd moons for its dark rings. Aside from all this, we also have the fact that the planets, stars, and moons cycle in such predictable intervals that we can tell precise time with them: Seasons, months, days, and hours. We can know years in advance when an eclipse will be, or when a comet will appear. The precision is undeniable! All these things show a perfect, clockwork balance throughout the galaxy. And yet our galaxy is but one tiny corner in a universe filled with such precision and order! When has there ever been a scientific record of an accident causing so much precision and harmony amongst anything? Never. Accidents do not cause order, they cause chaos. Need more evidence that God exists? The fact that a woman's body can support an unborn baby to the point of viability is, in itself, a miracle. A human's body is conditioned to attack and destroy any genetic material that is not it's very own. That is why it kills the germs that invade our tissues. This is why organ transplant patients must take anti-rejection medications. A developing fetus is also in that same category as foreign DNA: Once the egg and sperm unite, the resulting baby is of different genetic component than the mother. This is due to the genes contributed by the sperm. If the fetus weren't different, it would be a clone of the mother. However, in spite of the fact that the unborn child is of "foreign" genetic makeup, the mother's body doesn't reject it, her body makes an exception to this and supports it instead. How does this happen? Nobody knows, it's one of the great mysteries of life. Is it reasonable to think that this is also a result of some kind of accident? No. It is not. When it comes to life forms, it has been clearly proven that mistakes and accidents in DNA and genetic coding always causes problems. Such things have never been seen to cause an improvement in living beings. |