It is wise to believe in God

The existence of God has not been disproven by science

Is Belief in Heaven Illogical?

A FRIEND RECENTLY TOLD ME that her belief in heaven was described as illogical. I provided her with a response to this matter which may be of interest or benefit to others. My response to my friend (with some edits) is what follows…

The reasoning for believing in heaven would actually have to begin, for me, with arguments for the existence of God.

I can put it this way: the question of heaven is very much secondary for me. The primary question would be: Does God exist? If God exists then it seems entirely plausible that an afterlife which would be described as heaven can exist.

There are a number of logically consistent arguments for the existence of God. One example would be the Kalam Cosmological Argument. It goes like this…

1. Everything that BEGAN to existence must have a cause.

2. Our universe BEGAN to exist. (It is not eternal. We know this from the Big Bang Theory.)

3. Therefore, our universe has a cause of its beginning.

This is a logically consistent argument. It has been studied and analyzed by philosophers who know much more about logic than I do and it holds up as a logically consistent argument. Each of the premises are true and therefore the conclusion is logically valid.

If we continue with this argument for God, it is reasonable to posit that whatever it is that “caused” the universe must be…

1. Timeless (because time came into existence with the Big Bang).

2. Eternal (because this Cause exists outside of time).

3. Immaterial (matter came into existence with the Big Bang).

4. Incredibly, immeasurably, powerful

The 4 qualities mentioned above would be describing some type of Cause that sounds a lot like God.

Sorry, I know this is an incredibly lengthy answer, but it is a very deep question…

There are other arguments for the existence of God, but I won’t go into more of them, I’m just trying to give an example of what I mean by arguments for God’s existence. Obviously, I am biased (but so is everyone else) however, I find the arguments for the existence of God to be stronger and more compelling than any arguments I have encountered against the existence of God.

I’m trying to shorten this already too long answer and I know the primary question has to do with the existence of heaven, so, I’ll put it like this:

If an All-powerful, eternal God exists (and there are compelling arguments for that truth) then it is not logically inconsistent to believe that He is capable of providing life after this earthly existence in a place we know of as heaven.

I understand that a person might say, “Well I don’t believe in God.”

I get it. And obviously, a person is allowed to hold that belief, but that is not a logical argument against the existence of God or heaven. It is a belief.

By the way, I have provided an argument for the existence of God, can the person who is arguing against heaven (and I’m guessing against God) provide a reasonable, intelligent defeater to this argument?

Like I mentioned earlier, in a way, the point I’m making is that the real question is not about the existence of heaven. It is about the existence of God. If there is no God then I would agree that there is nothing after our existence here on earth and there certainly is no heaven. But no one has ever proven that God does not exist. (And, as I mentioned earlier, there are compelling arguments for the truth that He DOES exist.)

On the other hand, if an eternal, all-powerful God exists then the existence of an after-life and heaven really is not an unreasonable or illogical belief.

Dan Marler

Oak Lawn, IL

In Christianity Reason And Faith Are Both Important

There is compelling evidence for the existence of God.  And there is compelling evidence for the truth and authenticity of Christianity.  I have read the stories of intelligent, educated men and women who have come to faith in Christ, in part, because they made an intentional effort to examine the evidence and found it to be compelling and persuasive.  For example, Lee Strobel, Holly Ordway, Greg Viehman, Rosaria Butterfield, Francis Collins, Josh McDowell, J. Warner Wallace… and there are many others.  (Most of the people I just mentioned have PhD.s. One is a medical doctor. One, Francis Collins, was the head of the Human Genome Project.)

I understand it was not just factual evidence and cold hard reasoning that brought these people to faith. There was also a supernatural act of God’s Holy Spirit. However according to their own writings intellect, evidence and reasoning played a significant role in their faith journeys.

So it should not be surprising that we are instructed in the Bible to be prepared to defend our faith from the standpoint of reason. Check out this verse from 1Peter chapter 3:

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

Nevertheless, it is still true that Christianity is rooted in faith.  It is a reasonable faith, not a blind faith.  But it is God’s desire that we come to Him in faith.  “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” Hebrews 11:6

Look At Our World And See The Reality of God

In the Bible we’re told that people can look at creation and—if they are willing—come to a basic understanding that God exists.  (Roman 1:20)  I was outside walking around, today, and the truth of an amazing, powerful, creative God struck me in a way that resulted in awe and gratitude.  I pray that you as you engage with life today you will be impressed and captured by the reality of our Creator, too.

Information And Evidence For God -- Video

This video explains why “information” provides very strong evidence for the existence of God.  If you find it to be interesting and helpful I hope you will consider sharing it.

                                          Click here for video!

We Know God Exists

Deep down in our heart of hearts we know God exists.  We know this because He has revealed Himself to us in several ways if we are willing to see.

When I write that He has revealed Himself I mean, for example, the universe came into existence and, ultimately, the only two options are that it came into existence as a result of random chance plus time or as the purposeful action of some type of powerful intelligence.

Time plus random chance, however, can never produce information.  An intellect, of some type, is always required to produce information.  Time and random chance can produce patterns, such as the ripple patterns we see in the sand.  But if we are walking along the beach, look down, and see “Dan loves Nadia” carved in the sand we know with complete certainty an intelligence of some kind produced that message which is conveying information.

With that in mind, consider that every living cell contains volumes of “information.”  They do not contain random data, they contain huge amounts of actual information.  Time plus random chance cannot do this.  If we will be completely honest with ourselves we know this to be true.

God has revealed Himself if we are willing to see.

So, the Bible contains a statement like this:  “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Psalm 14:1

Someone might read this post and say, “You see, this is what I hate about guys like you, Dan, you always have to be antagonistic with this God stuff!”

Please know it is genuinely not my desire to be antagonistic.  I write this post to be thought-provoking.  To be frank, I am just a weak, flawed guy who looks around my world with a broken heart and a desire to see people find hope in acknowledging what they know to be true.

Are Miracles A Bunch of Nonsense?

Folks who are skeptical about the Christian faith read the accounts of miracles in the Bible and they say, “This is nonsense! We know these kinds of things could never happen.”  But, in a way, the more fundamental issue is not the miracles.  The more fundamental issue is the existence of God.

If God does not exist then the miracle accounts are absurd.  However, if God does exist—if an all-powerful, Creator exists—then certainly He is capable of doing things that would be miraculous to our understanding of reality.  I believe He exists.

Miracles Aren't Hard For God

If someone tells me they do not believe that miracles are possible, that tells me something about their view of God.  Either 1) they do not believe God exists; or 2) they do not believe in the Almighty God of the Bible.  Since I believe in the God revealed in the Bible—the God who can literally speak the entire universe into existence—I’m convinced that miracles are, frankly, no sweat for Him.