Does God exist? Here are straightforward reasons to believe that God is reall
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Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the
evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, "You
just have to believe." Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some
of the reasons which suggest that God exists.
But first consider this. When it comes to the possibility of God's
existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient
evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God.
1 On
the other hand, for those who want to know God if he is there, he says,
"You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I
will be found by you."
2 Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself,
If God does exist, would I want to know him? Here then, are some reasons to consider...
1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet
points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but
sustains it today.
Many examples showing God's design could be given, possibly with no end. But here are a few:
The Earth...its size is perfect. The Earth's size
and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and
oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth's surface.
If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the
planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free
hydrogen, like Jupiter.
3 Earth is the only known planet
equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain
plant, animal and human life.
The
Earth is located the right distance from the sun. Consider the
temperature swings we encounter, roughly -30 degrees to +120 degrees. If
the Earth were any further away from the sun, we would all freeze. Any
closer and we would burn up. Even a fractional variance in the Earth's
position to the sun would make life on Earth impossible. The Earth
remains this perfect distance from the sun while it rotates around the
sun at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph. It is also rotating on its axis,
allowing the entire surface of the Earth to be properly warmed and
cooled every day.
And our moon is the perfect size and distance from the Earth for its
gravitational pull. The moon creates important ocean tides and movement
so ocean waters do not stagnate, and yet our massive oceans are
restrained from spilling over across the continents.
4
Water...colorless, odorless and without taste, and
yet no living thing can survive without it. Plants, animals and human
beings consist mostly of water (about two-thirds of the human body is
water). You'll see why the characteristics of water are uniquely suited
to life:
It has an unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water
allows us to live in an environment of fluctuating temperature changes,
while keeping our bodies a steady 98.6 degrees.
Water
is a universal solvent. This property of water means that various
chemicals, minerals and nutrients can be carried throughout our bodies
and into the smallest blood vessels.
5
Water is also chemically neutral. Without affecting the makeup of the
substances it carries, water enables food, medicines and minerals to be
absorbed and used by the body.
Water has a unique surface tension. Water in plants can therefore
flow upward against gravity, bringing life-giving water and nutrients to
the top of even the tallest trees.
Water freezes from the top down and floats, so fish can live in the winter.
Ninety-seven percent of the Earth's water is in the oceans. But on
our Earth, there is a system designed which removes salt from the water
and then distributes that water throughout the globe. Evaporation takes
the ocean waters, leaving the salt, and forms clouds which are easily
moved by the wind to disperse water over the land, for vegetation,
animals and people. It is a system of purification and supply that
sustains life on this planet, a system of recycled and reused water.
6
The human brain...simultaneously processes an
amazing amount of information. Your brain takes in all the colors and
objects you see, the temperature around you, the pressure of your feet
against the floor, the sounds around you, the dryness of your mouth,
even the texture of your keyboard. Your brain holds and processes all
your emotions, thoughts and memories. At the same time your brain keeps
track of the ongoing functions of your body like your breathing pattern,
eyelid movement, hunger and movement of the muscles in your hands.
The human brain processes more than a million messages a second.
7
Your brain weighs the importance of all this data, filtering out the
relatively unimportant. This screening function is what allows you to
focus and operate effectively in your world. The brain functions
differently than other organs. There is an intelligence to it, the
ability to reason, to produce feelings, to dream and plan, to take
action, and relate to other people.
The eye...can distinguish among seven million
colors. It has automatic focusing and handles an astounding 1.5 million
messages -- simultaneously.
8 Evolution focuses on mutations
and changes from and within existing organisms. Yet evolution alone does
not fully explain the initial source of the eye or the brain -- the
start of living organisms from nonliving matter.
2. Does God exist? The universe had a start - what caused it?
Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous
explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang. This was
the singular start to everything that exists: the beginning of the
universe, the start of space, and even the initial start of time itself.
Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic, stated,
"The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in
that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature
in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in
motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion...The Universe flashed into
being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen."
9
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, said at the moment of
this explosion, "the universe was about a hundred thousands million
degrees Centigrade...and the universe was filled with light."
10
The universe has not always existed. It had a start...what caused
that? Scientists have no explanation for the sudden explosion of light
and matter.
3. Does God exist? The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?
Much of life may seem uncertain, but look at what we can count on day
after day: gravity remains consistent, a hot cup of coffee left on a
counter will get cold, the earth rotates in the same 24 hours, and the
speed of light doesn't change -- on earth or in galaxies far from us.
How is it that we can identify laws of nature that
never change? Why is the universe so orderly, so reliable?
"The greatest scientists have been struck by how strange this is.
There is no logical necessity for a universe that obeys rules, let alone
one that abides by the rules of mathematics. This astonishment springs
from the recognition that the universe doesn't have to behave this way.
It is easy to imagine a universe in which conditions change
unpredictably from instant to instant, or even a universe in which
things pop in and out of existence."
11
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics,
said, "Why nature is mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there are
rules at all is a kind of miracle."
12
4. Does God exist? The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.
All
instruction, all teaching, all training comes with intent. Someone who
writes an instruction manual does so with purpose. Did you know that in
every cell of our bodies there exists a very detailed instruction code,
much like a miniature computer program? As you may know, a computer
program is made up of ones and zeros, like this: 110010101011000. The
way they are arranged tell the computer program what to do. The DNA code
in each of our cells is very similar. It's made up of four chemicals
that scientists abbreviate as A, T, G, and C. These are arranged in the
human cell like this: CGTGTGACTCGCTCCTGAT and so on. There are three
billion of these letters in every human cell!!
Well, just like you can program your phone to beep for specific
reasons, DNA instructs the cell. DNA is a three-billion-lettered program
telling the cell to act in a certain way. It is a full instruction
manual.
13
Why
is this so amazing? One has to ask....how did this information program
wind up in each human cell? These are not just chemicals. These are
chemicals that instruct, that code in a very detailed way exactly how
the person's body should develop.
Natural, biological causes are completely lacking as an explanation
when programmed information is involved. You cannot find instruction,
precise information like this, without someone intentionally
constructing it.
5. Does God exist? We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.
I was an atheist at one time. And like many atheists, the issue of
people believing in God bothered me greatly. What is it about atheists
that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting
something that we don't believe even exists?! What causes us to do that?
When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those
poor, delusional people...to help them realize their hope was completely
ill-founded. To be honest, I also had another motive. As I challenged
those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could
convince me otherwise. Part of my quest was to become free from the
question of God. If I could conclusively prove to believers that they
were wrong, then the issue is off the table, and I would be free to go
about my life.
I
didn't realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on
my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out
that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we
would know him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he
keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. It was as if I
couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God. In fact, the day I
chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began with, "Ok, you
win..." It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by
people believing in God is because God is actively pursuing them.
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge,
socialist and philosophical author, wrote, "I had a notion that somehow,
besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered,
"...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second
from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so
earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God,
and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and
reluctant convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result
of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than rightfully
admitting God's existence. Yet over the following several months, I
became amazed by his love for me.
6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of
God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God
revealing himself to us.
Why Jesus? Look throughout the major world religions and you'll find
that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as
teachers or prophets. None of them ever claimed to be equal to God.
Surprisingly, Jesus did. That is what sets Jesus apart from all the
others. He said God exists and you're looking at him. Though he talked
about his Father in heaven, it was not from the position of separation,
but of very close union, unique to all humankind. Jesus said that anyone
who had seen Him had seen the Father, anyone who believed in him,
believed in the Father.
He said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
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He claimed attributes belonging only to God: to be able to forgive
people of their sin, free them from habits of sin, give people a more
abundant life and give them eternal life in heaven. Unlike other
teachers who focused people on their words, Jesus pointed people to
himself. He did not say, "follow my words and you will find truth." He
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father
but through me."
15
What proof did Jesus give for claiming to be divine?
He did what people can't do. Jesus performed miracles. He healed
people...blind, crippled, deaf, even raised a couple of people from the
dead. He had power over objects...created food out of thin air, enough
to feed crowds of several thousand people. He performed miracles over
nature...walked on top of a lake, commanding a raging storm to stop for
some friends. People everywhere followed Jesus, because he constantly
met their needs, doing the miraculous. He said if you do not want to
believe what I'm telling you, you should at least believe in me based on
the miracles you're seeing.
16
Jesus Christ showed God to be gentle, loving, aware of our
self-centeredness and shortcomings, yet deeply wanting a relationship
with us. Jesus revealed that although God views us as sinners, worthy of
his punishment, his love for us ruled and God came up with a different
plan. God himself took on the form of man and accepted the punishment
for our sin on our behalf. Sounds ludicrous? Perhaps, but many loving
fathers would gladly trade places with their child in a cancer ward if
they could. The Bible says that the reason we would love God is because
he first loved us.
Jesus died in our place so we could be forgiven. Of all the religions
known to humanity, only through Jesus will you see God reaching toward
humanity, providing a way for us to have a relationship with him. Jesus
proves a divine heart of love, meeting our needs, drawing us to himself.
Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, he offers us a new life
today. We can be forgiven, fully accepted by God and genuinely loved by
God. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I
have continued my faithfulness to you."
17 This is God, in action.
Does God exist? If you want to know, investigate Jesus Christ. We're
told that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
18
God does not force us to believe in him, though he could. Instead, he
has provided sufficient proof of his existence for us to willingly
respond to him. The earth's perfect distance from the sun, the unique
chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of people
who attest to knowing God, the gnawing in our hearts and minds to
determine if God is there, the willingness for God to be known through
Jesus Christ. If you need to know more about Jesus and reasons to
believe in him, please see:
Beyond Blind Faith.
If you want to begin a relationship with God now, you can.
This is your decision, no coercion here. But if you want to be
forgiven by God and come into a relationship with him, you can do so
right now by asking him to forgive you and come into your life.
If you want to do this, but aren't sure how to put it into words, this
may help: "allah, thank you for dying for my sins. You know my life and
that I need to be forgiven. I ask you to forgive me right now and come
into my life. I want to know you in a real way. Come into my life now.
Thank you that you wanted a relationship with me. Amen."
God views your relationship with him as permanent. Referring to all
those who believe in him
Looking at all these facts, one can conclude that a loving God does exist and can be known in an intimate, personal way.
চাকরিই
আপনাকে খুঁজবে—পেশাদারি প্রশিক্ষণ বা চাকরি খোঁজার ওয়েবসাইটের বিজ্ঞাপনে
এমন কথা শোনা যায়। বাংলাদেশের তরুণ মেহেদী বখতের ক্ষেত্রে এমনটাই ঘটেছে।
তাঁকে খুঁজে বের করেছে এমন এক প্রতিষ্ঠান, যেখানে কাজ করাটা মেধাবী অনেকের
কাছে স্বপ্নের মতো। প্রতিষ্ঠানের নামটা ফেসবুক। 
আগাগোড়া মেধাবী
