Bold assertions proclaimed repeatedly, loudly or even angrily may fill a room with noise but that doesn’t make them true. Truth is something that can be sought with humility and grace; it doesn’t require anger or insults. It can stand on its own and isn’t something to be feared, unless we’re unwilling to be changed by it.
Many of the things that atheists confidently affirm make no sense. Unfortunately, not everything they say is based on perfect information and reason nor is it without bias. Like everyone else, they’re only human. There actually are scientific, historical, moral, philosophical, and experiential reasons to conclude that God does exist. This reasoned conclusion need not be based on blind faith. We all have minds and are free to use them.
What makes sense?—A key question for us all to ask is, “What makes the most sense?” Does a universe like ours, which had a beginning and which operates based upon finely tuned laws, make more sense with or without an ultimate cause—a creator? Does the existence of life—all of which looks as though it was designed—that depends upon large amounts of purposeful information, programs and integrated processes, make more sense with or without a designer?
Do our concepts of human worth, morals and purpose make more sense with or without a universal standard? Does human consciousness that extends beyond death make more sense with or without an ultimate conscious source? In summary, does the universe we know and live in make more sense with or without God? My reasoned conclusion is that a universe with God makes more sense.
Our pursuit of truth—Perhaps it’s appropriate for one of the final thoughts in this discourse to be from one who may have pondered the subject of God a bit longer than I. I leave you with a wise observation by Peter Hitchens:
Once you have convinced a fellow-creature of the rightness of a cause, he takes his own direction and lives his own life. It is quite likely that even if you change your mind, he will not change his. Yet you remain at least partly responsible for what he does. Those who write where many listen, had best be careful what they say. Someone is bound to take them seriously, and it really is no good pretending that you didn’t know this.309
No matter what position we believe to be true, we are well served to do so with humility, kindness and good intent. And, as Peter Hitchens says, we bear some responsibility for what others do with the positions we espouse and even the manner in which we espouse them.
If God exists, and I thoroughly believe this to be the case, seeking to know God and his plan for humanity is likely the most noble endeavor we can pursue. However, as we pursue this noble endeavor, let us do so nobly.
309 Peter Hitchens, The Rage Against God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 21.