Does God Really Exist?

How Can I Know That God Is Real?


Christianity is a logical faith.
You don't commit intellectual suicide when you believe the Bible!
 
God has put Himself on record so that we can test and prove Him.  He does not expect us to follow Him blindly!  The Bible's book of Isaiah gives us God's way for us to test, or prove, that He does exist.  It is true that God was talking about stone and wood gods at the time, but if this is His way for us to tell if something is a "god" then we can also use it to test for a "GOD" as well.

This test is not just Biblical, it is very logical too.  Even though it is a test that God Himself gave for us to use, because it also stands to reason we can be assured that it is a very valid test.

OK, here's the test.  It's found in Isaiah 41:22,23 :

The KJV reads like this:
"Let them bring [them] forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they [be], that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.  Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye [are] gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold [it] together."

The NIV puts it this way:
"Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen.  Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome.  Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods.  ..."

The NLT puts it this way:
“Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence.  Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what’s going to happen.  Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead. Then we will know you are gods."

The above verses show that prophecy (being able to accurately tell the future) is the test that God really wants us to use.  Telling us ahead of time that a very specific event will take place at a very specific time is God's way of proving that He really does exist.  As stated before, this is a very logical test.

Many times in the Bible God has said something like, "I'm telling you this now so that when it happens you will know that ... I AM."



Here are just two examples:
Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I [am] the Lord GOD.  Ezekiel 24:24
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure  Isaiah 46:9,10
The Bible is full of prophecies that have been fulfilled.  For example:

The Daniel 8 & 9 Timeline shows that the Prophet Daniel predicted over 500 hundred years before Jesus, exactly when Jesus would be baptized, when He would be killed, and if that was not enough he told us when things on this earth would begin to drastically change as far as the amount of knowledge we have.

The Daniel 2 Timeline is a simple illustration of how God has shown us ahead of time what the kingdoms of this world would look like.  We can now look back and see how this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter.

There are over 300 OT prophecies speaking specifically of Jesus Christ.  Read the astonishing article of how Mathematics & Astronomy Professor Peter W. Stoner proves that Jesus is who He says He is.

"Unbelief will ever find excuse for doubt, and will reason away the most positive proof."  
The Desire of Ages, page 386

"God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith."  
Steps to Christ, page 105

God does exist!
He is saying, "I AM...I am really here and I care about you".



Further study:
Was/Is Jesus really the Messiah?  Or was He just a liar and a fake?  Click here for mathematical proof.
Is there an argument outside of the Bible for the existence of God?  Here is an unaffiliated web page.
And here is an ABC News page that claims God's existance can be proven using a laptop.

Jesus' Baptism and Anointing (God audibly speaks to Jesus the first time.)

Jesus' Baptism and Anointing - (God audibly speaks to Jesus the first time.)

Matthew 3:13-17
Mark 1:9-11
Luke 3:21-23
John (none found in John)
(Also see Acts 10:37, 38)


Matthew
3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
3:14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer [it to be so] now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Mark
1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
1:10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, [saying], Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Luke
3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was [the son] of Heli,

For further study read:
The Baptism
Also read:
What is Baptism?

The Ministry of Jesus

The Ministry of Jesus



One purpose of this timeline is to show that all 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are in complete harmony with each other even though they were written from 4 totally different perspectives, but the most important purpose is to show how much God really loves us.

The healing and preaching ministry of Jesus lasted only 3 1/2 years.  (This was predicted in the prophecy of Daniel 9 and is shown on the Daniel 8 & 9 Timeline.)  The Devil had falsely accused God of being unfair, unkind, unloving and unjust.  Jesus' focus was to show God's true character to everyone; to show that God's character was very fair, very kind, very loving and very just.

"It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross."
The Desire of Ages, page 83

"Many of the words and acts of Jesus appear mysterious to finite minds, but every word and act had its definite purpose in the work for our redemption; each was calculated to produce its own result."
The Desire of Ages, page 393
"When the Savior began His ministry, the popular conception of the Messiah and His work was such as wholly unfitted the people to receive Him. The spirit of true devotion had been lost in tradition and ceremonialism, and the prophecies were interpreted at the dictate of proud, world-loving hearts."
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, page 1

All of Jesus' ministry was spent for the good of people.  Even when He drove the animal dealers and "money changers" from the Temple, He was doing it for the good of all people, even for the good of those He drove out.  (They were just interested in money, but He wanted to give them something far better; eternal life and real happiness.)

"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' 1 Corinthians 3:11. 'Upon this rock,' said Jesus, 'I will build My church.' In the presence of God, and all the heavenly intelligences, in the presence of the unseen army of hell, Christ founded His church upon the living Rock. That Rock is Himself,--His own body, for us broken and bruised. Against the church built upon this foundation, the gates of hell shall not prevail."

"For six thousand years, faith has built upon Christ. For six thousand years the floods and tempests of satanic wrath have beaten upon the Rock of our salvation; but it stands unmoved."  (Quotes from the book The Desire of Ages, page 413.)

Another purpose of this timeline is to assist you as you try to "visualize" when one event happened in relation to another.  Of course, only a few of the events in the ministry of Jesus are on this timeline, but there are enough to help us see a little of God's love and to help us realize a little of what Jesus went through just to save us from the results of sin.

(To read about the life of Jesus from birth to resurrection and ascension in a story format read it free here: The Desire of Ages.  Many people feel that this is the best book on the life of Christ that has ever been written.)

40 DAY JOURNEY WITH DIETRICH BONHOEFFER Day 17

Day 17

Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace.

Cheap grace means grace as bargain-basement goods, cut-rate forgive­ness, cut-rate comfort, cut-rate sacraments; grace as the church’s inexhaustible pantry, from which it is doled out by careless hands without hesitation or limit. It is grace without a price, without cost…

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, as principle, as system. It means forgiveness of sins as a general truth; it means God’s love as merely a Christian idea of God. Those who affirm it have already had their sins forgiven. The church that teaches this doctrine of grace thereby conveys such grace upon itself. The world finds in this church a cheap cover-up for its sins, for which it shows no remorse and from which it has even less desire to be free. Cheap grace is, thus, denial of God’s living Word, denial of the incarnation of the word of God.

Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner. Because grace alone does everything, everything can stay in its old ways. “Our action is in vain.” The world remains world and we remain sinners “even in the best of lives.” Thus, the Christian should live the same way the world does. In all things the Christian should go along with the world and not venture…to live a different life under grace from that under sin…

Cheap grace is that which we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance; it is baptism without the discipline of community; it is the Lord’s Supper without confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the living, incarnate Jesus Christ.

Biblical Wisdom
What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:15-18

Questions to Ponder
Why is it that the church so often proclaims and dispenses “cheap grace”?
What happens to the “saltiness” of disciples in a church that “conveys such [cheap] grace upon itself”?
What does it mean to say that cheap grace is “grace without the living, incarnate Jesus Christ”?
Psalm Fragment
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
   and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
   and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
   and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:10-12

Journal Reflections
In your journal make a list of all the characteristics of cheap grace that Bonhoeffer identifies.
Do you find any of these characteristics in your own life or in the life of your community of faith? If so, reflect on them in your journal.
Intercessions
Think of the proclamation and practice of your community of faith and pray that they would be free of cheap grace.

Prayer for Today
Lord, you love me with an everlasting love. Deliver me from cheap grace that I may respond to your love with my whole life.

40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.

40 DAY JOURNEY WITH DIETRICH BONHOEFFER Day 16

Day 16

“You are the salt”․not “You should be the salt”! The disciples are given no choice whether they want to be salt or not. No appeal is made to them to become the salt of the earth. Rather they just are salt whether they want to be or not, by the power of the call which has reached them. You are the salt․not “you have the salt.” It would diminish the meaning to equate the disciples’ message with salt, as the reformers did. What is meant is their whole existence, to the extent that it is newly grounded in Christ’s call to discipleship, that existence of which the Beatitudes speak. All those who follow Jesus’ call to discipleship are made by that call to be the salt of the earth in their whole existence.

Biblical Wisdom
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” Matthew 5:13

Questions to Ponder
What are the qualities of salt that make it an apt metaphor for Jesus’ disciples?
If Christ’s call to discipleship changes our whole existence, in what ways should the disciple’s life be different from those who have not heard or ­accepted the call?
Is there any area of a disciple’s life that is exempt from the call to be the salt of the earth? Explain.
Psalm Fragment
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
   and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
   for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
   and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
   give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:34-37

Journal Reflections
How does it feel to understand yourself as the salt of the earth?
How salty are you?
List the ways in which you are salt in your family, workplace, and community.
Intercessions
Think of places in your community where “salt” is needed. Pray for your community of faith that it may be up to the call to be salt in those places.

Prayer for Today
Lord, in response to your call, I want to be who you have made me, the salt of the earth.

40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.