There are at least two good reasons to believe in God: The Creation. The Conscience.
The Creation: Please imagine for a moment that you’re in a museum and you’re admiring a painting. How do you know for sure that a painter existed? Is it possible that the painting came about through paint randomly splattering on the canvas without an artist’s intervention? Of course not! Even though you don’t know who the painter is, and you don’t know if he or she is even alive, you know that there was a painter because the painting itself is the proof! Now consider the museum building. Can you know for sure that there was ever a builder for the building? Of course you can. The building itself is proof that there was a builder. In the same way, when we look at creation, it screams to us that there was a Creator. The creation itself bears witness to the fact that God exists. When we watch a baby being born, or when we study the stars, or when we consider the interaction between a bee and a flower, we must conclude that a great God created all of this. Every painting has a painter, and every building has a builder. Creation has a Creator. The Bible sums this concept up this way, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). In other words, the creation itself demonstrates to us that there is a Creator.
The Conscience: Not only has God given us the creation as evidence for His existence, but He has given us a conscience as well. Consider your conscience. It’s the part in side of us that tells us that we have done wrong. This can not be explained outside of a Theistic worldview. Please take a moment to listen to your conscience. The word comes from “con” which means “with” and “science” which means “knowledge.” “Conscience” literally means “with knowledge” and when you and I do wrong things, we do it “with knowledge” that what we’re doing is wrong. Yet we do it anyway. The Bible calls that “sin” and that’s precisely why it is not enough to merely believe in a “higher power” or mentally assent to believing in some sort of God.
We at Fellowship Bible Church are grateful that you have a desire to know God in a personal way and we sincerely hope what we say here will be helpful.First of all, let us share with you what it means to be saved. According to the Bible, at the beginning of man’s history, he disobeyed the commands of God and lost the close fellowship with Him that he once had. Since that time, the bible tells us that all men (that includes every human being) are “slaves of sin” (Romans 6:17), and spiritually “dead” (Ephesians 2:1). Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins”. Many of us do not consider ourselves to be “dead” in “trespasses and sins” unless we look inside ourselves. Ask yourself, and listen to your conscience, have you ever told a lie? If so, then God sees you as a liar. The Bible says, “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:8). Ask yourself, have you ever stolen anything, even if the value of the object is small? If so, then God sees you as a thief. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that looking with lust is the same thing as committing adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:21). When we examine ourselves and listen to our conscience, we must conclude that we are lying, thieving, adulterers at heart. And God says he “has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31). The Bible says that God put his law on our hearts (Romans 1:18), and that’s why we all know it is wrong to lie, and we all know it is wrong to steal, and we all know it is wrong to commit adultery. We all know this because God has given us a conscience. When we listen to our conscience, we must conclude that we are guilty of breaking God’s law. What is the response of people to this lost condition? In general, it is to undertake a lifestyle of good works in order to regain God’s favor. That’s what human religion is trying to bridge the chasm that separates us and God by our own efforts. Scripture teaches the devastating truth that “no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law” (Romans 3:20 states, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin”). To put it simply, doing good works to earn one’s way to heaven is ineffective. In spite of all of mans efforts, God has pronounced His verdict on us, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God… There is none who does good, there is not even one… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10 12, 23). And so, because of our sin, God has also pronounced the sentence, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). So what is the solution to our monumental dilemma? The Savior, Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ is the solution to our spiritual problem. Many people know that He claimed to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6), but how is Jesus the answer to our separation from God? The Bible tells us that He is our substitute. Hundreds of years before Jesus was put to death on a cross, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried… But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well being fell upon Him… All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:4 6). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul declared, “He (God the Father) made Him who knew no sin (Jesus Christ) to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, Jesus Christ died for our sins when He was executed on the cross. That freed us from the obligation to pay that awful price. And in rising from the dead, He showed that God was satisfied, and gave us abundant, eternal life in Jesus Christ. (John 3:16, 10:10). This is the gospel-the good news that God did what we could never do for ourselves. God (Jesus Christ) came to the earth as a man, lived a sinless life, died as a substitute for us because of our sins, and rose victoriously from the grave, that we might have eternal life in Him. If Jesus died for sinners, does that mean all men are Christians? No. Because the gospel demands a response. It is a free gift, in that we can do nothing to earn it or deserve it, but each individual must accept this gift. Ephesians 2:8 9 tells us “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” There are several biblical truths we must grasp to understand how we may receive the gift of salvation: We must acknowledge we are guilty sinners before God. As we said earlier, every man, woman and child is a law breaker and deserves eternal death. We must repent of our sins. To see your sin as God sees it and then turn from it; to make the commitment to follow Christ in a holy life. Such a commitment is not an announcement that one will never sin again, but it does mean we come to God on His own terms, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives (see Romans 10:9 10,13). We must believe Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, and that He did in fact die for our sins and rise from the dead. Jesus was fully God in human flesh (see John 8:58 and 10:30), But He was also fully man (1 Timothy 2:6). If we refuse to embrace any of these concerning Christ, then we do not believe in the true Person of Jesus Christ. God has promised that if we come to Him in prayer, with a humble, repentant heart, believing in the Person and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, He says, “as many as received Him (Jesus Christ), to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). If this is the desire of your heart, you can make this life changing commitment right now. Remember, this is not merely affirming a belief, but receiving a Person Jesus Christ. If you are ready to commit your life to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you can pray something like this: Father, I acknowledge to You that I am a law breaker, a sinner who deserves hell. But I thank You that Jesus Christ died for my sins so that I can begin a right relationship with You. I thank You for forgiving my sins in Him, and I trust in Him now for life. I commit to follow Him for the rest of my life in obedience to you. Make me the kind of person who is pleasing to You by faith. Amen.
The Bible can be shown to be the true Word of God through internal and external tests. Please consider the internal tests: The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written by over 40 different authors, on different continents, over a time of 1,500 years! Despite this, the Bible remains completely consistent from beginning to end. We find it hard to get 3 people in a room to make up a story and stay consistent. The Bible is no mere book written by men. The Bible also contains many fulfilled prophesies, proving that the Author knew the future with 100% accuracy. We hear about alleged prophets like Nostradamus, but those prophesies are vague at best, and most of them never came true. The Bible is teaming with specific prophesies that all have come true. Consider the many prophesies about Jesus Christ. Hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth, the Hebrew Bible prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem, from the lineage of King David, would be born of a virgin, would be despised and rejected by his own people, and would die a cruel death on the cross. Psalm 22, for example, talks about Jesus’ hands and feet being pierced, and this was written hundreds of years before crucifixion was even invented! There are many more fulfilled prophesies from the Bible. No other book, not theKoran, not the writing of Confucius, no other book can say that it contains 100% accuracy in its prophesies. In addition, the Bible claims to be the Word of God. Many times throughout its pages, it says things like “Thus saith the Lord,” or “And the Lord spoke,” et cetera. Also, Jesus Christ claimed that the Bible was God’s Word. This claim is given credibility since Jesus was the only person ever who could raise himself from the dead. So the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead also bears witness to the truth of the Bible. As for external evidences, the Bible has proven itself to be historically reliable. Very often archeologists will find sites and cities mentioned in the Bible. This is not true of The Book of Mormon, or of other “scriptures.” The Bible has been shown to be historically accurate, despite hundreds of years of skeptics trying in vain to discredit it.
The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Many Bible scholars today are able to read the text in its original language, but for most of us, we rely on a translation. Many skeptics point out that there are many Bible translations, so you can’t be sure which one to trust. In reality, this is a “straw man” argument. The reality is that the differences between reputable translations are minor. Consider 1 Peter 1:13 in two popular translations: The King James Version: “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind” The New International Version: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action” As you can see, there is a difference between the translations in word usage, but not in meaning. They both mean the same thing. No essential doctrine of the Bible is made suspect due to different translations.
Imagine a husband who was caught cheating on his wife. He says to his wife, “I’m so sorry that I fell into adultery. Please forgive me. Please let’s work this out. I’ll do whatever is necessary to help heal our marriage.” Since he appeared sincere, the wife decided that she would swallow her pride and take her husband back. Now imagine the husband says, “Thank you for taking me back. But you know, I liked the excitement of sneaking around with another woman, so if you don’t mind, I’m going back to the bar to pick up a woman.” The fact that the husband could even entertain such a horrible thought, much less state it, shows that he really has not repented of his sin. He still likes it, and is unconcerned that he hurt his wife. His actions reveal that he never really repented in the first place. In the same way, we must come humbly before the Holy Living God, confess our sins, and repent of them. If we continue our life of sin as we did before, that is strong evidence that our repentance was not genuine. True repentance evidences itself through a holy life. Your desires will change, and your wants will change. This is not to say that Christians do not stumble and sin – we do! But when we do we feel horrible about it. If we do not feel horrible about it, that is evidence that we are not truly Christians.
Consider a father and son on an overnight fishing trip to Florida’s everglades. As they start setting up camp, the father says “Okay, son. I’m not going to spoil the weekend with a bunch of rules, so there’s only one rule while we’re down here. We’re in the everglades, and there are alligators out here. You can fish from the dock, but there’s no wading into the water or going out in any of the boats you may find around here. Keep to the dock and you’ll be safe.” Later, while the father was away for a bit, the boy was on the dock fishing. He began eyeing a rowboat tied there next to the dock. Defying the warning of his dad, the boy gets in the boat and pushes himself into the water. The splashing of the fish drew the attention of the alligators. One large alligator came alongside and smacked the little boat with it’s tail. The boat rocked and the boy was thrown out. His father heard his panicked cry just before the boy passed out from fear. Some time later, the boy woke up. He’d been dragged up on the shore. As he sat up and saw his dad laying next to him, he knew immediately that something is wrong. His dad’s face was grey and he was breathing shallow breaths. The boy looked down to see that his dad’s legs had been gnawed by the alligator. Ribbons of flesh hanged from them and he could see bone in places where chunks of flesh had been torn out. Now… what son could look at his father and say, “Wow! Dad, you saved me. It’s amazing. You saved my life. But I can see you’re going to pass out and you’ll probably be out for a while. I have to say, I caught six fish in two hours… that’s as many as we got in two days. And it got really exciting when the alligators started swimming around. So, you don’t mind if while you’re passed out I just push back out in the boat for a little bit… do you?” Such a reaction on the boy’s part would be unthinkable! In the same way, as Christians, we must look at the nails in our Savior’s hands and feet. We must consider the flesh torn off from the Roman whips. Most importantly, we ought to meditate on the wrath of God that was unleashed on the Son of God. When we do that, our attitude ought to be of utmost thankfulness, and we should lovingly serve our Great God all our lives!
This page is not meant to exhaustively answer every question you might have. Please feel free to contact us anytime for more information. We’d love to hear from you!