Reading: Introduction to the Question

Does God Exist?

One of the biggest arguments in philosophy has to do with the existence of God. There are any number of people who have contended that God exists and they are able to marshal many differing arguments as to the reason they make the claim. But, as we saw in the week we looked at arguments, every argument is in some way or other able to be debated. Very few arguments are able to simply stand on their own. The arguments for God are similar.

As people who believe that God is real and that he has revealed himself in the general revelation of the creation and in the special revelation of the Holy Scriptures, we take the existence of God for granted. But that does not mean that we should simply leave it at that. There are many with whom we will come into contact in the course of our ministry who will challenge the fact of God’s existence.

  A common challenge to the Christian faith is based on the concept of a definition of God which argues that God is, by definition good, and God is, by definition, all powerful. So in the face of a world that is hostile to the Christian faith, we find people asking, “Where is God when things go horribly wrong?” When the earth groans with an earthquake and thousands of people, or even just one, lose their lives, the question arises, “Where was God in this event?” If God is all powerful, why did he not stop this event from happening? If he is good, why did he allow this to go on?  Both of these are difficult to respond to as we face them ourselves.

As those who engage the world around us as Christians, we desire to have our faith in God be a central aspect of our teaching. But when confronted with the philosophical issues of the existence of God, how do we respond.

This week, we will look at a few historical philosophers who have attempted to give account of the existence of a good, all powerful God to a world that is skeptical of his greatness and his love. The Belgic Confession which was written in 1561 for the Calvinistic churches of Europe begins like this:

Article 1: The Only God

We all believe in our hearts
and confess with our mouths
that there is a single
and simple
spiritual being,
whom we call God—

eternal,
incomprehensible,
invisible,
unchangeable,
infinite,
almighty;
completely wise,
just,
and good,
and the overflowing source

of all good.

Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God

We know God by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government
of the universe,
since that universe is before our eyes
like a beautiful book

in which all creatures,
great and small,
are as letters
to make us ponder
the invisible things of God:

God’s eternal power and divinity,
as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.

All these things are enough to convict humans
and to leave them without excuse.

Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly
by his holy and divine Word,
as much as we need in this life,

for God’s glory
and for our salvation.

In article one the confession specifically states that God is incomprehensible and invisible, so our normal human means of knowing God are simply set aside. There is only one way to know God, that is, to believe in his self-revelation. It comes to us in two different ways. The first way is by

“… the creation, preservation, and government
of the universe,
since that universe is before our eyes
like a beautiful book…”

We  begin our pursuit of the question of God with the argument called the ontological argument which was famously set forth by St. Anselm when he was archbishop of Canterbury in the late years of the first millennium.