QUESTION: Can the existence of God be proven?

ANSWER: The Bible does not attempt to "prove" the existence of God; it simply declares Him to be. The very first verse of the Bible says, "In the beginning God..." The Bible also declares that every human has an innate awareness of His existence and that His reality is seen in creation. God is spirit and thus infinite; His being cannot be subjected to physical laws, nor to human experimental methods. However, philosophers have put forth powerful and logical arguments for God's existence, such as the Cosmological Argument (there must be a "first cause"), Teleological Argument (the intelligent "design" of the universe reveals a "Designer"), Ontological Argument (that a finite being can even conceptualize an infinite Creator is evidence of His existence), and several others. Individually, each argument is extremely persuasive, but collectively they are so overwhelming that they put the entire "burden of proof" on the other side of the question-to prove that He does not exist in the face of all the evidence! Perhaps the greatest proof we have (other than observed creation) is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In addition are the objective and subjective effects of His life and ministry. The psalmist, King David, said, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Everybody else knows that there is.