From every quarter the basic foundations of the Christian faith are being questioned, challenged, and ridiculed. People are searching for answers and it is part of the Christian’s calling to provide responses to the challenges being leveled at the very deity Christians profess to believe in. Can Christians really answer the challenges? Does the Adventist message provide a clear and unique answer for our faith?

One of the primary challenges of Christianity is to offer proof that God actually exists. Although we might not be able to answer every question concerning God, there are enough answers to provide good reasons to believe in His existence. Seventh-day Adventists need to be able to provide powerful arguments to agnostics, atheists, and those struggling with doubt, especially in light of our claim to be God’s remnant people. Are we able to give clear reasons and arguments for our faith?

Often those who challenge God’s existence do so because they know nothing else. They have either been indoctrinated through the secular educational system, some other religion, or someone they trust, or they have developed a hatred for Christianity and its God because of “Christians” themselves who have misrepresented the cause of God. Sadly, it may even be all of the above. The choice to reject or accept the God of Christianity is a choice people have made, based upon valid or invalid evidences. They do not have superior evidence or knowledge. The average atheist, agnostic, or humanist would have a very hard time producing the evidence that could clearly substantiate his or her beliefs. Another far more serious problem, however, is that most Christians also cannot produce enough evidence to substantiate why they believe what they do. The result is that there are Christians who choose to be Christians for the very same reasons that motivate the beliefs of non-Christians. Ignorance rules the day.

For the average human being, trapped in the confines of our three-dimensional earthly paradigm, Christian or not, it is impossible to answer the question of God’s existence by producing or revealing God in some physically visible form. Jesus declares: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him]” (John 1:18). If you debated the existence of the Queen of England, I could easily offer visible evidence of her existence. At the very least I could show you a photograph or produce a few witnesses who have actually seen her in the flesh. To offer such proof of God is, of course, impossible.

The fact that the Bible states: “the fool hath said in his heart, [There is] no God” (Psalms 14:1), does not have any effect on an atheist who, for whatever reason, has come to the conclusion that God does not exist. The Bible might call such a person a fool, but in most cases, such people are blissfully unaware of their foolishness. If somebody challenged you about the existence of God it would, indeed, be foolishness to quote Psalms 14:1. The person couldn’t care less about what the Bible has to say, and the use of Scripture in such a case would only serve to antagonize them. Other methods need to be used to eventually lead them to the Bible or, at the very least, cause them to question their own beliefs. 

If somebody challenged you by stating, “prove to me that God exists,” you could just as easily respond by saying, “prove to me that he does not exist.” You see, for the believer and skeptic alike, the challenge remains the same. The question should not really be about whether I can prove that God exists or not. The question is rather: “is there evidence that proves that God exists or does the evidence show he does not?” On this level the challenge becomes a very different one.

The skeptic might say that the violence, poverty, and moral condition of the world prove that there is no God. Does the Bible not say that, “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4)? Does it not say in the first epistle of John that the very nature of God “is love” (1 John 4:8)? A God who claims to be a God of love would never allow this to happen. The very fact that it is happening is proof that there is no God.

This statement, however, does not prove that there is no God. It simply invokes another question: “who says that God is a God of love, fairness, and justice?” Perhaps there is a god, but he might simply be a god of inequality, hatred, and injustice. The Bible does say that there is someone who has tried to put himself in the place of God and who is, in a primary sense, the cause of sin and suffering. With reference to Lucifer, the Scripture states: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” (Isaiah 14:13). The fact that evil exists could simply be proof of the controversy between the true God and the one who has attempted to usurp God’s authority. Just because there is evil in this world does not provide conclusive proof for the non-existence of a god, whatever his character might be. These things, when correctly understood, may very well be prime evidence for his existence. The skeptic who questions the existence of God based on the condition of this world and the character of its inhabitants needs to be told that this very condition actually serves as proof that there is a God, as ironic as that may sound.

An evolutionist might say that science proves that there is no God. According to scientists, enough evidence has been discovered to prove that matter came into being as the result of a big bang.  Of course, this is not evidence for the non-existence of God. The only thing that the evolutionary paradigm does is attempt to challenge the Genesis account of the origins of life. It does not, as some may claim, refute the Genesis account. It is simply another paradigm based on interpretation and observation and the evolutionary theory is not even the unanimous opinion of all scientists. Even the scientific world is divided on how they interpret the evidences for the origin of life. The science of evolution is not proof that there is no God.

Previous discoveries that man has made through science are being challenged and, in many cases, even refuted by new scientific evidence. This underscores the fact that man’s science is fallible. For example, we know so little about how the human brain functions. Neurologists admit that the more they discover about the brain the more they realize how little they really know about it. If we know so little about ourselves, how can we even begin to be emphatic in our belief that there is no God?

The evidence provided by scientific discovery does not serve to refute the existence of God. The little we have discovered and invented in the last hundred years is simply evidence of the fact that we have yet much more to learn. Yet, this very brain which we do not use to its maximum and know so little about is the same brain that seems to be able to comprehend that there is no God.

One of the prime reasons for humankind’s resistance to the existence of God is a desire to be the ultimate form of life. Some may call this arrogance. At the very least, it is ignorance. Perhaps it is both—in humankind’s arrogance is found its most profound moment of ignorance. Humanity has been deceived into believing the lie that Lucifer deceived himself with in heaven. Lucifer later presented the same lie to Eve in the Garden of Eden: "in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:5). There seems to be an intrinsic desire in the heart of man to be the ultimate—to be a god, to never answer to any higher being or divinity. But as hard as it is to admit, we are not all-knowing. This knowledge alone should cause us to question whether we know enough about anything to be able to say that there is no God.

When fingerprints or DNA are gathered at the scene of a crime, they are retained as evidence that may ultimately help investigators find the perpetrator of the crime. The fingerprints or DNA are not the actual criminal, but their witness is so conclusive that they will be able to match only one person.

The DNA or fingerprints of God are to be found in the natural world around us. Everything in nature, imperfect though it may be at present, bears constant witness to the existence of God. In many ways, there is also DNA and fingerprints in this world that reveal a crime scene of massive proportions, the originator of which is Lucifer. The terrible scenes taking place on planet Earth bear witness of the existence of a wicked entity. These negative things lend veracity to the claims God has made in the Bible concerning Himself, Creation, and the origin and continued existence of evil.

The existence of trees, water, land, animals, and humans, not to mention the existence of the vast expanses of the universe, is certainly evidence of something, whether it was some cosmic accident that took place billions of years ago or whether it was a Divine act. Concerning the testimony of nature the Psalmist writes that, “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). 

Everything that man constructs or invents is proof that an intelligent mind designed and brought it into existence. Yet in spite of this men still choose to believe that all this evidence of design that exists in the natural world is not the result of an ultimate designer but rather the result of some freak accident. In other words, the existence of design in the natural world is simply evidence of a chance event. Even idiots do not believe that an explosion in a steel factory produced the Eiffel Tower. Someone once said that it actually takes more faith to believe in the theory of evolution than it takes to believe in a supreme being who designed and created the universe. Perhaps they have a point.

There is no evidence that is even vaguely conclusive that there is no God. When an atheist says, “there is no God,” it is simply based on an assumption that he chooses to believe. He has never seen any actual evidence (scientific or otherwise) proving that there is no God. The fact that you cannot see something is not proof that it does not exist. You cannot say that “I have seen there is no God,” or “I know there is no God because I haven’t seen Him.” You cannot look at the evidence of the real world around you and say, “all these things around me are proof that a God does not exist.” The fact that there is something, the fact that the atheist himself exists in the flesh is, at the very least, evidence of some type of origin.

Although it is not possible for a believer in God to provide the person of God—in the flesh—as evidence to support his or her belief, it is, nonetheless possible to offer testimony in history, Scripture, the evidences of nature, and one’s own personal faith experience to support the belief in the existence of God. Everything in the real world, from the smallest microcosm to the activities of animals or people, suggests existence by design.

It is up to each one to choose whether they prefer to have faith in a bang (which they never saw or even have any real present evidence for, other than what fallible human scientists infer from evidence in nature) or whether they would rather have faith in a Supreme Designer that has left evidence in history, nature, the written word, and the testimony of personal faith experiences.

The evolutionist might say to the creationist: “Your model for origins of life is based on an unscientific, Biblical claim. We, on the other hand, base our conclusions on natural evidence and science.” They have the same data available to them. The difference is how they choose to interpret the evidence. And the question for the intelligent seeker of truth is to ask the question: “Where does the weight of evidence really lie?”

The skeptic may still challenge you for believing that there is a God. He may still ridicule you for practicing the Christian faith. But the skeptic will also have to admit that although he does not believe in God, he still believes in and has faith in something, even if that something is the inadequate, volatile, and unsubstantial wisdom of the human mind—”Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).