We can say without a doubt that God exists. You may choose to disagree with this statement, but an opinion does not change the truth. One way that we can know or at least suspect that God exists is by looking at nature. When we look at the world around us we can observe that there is a great complexity to everything, from a single cell, or a tree, or the sun, or even our own bodies. We also have established that in nature there are unchangeable laws which we are governed by. These tangible things should lead us to the conclusion that there exists someone who is much greater than us, and who is capable of such an incredible and intricate design. We should be able at least come to reason that behind every design is a designer and every fathomable law there is a lawgiver.
Another way we can gather that God exists is through our own instinct. If we are honest and open enough we do know inherently that God exists because He made us to know Him. We also at least expect to meet God when we die. But many people deny these facts, but once again it doesn’t change the truth. Whether by surrounding nature or by instinct, this will only give us a partial knowledge of God, so these only point us to the knowledge that God exists.
So how can we confirm whether God exists or not? God reveals Himself to us through the Bible (which is also referred to as God’s Word or Scripture). The Bible, may be considered as a long letter from God to us, those He created. It is His way of communicating to us about Himself and the truth that He desires for us to know and believe, and how we are to respond to Him. In the Bible the words of God are recorded. The Bible also reveals the way that He views us and what He has done for us. What the Bible contains is absolute truth, and no one has ever been able to demonstrate that it is not true, that it contradicts itself, or contains any errors when it was given to us by God. The self claim of the Bible is that it is true - Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth (John 17:17). In addition - All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The term inspired by God means that it is breathed out by God, or in simpler terms - that the contents of the Bible originate from God Himself. There is no other way, whether it be the Koran, The Book of Mormon, or any other writings by which we can definitively and personally know God, except through His Word, the Bible.
Who is God? What does the Bible tells us about God? The Bible begins without any suggestion that God was created, but instead He is the Creator. Genesis 1:1 states - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth - God is the all powerful Creator having made all things according to nature and will. Since He created all things, He also is all knowing about everything without any limit otherwise he would not be God. In another place in the Bible God says this about Himself - I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). And in Isaiah 44:6b-7a - 'I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. 'And who is like Me? What this means is that God is telling us that He always has existed, or in other words He is eternal - with no beginning or end.
There will never be a time that God will cease to exist. This also tells us that God is everywhere at once. There is no place where we can be that He is not present, and He sees everything that we do whether good or bad. In addition we understand that God is independent of His creation and exists without the power of any external influences. He is the highest authority and power and therefore reveals to us that He is - Almighty (Genesis17:1). In contrast all living creatures are dependent upon things, people, and the often forgotten bottom line - on God.
What is God like? We are told this in Genesis 1:26-27 - Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Now this passage reveals to us several important truths, of which we will examine a few of them. At the start of this statement, God uses the words ‘let us.’ This reveals to us, that God’s nature is one, yet He exists as a composite unity. The Bible expresses our Creator God as - One God in three Persons. There is only one true God in this world, who exists in three persons - any others who claim to be ‘God’ or a god, are indeed false. We have given this union the term ‘trinity’ to express this reality. God then is three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and each of these three persons are God. We alternately express it in this way - God is: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We also learn that not only is God the Creator of the heavens and the earth, He also created people - you and me in His own image. Therefore God is also a personal God, who is not some kind of force, power, or thing. He posses emotion, intellect, and will. God is a just and righteous Creator. He is a sovereign God who is the supreme ruler of the universe and everything that it contains, including you and me. Therefore God establishes what is right and wrong - and not man - and He calls people to obey Him, and establishes the just results for those who obey or disobey Him. God is so great we cannot know Him comprehensively, but what is revealed to us is sufficient for you to enter into a personal relationship with Him. He even has a unique personal name which is Yahweh (YHWH). Of greatest blessing for us is that we can come to know and understand God personally through the Bible.
One important and defining character of God is that He is holy - this means that God is set apart from - exhaustively unlike any other entity that claims to be divine, or even a deity. In the book of Isaiah 6:3 we have a declaration about God, it states - "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3). God’s holiness speaks to the fact that He is righteous in all His ways. This means that God is perfect, that everything that He does and thinks is pure. There is nothing that He does which is evil. Because God is holy, and when we look around us and even at our self, we find that there is some disconnect between the way that God is and the way that we are. Therefore we need to understand something about mankind (please read Post 2 to find out).
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