What evidence supports the existence of God?

Throughout history a number of people including a close advisor to Tzar Alexander and Mark Twain have said that the Jews are proof that there is a God! As prophasized in the Torah and by the prophets...the fate of the Jews is exactly how history has recorded it. It was prophesized that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destoyed twice and the Jews would be killed and exiled: the first time by the Babylonians in 586 BCE (Nebbacanezer) as the surviving Jews spent 70 years in exile; the second time by the Romans (who killed over one million Jews leading up to the Temple destruction and exile) in 70 CE and the suviving Jews spent almost 2000 years in diaspora (as prophesized by the Torah they were "dispersed to the four corners of the earth") returning (as prophesized and part of the everlasting covenant with God) to the Promised Land in 1948 CE and reviving a dead language, Hebrew.

Ultimately, this would depend on the definition of "god". One could choose to call Aristotle's Prime Mover, or First Cause, "god", but this does not relate it to any human description of a god, or assign it any characteristics. Interjecting that this god is intelligent, or is aware of human existence, for instance, has no basis in reality or rational defense. It is a "leap of faith" to suppose anything about the "First Cause".

Answer

General Synopsis:
It is a truth universally acknowledged among those who believe, that the Bible is the Word of God, and is sufficient evidence to support that God exists. Without the Bible, these believers would have no proof.

However, history shows that when certain Native Americans (who had no Bible) were presented with a Biblical doctrine, that they rejected the religious traditions in order to maintain honor to the Great Spirit, who was compared to the same God.

"If your Jesus was among us now, we would accept him as one with the Great Spirit." -- Crazy Horse

Some acceptable "proofs" to consider are as follows:

1. Intelligent life on earth - the human mind
2. Intricacies and varieties of life forms - plants and animals
3. Information - transmitted/received with coding/decoding mechanisms contained in every living cell -- today, especially observations of DNA.
4. Conscience - knowledge of good and evil
5. Free-will - the ability to choose God or not is considered evidence of his character
6. Creativity - the beautiful display by which everything is presented in nature
7. Laws - everything that governs life, order, harmony, and beauty for our intelligent observation
8. Justice - for those who are wrongfully accused or put to death, on those who get away with murders, thefts, selfish greed, adulteries, rapes, sexual perversions, child molestations, child abductions, tortures, deceptions, spiteful destructions, blasphemies, and cheating; and justice for those who are hungry, those who weep, are tormented in life, are empty, broken, lifeless, crushed, abandoned, aborted, rejected, and spit on.

NOTE: These answers are not exclusive to the existence of God. In science, reasons for these truths can be answered or theorized. These "proofs" are not accepted by the scientific community and they do not have any evidential fact to them. Evidence meaning tangible, repeatedly testable proof.

ABOUT JUSTICE:
Those who believe often have strong convictions of their own wrongdoing. Believers often long for justice to be established. They feel that all should be accountable for all the evils being done in the world; it wouldn't be "fair" if the good are buried just like the evil. Is this evidence of God? It certainly supports the character of God as mentioned in the Bible, "The Righteous Judge" who will reveal all the hidden things with the light of justice.

The issue of justice is one of the most convincing evidences, since it relies heavily on laws which govern humankind. Those laws are shown in the Bible, to display evidence to God's character, and that the world will see good judgment in the end for all the evils that have been happening generation to generation, among men.

When someone is comfortable with their life, it's easy to start an argument about whether there is proof of God -- but ask someone who is in jail and hasn't committed a crime, is it God who is unjust, or man? I will bid man's judgment is off. Ask a starving or homeless child what they believe about God; perhaps resentful? They resent not God, but those who have gifts from God, a home, a family, love, support, and food on their table. Sometimes these children are happier without all the luxury, because the gifts they are given mean so much more. Injustice is seen in the rich getting richer and the poor still starving to death; in the innocence of a child being destroyed by the perversion of a man's sick lust. There are obvious sins, crimes, and evils in this world that believers want to see dealt with. If they aren't dealt with, then life truly is a vain cruelty too much to bear!

Some atheists and unbelievers come strongly against Christians for whatever reason, but fail to see their desire for justice, integrity, honor, respect, and order in the world. Those who promote peace should not be destroyed simply because their cause has no "Proof" behind it. There is no proof that doing right will ever prevail in that case; should we all continue to give in to our own desires, assuming the worst? Again, the timeless human conscience testifies as a witness to the evidence, revealing our good vs. evil intentions, and showing the light of what is to come.

"Only the fool says in his heart, there is no God." -Proverbs 14:1

Resources that may be useful for studying this topic include Lee Strobel's The Case for A Creator. Also, John MacArthurs The Battle for The Beginning.

Another answer

[The first answer was supplied by the individual who actually asked the question. This is a statement of fact. And it is most important that the casual reader know that.]

The answer to the question that was asked is simple:

There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that provides proof that God exists. None.

All "proofs" of the existence of God are theological and philosophical. They combine rhetoric and arguments of logic to make the point. But none of the individuals offering "proof" of the existence of God posts any empirical evidence. Any at all. There is a reason for this: there isn't any.

And simply because no physical proof of the beginning of life exists, that doesn't mean that God did it. Any logic suggesting that will have to allow for the arrival of uber-intelligent extraterrestrials who came to an early earth and applied advanced technology (or starter colonies based on their on genetic stock) to initiate life on earth. Why wouldn't the idea of alien life forms be as plausable as the idea that God animated mud with a lightning bolt? "Proof" of one is "proof" of the other.

Does that mean that God does not exist? No, it does not. Science is incomplete in many ways. It has "cracks" in it. And more than one post has offered that God lives in the cracks. How absurd. God lives in the hearts of man. He always has. And He will continue to do so. He is, after all, God.

Answer

The person who asked, then answered this question looks to the Bible for that evidence, saying, 'Without the Bible, these believers would have no proof.' The Bible does indeed report ancient Hebrew people actually seeing God - so, if those reports could be verified, they would be prima facie evidence of the existence of God. However, the reports were written centuries after the supposed events and could be considered to be coloured by legend and conviction. Objectively, reports at such a distance in time are no more reliable than a twenty-first century belief that only King Arthur of medieval times could pull the sword from a rock. Moreover, biblical accounts of the prophets' personal acquaintances with God are so contradictory as to defy logical explanation. It remains a matter of faith, and faith alone, that the biblical accounts are correct.

Answer

We can prove the existence of God in much the same way we prove the existence of anything else. There is a single common denominator that links all things, the earth, humans, animals, the moon and galaxies together. Even the toughest of skeptics and critics alike would need to rethink and/or concede to this one very important element. And that is ' mathematics ' which is defined as '..any form of calculation'. All things can be broken down into a mathematical equation. For instance, we set our watches according to the atomic clock which is set to the movement of the planets to an accuracy of within 2/10,000ths of a second. An incredible mathematical feat. Precision is not an accident. 'Calculation' requires a living, thinking mind and is not the result of an accident or thing which begs the question, " Where did the math come from?". We can safely conclude that numbers do not lie. The source of all these calculations leads only to one single all knowing entity. God is a mathematician to the 'nth' degree.

The Evidence is Very Simple

Just look around you and you will find the evidence everywhere. It is around you, within you, above you, below you, and even right there next to you. You say this is not evidence! If I showed you the simpliest man-made object, would you not immediately know it was made by man--an intelligent creature? So then, how is it that you do not recognize that objects, far more complicated than man can create, were created by God? If I showed you a robot, would you not know it was created by man? Then why is it that if I show you a human being, a far more complicated object than a robot, you do not know it was created by God? And why is it that man's inventions have resulted from a process of "evolution" guided by man's intellect but God could not have used this same "evolutionary" process in creating his inventions? If man can guide the "evolutionary process" from Thomas Edison's first primitive phonograph to today's DVD's, then why could God not have guided the "evolutionary process" from carbon to man? If I showed you a DVD player, you would reject , as nonsense, the notion that it was created by chance without the intervention of man, so why, then, do you not reject the notion that man, a far more sophisticated invention, was created by chance without the intervention of God?

You need no more evidence than seeing an invention created by man to know it was created by man, so why then do you need more evidence than seeing an invention created by God to know it was created by Him? If a simple DVD player could not have been created without the intervention of an intelligent being, then what makes you think a human could have been created without the intervention of an intelligent being? Since the nature of a simple DVD player is suficient evidence to prove the existence of an intelligent being, then why is the nature of a human being not sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a being of superior intelligence and ability?

Evolution and God

If man can choose the tools he will use to create his works, then why could not God have chosen evolution as the tool to create His? If humans are at the top of the evolutionary process, then why do we not possess the superior attributes of some animals? If evolution is based on the perpetuation of superior survival traits, or the "survival of the fitest," then why, since many superior survival traits existed in animals long before humans existed, do humans not possess these traits? Why did not the evolutionary process result in humans inheriting the superior traits that already existed in the animals from whom humans evolved? For example, many animals have a far superior immune system than humans so why, through the evolutionary process, did humans not inherit the immune system from the creatures from whom they evolved? Certainly, it could not be because this immune system would not be advantageous to humans. Why are their so many superior traits possessed by the animals, from who we evolved, that the evolutionary process failed to provide us with? Could it be that the evolutionary process was not guided "by chance," or simply the perpetuation of superior attributes, but, instead, by an intelligent being who, as evolution progressed, decided what traits he wanted each species to possess?

You ask: "What evidence supports the existence of God?" I ask: "What evidence supports the lack of God's involvement in the evolutionary process? I ask: "If God was not involved in guiding the evolutionary process, then why is the physical structure of humans far more frail than that of the animals from whom humans evolved?"

First answer by Dynamis. Last edit by Tsve. Contributor trust: 2 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 31 [recommend question]