Is God Real?

For most of human history, educated people have assumed that the universe always was. Albert Einstein spoiled the punch when his theory of general relativity predicted an expanding universe. Because if the universe is expanding, it had to burst into existence from nothing at a first cosmic moment in time—a genesis. The astronomer Fred Hoyle once mocked this idea by calling it a "big-bang.” The name stuck.

The expansion of the universe is now regarded as settled science (a fact). This fact is established on the basis of two major discoveries. The first is a measurable redshift in light reaching Earth from distant sources. This was first observed by Edwin Hubble in 1929. When any wave is stretched, the wave-length is increased. When this stretching happens to visible light waves, they shift towards the red end of the spectrum. Click here to learn more about cosmic redshift.

The second discovery was the observation of a cosmic background-radiation left over from the big-bang. This discovery was made by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of Bell Labs in 1965. Their discovery won them the Nobel Prize in physics in 1978. 

Two inferences follow from the scientific data. First, since the speed of light in a vacuum is constant (the “c” in E=mc^2), the cosmic light-waves are not shifting as a consequence of acceleration (see Doppler effect). Instead, it looks like Einstein was right. Space itself is expanding. What follows from this conclusion? Our space-time universe experienced a beginning in the finite past—a genesis.

That's the science. Now, here is the logic. Since everything that begins is caused to begin, the universe was caused to begin too. By what or Whom? That’s the big question!

The most ancient extant culture on Earth has worshiped a Creator of heaven and earth for thousands of years. Their sacred-texts (The Old Testament) say that: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth” (Genesis 1:1). They also notice that God “stretched out the heavens” (Job 9:8; Isaiah 44:24; Jeremiah 51:15).

2,700 years before Edwin Hubble looked through his telescope and saw empirical evidence of our world's beginning, a Hebrew prophet named Isaiah wrote that God had created and stretched out the heavens. How did he guess right about that? What if he didn’t guess? What if he listened to God and believed Him? Given the physical evidence, maybe you should too.

Why does this paragraph make sense? Why is 2+2 always 4? Why aren't there circles with sides? Why is it wrong to shoot school-kids with an AR-15? Why is it right for others to see you as especially important and tolerate your place in the world, along with your peculiar view of it? Because the universe contains meaning.

Is it “smart” to believe that meaning "boot-strapped" itself into existence out of nothing at all? For meaning to be objective, it has to come from a Perfect-Thinker. From what or Whom? That’s the big question!

Since the universe began, it cannot have supplied its own meaning. Just like this sentence didn't write itself down. The same holds for the meaning within you. The reality of meaning implies the reality of its Author. Anytime we try to claim otherwise, we deny that meaning is real. It's a trap!

Notice carefully that you can’t deny the reality of meaning without using meaning to do it. If you try to argue that "meaning isn’t real," you will end up proving its reality! This is called self-refutation, and its a mistake that we ought to avoid like afternoon-traffic. A good philosopher notices the self-evident reality of meaning, and then searches for its perfect Headwaters. Maybe you should too.

Consider the following two facts. First, you are alive. How likely is it that you’re an accident? Second, you are smart enough to think about the world and wonder how you fit into it. How likely is it that your thinking is accidentally meaningful?

Fred Hoyle was always good for a turn of phrase. He once compared the odds of an accident organizing intelligent-life, to the likelihood of a tornado "accidentally" building an airworthy Boeing 747 out of pieces in a junk-yard. In fact, the math is much worse than that. Because a tornado is something not nothing. And a junkyard is many things.

Hoyle saw this too and confessed that the likelihood of even one functioning protein organizing by accident was more like a solar-system full of blind men "accidentally" solving Rubik’s cubes at the same time—practically zero. To grasp the problem, consider that there are 10^82 atoms in the universe, and 10^22 planets. Still, the probability of even one life permitting world is just 1 chance in 10^138. 

We live on that world! Is it radical good-luck, or have we been put here on purpose? If we have—by what or Whom? That’s the big question! A good scientist follows the evidence wherever it leads—whether they like it or not. Given the probabilities that you're faced with, maybe you should too.

Perhaps the very best evidence for God is you. If the universe came from nothing and exists for no purpose, then the same holds true for everything the universe contains. Notice this carefully. If homo sapiens are nothing more than a random glob of atoms, then we aren’t more important than any other random glob of atoms. Yes, even you! Ideas actually matter.

I dare you to meaningfully explain why owning your pet is morally acceptable, but owning your neighbor isn’t. If the universe is an accident, why isn’t slavery the same as pet-ownership? If racism is wrong, why isn’t speciesism wrong too? If the "whole show" is just a meaningless accident—what does "wrong" even mean?

Ask yourself: "Why is it morally acceptable to gas and burn the insects that trespass on my home, and the weeds that trespass on my lawn—but it wasn’t morally acceptable for Adolf Hitler to gas and burn the persons who trespassed on his Reich?"

Let's get honest and notice the distinction that makes all the difference! Why must you and I be tolerated when we don't tolerate HIV or Covid-19? Because we are persons with a purpose—to enjoy life with God, and to share His Life with others.

If you really are a very special “you”—then God Is real!