Lesson 2

II. Can We Prove

The Existence of GOD?

The Christian faith is not fiction, selfishly imagined by men. There are several ways to prove the existence of GOD and the truthfulness of His Word, The Holy Bible, ranging from the Bible’s prophecies of the rise and fall of nations to the supernatural demonstration of miracles found in every culture of earth.

1. Can we know with certainty that GOD exists?

Judges 6:39,40 And Gideon said unto God…Let me prove Thee, but this once...(V.40) ____ ____ ____ ___ ______ _______…

Jeremiah 33:3, Call unto Me [Creator GOD], and I will answer thee, and show thee ________ _____ ________________ _________ which thou knowest not.

Every honest man, woman and child who will genuinely inquire of the LORD will be granted a revelation from GOD. A basic principle repeated throughout the Bible teaches that GOD will intervene with gestures of the miraculous, ranging from a marvelous coincidence to an awesome demonstration of His power.

2. Why doesn't GOD reveal Himself openly to all men?

Genesis 3:8 And they [Adam and Eve] heard the voice of the LORD GOD walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife ____ ______________ from ____ ____________ of the LORD GOD amongst the trees of the garden.

A deep-rooted fear of GOD has ruled the hearts of men ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed their own sense of right and wrong by eating the one fruit GOD warned them to avoid. The single act of eating this fruit permanently poisoned their judgment of life, thus removing their dominion and discernment as stewards over the Earth. This natural fear of GOD has directed Him to enact a plan of reconciliation that employs the most intriguing methods of intervention; that through the power of reason given to every man, woman, and child, one or more of His channels of communication may reach the minds and hearts of His children. GOD'S sole objective is the restoration of His personal companionship with man on earth, a companionship that was lost when men chose death over life.

3. How is this fear overcome?

Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore _____ _______________ ______ ___ _______ _____.

GOD has placed a highly developed sense of love into the heart of man. And His gift of a freewill determines its growth, or abandonment, for GOD avoids every hint of compulsion in His work of restoring the bond of man's heart to His own—Christ forced the will of no man. "For God loveth a cheerful giver." II Cor.9:7.

4. How does GOD restore man's faith in His love?

I Corinthians 2:11-14 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of GOD knoweth no man, but the Spirit of GOD. (v.12) Now ____ ______ __________ not the spirit of the world, but ____ _________ ________ ___ ___ _____; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of GOD. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of GOD: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

GOD'S wisdom has chosen the drawing, but unseen power of His Spirit to restore man's ability to love and to follow Him. The recipient is given complete freedom to embrace and nurture the companionship with GOD'S Spirit, or to even flat-out reject His polite tugs of urging love. The "still, small voice" of the Holy Spirit whispers with a gentle decency—He never yells.

5. What is the response GOD hopes to see when His seeds of love, sown by His Holy Spirit, and His Word, the Holy Bible, are revealed to men?

Hebrews 11:1 Now _________ is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of _________ _____ _______.

6. Why is faith so important to GOD for the salvation of His children on earth?

I Peter 1:7-9 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (v.9) Receiving the end of your faith, even ____ _______________ ___ ______ ______.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved ____________ ________; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GOD.

Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached ____ ____ ____________ _______, ____ _______ _______ _____ _______ in them that heard it.

7. What other evidence is apparent to everyone that GOD exists?

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world _____ ___________ _______, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal Godhead and power.

Psalm 19:1-3, The heavens declare ____ ________ ___ ____; and the firmament showeth ____ ____________. Day unto day uttereth __________ and night unto night showeth ____________. There is no speech nor language, ________ _______ ________ ___ ____ _______.

The balance of nature is so complex that all life exists on symbiotic principle (where every living thing is reliant on the plural contribution from every part of the stellar heavens). There are multiple examples of symbiotic relationships, which include survival partnerships between trees and insects, where the insect cannot survive without the tree and likewise the tree cannot survive without the insect. Also, the simple relationship between bees and flowers where neither can exist without the other! This simple lesson teaches that these relationships had to have been created in a mature state and could not have evolved through eons of time, due to the biological fact that any mutation of life, (which is the very foundation of evolutionary theory) is impossible: "A mutation as little as a billionth of an animals genome is relentlessly fatal" according to the world’s leading Geneticists, Barney Maddox and Francis Collins.

Each of the distinct and different families of life will not allow the slightest deviation through mutation from the unique design of these various life-forms. Safety mechanisms are built in each species causing the rejection of any reproduction of that life that does not live up to the standard of its predecessor. This sifting process found in each step of life's reproduction prevents the slightest mutation, thereby maintaining the mutual safety for all created beings by preserving the balance of nature. This is why we see no species in the living or fossil record connecting any of the families of life on earth. They remain separate and distinct from one another. A random change of only three nucleotide is fatal to any animal. This is why the birth defects witnessed throughout the animal kingdom are never associated with an improvement of a given species, only its degradation and death. Now, the genetic difference between man and chimpanzee (our nearest relative) has been measured to be 48 million nucleotide. Due to the law forbidding mutation of even three nucleotide it becomes obvious that a chimpanzee will forever remain a chimpanzee.

This is precisely what GOD teaches through His sacred Word entrusted to man’s study and care: that the families of life were created in a mature state, in perfect, harmonious balance. To accomplish this mature balance of nature, a span of six literal days was all that GOD needed to perform the Creation of Life. In six rotations of the Earth, the power of GOD’S Word spoke into existence the heavenly earth (before sin took control). If men of science and medicine had not worked to disprove the Sacred Word and Law that GOD established to benefit His children, utopian wisdom would have been gained to literally remove the suffering of man, and that of all life.

In view of the law of symbiosis that directs every part of creation, from galaxies, stars, planets and moons to protect the existence of life we can now ask the question: Just how complex is the living and non-living substance of our universe? A computation has been made by the world's leading astrophysicists, Sir Frederick Hoyle and Chandra Wychramasie, calculating the quantity of information found in living and non-living material of our universe. The sum total of the information, presently calculated from the non-living material of the universe, (all known elements and their complex relationships with each other) added up to 235 Exponential Bits of Information (the term for measuring huge quantities of information).

Now, let us turn our attention to the complexity of life. Today's science would have us believe that the complexity of simple microscopic life cannot compare to the vast complexity of the stellar heavens; for if the complexity of life was remotely similar to the complexity of the lifeless universe, the theory of evolution would have the greatest endorsement possible to substantiate Charles Darwin's atheistic hypothesis as valid. Keep one thing in mind: in the days of Darwin it was believed that living cell structure had the complexity of a "ping-pong ball."

The study of living cell complexity tells a completely different story, however: a story with catastrophic consequences to the theory of evolution. The simplest non-replicating protein molecule (the most basic building block of life that does not reproduce) has been measured to have 1500 EBI. This difference in the complexity between living and non-living matter is so staggering that it teaches a most basic scientific lesson: no matter what arrangement or combination is made of the non-living elements of the universe, it is virtually impossible to organize the existence of life from non-living matter.

Now, let us take this a step further. One simple cell within the human body contains a trillion little machines. Each of these living machines depends on each one of the others to survive. They serve one another and rely on one another to maintain the existence of that cell. The law of symbiosis rules within the structure of that cell. Just one simple cell of the human body has been measured to contain 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion) EBI. Remember, this is comparing the entire universe, which spans the vast stretches of space, to that of ONE microscopic cell of life.

This spectacular difference does not take into account the far greater miracle that many varieties of living cells co-exist, having symbiotic relationships between themselves, and with the vital organs, muscles and skeleton. The creature then exists in an eco-system comprising a vast diversity of other creatures; again, relying on the law of symbiosis to continue their survival. All of these creatures co-exist in harmonious balance to their habitat, with an inborn strength of adaptability to meet the dynamics of environmental changes. The margin of change within the environment is minimal enough to perpetuate all major species of life. The biosphere of earth is maintained through earth's constant position in its relation to the sun, moon, and planets, which provides minimal deviation in climate through the four seasons of the earth's orbit around the sun. The constancy of climate from millennia to millennia is also due to our solar system's constant position in its relation to the stars of our Milky Way galaxy. Even our galaxy's perfect balance among the estimated 120 billion other galaxies—with a margin of fluctuation so low that it staggers the imagination.

In summation, the difference in complexity between living and non-living matter shows that natural order had absolutely no say in the creation of life. Therefore, there must exist an Intelligent Creator. A Creator whose knowledge is as infinite as time and whose power is as infinite as space. And most importantly, because unselfish love is the cornerstone of creation's government, GOD must be a GOD of infinite love. The relationship between GOD and His creation must be founded on the very laws He established: the laws of sacrifice and love. And for GOD to change or remove any established laws that govern His creation is to remove the sense of reliance that men need to move forward in their growth and understanding. Sir Frederick Hoyle and Chandra Wychramasie concluded that it is easier for a tornado to sweep through a junk-yard and assemble a working and flying Boeing 747 jet aircraft, than for the simple building blocks of life to have evolved from the lifeless materials of the universe.

All who misunderstand the true nobility and destiny of man, as ordained by GOD, lose an anchorage of hope and happiness that offsets all trial and temptation. "Hope maketh not ashamed."

8. What is the pinnacle prophecy of the Holy Bible showing that it is a book I can trust?

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of ____ _____________ ____ __________ and __________ Jerusalem unto ___________ the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

The timeline prophecy proving the coming of Christ is the apex of the Bible’s proof of truth: the "Seventy weeks" prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given in the year 457 B.C. Artaxerxes, king of Persia gave the command fulfilling the specifications of the prophecy as recorded in the book of Ezra, chapter 7:11-28: "I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee" (v.13).

From the year 457 B.C. until the coming of the Messiah (meaning, the Anointed) we count 483 years. [Remember the principle of timeline prophecy: one prophetic day equals one literal year (Nu.14:34; Eze.4:6)]. The "seven weeks, and three score and two weeks," (or 69 prophetic weeks) brings us to the year 27 A.D., the time of the baptism of Jesus Christ and His anointing by the Holy Spirit for His public ministry, "And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." Jn.1:32. Simple arithmetic verifies the exact time the Deliverer from the scourge of selfishness and death should inaugurate His ministry of healing. Where there may be doubt in the mind of the Bible student, the prophecy even includes the exact year of earth’s history when Christ would die for the sins of the world: the time of His crucifixion in 31 A.D., just 3½ years into His ministry of reconciliation: "And He [Jesus Christ] shall confirm the covenant with many [the Jewish nation] for one week [the last seven years of the seventy weeks prophecy]: and in the midst of the week [in the year 31 A.D., three and a half years into His work reconciling man to GOD] He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" [the rending of the temple veil by an unseen hand at the instant of Christ's death fulfilled the obligation of the sacrificial system first begun with Adam and Eve, effecting its end, as it is written, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain" Matthew 27:51].

The whole message of the Holy Bible points to the sacrifice of our Creator, Who stepped down from the paradise of heaven’s throne where hosts of holy angels bowed in adoration before their Commander. He left the courts of heaven to become the man, Jesus Christ, to halt the extinction of man and reestablish eternal life for the creatures He Himself created in the beginning.