But it's not an easy question, particularly for those just starting to explore the question. As Christians, we believe that faith is important, but it shouldn’t be blind faith, but rather faith that involves thinking.

 

There are good reasons that support the existence of God, that we take seriously. A Sociologist called Peter Berger used the phrase ‘rumour of angels’ to talk about the signals that point to God’s existence.

 These are things like:

 

1. The desire for purpose and meaning in each one of us – CS Lewis said that I know food exists because I have a hunger for it, and so too, the desire we have for meaning, points to the fact that there is ultimate meaning to life, and we are not here by accident.

 

2. The existence of Creation – where did this earth come from? Scientists have tried to explain it through rational means such as the Big Bang, but we are still left with questions – how did that start? In life we see that everything is caused by something. ‘Something’ doesn’t simply come from ‘nothing’, and therefore this wonderful universe couldn’t have just appeared, it must have had a cause.

 

3. The Cosmic welcome matt – the chances of this world existing in a way that supports life such as humans is incredible. There are several constants in life such as the force of gravity, that if there were changed by the just a fraction of unit would mean the universe wouldn’t be able to support life.

 

4. Jesus Christ – it is very hard to explain the person of Jesus without reference to the activity of God. Who was this man? How did he live such an incredible life and have such an impact on history? CS Lewis and others have said that we cannot simply call him a good man since the claims he made about himself were that he was God. We have to conclude that he was either mad (i.e. deluded about his identity), or he was bad (i.e. purposely led people to believe he was God to deceive them), or we have to conclude that he was who he said he was.

 

5. The Resurrection – Christians claim that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and they have good reason to. We have many historically plausible eyewitness accounts that point to this being fact. When you observe the possibilities as to what happened to Jesus’ body, it is hard to come to another conclusion. Details such as the unlikely women who were the first eyewitnesses (even though their evidence wouldn’t have stood up in a court of law at the year), the martyrdom of nearly all the disciples who certainly wouldn’t have done so t spread a conspiracy, and the certainty of Jesus death (Luke records good medical evidence of blood and water running of his side on

the cross). Josh McDowell says that it is ‘evidence that demands a verdict’.

 

6. People's stories - Ask a Christian why they believe in God and they will often point to something personal that happened in their life that pointed to the activity of God. Some people speak of miracles they saw, addictions God helped them to overcome, peace they felt through hard times, or experiences they had. Whatever their story, Christians would say that their lives have been wonderfully enhanced as they came to know Jesus for themselves.