Part 3
How We Can Know There Is a God
1, 2. What principle helps us to determine whether there is a God?
ONE way to determine whether there is a God is to apply this well-established principle: What is made requires a maker. The more complicated the thing made, the more capable the maker must be.
2 For example, look around your home. Tables, chairs, desks, beds, pots, pans, plates, and other eating utensils all require a maker, as do walls, floors, and ceilings. Yet, those things are comparatively simple to make. Since simple things require a maker, is it not logical that complex things require an even more intelligent maker?
Our Awesome Universe
3, 4. How does the universe help us to know that God exists?
3 A watch requires a watchmaker. What of our infinitely more complex solar system, with the Sun and its planets revolving around it with split-second precision century after century? What of the awesome galaxy we live in, called the Milky Way, with its more than 100 billion stars? Have you ever stopped at night to gaze at the Milky Way? Were you impressed? Then think of the incredibly vast universe that contains untold billions of galaxies like our Milky Way! Too, the heavenly bodies are so reliable in their movements century after century that they have been compared to precision timepieces.
4 If a watch, which is relatively simple, implies the existence of a watchmaker, surely the infinitely more complex and awesome universe implies the existence of a designer and maker. That is why the Bible invites us to ‘raise our eyes high up and see,’ and then it asks: “Who has created these things?” The answer: “It is the One [God] who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:26) Thus, the universe owes its existence to an invisible, controlling, intelligent power—God.
Earth Uniquely Designed
5-7. What facts about the earth show that it had a Designer?
5 The more scientists study the earth, the more they realize that it is uniquely designed for human habitation. It is just the right distance from the sun to get the proper amount of light and heat. Once a year it moves around the sun, with just the right angle of tilt, making seasons possible in many parts of the earth. The earth also rotates on its own axis every 24 hours, providing regular periods of light and darkness. It has an atmosphere with just the right mixture of gases so we can breathe and be protected from damaging radiation from space. It also has the vital water and soil needed to grow food.
6 Without all those factors, and others, working together, life would be impossible. Was all of that an accident? Science News says: “It seems as if such particular and precise conditions could hardly have arisen at random.” No, they could not. They involved purposeful design by a superb Designer.
7 If you went into a fine house and found that it was generously stocked with food, that it had an excellent heating and air-conditioning system, and that it had good plumbing to supply water, what would you conclude? That it all just came about by itself? No, you would surely conclude that an intelligent person designed and made it with great care. The earth was also designed and made with great care in order to provide what its inhabitants need, and it is much more complex and well-supplied than any house.
8. What else is there about the earth that shows God’s loving care for us?
8 Also, consider the great number of things that add delight to living. Look at the vast variety of beautifully colored flowers with their pleasant scents that humans enjoy. Then there is the great variety of foods so delicious to our taste. There are forests, mountains, lakes, and other creations pleasant to look at. Too, what of beautiful sunsets that enhance our enjoyment of life? And in the animal realm, are we not delighted by the playful antics and lovable nature of puppies, kittens, and other animal young? So the earth provides many delightful surprises not absolutely needed to sustain life. These show that the earth was designed with loving care, with humans in mind, so that we would not just exist but would enjoy life.
9. Who made the earth, and why did he make it?
9 Therefore, the reasonable conclusion is to acknowledge the Giver of all these things, as did the Bible writer who said of Jehovah God: “You yourself have made the heavens and the earth.” For what purpose? He gives the answer by describing God as “the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited.”—Isaiah 37:16; 45:18.
The Amazing Living Cell
10, 11. Why is a living cell so amazing?
10 What of living things? Do they not require a maker? For example, consider a few of the amazing features of a living cell. In his book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, molecular biologist Michael Denton states: “Even the simplest of all living systems on earth today, bacterial cells, are exceedingly complex objects. Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, . . . each is in effect a veritable microminiaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery . . . far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world.”
11 Regarding the genetic code in each cell, he states: “The capacity of DNA to store information vastly exceeds that of any other known system; it is so efficient that all the information needed to specify an organism as complex as man weighs less than a few thousand millionths of a gram. . . . Alongside the level of ingenuity and complexity exhibited by the molecular machinery of life, even our most advanced [products] appear clumsy. We feel humbled.”
12. What did a scientist say about the origin of the cell?
12 Denton adds: “The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that it is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable, event.” It had to have a designer and maker.
Our Incredible Brain
13, 14. Why is the brain even more amazing than a living cell?
13 This scientist then says: “In terms of complexity, an individual cell is nothing when compared with a system like the mammalian brain. The human brain consists of about ten thousand million nerve cells. Each nerve cell puts out somewhere in the region of between ten thousand and one hundred thousand connecting fibres by which it makes contact with other nerve cells in the brain. Altogether the total number of connections in the human brain approaches . . . a thousand million million.”
14 Denton continues: “Even if only one hundredth of the connections in the brain were specifically organized, this would still represent a system containing a much greater number of specific connections than in the entire communications network on Earth.” He then asks: “Could any sort of purely random process ever have assembled such systems?” Obviously, the answer has to be no. The brain must have had a caring Designer and Maker.
15. What comments do others make about the brain?
15 The human brain makes even the most advanced computers look primitive. Science writer Morton Hunt said: “Our active memories hold several billion times more information than a large contemporary research computer.” Thus, brain surgeon Dr. Robert J. White concluded: “I am left with no choice but to acknowledge the existence of a Superior Intellect, responsible for the design and development of the incredible brain-mind relationship—something far beyond man’s capacity to understand. . . . I have to believe all this had an intelligent beginning, that Someone made it happen.” It also had to be Someone who cared.
The Unique Blood System
16-18. (a) In what ways is the blood system unique? (b) To what conclusion should we be drawn?
16 Consider, too, the unique blood system that transports nutrients and oxygen and protects against infection. Regarding the red blood cells, a main component of this system, the book ABC’s of the Human Body states: “A single drop of blood contains more than 250 million separate blood cells . . . The body contains perhaps 25 trillion of them, enough, if spread out, to cover four tennis courts. . . . Replacements are made, at a rate of 3 million new cells every second.”
17 Regarding white blood cells, another part of the unique blood system, this same source tells us: “While there is only one kind of red cell, white blood cells come in many varieties, each type capable of fighting the body’s battles in a different way. One kind, for instance, destroys dead cells. Other kinds produce antibodies against viruses, detoxify foreign substances, or literally eat up and digest bacteria.”
18 What an amazing and highly organized system! Surely anything that is so well put together and so thoroughly protective must have a very intelligent and caring organizer—God.
Other Marvels
19. How does the eye compare to man-made instruments?
19 There are many other marvels in the human body. One is the eye, so superbly designed that no camera can duplicate it. Astronomer Robert Jastrow said: “The eye appears to have been designed; no designer of telescopes could have done better.” And the publication Popular Photography relates: “Human eyes see a far greater range of detail than film does. They see in three dimensions, at a tremendously wide angle, without distortion, in continuous motion . . . Comparing the camera to the human eye isn’t a fair analogy. The human eye is more like an incredibly advanced supercomputer with artificial intelligence, information-processing abilities, speeds, and modes of operation that are far beyond any man-made device, computer or camera.”
20. What are some other amazing aspects of the human body?
20 Think, too, of the way that all the intricate body organs cooperate without our conscious effort. For example, we put many different types of food and drink into our stomachs, yet the body processes them and produces energy. Try putting such a variety of things into the gas tank of an automobile and see how far it goes! Then there is the miracle of birth, the producing of an adorable baby—a copy of its parents—in just nine months. And what about the ability of a child just a few years old to learn how to talk in a complex language?
21. Considering the body’s wonders, what do reasonable persons say?
21 Yes, the many amazing, intricate creations in the human body fill us with awe. No engineer could duplicate those things. Could they be merely the workings of blind chance? Surely not. Instead, when considering all the wonderful aspects of the human body, reasonable persons say, as did the psalmist: “I shall laud you [God] because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful.”—Psalm 139:14.
The Supreme Builder
22, 23. (a) Why should we acknowledge the Creator’s existence? (b) What does the Bible rightly say about God?
22 The Bible states: “Every house is built by someone, of course; but God built everything that exists.” (Hebrews 3:4, The Jerusalem Bible) Since any house, however simple, must have a builder, then the far more complex universe, along with the vast varieties of life on earth, must also have had a builder. And since we acknowledge the existence of humans who invented devices such as airplanes, televisions, and computers, should we not also acknowledge the existence of the One who gave humans the brain to make such things?
23 The Bible does, calling him “the true God, Jehovah, . . . the Creator of the heavens and the Grand One stretching them out; the One laying out the earth and its produce, the One giving breath to the people on it.” (Isaiah 42:5) The Bible rightly declares: “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”—Revelation 4:11.
24. How can we know there is a God?
24 Yes, we can know that there is a God by the things he has made. “For [God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things [God] made.”—Romans 1:20.
25, 26. Why is the misuse of something no argument against its having a maker?
25 The fact that something made is misused does not mean it had no maker. An airplane can be used for peaceful purposes, as an airliner. But it can also be used for destruction, as a bomber. Its being used in a death-dealing way does not mean it had no maker.
26 Similarly, the fact that humans have so often turned out bad does not mean they did not have a Maker, that there is no God. Hence, the Bible correctly observes: “The perversity of you men! Should the potter himself be accounted just like the clay? For should the thing made say respecting its maker: ‘He did not make me’? And does the very thing formed actually say respecting its former: ‘He showed no understanding’?”—Isaiah 29:16.
27. Why can we expect God to answer our questions about suffering?
27 The Creator has shown his wisdom through the amazing complexity of what he has made. He has shown that he really cares about us by making the earth just right to live on, by making our bodies and minds in such a wonderful way, and by making so many good things for us to enjoy. Surely he would show similar wisdom and care by making known the answers to such questions as: Why has God permitted suffering? What will he do about it?
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The earth, with its protective atmosphere, is a unique home designed for us by a caring God
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The earth was made with loving care so that we could enjoy life fully
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‘One brain contains more connections than the entire communications network on Earth.’—Molecular biologist
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“The eye appears to have been designed; no designer of telescopes could have done better.”—Astronomer