Does It Matter If God Exists?

The renowned atheist Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) wrote, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to cleanse ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” During the 1960s emerged a movement called “God is dead.” It was short-lived.

For Christians God is not dead. In fact, I just spoke to Him this morning and from looks of the world and the heavens, He must be doing just fine. I also heard from Him this morning and if you keep reading you are going to hear for Him yourself.

J.B. Phillips, in his little book, Your God Is Too Small, tells of a psychological test given to a mixed group of older adolescents during World War II. They were asked the question, “Does God understand radar?” In nearly every case they answered “No”. Do advances in the sciences make God obsolete. Is man really performing his own “miracles” and thus making an all-knowing and all-powerful God irrelevant.

Since God is the Creator He knows all the laws of science. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). God not only knows all the past and is with us in the present, He knows all about the future (Hebrews 13:8;

Matthew 28:20; Isaiah 46:9-10). When man makes a “new” discovery in science it does not surprise or bewilder God. Except He may say, “Wow! Good for you mankind. What took you so long to discover another one of My laws of nature?”

However, an argument among atheist and agnostics and even some believers in God is whether an existence of God is really all that important. Is the existence of God  relevant?

God Gives Meaning to Life

Without God life is meaningless. Billy Graham said, “life without God is like an unsharpened pencil – it has no point.” Without God, man’s life is left without a purpose. William Lane Craig says it this way, “If God does not exist, life does not have ultimate meaning, purpose, or value.” William Shakespeare wrote: “life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Longfellow wrote: “Life is but an empty dream.” Ernest Hemingway believed, “Life is just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness.” Life was so empty he took his own life. So did his father, two siblings, and granddaughter Margaux Hemingway committed suicide.

If atheism is true the universe was not made for anything and humans are not made for anything or for any reason whatsoever.

Solomon who investigated life, found in the end that is was not meaningless. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13-14).

God Gives Value to Life

Evolution says man is but an accident, a blind result of time and chance. Humans are regarded as no different than any other animal. They have no greater importance than a roach or single-celled organism. Atheist Richard Dawkins said, “The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.” He concludes humans are nothing more than “machines for propagating DNA.” Even Solomon observed that men die just like the animals “For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust” (Ecclesiastes 3:19–20),

However, our value to God is greater than that of animals. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31). In the first century, sparrows were so cheap the smallest coin could purchase two. God is aware when any one sparrow dies. When a man or woman dies God never thinks, “What is one more or less?” Among all of earth’s creatures, humans are unique. Among all the billions of people who exist on this earth each individual matters to God. For each and every sinner Christ was sent to die?

Man is unique in creation because he was created in the image of the Creator. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). This is why each soul is worth more than all the world. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). This is why God sent His Son to die for us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God Gives Direction to Life

From a Humanist perspective, Aldous Huxley wrote: “For myself as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness, was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.” Fyodor Dostoevsky in “The Brothers Karamazov” wrote, “Without God all things are permitted.” Men even are so bold as to think they can develop their own standards of morality apart from God. “Morality is more than possible without God, it is entirely independent of him” (Julian Baggini (2009). “Atheism”, p.53, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.). In reality all that atheism can afford mankind is the idea of amorality that is nothing is right and nothing is wrong.

What is the basis for morality? In other words, how do we know what is right and wrong? Alphonse de Lamartine observed, “a conscience without God is like a court without a judge.” Solomon understood man’s dilemma without Divine guidance. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Jeremiah said, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer 10:23).

God is essential to help with problems and decisions. This is why He has given us a Bible. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

God Gives Eternal Life

Life is 100% fatal. The great enemy of all life is death. Death is God’s payment for sin (Rom. 6:23). Even if you manage to make it through to old age, you will die. You may die sick, or you may die healthy, but you will die. About ninety thousand people die each year in hospitals due to medical mistakes. Every twelve minutes on our nations roads a fellow American is killed. Death even finds its victims at home taking a life every twenty-nine minutes. But there is hope that life will go on. Every thirty seconds a woman somewhere in this world gives birth to a child. (If we are ever going to get a handle on this over-population issue, she must be found and stopped.).

The real hope is that God gives man victory over death in the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15).

Something of greater importance is God giving man life after death. Man have wondered about life and death: “Is this all there is? Be born, live, and die?” Death is not the end. Solomon believed, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7), Man has two destinies after death (Matt. 7:13,14; 24:46). He is encouraged to prepare for life after death by laying up treasures in heaven while he is still alive (Matthew 6:19-20).

If there is not God there is no Christ and if there is no Christ there is no resurrection. If there is no resurrection there is no afterlife. Man when he dies is like the dead dog Rover, he is dead all over. God has a plan to save every man. All every man has to do is obey the Gospel plan of Salvation. He is loving enough to desire our eternal life with Him in Heaven and He is powerful enough to help us procure it.

If God does not exist, life means nothing. If there is a God, life means everything. Without God life has not meaning, without meaning life has no direction, no value, no comfort or hope of life beyond death. Yes, it does matter if God exists.

– Daniel R. Vess