your children to believe Christianity is true, you probably want them to
continue to believe it’s true, especially through their critical university
years. There are good reasons to be concerned for young Christians once they
leave our care. Statistically, most will walk away from the Church (and their
belief in God) during their college years.
help our children know that truly God exists?
As a cold-case detective,
parent, and prior youth pastor, I have a suggestion: master the case for God’s
existence and start sharing it with your kids at an early age. Sounds simple,
right? Maybe, or maybe not. If your kids asked you to defend the existence of
God right now, what would say? What evidences would you provide? Are you ready
to make the case for what you believe, even as the world around us often makes
the case against God’s existence? Don’t panic, you don’t have to be a
theologian, philosopher or scientist to defend the truth. All you need to be is
interested.
It’s not hard to be interested when the spiritual fate of our
kids is hanging in the balance. Make a commitment to investigate the case for
God’s existence so you can communicate it to your kids. The Apostle Paul was
correct when he said that God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been
made” (Romans 1:20). We’ve written God’s Crime Scene for Kids to help you and
your children investigate everything “that has been made.” Along the way, you’ll
discover four truths that will help your kids demonstrate the existence of
God:
1. Our Universe Requires a Divine “First Cause”
Scientists
have determined that our universe is not infinitely old. In fact, they now
believe that everything in the universe, all space, time and matter, had a
beginning in the distant past. Everything that begins to exist must have a
cause. What could account for the beginning of the universe?
One thing is
certain: whatever caused the cosmos must be something other than space, time or
matter (since these didn’t exist prior to the beginning of the universe). That
means we’re looking for something non-spatial, non-temporal, non-material, and
incredibly powerful. Sounds a lot like God, doesn’t it?
2. Life in the
Universe Requires a Divine “Author”
Scientists have also determined that
life in the universe is formed and guided by information. Biological organisms
(like humans) possess deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules. The nucleotide
sequence in DNA is an incredibly long (and sophisticated) code that guides the
growth, development, function and reproduction of every living
organism.
But where does the information in DNA come from? Did this
incredibly complex series of instructions come about by chance? Was it caused by
the laws of physics or some process of evolution? No. The best explanation for
information is intelligence. The information in DNA requires an intelligent
author. Once again, God is the most reasonable explanation.
3. Moral Laws in the Universe Require a Divine “Law
Giver”
All of us recognize the existence of moral laws and obligations.
While some behaviors (like stealing or lying) may be justified on rare occasion
(to save the life of an innocent person, for example), it’s never morally
acceptable to steal or lie for the fun of it. This is true for all of us,
regardless of when we have lived in history or where we have lived on the
planet. These objective moral laws also describe obligations between persons. No
one, for example, is morally obligated to the laws of physics or
chemistry.
All laws such as these require law givers. Objective laws and
obligations that transcend all of us require an objective, personal law giver
who transcends all of us. Once again, God is the best explanation for the moral
laws and obligations we all recognize.
4. Evil in the Universe
Requires a Divine “Standard”
Some people point to evil as an evidence
against the existence of God. Why would an all-powerful, all-loving God allow
bad things to happen? Is He unable to stop them? Is He simply unwilling to
prevent them? In either case, the existence of evil seems to invalidate our
definition of God as an all-powerful and all-loving Being.
But what
defines something as evil in the first place? Is something “evil” simply because
we don’t personally approve of it, or do we believe some acts are truly evil,
regardless of our opinion? If the latter is true, we would need an objective,
transcendent standard of good by which to judge any particular act. The
existence of God offers such a standard, and God often allows and uses temporal
evil to develop our eternal character, draw us to himself, and achieve a greater
good (if not immediately, over the course of history). Evil doesn’t disprove
God’s existence, but instead requires a standard of good to be anything more
than a matter of opinion. Only God can provide such a standard.
[written
by J. Warner Wallace]
