A personal computer
How can we know beyond any doubt that God exist?
Do we just have to assume it on sheer faith?
- we have not seen, heard, smelled or touched God.
- negative events such as serious sickness or accidents or death of loved ones – evil, as some call it.
These are the same reasons given by those who consider themselves atheists or agnostics for denying or doubting the idea of a creator God. If there is a God, some people must have seen Him, and if there is a God there should be no evil or suffering in this world. Or so we are told.
I will present my explanation on this in two installments. In this post I will discuss the first reason: we have not seen, heard, smelled or touched God. [The second reason will be discussed in the next post.]
As physical human beings, it is only natural for us to want to see tangible proof of God’s existence – proof that we can verify using our available faculties such as eyes, ears, nose, touch, etc.
For this discussion, let’s consider an observable day-to-day object such as the ordinary personal computer – or simply, computer. A computer is a technological marvel that has become a household item. Informally speaking, a fully functioning computer has 5 basic parts or components: CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse and program (software).
Pentium 4 microprocessor dieThe CPU is where most computations, manipulation and storage of data and information occur. The keyboard and mouse enable us to communicate with the CPU. The monitor is the computer’s way of communicating back to us, visually, when we type in data or instruction. What makes the computer work is the series of coded electronic signals and impulses made possible by a highly intricate maze of electronic circuitry. At the core of this circuitry is the powerful microprocessor [see photo at left]. This incredible, tiny chip – about the size of an adult little fingernail – has 55 million transistors, plus millions of other features, wires, resistors, capacitors and other electronics packed into six distinct layers less than 1 millimeter thick, which takes nearly 300 steps to create! A newer generation processor contains over 1 billion transistors … and it keeps on growing!
But, for all its dizzying complexity, a computer is primitive compared to a human brain, as scientists would admit.
Now let’s ask this rather silly and boring question: How did a computer come to be?
If I told you that heaps of metals, plastics and other materials accidentally shaped and assembled together into a fully functioning computer, you’d think that I am joking – or that I am crazy. If I insisted that a jumble of letters and numbers randomly arranged into a program capable of running a computer, you’d likely think that I am a fool.
The fact is, it takes a fool to believe that a sophisticated computer got created without a creator or group of creators. And what do you think that makes of one who believes that a machine that’s vastly superior to a man-made computer [the human brain and body!] came to be without a Creator?
The Bible puts it quite bluntly:
How could he conclude that there is no God? Has he explored the entire universe and failed to find God? The truth is, the odds are stacked heavily against an atheist or would-be atheist. He does not know enough to conclude honestly that there is no God. His life is too short and his capability too limited to know the ultimate truth by mere experimentation or observation. His declaration that there is no God amounts to nothing more than raw conjecture or plain dishonesty.
Lord William Thomson Kelvin [1824-1907], a renowned physicist whose work is considered to have one of the greatest influence on 20th century physics declares passionately:
“… overwhelmingly strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie all around us, and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or scientific, turn us away from them for a time, they come back upon us with irresistible force, showing to us through nature the influence of a free will, and teaching us that all living beings depend on one ever-acting Creator and Ruler.”
As the apostle Paul said:
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
The Bible is quite incisive. It exposes the natural, God-rejecting mind for what it is:
In the end the moment one faces the grim reaper [say, in a plummeting plane or in the grip of excruciating cancer], he would be left with no excuse.
