The Existence of God is Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

By: Brian G. Chilton | April 25, 2022

As time progresses, it becomes more evident that the existence of God is beyond a reasonable doubt. From 2000 to 2005, I became what I call a theistic-leaning-agnostic. I could not allow myself to become a full-blown atheist because of the inherent absurdity in holding that all the order of the cosmos designed itself. My doubts were based more on the historicity of Jesus, his resurrection, and whether we can know that Jesus really said and did the things ascribed to him in the New Testament.

Eventually, I came to realize that evidence suggests that Jesus did rise from the dead and that the New Testament accurately conveys his teachings and deeds. But what also floored me was the amount of evidence that shows that God’s existence is highly likely. Interestingly, the odds that the universe and life itself organized itself from nothingness, or even a quantum vacuum, is becoming less and less likely.

Either one of two things happened. Either the universe and life sprang into existence of its own accord, indicating that the universe is eternal and that it holds the ability to do such a thing, or a divine superintelligence[1] brought the universe into existence. In other words, either blind chance or a divine Creator brought all things into existence. In his book Return to the God, Stephen C. Meyer lists the odds of probability that a life-sustaining universe came into being and that life sprang into existence. As you will soon see, the odds are beyond what would permit chance as being a viable option.

Odds of Having a Life-Sustaining Universe by Chance

What are the odds that a life-sustaining universe exists in the first place? Oxford physicist Sir Roger Penrose estimates that the odds that the universe had the appropriate initial entropy conditions to have a life-sustaining universe is a mind-boggling 1 in 10^10(123).[2] That is, there is only one change in 10 raised to the 10^th power and raised again to the 123^rd power. To show how large this number is, when I attempted to calculate how many zeroes were behind the 10 with my calculator, it communicated that the value was too large to calculate. Meyer states that when he tried to represent the number with all its zeroes to eliminate the need for exponents, he discovered that “there would be more zeroes in the resulting number than there are elementary particles in the entire universe.”[3] If that is the only figure we had, that would be enough to show the need for a Creator. But there’s more!

Odds of Producing a Single Functioning Protein by Chance

Meyer continues to show that chance cannot explain why a functional protein, or a functional gene exist. His calculations were based on recent experiments in molecular biology. He deduces that the probability of producing one functional protein of a modest length of 150 amino acids is 1 in 10¹⁶⁴.[4] Or, if you want to see what it looks like in real time, 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Consider, as Meyer notes, that physicists hold that only 10⁸⁰ elementary particles exist in the universe.[5]

Bayesian Analysis

Using Bayes’s theorem, it can be deduced that either theism or deism is far more probable than naturalism. Where T = theism, D = deism, N_b = basic naturalism, and E_ft = evidence of fine-tuning; Meyers constructs the following analysis: P(E_ft | T) >> P(E_ft | N_b) and

P(E_ft | D) >> P(E_ft | N_b). P(E_ft | T) >> P(E_ft | N_b).[6] That is, either theism or deism offers a more compelling explanation for the evidence of the existence of life and the universe than does naturalism.

Theism vs. Deism

Now, one must ask, does theism or deism offer a better explanation of the universe as we see it? Deism argues that God wound up the universe like a clock and lets it spin on its own accord with no interaction or involvement on his part. Going back to the initial paragraph, I noted that a good deal of evidence suggests that Jesus rose from the dead. If a person could show evidence that at least one miracle has occurred, then one has a good case for theism over deism. Not only does the resurrection of Jesus show just that, but countless other miracles throughout the two millennia since the inception of the church have also shown the personal involvement that God holds with his people. Furthermore, other data suggesting the continued preservation of the world could be offered as evidence for the case of theism.

Conclusion

Using the material from Stephen Meyer’s book Return to the God Hypothesis, this article has shown that the probabilities of a life-sustaining universe and a single functioning protein are simply too great for chance to explain their existence alone. The Bayesian theorem contends that theism and deism better explain the mind-boggling odd of our existence far greater than materialistic naturalism.

Furthermore, the evidence of miracles in the resurrection of Jesus and miracles that have occurred over time lend a strong case that the involved God of theism is far more probable than the negligent God of deism. Therefore, logically speaking, the believer stands on solid ground accepting God’s existence. While many atheists are knowledgeable people, their worldview simply does not hold ground in light of the overwhelming evidence suggesting a Superintelligence. This led astrophysicist Robert Jastrow of the Goddard Space Institute—a man who was an agnostic Jewish scientist—to deduce the following.

The cosmic beginning is “an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: In the beginning God created heaven and earth … The development is unexpected because science has had such extraordinary success in tracing the chain of cause and effect backward in time. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about the conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”[7]

For someone like Jastrow to say something like that, it is no stretch to say that the existence of God can be accepted beyond a reasonable doubt.

About the Author

Brian G. Chilton is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Theology and Apologetics program at Liberty University. He is the host of The Bellator Christi Podcast and the founder of Bellator Christi. He received his Master of Divinity in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); earned a Certificate in Christian Apologetics from Biola University and plans to pursue philosophical studies in the future. Brian is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society.

Brian has served in pastoral ministry for nearly 20 years and currently serves as a clinical hospice chaplain. Additionally, he serves as an editor for the Eleutheria Journal. At the prompting of the Lord, Brian established Bellator Christi Ministries in 2012. The ministry is aimed to provide readily available resources in theology, apologetics, biblical studies, and philosophy to those who want to know what Christianity teaches and why it should be believed. In 2019, Brian published his first book entitled the Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics. After finishing his Ph.D., Brian intends to publish more books. His areas of expertise include early NT creeds, near-death experiences, biblical reliability, the blend of divine sovereignty and human freedom, and the need for empathy.

https://www.amazon.com/Laymans-Manual-Christian-Apologetics-Essentials/dp/1532697104

Notes

[1] Stephen C. Meyer, Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries that Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2020), 163.

[2] Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (New York, NY: Vintage, 2004), 757–765.

[3] Meyer, Return of the God Hypothesis, 151.

[4] Ibid., 175.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., 275.

[7] Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomer (New York, NY: Norton, 1992), 116.

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