Nightline Debate About God's Existence

Tonight I was able to catch Nightline's program featuring Kirk Cameron (an evangelist) in a debate with atheists. I was disappointed, because I had thought it was going to be a live debate. Instead they just played clips of the debate. They announced that you could join the debate at www.abc.com, so I logged on. I was happy to see so many Christians on the message board! The bad part was that I could not even find atheists to converse with. Oh well. It was great to read the messages from so many believers. Way to go!

Anyway, the subject of the debate was the question, "Does God Exist?" For me, the interesting question is: If I were talking with an atheist, what would I say? These are some of my thoughts:

Creation is too complex to be a coincidence.

Human beings are so intricately made, it would be absurd to think we just "happened". The human body is too amazing. The eye alone is beyond human ability to duplicate. A camera can never pick up the range, depth and sensory input of the eye with its ability to adjust to varying degrees of light. And that is just one organ.

All people have a "sense" about when they have been treated wrongly. Where did that "sense" of right and wrong come from. Some might think that a child must be taught the difference between right and wrong, and perhaps they do to a point. But no one has to be taught to recognize when they are treated unfairly. Where does that come from? (From being created in God's image, of course. He has given us all a conscience.)

Look at outer space. It all operates with precision, year after year. I have heard that if the earth were some slight, slight degree closer or farther from the sun, we would all freeze or burn up. The planets are all so unique too. Study outer space, and see if you can still deny a Creator with infinite imagination and ability. And the size of outer space is beyond what we can fathom. It speaks of an unfathomable God.

Read the prophecies of Scripture. King Cyrus was named in Scripture by Isaiah about 400 years before he existed. The remaking of Israel into a nation once again after they were scattered into all the nations was prophesied thousands of years ago. Look at the Jews! Their existence and history as a people can not be denied.

When you admit that mankind is sinful (just look at the world around you - lying, stealing, killing etc.), you can not deny that Scripture gives us an accurate picture of the condition we are in.

We can know that the Christian faith is the only accurate and true faith, above Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all the rest, because it is the only faith that provides a Redeemer who gave His Life on our behalf, providing us a way out of our mess. Hinduism and Buddhism tell you to look within yourself and try hard to be a better person. Christian faith tells us the answer is not within ourselves, but in God. We can not take credit for saving ourselves. (We can't do it anyway.) These religions focus on oneself - trying to save yourself, improve yourself, and attain a "higher state". It is self-focused. Christianity is focused on the goodness of God - not the goodness of man. The god of Islam is not a god of love and forgiveness. It's followers have no way of coming to know their god. They just follow the rules of the religion and hope that god is pleased. Christians know that God is love, provides forgiveness, and wants to have an intimate relationship with His us.

Any other thoughts?

It is good to ponder these things. It makes me thankful that God has given me the gift of knowing Him. He has given me the gift of spending eternity with Him. He has given me the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead me into truth and give me peace. He strengthens me and teaches me to be like Him. He helps me to love and care for others in a way that I could not do on my own. The God of Scripture is the only true God. He is exactly what we need.