Virtually all Americans believe God exists. They disagree about many other issues, sometimes quite vehemently. But one subject that there is virtual unanimous agreement on is they believe God exists. This is true despite the attacks of the “New Atheists,” the development of modern science and the often liberalizing trends of society.
Per research done by The Gallup Organization, about 90 percent believe in God. Worldwide, the percentage of atheists is about the same—only about 10 percent.
Recently, I learned of an extended family member who is questioning belief. Raised in a Christian home, it seems the doubt might be just an excuse for living a non-Christian lifestyle. Of course, this is quite disappointing for my wife, Carolyn, and me. But learning about it got me thinking about why the overwhelming majority believe God exists.
So, here are my top four reasons why most people believe God exists:
1. Nature shows us there is a Creator.
We often call nature “creation” because life is so obviously systematically designed and created. This is in line with biblical teaching:
“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.” (Psalm 19:1 NLT) See also Romans 1:20.
Atheism seems to ask us to believe unreasonable ideas about nature:
a) Atheism asks us to believe that matter brought itself into existence.
Atheists have no answer to the question of where matter came from, so they evade the question and attack believers.
When I Google searched “where do atheists think matter came from” the top two articles were by atheists who had no concrete answer. One admitted, “We really don’t know,” in THIS article. The other said that answering this question is “not our responsibility” in THIS article.
It seems that most people don’t have enough faith to be atheists. Most find it more logical to believe God exists and brought matter into existence.
Christians know from the Bible that God is eternal and brought creation into existence (Genesis 1:1).
b) Atheism asks us to believe that complexity almost beyond comprehension happened spontaneously and accidentally.
My guess is that most people find it too fantastic to believe that the complexities of creation somehow just happened, as atheistic evolution suggests. They see evolution happening on a smaller scale (micro-evolution) but unreasonable on a large scale.
2. The logic and justice of an ultimate Lawgiver.
People have an instinctive sense of right and wrong. We automatically know that it is wrong to kill, wrong to lie, wrong to steal and so on. Additionally, most seem to logically understand that where there are laws, there is a Lawgiver. That the laws written in our hearts come from God.
It seems that most people also have a sense of accountability—that one day they’ll give account to the Almighty for what they have done.
Furthermore, when they think of Hitler, Stalin and other horrible people, they long for justice from that Lawgiver. People want the source of right and wrong to judge.
This sense of justice and accountability is spoken of in Romans 2:14-16 (NLT):
“Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.”
3. The sense of eternity in our hearts.
Most people also believe God exists because they have a sense of the eternal nature of our spirits. They believe in an afterlife; a heaven with an eternal God and a hell. Most find it challenging to believe that when we die, everything is completely over.
The Bible affirms this sense of the eternal saying God “has planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT).
When Carolyn’s sister Gwen died a few years ago at age 57, the hope of heaven sustained her. She focused on her eventual heavenly eternal reunion with Gwen, rather than the earthly loss.
Rather than “wishful thinking” this is the assurance for those who know and love the Lord Jesus:
“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:1, 4, 8 NLT)
4. The meaninglessness of the atheistic view of life.
To be an atheist means to believe that human beings are just molecules and matter—another accident of the evolutionary process. Therefore, life has no ultimate meaning.
Atheism means that:
- Your past was simply the result of pure evolutionary chance.
- Your existence is just an accident.
- You’re of essentially no more value than any animal or tree or plant or rock.
- You have no ultimate eternal purpose.
- You have no future except to die and rot in a grave.
I don’t think people find these conclusions very appealing!
Furthermore, informed people understand that not only is atheism very unappealing, it is very dangerous. The full title of Charles Darwin’s book which launched atheistic evolutionary theory is The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.
Notice the last part of that title, “The preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.” Does that sound like Hitler’s idea of a “master race”? Indeed, his Nazi philosophy was a direct outgrowth of atheistic evolutionary thinking. It led to the slaughter of about 25 million victims.
Karl Marx, the father of communism, asked Darwin to write the introduction to his book Das Kapital since atheistic evolution provided the supposed scientific foundation for communism. Communism in its various forms has resulted in the slaughter of 100 million people, more than any other ideology in history.
Thus, atheism is the philosophical foundation for immense, almost unfathomable suffering. Most people find this disturbing, and they should!
Instead, they believe God exists. And if they know the God of the Bible, they know that instead of suffering and emptiness He provides:
To find out how to know God personally today through Jesus Christ, please click HERE!
