Truth Magazine

By Grant B. Caldwell

It would seem obvious that one of the most important questions ever investigated by man is that of the existence of God. Is there in reality a Supreme Being who knows all, understands all, possesses all power, and abides in all places? All of this and much more is included in the question we ask. Our purpose in this writing is not to analyze all of the characteristics of God, but to see if we cannot come to some reasonable conclusion concerning His existence. Does God exist??? The question is of prime importance because “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is. . . .” (Heb 11:6)

We cannot know God apart from that which He has revealed to us. Those to whom the scriptures have not gone have “no hope” and are “without God” (Eph. 2:12), because by human wisdom, we cannot know God (I Cor. 1: 2 1). But rather than argue the point, the Bible simply accepts the fact of the existence of God. The first verse says, “In the Beginning God…” and from that point treats of His relationship to man. Whether or not this claim it; true cannot be proved in the proverbial “test tube,” but may be, discussed in terms of the evidence presented on either side of the question. Thus, the question actually is, “Is it more reasonable to believe in the existence of God, or is it more reasonable to believe that He does not exist?”

Schools of Thought

There are three basic positions or schools of thought taken in reference to this question. 1. Theism: This is the belief that God does in fact exist; that there is in truth intelligence higher than ours known as Deity. 2. Atheism: This belief denies the former and would establish all as material. 3. Agnosticism: The agnostic argues that it cannot be known and cannot be shown to be true, one way or the other.

For our purposes, we are going to eliminate this third position. The agnostic will give up all belief simply upon the basis that he does not have “test tube” proof. It is a non-committal position that leaves the advocate free to agree or disagree with anyone at anytime. It should be noted, however, that the agnostic does not simply say, “I dont know.” He believes that it cannot be shown one way or the other. He, thus, gives up all because he cannot be shown.

Types of Proof

There are two types of proof commonly accepted in scientific fields that we would like to use in this discussion. One is what is generally called Deductive Reasoning. It is widely used in the proving of mathematical theorems. It reasons from the more general to the specific. Mathematicians use axioms to prove conclusions. Similarly, we might consider:

Something cannot come from nothing — axiomatic.

Something is — axiomatic.

Therefore, something always was — conclusion.

Now, what was that something?

The other type of proof argues from the specific to the more general. This type of reasoning is called Inductive Reasoning. By using the lesser things we know, we can establish a greater principle. This is the type of proof used by Paul in Rom. 1: 19-20.

Look now at the evidence as to the existence of God and determine in your own mind which is more reasonable to believe. We make but three arguments in favor of the existence of God. These can be broken down into more detailed proofs which we will notice to some extent as we continue.

The Existence of Matter

The very fact that there is a material world testifies to the existence of God. The universe, the world, chemicals, vegetables, flesh, blood, bones all exist. The question is “How did these material elements come into existence?” There must be some source, but what is it? The Atheist says that it is matter –matter is eternal. The idea being that all existing matter has come from pre-existing matter. The most frequently preached facet of this doctrine is Evolution.

Consider, though, that matter does not have knowledge or understanding. Matter by its very definition is “inanimate” and “lifeless.” While there may be life associated with matter, the matter itself is not the life (compare a body without life.) Matter does not have intelligence. It does not control, direct, or modify. There are too many substances in existence for them to come from another substance that has no ability. And too, it has been shown that matter is not eternal.

The Theist, on the other hand, believes that God (supreme mind and intelligence) brought matter into existence. Mind has knowledge and understands. It is intelligence, it does control, direct, and modify. Mind is likewise eternal. Not just any mind, but Supreme Mind. Which is more reasonable to believe in as the cause of existing matter?

As we notice the material creation, we that it does have and shows great design and purpose. Observe the size of the universe, and yet, notice its design. From the universe itself to the smallest atom, everything has its laws, its design, its mathematical principles and precisions. And even though billions upon billions of miles are involved, scientists can tell you to the minute such things as when the sun will eclipse, though years from now. John H. Gerstner illustrated it in this way in his book Reasons for Faith:

“Take but one illustration of the teamwork of the universe, a raindrop. The raindrop falls on the earth and provides the soil with various necessary elements. It is taken up into the trees and flowers and herbs by their various root systems. There the water, by a process called photosynthesis, is transformed into things useful to plant life and released to the air in a gaseous form, ultimately to visit the earth again as a raindrop” (page 33-34).

David said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork.” (Psalms 19. 1) Paul said, “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.” (Rom. 1: 20) Again, the Hebrew writer said, “Through Faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Heb. 11:3) The theist believes in God because the existence of matter displays marks of intelligent causation. If matter is so finely engineered, is there no Engineer? If scientific laws are so precise, is there no Lawgiver? If we see such amazing design, can we suppose there is no Designer? There is mathematical exactness and yet no Mathematician? Which is more reasonable to believe???

The Existence of Life

As noted earlier, the Theory of evolution is the Atheists most frequently preached doctrine. This theory (and it should be thoroughly understood that it is just a theory) says that inanimate matter, being acted upon by natural forces, gave origin to minute “living organisms.” (See tract God or Evolution, Luther Blackmon, page 5-available from Truth Magazine Bookstore) One of the most complex, and certainly the most avoided, subject known to the evolutionist is the origin of life. It is a subject to which he cannot give a scientific answer. He may preach evolution all day long, but as to how this process began, he will be as silent as Washingtons tomb. It is a “no-no” to mention origins to an evolutionist.

“Spontaneous generation,” as it is frequently called, will not and cannot explain the cause of fife. Which was the first life and what was the natural force (or forces) acting upon it?

However you might wish to look at it, there must be a Prime Cause. There must be a cause that had no cause. If man came from a lower form, from where did the lower form come? If from still a lower form, how far back can you go? Eventually something will have to be without came.

The Atheist says that he knows there must be a first or prime cause, but denies it to be God. He then admits that it was lifeless matter which violates every scientific principle known to man. i One fundamental scientific law is that everything produces after its own kind. Science has never known actual life to come from non-life matter. In Man does Not-Stand Alone, by Morrison, we read, “So many essential conditions are necessary for life to exist on our earth that it is mathematically impossible that all of them could exist in proper relationship on any one earth at one time by chance. Therefore, there must be in nature some form of intelligent direction” (p. 13).

Which is more reasonable to believe? Is it more reasonable to believe that life began in a natural way by violating every principle of nature, or to believe that God created life? Volumes could be and have been written on the subject of evolution. Our purpose is not to resolve this question, but rather that of the existence of God.

There is man whose body has fascinated the greatest of minds. Compare his heart with the giant pumps of industry. Compare his eye with the telescopes in our observatories. Compare his hand with the tools of construction. All of the machinery mentioned has definite originators. Is it reasonable to suppose there is no originator for man?

And then, there is the insect kingdom and the plant Idngd6m and the animal kingdom and the undersea kingdom … and every one is just as amazing as the one before it . . . But is it reasonable to suppose there is no King?

The Existence of Mind

The fact that man possesses a unique nature is an undeniable truth. Man is different. He possesses mind or intelligence, the ability to reason. This is not simply animal intelligence, the ability to associate, but is reasoning and calculation. Where did man obtain this difference? The Atheist says that it just happened to evolve in the process of time. Again, we say that this is an unproved and improvable theory. Evolution has no continuity and is constantly talking about the missing link, when we wonder if there is a chain at all. It makes no account for mans unique nature, his rational thought.

Man has a moral sense. He has always felt a deep sense of that which is right and wrong. Animals do not feel such morality. We have laws based on the rights of man and when these laws are violated, the violator is properly prosecuted by the courts of our land. Why, if his nature is no different from that of the animal?

Man has rational thought. Thousands of colleges and universities educate our young men and women. Public schools teach our children. Why? Is it not because of our ability over the animal creation to learn? Account for mans superiority.

Man is esthetic in nature. Which animal would appreciate a Rembrandt or the beauty of nature? Mans religious nature, his conscience, etc., all show the unique nature of man. How does man come to have this nature?

The Theist answers all of these questions in simple basic terms  “God did if!” Which is more reasonable to believe? The Atheist whose “proofs” have all fallen, or the Theist who has never been given a morsel of proof to show the absence of God???

Conclusion

The Bible teaches that we can see that God is in existence from that which He has done. We are not left to grope about wondering. I believe in God because I cannot explain what I know to be true without Him. Can you? If you think you can, there is a standing challenge by men of accepted academic qualifications to openly discuss this matter with any scientist who will affirm otherwise.

Which is more reasonable to believe? “In the beginning the heavens and earth just happened,” or “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1: 1)

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 29, pp. 5-7
May 25, 1972

By Cecil Willis

In a previous article, we talked about some of the scriptural proscriptions against astrology, witchcraft, or black magic. This strange mixture of pagan religion, superstition, quackery, and big business is sweeping our land, as I wish to show in this article. See last weeks articles for the scriptures which condemn “star-gazing.”

Prevalence

Nearly everyone in this country has heard of the predictions of Jeane Dixon, or read Carroll Lighters horoscope column, or heard of Bishop John A. Pikes alleged communion through ,several mediums (including one Christian, church preacher, Arthur Ford of Philadelphia) with his son who had shortly beforehand committed suicide.

But these false prophets are only the tip of the iceberg. That is much more! Twelve hundred daily newspapers in the United States now publish horoscope columns. Twenty years ago one hundred papers carried such a column.

Sybil Leek, “a self-proclaimed, practicing witch,” counts 400 “authentic witches” among her personal friends in the United States, and estimates that the world witch population is eight million. There are estimated to be ten thousand Americans who make their livings fortune-telling.” And some members of the church are not reluctant to patronize these witches! Many business firms now employ full-time astrologers. New Yorks Abraham and Strauss department store is reported to have retained Lloyd Cope in 1969 as its official astrology consultant. One member of the New York stock exchange “likes to conclude important deals at three A. M. because of his astrologers counsel,” as reported by Life Magazine. Joseph Bayly states: “Witchcraft is probably been helped with the historic problem of its image by the recent movie Rosemarys Baby, and by the television series, Bewitched; the latter features a beautiful witch, Samantha” (What About Horoscopes? p. 27).

If you doubt that astrology and witchcraft are widespread in this country, go to a local bookstore or magazine display rack and note the book and article titles. One such bookstore had the following titles: Astrology for Everyday Living; Astrology Made Practical; Fortunetelling With Cards; Dreams and Your Horoscope; Your Character in the Stars; Numerology; Your Future in Your Hand; Astrology Answers Your Questions; Astrology, Mythology, and the Bible; Astrology and Your Destiny; The Tarot Revealed; and Your Sun Personality.

Then there are all kinds of specialized astrology books. One hundred thousand gamblers bought Astrology and Horse Racing in a recent year. The spring 1972 Saturday Evening Post on p. 36 has a regular feature entitled “Dog Horoscopes,” by Liz Tresilian, sub-titled “A Dissertation on matters of canine zodiacal import,” in case you are worried about your dogs future.

Or you can buy Your Babys First Horoscope; Astrology for Teens; or How to Find Your Mate Through Astrology. Then there is an Astrological Guide to Good Health; or a Five Year Diet and Health Horoscope; or Cooking with Astrology, and a Zodiac Cookbook. Then there are other books entitled Astrology and, the United States, and The Bird-feather Astrological Space Book. Then there is Astrology for Hounds, or Cat Horoscope Book. Like other false religions, just nearly any kind you want!

According to the New York Times, each book in a series on the signs of the Zodiac has sold 2.5 to 3 million copies every year. In less than two years, Doubledays occult Universe Book Club attracted over one hundred thousand members from all ages, sexes, and localities. Bayly reported: “A Bantam sales executive says that the market for his companys occult line is primarily in the Bible-Belt and the Deep South.” (P. 10). Frankly, I do not know what the implication of that statement is.

But with this modern outbreak of what is alleged to be witchcraft, what should be the attitude of Christians toward it? In 1691-92, at Salem Village, Massachusetts, there was an outbreak of what was adjudged to be witchcraft. Initially two people were fascinating some teenage girls during winter afternoons with palmistry, fortune telling, necromancy, magic, and spiritism. The Salem community became so wrought up over this resurgence of black magic that they conducted the now infamous Salem “witch trials.” Before the matter was ended in Salem Village, nineteen alleged witches were hanged!

Now I am not advocating the hanging of anyone, but I do think the attitude of Christians toward these self-confessed witches should be different than what it oftentimes is. Salems extreme reaction to witchery drove the black magic business underground for three centuries. It now has been exhumed and given respectability by some who do not even profess really to believe in it. Some forms of witchcraft have become afternoon and evening fun-games, even to some Christians. Bayly speaks of “Our light and frivolous approach to the unseen spirit world today, our craze for horoscopes and mediums, fortune-tellers and Ouija boards-turning it all into one big game . . .” (p. 45).

These who claim to be witches and fortune-tellers affirm that they have contact with the unseen and evil spirit world. If you do not believe they do have such contact, you should certainly leave them alone and not patronize them. And one is paying their fee, whether he pays it directly to the fortune-teller or medium, or whether he buys a newspaper or magazine in order to read his horoscope. And if one really believes he has contact with some mysterious spirit world through a Ouija board or a fortune teller, he has accepted already the deadly sin of sorcery. Whether he believes it is for real, or just uses it for an afternoon or evenings fun, the Christian should have no part in satanic stargazing or sorcery. (One More Article to Follow)

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 29, pp. 3-4
May 25, 1972

By Luther Blackmon

Not having the moral strength to meet the demands of his Creator, an atheist tries to convince himself that there is no such Creator. This is like breaking the barometer to avoid the storm or shooting the diagnostician to cure the disease. Some have become atheists because they want to wave the flag of the intelligentsia (having been informed that most of the intelligentsia are in the camp of atheism) whether they qualify or not. So they read a few books on how man developed from the tiny, one-cell or two-cell amoeba up to the Edisons and Einsteins and decide that the theory of evolution must be true. It doesnt seem to bother them at all that this select group can offer no reasonable or sensible explanation as to how the one cell thing came to be, or, how it came to have life. Life comes from antecedent life. However, such trivial questions as the (a) origin of matter (b) origin of life (c) order in the universe (d) laws of nature (the atheist talks about the laws of nature, but denies that there was an intelligent law-maker) do not seem to bother him. All these obstacles the atheist brushes aside or ignores. He evidently thinks that if he will hold his head high enough, and try to look as smart as he thinks he is, and talk loud enough about the gullibility and credulity of these simple-minded Bible dreamers, that people will not notice the impotency, absurdity and inconsistencies of his theory.

Fruits of Atheism

What does one have to believe to be an atheist? Nothing. His system is built on disbelief. What does one have to be, to be an atheist? Nothing. One can be the lowest down moral leper in all society, a thief or murderer, and it will not affect his standing as an atheist. I am not saying that all atheists are evil in these respects. I am simply saying that atheism has no moral standing. One does not have to believe anything, be anything or do anything to be an atheist. His platform is negation.

I wrote an article that was printed in one of the Houston, Texas papers several years ago, in which I said that no one college or hospital or eleemosynary institution in existence, was built by atheism. There was an answer in the paper by an irate atheist, informing me that Stephen Girard College in Philadelphia was built by an atheist. That is some record. But I still say that even that one was not built by atheism. An atheist built it, but the spirit that motivated him in building it was not the spirit of atheism. Let someone name one single thing that is peculiar to atheism, which makes any community a better place to live. Let him name one thing, peculiar to atheism, which makes life in this world more pleasant. Let him name the time when a broken heart was healed, or a broken home salvaged, or hope brought to the hearts of despairing men and women by the theories of atheism. I am sure that atheists do have feelings of charity and kindness towards their fellow-men, but these feelings were not generated by anything they learned or received from atheism. These feelings are but expressions of the nature placed in man by the God whom atheism denies. He has these feelings in spite of his atheism and not because of it. If a man wants to believe that he is no better than the fly that he swats and sweeps into the trash-can, this is a free country. And he was created with the inalienable right to deny the God who made him, if he wants to do so. But when he looks with contempt upon those who believe in the God he denies, I claim my right to remind him that every right he enjoys in this free land, or anywhere else in the world, was made possible by the people who believe in God.

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 29, p. 2
May 25, 1972

By Harold Tabor

The world in which we live is an ever shrinking globe. This process of the world getting smaller has accelerated in the twentieth century largely by advances in international travel and communication media. Radio messages can be transmitted anywhere around the world in a matter of seconds. Television via Telstar transmits live coverage of news events. Aircraft transport more people at an increasing rate of speed and number of available flights.

Every Christian recognizes that all men are created “in the image of God” and yet man is in bondage to sin of every thought of the imagination. Before the Lord ascended into heaven, He gave the church a command to evangelize the world. Matthew 28:18-20 has often been called the “marching orders of the Church.” Every Christian should be reminded that men are “the offspring of God” (Acts 17:28) and that men are divided into two classes: the saved and the lost. He must also realize that he has the responsibility of taking the gospel to all men everywhere. This means men “of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev. 5:9). There is also a sense of urgency. Our lives are short and truly “the harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37).

We should be well aware that English is the most common language of the world.” This is especially true of Christians. We have English-speaking missionaries in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Norway, England, Africa and perhaps others. It would be wonderful if we had English as the language of the world and missionaries in every country. However, we do not. Besides this, Spanish is spoken almost as widely as English.

There are some twenty countries in the world where Spanish is the language of almost all of its citizens. Eighteen of these are Latin American republics plus the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the nation of Spain. In these countries alone, there are well over 200 million native Spanish-speaking inhabitants. The United States has about ten million people whose native language is Spanish. Many of these live in Florida and Texas. The general use of Spanish as a second language is increasing. One estimate states that by the year 2000 A.D., 22 million Americans will speak Spanish.

There are many millions of people who have some knowledge of Spanish through school, self study programs, travel or personal contact in the neighborhood. There are many linguistic similarities to Portuguese, Italian and French which make it attractive as a second language for many people of the world. Even native English-speaking people can usually get the idea of a written paragraph. Spanish is an “easy language” because its pronunciation is simple or similar to English. The grammar is also relatively regular and uncomplicated. Many college students choose Spanish for their language requirement.

The point is this: With the exception of the Spanish works in Florida and along the Mexican-American border, conservative brethren have had only a couple of foreign missionaries in Spanish-speaking countries. If the Latin American Republics continue to grow at the present rate, it is estimated that there will be 600 million people by 2000 A.D. Mexico alone is expected to have over 70 million people by 1980 A.D. If these estimates are realized then the potential of Spanish as a world language is most impressive and our missionary efforts need to be awakened toward the vast number of people without Christ in these areas.

I pray that some elderships will investigate the possibilities of doing work among the Spanish-speaking people of the world, for “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). I also pray that there will be a number of gospel preachers or Christian families who will prepare themselves by learning Spanish and join those now working among the Spanish-speaking people. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38).

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 28, pp. 12-19
May 18, 1972