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God is Real
Bryan Oliver
Due 10/9/2014
ENGL 101 - 103



















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According to a report by the Pew Research Center, over eighty percent of
people worldwide believe that there is some kind of god (Hackett 9). After all, without
God, without something after death, what is our reason for living? As people, we need
God to give our lives meaning. Even if we dont think about our spirituality often, we
need to know, in the back of our mind, that our lives matter. But is God real, or is he
only a make-believe being that weve conjured up to help us get by during our brief
time on earth?

Lets start at the beginning; the Big Bang, as scientists call it. There is nothing. In
fact, not even nothing exists. There is no time. And out of the black, out of nothing,
begins time. The universe literally explodes into being. From this single burst of energy
and matter comes everything we know today (Hawking, The Beginning of Time n.
pag.). So how is it possible for an explosion such as that to cause a world as ordered as
it is today? Up until the mid 1800s, most scientists believed in spontaneous generation.
According to this theory, many animals were made not from other animals of their
species, but instead out of nothing, as long as they had a food source. This theory has
since been proven false by Louis Pasteur and others (3). Despite this, many scientists
today still believe in spontaneous generation of a different sort. They believe that the
entire universe came into being out of nothing, without reason. However, the creation
of the universe is only possible with God to cause it.

In order for the universe to progress from nothing, to clouds of gas, to stars,
rocks, and water, to life, to New York City, there had to be someone watching over the
process, planning out every step to ensure everything happened as it needed to for life
to exist. There is an innumerable amount of variables that could have brought the
whole process to a screeching halt. For example, If earth was closer to the sun, it
would be too hot for life. If earth were farther, it would be too cold. With God guiding
the creation process, everything developed as it needed to for life to flourish (Craig 9).

We can also see evidence supporting Gods existence in life itself, specifically
human life. After all, if God, exists, if God is good, and if God created people, then
people should be good as well. This is where our moral compassour conscience,
comes from. As independent beings, capable of our own choices, we fall short. The
fact remains though, that this idea of good and bad cannot have come about without
God. Atheists might suggest that it came from natural selection, suggesting that beings
following the moral code as we know it today were able to better survive (FitzPatrick
n. pag.). The problem, is that our conscience will sometimes do just the opposite. How
often do people sacrifice their own well-being for the good of others? Firefighters,
police officers, and soldiers risk their lives every shift they work, but they work anyway
for the benefit of others. Our conscience often does not benefit the individual. God, and
God alone, gave us our sense of right and wrong.

But this only applies to the present. What happens after you die? Atheists say
that we simply cease to exist. While our bodies rot away, we are nothing our
consciousness vanishes like a puff of smoke in the wind (Cornish, n. pag.) Accepting
that there is nothing after death is accepting that life before death means nothing as
well. After all, what does it matter for a person to die at eight or eighty, if we must all
die and cease existing anyway? This view of nothingness after death is unacceptable.

In 1988, my mother, Benita, had her first child, named Bryce. From the onset, she
sensed a foreboding sense of doom. She says it was as though God was whispering to
her, He is going to die, enjoy the time you have with him. Obviously, this was not a
healthy feeling. If this was all, it could have been attributed to nervousness about a
firstborn. However, almost two weeks later, he began crying. It was not the simple
whimpering of a hungry newborn, but desperate wailing by an infant. Rushed to the
hospital, he was pronounced dead cause of death, brain hemorrhage. God was there
for my mother. He forewarned her that Bryce would die. Though his remains on earth
are only a few scattered ashes, I look forward to meeting the brother I never met, in
heaven.

According to atheists, there is no proof for Gods existence. I agree. There is
however, evidence. For example, we have a sense of right and wrong. Our sense of
what is right comes from God, who is a righteous judge (International Standard
Version, Psalm 7:11). Another common argument is that if God is real, then he must not
have the power or compassion to intervene in todays world, since there is so much
wrong with the world. The reason for suffering is not God. It is us. God gave us the
ability to choose for ourselves (qtd. Strobel n. pag.). God is willing to help those who
ask, but he does not control people like a micromanaging boss.

Is God real? There is no proof that will show that he is. It is up to you to decide
for yourself. Just think about this. Imagine youre hiking through the woods, and you
see a cabin. It is extremely worn down, and looks like animals live in it. No doubt you
would think that somebody had built the cabin, and eventually stopped maintaining it,
leaving it to rot. While it is could, theoretically, have been made by chance, with wood
nailing itself, you would not believe that. Youd see someone had built the cabin. Now
look at nature. In theory, it is possible that it just came into being. There was Nothing,
and then there was Something. This Something somehow managed to shape itself into
galaxies, black holes, stars, solar systems, planets, and at some point, somehow, life.
Or something else could have happened. Some kind of intelligent being could have
shaped everything into objects and beings, including you.














Craig, William Lane, and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. God? [Electronic Resource] : A
Debate Between A Christian And An Atheist / William Lane Craig, Walter

Hacket, Conrad, and Brian J. Grim. Pew Research Centers Religion Public Life Project
RSS. Rep. Pew, Dec. 2012. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Cornish, Keith S. "An Atheist's Perspective on Death." Atheist Foundation of Australia
Inc. Atheist Foundation, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.

Morse, Donald R. "Does God Exist?." Journal Of Spirituality & Paranormal Studies 34.1
(2011): 1-2. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

Hawking, Stephen W. "The Beginning of Time." The Beginning of Time. N.p., 1996.
Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Pasteur, Louis. "On Spontaneous Generation." Sorbonne Scientific Soire(1864): n. pag.
Http://www.rc.usf.edu/. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

FitzPatrick, William. "Morality and Evolutionary Biology." Stanford University. Stanford
University, 19 Dec. 2008. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

Strobel, Lee. "Why Does God Allow Tragedy and Suffering?" Why Does God Allow
Tragedy and Suffering? Web. 07 Oct. 2014.