I Want to Know if God Exists

“Does God exist”? That is a question that people have been asking from time immemorial. Human beings typically, rely on what they know, see, touch and hear —usually through our physical senses. Don’t be deceived… Every teenager, at one time or another, has pondered over this matter. Some have had the courage to ask someone – parent, pastor, teacher, neighbour, friend, etc – and received a variety of responses. Some have asked but have been promptly shot down for ‘expressing such heresy’. Some others have simply mused and moved on. But you would have loved, just for once, that someone could simply show you the evidence for God's existence. It shouldn’t be an answer that requires any arm-twisting or responses like, "You just have to believe" but a candid reply which suggests that God exists.

For those who want to know if God exists, consider... Jeremiah 29:13, “Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart”.

We will do a little search for God. As a teenager, you like to hunt and explore. The suspense, intrigues and revelations along the search can be very exciting and enlightening. You don’t like to come up empty. If God really exists; if He is really REAL, as we’ve been told all our lives; then we’ve got to find that out. Thank God (see that phrase!) the internet is there to help us but does it have all the answers? There have been many things said and written about the existence of God through the ages. We can also pick out a few things ourselves. Let’s take a walk!

1.   Look around you. Some things just defy mere chance. In the day time, there’s the rising and setting of the sun; we experience showers or even outpouring of rain; lightening, thunderstorms, the winds; the blooming and waning of all kinds of plants and flowers and animals, etc. At night, there’s the galaxy of stars, the moon, the sleepy clouds, etc. Around us are all kinds of soil, water bodies from ponds to oceans… how astonishing!

Geography tells us about the complexity of the universe, with science and all but it seems to point to something really deliberate – something out of the ordinary. The universe has not always existed. It had a start...what caused this start? Scientists, over the ages, have not been able to explain the sudden explosion of light and matter that they claim brought about the creation.

Things seem to come about with such exceptional orderliness. The day runs for a specific time into the night which also observes its specific time; the waters simply run along; we sleep and wake generally, at a given time; birds chirping, singing; movement, quietness… over and over, never changing! How did all these come about?

2.   Look at you. As teenagers, we know a lot about reproduction. It is taught in our schools in the subject, Biology. We know how babies are born, grow, mature and die… we are a product of that process, the sperm and egg meeting. It spells out a life sequence that is so deliberate. As scholars, our teaching and instruction materials are intentional, written with purpose. So, look at you. Every cell in our bodies are arranged like so. 

    Scientists call it the DNA code – that details exactly how uniquely, we are. As many human beings as we are in the world, over 7 billion of us, we have our distinctive qualities… every single one of us. We are born in different locations, cultures, mannerisms, experiences, weather, etc. We are of various races and personalities; yet, we have some things in common – we breathe air from our nose, see with our eyes, speak/eat with our mouth, move our limbs, possess organs for so many functions; get hungry, thirsty, angry, tired, confused, etc. How did it all happen?

3.   Listen to people. The world is full of witnesses, past and present, who have testified of His existence. More witnesses abound who have experienced God’s answers to prayers or felt the incontrovertible evidence of His existence. God does not just watch over the earth from heaven, He is present in people’s lives, working in mysterious ways. So, they speak about it, preach about it, write about it, talk about it, and sing songs about it. There are stories and confessions that cannot be explained physically… there is a spiritual dimension. 

    We cannot validate their experience but it is so real and so true. How do you explain that someone who was suffering from a terminal illness with all hope lost… and in just a moment, experiences instant recovery! Haven’t we heard of the blind seeing, dumb talking, lame walking, etc, after unsuccessful medical intervention; prayers answered in miraculous ways; help arriving in mysterious fashion? Who is behind all of these?

What science has not admitted is that there is a Great power out there responsible for all of these. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1 that God created the earth. “All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). Even with so much advanced technology today, it is not possible to prove the reality of God through scientific means alone. For even with all the physical evidence, our human understanding is limited.

Do you need a dramatic sign or a physical miracle to be convinced that God exists? How can you know God is real? To get your answer very clearly, you must go to the source. James 1:5 tells us, “If any of you lack wisdom,” the Bible states, “let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not”. God wants you to know that He is there and just waiting for you to ask your questions. Like, “God, are you real”?

God is a spiritual Being. Everything we can see, hear and imagine can only have come from the conception and creation of the Almighty God. Colossians 1:16-18, “For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him. ¹⁷ And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.] ¹⁸ He is also the head [the life-source and leader] of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place [He will stand supreme and be preeminent] in everything”.

Since God works not just in physical but in spiritual ways, He should also be discovered—and proven—through spiritual means. So when you want to know if God is real, you must ask God and experience His answer for yourself. Prophet Elijah, in the Bible, learned that spiritual questions result in spiritual answers. In 1 Kings 19:11-12, when he prayed to God, “the Lord was not in the wind: … the Lord was not in the earthquake: … the Lord was not in the fire.” Instead, Elijah received God’s answer “in a still small voice”. Others describe a spiritual response from the Holy Ghost as a warm feeling, a prominent or unexpected thought, a clear sensation of love, or a burning sensation of the soul. Does God exist?