Think of a friend of yours whom I have never met and, for the sake of simplicity, let us say that his name is Michael. How would you prove to me that Michael exists? It is not enough to prove that “A man whom I would call Michael exists,” for you must prove to me that this particular person exists, a person who stands so tall, has a certain color of hair, a certain color of eyes, a certain temperament, certain likes and dislikes, etc. How would you prove to me that your friend actually exists? Once you discover the method by which you can prove the existence of Michael, you will have also discovered the method by which we can prove the existence of the Christian God.
Does this surprise you? For years I have heard people say—and you have probably heard it too—that God’s existence cannot be proven; we must put aside our reasoning and simply believe that he exists. Christianity is often presented in the same way: it cannot be proven; we must put aside our reasoning and simply believe that it is true.
But the Christian Bible itself tells us that we should not blindly accept what Christianity has to say. It tells us that we should test the validity of any statement, especially those of the people who claim to be speaking on God’s behalf: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). It tells us that Christianity’s central tenet is the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it plainly tells us that if the resurrection did not actually occur in history, if the resurrection is not as verifiable as your own birth is, then we should rightly reject Christianity: “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor. 15:17). So the Bible itself invites us to test the validity of what Christianity has to say. It invites us to consider the arguments and evidence in favor of the Christian faith and either accept or reject it based on those arguments and evidence.
The purpose of this little book is to present those arguments and evidence. I believe it was Thomas Aquinas who once said that if you want to convince someone that he should be standing on your side of the room, you do not yell across the room at him. You start at his side of the room and then walk with him, step by step, to your side of the room. I intend to do the same in this book. I intend to start with a statement with which all of us can agree and then walk with you step by step until you can see why we Christians believe that our God really exists.
The first step in this process begins with the realization that there must be absolute truth.
