does God exist?

many people usually ask me: "is there proof/evidence that God exists?" and to someone like me, this is a strange question, akin to asking "is there proof your dad exists?" but again, if they dont know my dad, its upto me to show them that, indeed, my dad exists.. as strange a question as it may be. but many people are truly stumped by this question, and so here it is:

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an argument for the existence of a single eternal infinite personal (as in "having personality") God..

k, well here goes:

time is regressively finite, you cannot go infinitely into the past because to reach "now" there must have been a finite number of events or else we would never be "now". therefore there must have been a first event, and that event requires matter. the law of non-self creation, or "ex nihilo nihil fit" ("from nothing comes more nothing") there must be an agent outside of the limits of space and time, ie infinite and eternal, with the ability to create that is responsible for that first event. this is who/what we define as "God".. so not only does God exist, God MUST exist, due to the existence of everything around us. the question is more a matter of who/what we think this agent is.

pantheism doesnt work because everything cannot be God, since that would limit God to being bound by the limits of creation.. ie, space and time, and by definition and requirement God cannot be. therefore while creation comes from God, creation cannot be God.

deism actually doesnt work either, but is the safest bail out for those who wish to reject the existence of the god of any of the monotheistic religions. it doesnt work because it states that God "wound up" creation like a clock, and then let it go off on its own without intervention. this doesnt work due to many reasons, such as chaos theory, newtons second law of thermodynamics (entropy).. its funny, even evolution would require a capable guiding/controlling intelligent entity(or entities).. but forget evo for now (im a 6-day creationist, though not a 24-hour day, since a day in the bible is not limited to 24hours)

polytheism doesnt work either unless its multiple persons in a single God, due to the definition and requirement once again of God being infinite.. so it once again falls upon who you understand God to be.. so for example the doctrine of trinity (which is probably the most unexplainable one christianity has to offer) is viable, due to there being only one God, though manifested in 3 persons (the bible doesnt talk about one God in 3 manifestations, but 3 distinct persons within a single God) but if we were to have multiple gods, then which is the infinite one? which is the creator? and if any are "mortal", they no longer are infinite or eternal.. and hence fall out of the definition of God.. so it must only be one..

as for the personal part of God, ie, that He must be a personal God, can be argued due to the fact that creation required design (creativity) and therefore intelligence.. and intelligence and creativity require some form of personality ("personalness") this due to the decisions involved in creating creation the way it turned out, and it cant be claimed to have been random, since if it was, then that would rule out the infiniteness (in this case as manifested in omnipotence, or at least the ability to create).

so we have an infinite eternal personal God with the ability to create, and who is separate from His creation.. this leaves us with some form of monotheism.. such as the abrahamic faiths (islam, judaism, christianity)

and then it becomes a matter of seeking out which god it is that God is.. if indeed God is personal, it would be natural to see or expect some form of interaction with creation (other than maintaining it, ie keeping it from destroying itself for example) and thats where revelation kicks in.. of course, thats a bit trickier since thats where the logical and drier part of the proof ends and faith begins.. if God has chosen to reveal Himself, then how? well people who claim to receive messages from God are referred to as "prophets" and the bible says that the sign of a prophet is one of 100% inerrancy when speaking on behalf of God.. which means that we can go through the process of elimination to find which prophet or group of prophets seem to exhibit inerrancy.. which means that the catholic church, jehovas witnesses and mormons as well as a bunch of other fringe groups are out, for example.

not sure what prophecies islam deals with, but for sure it defines itself as the opposite of christianity by explicitly stating that "allah did not beget a son nor was he begotten" so we can eliminate one by proving the other.. in Jesus alone (one quick google shows that) 360+ prophecies found in the old testament were fulfilled, of which 109 could have been fulfilled only by Jesus. so therefore, given the historicity of the person of Jesus, that proves in one fell swoop that the God revealed in the old testament is the true God, and we can therefore accept the new testament as fulfillment and therefore truth (unless we can find that errancy in either part.. which to this day i have yet to find) and that therefore eliminates islam.

on a personal note, however, i can tell you i have seen the bible proved to be true in my life through my faith (ie trust) in what is there written, and how dramatically my life has changed since that day i made the decision to give my life to Him who gave His life for me. i remember how i used to graffiti all my notebooks with "life sucks", my self destructive manic depression, and all manner of other problems i exhibited. well, that stuff is now nowhere to be seen.. i enjoy life like crazy, no matter the circumstance (i have stories there too) and i can truly divide my life in half on that day in september 2001, when i decided to repent (ie, turn away) from my sins and accept that i was a sinner, and received that forgiveness through Jesus' atoning death on the cross. you see, the bible says the only thing that separates us from God is sin, the bad things we do. while in that state, God does not hear us, and we cannot have a relationship with Him. its only when those sins are paid in full that we can, and thats what Jesus did on the cross, making it available to all who desire to have that relationship with God. and for us to receive it, we must repent fully of our sins, acknowledge that we are sinners, and accept God's forgiveness, understanding that there is nothing we can do to earn this salvation, no good deeds or anything, and that this is the work only of Jesus who is the Son of God and God Himself, and nobody else. at that point our sins are forgiven in full, and we can enter into that relationship with Him.