Suspended Christian teacher back at work

A Christian teacher from London who was punished for objecting to a one-sided training day about homosexuality will be back at work next term.

Kwabena Peat, 54, was suspended in January after he complained that a staff training day was used to promote gay rights and marginalise those who disagreed with homosexual practice.

He was charged with gross misconduct but an appeal panel of school governors has decided the charge was disproportionate and Mr Peat will return to work when the new term commences in September.

He has been supported by the Christian Legal Centre which celebrates its first anniversary this week.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said it was “a great victory for common sense”.

She said: “Mr Peat simply expressed a Christian viewpoint and objected to the school undermining parental rights regarding the education of their children on sexual ethics.

“He should be applauded for challenging the new political orthodoxy in an attempt to protect children rather than face such harsh intimidation.”

The story hit the headlines in April when it emerged that Mr Peat, who is head of year at a North London secondary school, had walked out of a compulsory training session on the subject of homosexuality along with several other Christian colleagues.

The session included a presentation by Sue Sanders, a co-founder of the Schools Out organisation which promotes a homosexual agenda in schools, in which she questioned whether heterosexuality was “natural”.

According to Mr Peat there was no opportunity for those with a different point of view to respond.

He wrote to three staff who organised the event and complained about the “aggressive” presentation of gay rights. His letter also referred to his religious beliefs about homosexuality.

The recipients of the letter said they felt “harassed and intimidated” by it. Following an investigation, Mr Peat was suspended on full pay.

Mr Peat said he had expected the training session merely to provide information to help teachers handle homophobic bullying, but the guest speaker had gone much further.

In April he said: “She started promoting homosexual lifestyles and suggesting those who had objections should sort out their prejudices.

“She said, ‘What makes you all think that to be heterosexual is natural?’ It was at that point I walked out.”

from: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/

We Will Ordain More Gay Bishops Say US Church

The Episcopal Church in the United States has backed the consecration of gay bishops in a move commentators have described as a “step towards schism” in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

At the Episcopal Church General Convention in California this week, both the House of Deputies (composed of clergy and lay members) and the House of Bishops agreed to give “partnered gays” full access to ordination as bishops.

The move overturns a moratorium on ordaining homosexual bishops which the Episcopal Church has observed since 2006.

The Church had agreed to the moratorium after its election of openly-gay Bishop Gene Robinson in defiance of biblical teaching and Anglican tradition in 2003.

The moratorium was intended as an act of restraint on the election of any further bishops whose “manner of life” would cause offence to other Anglicans.

Now the Episcopal Church’s latest resolution is considered a major blow to the fragile Anglican unity which has existed since then.

Those voting for the change ignored a personal plea from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

Dr Williams had travelled to America last week to urge liberal clergy not to do anything to disrupt the unity of the Anglican Communion.

Dr Williams told the Convention: “Along with many in the Communion, I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that will push us further apart.”

Responding to news of the outcome of the moratorium vote, Dr Williams said: “I regret the fact that there is no will to observe the moratorium in such a significant part of the church in North America”.

The Bishop of Sherborne, Dr Graham Kings, said: “The Episcopal Church has clearly signalled, against the specific plea of the Archbishop of Canterbury on this very issue, its choice of autonomy over interdependence in the Anglican Communion.

“Questions will now have to be asked about the full continued participation of Episcopal Church representatives in Anglican Communion meetings.”

‘Britain’s a cold place for Christians’ says Bishop

Mounting equality laws have made Britain a “cold place for Christians”, according to a senior Bishop.

The Bishop of Winchester, Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, made his comments in a foreword for a new report published by CARE (Christian Action Research and Education).

The Bishop wrote: “The sad fact is that Britain – which owes so much to its Christian heritage – is increasingly becoming a ‘cold’ place which, as any reflection on the fruit of Christian good works will demonstrate, is not in the general interest of society.”

He said there appeared to be a concerted attack on the rights of Christians and when there were clashes, the rights of other groups triumphed.

The new report, which is the first of two key reports from the CARE Equalities Series, comes in response to religious liberty concerns surrounding two pieces of proposed legislation.

The Government’s new Equality Bill and the EU Equal Treatment Directive both threaten to make life even more difficult for Christians, CARE says.

The report explores the growing political pressures for Christians to keep their faith private amid the introduction of more and more ‘equality’ laws.

It cites a number of recent cases where Christian freedoms in the UK have been restricted.

It mentions Lillian Ladele, a Christian registrar who was told by her employer she must perform homosexual civil partnerships or face dismissal.

The case of Jennie Cain is also cited. Mrs Cain is a part-time school receptionist. She was reprimanded because she asked friends to pray about an incident involving her little girl being scolded at the school for talking about her faith.

The CARE report commemorates the work of William Wilberforce and celebrates the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.

The author of the report, Dr Dan Boucher, commented: “It is extraordinary that at the very time the Government has introduced its Equality Bill – with all its negative implications for faith – we are about to celebrate the 175th anniversary of one of the greatest achievements of the public manifestation of faith in the history of the UK, the release of all British colonial slaves.”

Nola Leach, CARE’s Chief Executive, said: “We hope this first report in the CARE Equalities Series will help politicians and policy shapers understand the unfortunate impact of recent equalities laws on Christians and the imperative for change.

“Britain can benefit from the manifestation of Christian belief just as much today as it did in 1834 when the slaves were liberated, but our laws must be fit for purpose.

“We also hope that the report will be widely read by Christians and that it will help them gain a greater understanding of the impact of recent equalities legislation, the Equality Bill currently before Parliament and the very considerable way in which public Christianity has benefited the UK in the past.”

Run Through Romans (ch 5.18-21)

18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

This is a wonderful continuation of what the word taught us in Romans 5.17: through Adam we were all made sinners, but through Christ’s life of perfect obedience that was offered up to the Lord for us, many people shall be made righteousness.  On the cross, Jesus was made sin so that we could be made righteous (2 Cor. 5.21) – to make it more real, I like to say it like this: Jesus who knew no sin became sin with our sin so that we who knew no righteousness could be made righteous with our righteousness.

That is one powerful realization: Jesus took our sin and became our sin on the cross.  Everything you have ever done wrong, every impure thought you have ever had, every lie you have ever told, every sin you have ever committed, every time you crossed the line, every time you acted like there was no line but you knew there was a line – every sin was placed on Him and He became sin with your sin.

No wonder He told the Father: if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.  No wonder as He died He yelled “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”  No wonder the sky was black and the earth was shaking.  He took your sin.  He took my sin.  He took the sin of the world.

Adam disobeyed and his nature became the nature of wrath, he was a child of satan and therefore took after his father, satan (read John 8 – I will post some articles expanding this at some point).  Adam’s whole nature changed – he was spiritually alive created with the spirit and breath of God inside him (Genesis 2.7) , and on the day he sinned he spiritually died losing his communion and love and life, and becoming bound with fear and guilt and shame and blame.

Since then every child of Adam (that is, every single human) has been born dead in their sins and trespasses, unable to please God, unable to serve God, unable to live in victory.  The only solution for this sin issue was if someone completely righteous, someone who never sinned, someone who was born differently so they were born spiritually alive.  Someone who lived their entire life without ever sinning and therefore never dying spiritually. 

And then that someone would have to offer up their life on our behalf, to take all of our sin, to carry it all into their body, and pay the total penalty for all of our sin.  And that is what Jesus did.  Because all the price has been paid for our sin, then we can be made righteous – not by doing anything right – but by believing in Jesus and realizing what He did and then receiving His righteous and His life which then transforms our spirit.   This experience is so life shattering it is called in the Bible being born again (John 3.3,5) – your whole inner nature changes from being dead to being alive, you stop having the nature of death and satan; and start enjoying the nature of God – being a partaker of the divine nature.

 20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

This is Paul re-iterating that this salvation, this life of abundance, this partaking of the divine nature, this being born again, this being made totally righteous and being able to stand before God without sin, without fear, without a sense of judgment or sense of inferiority – being able to come boldly to the throne of grace has NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR MERIT.  The purpose of the law is not to make righteousness abound, but to make offence abound.

The rules and regulations that were in the Old Testament were not to make the people good, but to show them how bad they were.  The Ten Commandments are not to make you good, they cannot make you good, they just make you want to disobey them, they just show you that you fail.  They have no power to change your heart and your attitude.

What is wonderful about this verse is that the more you sin, the more grace there is.  The more you have disobeyed, the more goodness God extends to you.  It is not your goodness that causes God to move towards you and bless you, it is His grace.  Even if you have broken all 10 commandments, and sinned in huge massive ways: God’s grace is more massive.  It is greater.

If you go back to the law and try and obey God and try and be good and try and obey God, the more you do that the more you will fail, the more you will mess up, the more you will offend against God’s holy law.  However, if you come to God and just accept that He is good, that He loves you, that He blesses you – not because you have been good but because He is good and He is kind and He is lovely, you will find that His grace is greater than your sin.  As soon as you stop trying to be good and start to trust in the fact that God is good, then you will be more holy and more loving by accident than you have ever been on purpose.  Say it outloud until you believe it from the core of your being: “God’s grace abounds more than my sin.”

 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see sin rules over your life before you are a Christian.  You are dead spiritually and sin is your master.  Because sin is your master, satan can come into your life whenever he wants.  You were the tail and not the head – just following around the circumstances of life.  Whenever you managed to succeed in one area of your life, you started to fail in another. 

But when grace entered your life because you heard and believed your entire nature changed, your entire life changed.  You stopped being spiritually dead and started being spiritually alive, you stopped being a sinner and started being righteous.  You started enjoying eternal life, you started enjoying a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

You stopped being the tail and started being the head – you can speak to mountains and they move, you can walk in victory, you can rule and reign and love life.  That is the joy of being born again, that is the fun of being a Christian: being in right relationship with God (His Son), being in right relationship with the world (it’s dominator) and being in right relationship with satan (your foot on his head, not the other way around).

Now you might read this and say: hold on Ben – I am not experiencing this.  This does not describe my life.  Well it should.  It is what you are in the spirit.  If that is not manifesting and not flooding out of you then you need to do three things:

1. Think it.  Spend time in the Bible reading Scriptures about you reigning in life. 

2. Believe it.  Let your mind paint pictures of you reigning, of you enjoying a great relationship with God, about you walking in health and wealth and victory and joy.

3. Say it.  Mark 11.23: For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 

You need to speak to everything in your life that is in your way, and you shall have what you say.

Next time we will begin to answer one of the most important questions that a study of Romans 5 brings up: if we have peace with God because of what Jesus did, and no matter how much we sin, God’s goodness and graciousness is more than our sin, can we live however we want and sin as much as we want?  The answer will probably not surprise you, but the Biblical reasons for the answer probably will.

If this has blessed you or if you have any questions, please comment on the post and I will respond to all comments.

Blessings and love,

Benjamin

What’s Wrong with a Bit of Cussing (Ray Comfort)?

“Ray, what is wrong with using ‘filthy language’? Biblically or otherwise? Words are words, and it is you who projects meaning onto them. ‘Filthiness’ is a category that certain words are intentionally used to carry, meaning that if (for example) the entire human race forgot the filthy words of today, new ones would pop up to take their place in the semantic vacuum. But I ask again, what’s wrong with using the f-word (filthy word)?” Lurker

If you are an atheist, you can’t say anything is morally “wrong.” Is rape wrong? If you answer “Yes,” I ask you “Who says?” If you say “Society,” then if society deemed rape morally okay, does it become right? What about murder? Is that right or wrong? What say society says it’s right, just for getting rid of Jews and blacks? Is it then right? Is it morally okay to kill children in the womb? You say again, “If society says so.” How about men marrying men? If society says so. Is pedophilia wrong? Same scenario.

You have no rock to stand on. We do. The rock upon which the Christian stands is immovable, and it will judge all of humanity (including you) on the Day of Judgment (see Romans 2:12). We have the solid rock of the Law of God. The Commandments were written in stone and they are unchanging. They tell us that murder is morally wrong, so is adultery, fornication, lust, greed, envy, and pride. Everything that violates the spirit of God’s Law is morally wrong (see Romans 7:14). That includes what the Bible calls “filthy language” (see Colossians 3:8).

A recent study found that the use of filthy language tends to help certain people deal with pain:

“The researchers enlisted 64 undergraduate volunteers and had them submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice. The experiment was then repeated with the volunteer repeating a more common word that they would use to describe a table. Contrary to what the researcher expected, the volunteers kept their hands submerged longer while repeating the swear word.”

All these researchers found was that certain human beings with a filthy mouth (subconsciously) place value on filthy talk. No doubt blasphemy was included in their language:

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies”(Matthew 15:18-19).

Questions on Healing Answered by the Hunters

The following are actual questions about the topic of HEALING which have been asked by people.

We share these with the hope that they will be a blessing to you.     


Q.:  Is it okay to ask for prayer (or to pray for healing) more than once for the same thing?  

A.:  The answer is YES, it is DEFINITELY SCRIPTURAL. 

The Bible gives an example of a person having hands laid on him more than once for the same thing.  Jesus laid hands on a blind man at Bethsaida TWICE before he was completely healed (see Mark 8:22-25). 

In their book “HOW TO RECEIVE AND MAINTAIN A HEALING,” Charles and Frances Hunter refer to this miracle as God showing His sovereignty by doing it exactly as He wants it done. 
To quote the Hunters: “Jesus touched the man AGAIN when he said he could only see men as trees, showing that we need not be ashamed to go back more than once for our healing.” 
The Hunters share a KEY POINT to remember: Laying hands for healing more than once for the same thing does NOT show a lack of faith, but

PERSISTENCE! 

Remember that God is sovereign, and He will heal the way He wants and in His timing.  He may heal instantaneously (a miracle), over a period of time (a healing), or after you are ministered to more than once.

The key is to KEEP EXPECTING and believing God for a miracle when ministering healing or being ministered to.  As the Hunters say, YOU NEVER KNOW IF THIS COULD BE YOUR DAY FOR A MIRACLE!


Q.:  What does it mean to ask God for a “heavenly chiropractic adjustment”?
A.:  Dr. Roy Le Roy, DC, author of “THE SUPERNATURAL SPINE,” gives himself a “heavenly chiropractic adjustment” daily in the name of Jesus.  

He says our spines are in constant movement and subject to lots of wear and tear every day. Just the act of sitting or standing (which is very hard on the back) can throw parts of the spine out of alignment, so our backs need adjustment regularly. 

All you need to do is lay hands on your back and command the vertebrae and the discs to go into proper alignment in the name of Jesus, and it works!
(This can save on costly pain medication and chiropractic bills, too!)
Note:  Please see the Hunter’s books and video on healing.
 
 
Q.:  What does it mean to pray for the “electrical and chemical frequencies” of every cell in the body to become normal?  Is this Scriptural?
A.:  Did you know…… that every single cell in your body has assigned to it a unique pattern of God-given frequencies for it to thrive.  

The Hunters have found that “after much study and talking to many doctors and listening to many cassette tapes on this subject,” they are convinced that “when the electrical and chemical frequencies of body cells are in harmony and in balance, no disease can live in that body.”
Therefore, in accordance with the principle of speaking to the mountain (Mark 11:23) — in this case, speaking healing in Jesus’ name — we as believers in Jesus can command that the electrical and chemical frequencies of every healthy cell in the body be in perfect balance and harmony, the way the divine Creator intended. 

Just as doctors use medicines and skills to address medical problems, likewise we can apply God’s healing power to any medical condition and see it healed in Jesus’ name.
There are many kinds of miracles not specifically described in the Bible. These are Scriptural, using principles of Mark 11:23, which talks about speaking to the mountain —and believing what we ask in Jesus’ name will happen — and Mark 16:18, which says believers shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

John 21:25 says, “And there are also many other things Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
As the Hunters teach, we need to be open to new ways God teaches us to heal the sick in the name of Jesus, which gives God all the glory and places our focus on the Lord, our Healer.

Frances Hunter Is Rejoicing in Heaven

source: http://www.cfhunter.org/

Frances Eileen Hunter was born May 8, 1916 in a small town in Illinois at a whopping 2 pounds, placed in a shoe box and not expected to live for an hour much less 93 years. She is survived by her spouse of 39 years, Charles Hunter (88).
 
     Together, she and Charles have authored over 65 books. Millions of copies have been given away and sold during the 40 years of their anointed healing ministry. Many of these books have been translated into major languages of the world.  Charles and Frances, better known as “The Happy Hunters”, cheerfully ministered all across the USA as well as in 49 foreign countries. They are considered “Mom” and “Dad” to all the spiritual children they have birthed around the globe.  In addition, many miracle babies were named Charles or Frances because Frances had a special anointing when she prayed for couples who wanted children.

     At 93, she still kept the office hopping with new creative ways to bring more unsaved people into His kingdom as well as how to get everyone healed from illness and out of bondage. She went into her office every day and church every Sunday. Once a month, they held meetings at their headquarters in Kingwood, TX. Twice a year they held three day seminars which ended with an ordination service. They have ordained hundreds of anointed servants into ongoing ministries for the Kingdom. 
 
     Frances has 2 children, 9 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Her son, Thomas Steder is retired and lives in Florida. Tom has 5 children: Brant, Wayne, Kimberly, David and Jennifer. Brant and Trish have 4 children, 3 girls and a son. Wayne has 2 children, Trevor and Laura. David has a daughter, Madison. Jennifer and Michael have a son, Evan. 

     Frances’ daughter, Joan Eileen Hunter Murrell lives in Pinehurst, TX and is married to Kelley Murrell. She has 4 daughters:  Charity, Spice, Melody and Abigail and 2 sons-in-law – Nathan and Ted.  Ted and Charity have 2 children, Luke and Kate Eileen. Two more great grandchildren are on the way later this year through Spice and Charity. 

 

     Charles and Frances have lived enough for 50 people and seen more miracles within one week of their ministry than most witness in a lifetime. Countless thousands have been saved, healed and filled with the Holy Spirit through their ministry. Many thousands have been trained to heal the sick, thus multiplying the healing message like liquid gold spreading across the globe.

     Two obedient people with hearts sold out to God listened to their heavenly Father and spread His word, His grace, His mercy, and His healing power wherever they went. Their zeal for everything God had to offer was contagious. Everyone who met them or heard them speak was forever changed. The anointed books, videos, audios and teachings that they imparted into the Body of Christ will go on forever and are still available at their office.

  
     Frances, in anticipation of this day, expressed her wishes that no flowers be sent upon her passing.  Rather, she asked that memorial gifts be made to ensure that the world-changing work of Hunter Ministries will remain active in the years to come.  Frances, and her beloved Charles, made bringing glory and honor to Jesus, their life’s work.  Though Frances has gone today to be with her Lord, her legacy remains.
     Memorial services are tentatively scheduled to be held in Houston, TX on Monday, August 3, 2009 at a location to be determined.  Call the Hunter Ministries office 281-358-7575 or 4 Corners Ministries office at 281-789-7500 for update information or check the websites at: www.cfhunter.org or www.joanhunter.org. 

Frances Hunter Dies

Healing ministry pioneer Frances Hunter died early Tuesday morning after battling kidney failure and congestive heart failure for more than two years. She was 93.

Hunter and her husband, Charles, spent nearly 40 years leading “healing explosions,” where they prayed for the sick and taught Christians about the ministry of healing. Known as the Happy Hunters for their ready smiles and quick humor, the couple wrote more than 50 books about divine healing, including the best-seller How to Heal the Sick.

 

In 1990, they began the World Evangelistic Census, a campaign that mobilizes people to do door-to-door evangelism while taking a census of the world. Millions have reportedly come to Christ through the effort.

As recently as 2007, the couple hosted a Worldwide Day of Healing for All Nations that was broadcast worldwide on television and the Internet. This year’s event is to be held Sept. 19.

“Charles and Frances Hunter were the most effective couple I ever saw among healing evangelists,” said Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan, dean emeritus of the Regent University School of Divinity. “In their own unique way, they touched multitudes with the positive healing message.

“I once worked with them in a crusade in Honduras and saw up close how much the people loved them. Frances had one of the most powerful and charming personalities I ever saw. They were a perfect team. They never lacked for vision.”

Born on May 8, 1916, in a one-room log cabin in southern Illinois, Frances Fuller weighed only 2 pounds at birth and was placed in a shoebox to die. She stunned the midwife and her parents when she let out a cry and proved that she was determined to survive.

She attended high school in St. Louis, where she learned secretarial skills. After being widowed with two small children, she started a secretarial business in Florida that grew into a printing company.

She attended church only occasionally and was a self-described “chain smoker” before a car accident in 1965 left her blind in her left eye. The experience caused her to search for God, and she accepted Christ at age 49 and became “an instant fanatic” about her newfound faith. Eventually, her sight was restored.

She met Charles Hunter, a widowed accountant, in October 1969, just months after his conversion. The couple was married on Jan. 1, 1970, and baptized in the Holy Spirit the following year after listening to teaching tapes by the late charismatic evangelist George Otis.

“The day I got saved I immediately had compassion and wanted to lay hands on the sick,” Frances Hunter told Charisma in an interview last year. “We got baptized after we got married and got a hunger to see people healed. God called all of us to lay hands on the sick, and they will be healed and recover.”

When she and Charles launched their healing ministry, few churches were teaching Christians how to lay hands on the sick. “When we first wrote our book How to Heal the Sick, there was no activity in that area going on in the church,” Hunter said last year. “Nobody was laying hands on the sick, and that little book is still revolutionizing lives today. We just ordained 329 people in March [2008], and we ordained over 900 people [in 2007].”

Hunter saw thousands of people abandon their wheelchairs and canes while ministering with her husband at large-scale stadium events across the U.S. and in 49 nations. Last year, Hunter said she had recently received an e-mail from a 34-year-old man whom she prayed for when he was just 4 years old and suffering from cerebral palsy.

“I set him on my lap, laid hands on him and prayed for him and he took his braces off,” she recalled of the man’s healing 30 years before. “I said, ‘Jeffy, run to the back of the church.’ He never walked in his life. He took his braces off and ran.”

In recent years, both Hunters had been in frail health. Charles Hunter, 88, had six major spinal operations between May and December 2003. Frances Hunter had a bout with breast cancer the same year, which eventually led to a mastectomy. In 2007, Hunter was diagnosed with double pneumonia, congestive heart failure and kidney failure, and said doctors told her she wouldn’t survive another year.

“God did a healing miracle,” she said a year after that diagnosis. “God isn’t finished with me yet. I’ll stay in the healing ministry and believe God.”

Cal Pierce, director of Healing Rooms Ministries in Spokane, Wash., said Charles and Frances Hunter laid an important foundation for contemporary healing ministries.

“I think the key to [the] forerunning that the Hunters have done in the body of Christ is teaching us that the ordinary believer can do an extraordinary work by the power of the Holy Spirit,” said Pierce, whose ministry honored the Hunters in 2008 during its annual Spiritual Hunger Conference. “It’s not just for ‘somebody,’ it’s for His body. That’s significant for us because it’s the ordinary person doing extraordinary work [at the healing rooms].”

Frances Hunter’s daughter, Joan Hunter Murrell, who is a traveling healing evangelist, will lead the Hunters’ Texas-based ministry. Messengers of Healing, a biography about the Hunters, was released in April.

Hunter is survived by her husband, Charles; a son, Thomas Steder; a daughter, Joan Hunter Murrell; nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Funeral services have yet to be announced.

A memorial service is tentatively to be held Aug. 3 in Houston.

Does God Exist

from http://www.allaboutcreation.org/does-god-exist.htm

Does God Exist – A Scientific Inquiry
Does God Exist? The other day I was asked to prove the existence of God. It was a one-on-one conversation with a skeptical friend, who somehow thrust the burden of proof on me. He didn’t want the religious, moral or philosophical arguments — He wanted the scientific “proof.”

Does God Exist – Is a Scientific Approach Possible?
When it comes to the question, “Does God Exist,” there are really only two possible conclusions: God either is, or He isn’t. There’s no half-way. There’s no sliding scale. Whether you’re an atheist or whether you’re a theist, there’s a certain level of knowledge, and there’s a certain level of faith.

I thought for a moment… Can I prove the existence of God — scientifically? In my religious/moral/philosophical experience, He’s been proven to me. However, my friend hasn’t walked the same journey as me. He wants the facts — he wants the naturalistic proof for a supernatural reality.

I came to the conclusion that my friend’s question was a fair one. He deserved my best attempt at an answer. So, I gave it a shot…

Does God Exist – A Scientific Examination of the Evidence
God may not be provable through mathematical formulae or properties of physics, but we live in an era where the evidence of an Intelligent Designer is all around us. Just look through the Hubble Telescope and peer to the edge of the massive cosmos. View the monitor of an electron-scanning microscope and delve into the intricate world of a microscopic cell. Try to comprehend the massive library of complex information inherent in the digital code that turns a fertilized egg into a human being. Study principles of quantum mechanics and investigate the world of extra-dimensionality. Review the nature of your conscience, subconscious, standards of morality, and thoughts of religion. Then, try to reconcile all of these realities with a basic theory of randomness and chaos.

Based on what we know today, I truly believe that atheism (not believing in any kind of god) is a much bigger “leap of faith” than theism (believing that some kind of god exists).

I asked my friend, “Have you really thought about some of the evidences for God? Or, are you presupposing a purely naturalistic world, and closing your eyes to some of the possible evidence? If I propose some observational evidence, are you even open to examining it?”

My friend asked me to go on. So, here’s my attempt at some basic scientific observations that point to God:

  • Causation. God provides the best explanation for the existence of the universe and all that’s in it. (The alternative theory is that “nothing” exploded and resulted in everything that we see.)
  • Order. God provides the best explanation for abstract notions such as numbers, mathematical formulae, chemical-based processes, and natural laws. (The alternative theory is that the chaotic first elements ordered themselves into complex information systems.)
  • Design. God provides the best explanation for the absolute complexity inherent in cosmological, stellar, planetary, chemical and biological systems. (The alternative theory is that random chance engineered apparent design.)
  • Encoded Instructions. God provides the best explanation for the digital DNA code contained in and controlling the functions of all life on earth. (The alternative theory is that complex code, such as binary code running computers, can pop into existence without any kind of programming, testing and debugging process.)
  • Irreducible Complexity. God provides the best explanation for fully functioning biological organisms, systems, and subsystems that couldn’t come about through gradual evolutionary process without totally ceasing to exist at lower, evolutionary levels. (The alternative theory is that biological systems took huge, unseen leaps from simple to complex without any guided process or forward-looking instructions.)
  • Duality. God provides the best explanation for the separate human functions of brain and conscience (matter and mind). (The alternative theory is monism — only matter exists and the human brain only appears to have a separate subconscious ability.)
  • Morality. God provides the best explanation for the existence of love, emotion, altruism, and inherent moral/ethical values throughout the world. (The alternative theory is that unguided materialistic processes evolve higher human consciousness.)

Does God Exist – A Scientific Conclusion
When it comes to the question of “Does God Exist,” there are only two scientific worldviews — Someone/Something did it, or it did itself. Whether it’s the beginning of the cosmos or the beginning of life, the beginning of mankind or the beginning of mind, either Someone/Something is responsible for everything we see or it’s responsible for itself.

“Does God Exist?” Is this really a question for science at all? Actually, it seems this is a matter of forensic science, since we can’t re-create the birth of the universe or the formation of first life in a laboratory. Therefore, we collect the observable evidence in our world and apply our forensic investigation skills to analyze its collective meaning. In the end, we all need to collect and examine the evidence for ourselves. Ultimately, whether couched as scientific inquiry or purely religious/moral/philosophical faith, it’s not a matter for the laboratory. It’s a personal, investigative decision for each and every one of us.