 | Pastor Dave grew up in northern New Jersey in a very diverse cultural area. He attended Central College in Pella, Iowa received a BA in sociology and psychology. He was an offensive guard for their NCAA Div III National Championship team in 1974. In speaking for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he sensed a call to full time ministry. Meeting is future wife Sandy at Central, went to Michigan to finish her college while Dave started Western Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Dave married Sandy in 77 and completed his Masters of Divinity degree in 78. Pastor Dave’s first church was in Fort Lee, New Jersey, home of the George Washington Bridge. Their three children were born there and he also served as a Police and Fire Chaplain for the city. In February 1991, they came to Wichita to start Harvest Community Church. In 2006, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Covenant Theological (Presbyterian) Seminary in St Louis. During that year he gained a daughter-in-law with now 2 grandsons of 3 years and 6 months old. Besides Pastoring at HCC for the past 20 years, he has been Director of the SCSD & WPD Police Chaplains for 11.
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Religion
2011-03-01 11:31:00
Is there evidence proving God’s existence?
Answer: Besides the Bible which is part of God’s special revelation, it also points to the person of Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews, it tells us that God proves Himself in the person of Jesus Christ (1:2) “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” The life of Jesus and the mark He left upon the world is outstanding and we in western civilization are the most to have benefited by Christianity’s impact on it. The historical evidence behind the resurrection of Jesus Christ is reflected in what we see even to this day. For instance, why did these first believers who were Jewish start worshiping on Sunday rather than Saturday? It is because the resurrection took place on Sunday.
The Christian belief system opened the flood gates for people like Johannes Kepler, astronomer and mathematician who saw the universe reflecting the mind of God. It was his theology that drove him to discover the motion of the planets when others gave up. He saw science as the study of discovering “God’s thoughts after Him.” In fact, scripture declares that creation is God’s way making Himself known as it says in Roman 1:19-20, “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” The Psalms also says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1) From that have come several philosophical arguments for the proof of the existence of God.
One is the argument entitled the “Theleological Argument” or argument from design. The significance of the order and complex design of the universe down to the single cell organism. It all shouts that there has to be some supreme intelligence behind its coming together. From that has stemmed the argument of “Intelligent Design” which several point to for supporting creationism and others theistic evolution.
With that comes also the “Cosmological Argument” which says this world and creation didn’t just happen. It needed a prime mover or a first cause to get it started. Plato and Aristotle pushed these arguments and Parmenides summarized it in his statement “nothing can come from nothing.”
Another argument given for the existence of God is the “Ontological Argument” which reasons if man can conceive of the idea that God exists, He must exist. Anslem for instance believed that there is no greater place one can start in having knowledge than with God. Descartes started with the knowledge of God’s perfections. This form of reasoning totally uses intuition and reason alone.
The “Moral Argument” says that mankind has within him certain normative moral actions as being right and wrong. This sense of ought to do and not do comes with awareness and sense, which shows God exists.
There are many more rational arguments and proofs presented for the existence of God of which I have tried to highlight just a few. However, for me the existence of God is like the existence of love. We don’t see love but it is very much a reality of our lives and we see evidences of it all around us. The same is true of wind, we only see outward manifestations and feel its presence when we Kansans go into it. The same is true of God. He is there but only seen through the eyes of faith. The Bible begins with that premise, “In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1)
Since the era of modernism and materialistic science, our world has even closed itself more to the idea of the existence of God. We have been like the little mouse that lived in the piano with his parents. They told him that the beautiful sounds of music he heard were from the Great Piano Player whom they never saw. Well the little mouse didn’t believe and went to discover it for himself. He came back and said the music was not generated by a Great Piano Player but by some long metal wires. But his dad asked, “What makes those wires move? The mouse didn’t know. So he went back a second time and went further into the piano and discovered that the wires moved at different times because some cloth hammers hit them. So proudly again he went to the family declaring, “There is no pianist but it is cloth hammers that caused strings to play and it’s all mechanical.” But his mom asked, “What causes the hammers to move?” Of course he didn’t know but he would go back and look some more. The problem is we can’t measure God or put our little standards around Him. We, like the little mouse are limited. In Isaiah 40:25, God poses the question, “‘to whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?’ asks the Holy One” Man can’t! Only the heart of faith can begin to see as God reveals it to man. May God improve your vision to see Him more! Wanting to see more of Him, Pastor Dave.
