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I suppose I'm writing this to finally get this off my chest; a friend of mine is an atheist, and we've had some gnarly arguments over the whole God ordeal. I felt I explained myself pretty well.
He asked one simple question;
How can you believe God is real? There is no proof -
Part 1
Actually, there is tons of proof, and God did it in a way that even the most die - hard atheist can't argue against.
History.
It's one thing to claim that Jesus died here, or this cloth is a sign of God - those are easily refutable. It is however, impossible to make claims against what has happened in the history of the world in regards to God. It is as clear and physical as one can see.
To explain this, we have to start with something obvious; religion is dying out.
Looking at the history of the world, there have been several religions, featuring different gods and lifestyles of that particular belief.
What is strange, is that most the pagan dieties once held onto as true gods, have died out upon coming into the modern age - known only as mythical gods - no more than fanciful tales of divine beings.
Even more unusual, is that the idea of God and belief of God, coexisted with these gods - yet somehow God is majorly the only God who is still being believed and adhered to as a God, rather than a myth.
This has to do absolutely with God.
The Bible clearly testifies that God showed his physical power to the people of the Old Testament:
splitting of the Red sea, plagues on Egypt, staff turning to snake, burning bush, etc etc. There were actually many times where judgment was brought against the false gods, with people praying to the false gods to show signs which they didn't because they weren't real. On the other hand, prophets prayed to God to show signs at that time. There is a case in which two heifers were put outside, and the priest of the false gods were asked to make their heifer catch on fire, and a prophet of God was asked to make his heifer catch on fire.
Naturally, the false god heifer didn't combust, even though the people were praying and sacrificing to the false god. The prophet of God simply prayed once and fire consumed his heifer.
Even just reading the conversations God has with Moses about the Israelites, he answers them with hints at the fact that they believed in God because of their fore - fathers - because of their ancestors whom also were shown some of God's physical power.
Now people then ask, why does God not show those amazing signs now?
God doesn't need to, because it isn't necessary for his salvation work in our time.
In those older days, God began by establishing himself as God; as in, a powerful celestial being. The people believed and adhered to the covenatn promise of that time - that is, those whom were indeed God's people and follwed as faithfully as they could.
A lot of people believe that God's power stopped there, but actually, the next installment of God's power was
Jesus Christ.
Many believe that Jesus Christ wasn't as amazing as old Testament God, because he appeared as a mere human being. However, the Bible adequately confirms that Jesus Christ was indeed God in the flesh; and with that, Jesus showed some of his power through healing and raising the dead. This of course wasn't as grand as making fire rain down from the sky, but what mere mortal can heal someone else, or honestly forgive the sins of men? What mere human can be blameless in his ways?
Impossible.
The apostles were all witnesses of Christ, and testified boldly and accurately on the accounts of Jesus, even him rising from the dead.
This witness and teachings Jesus demonstrated to his apostles, carried over into OUR GENERATION.
In those days, a lot of people scrutinized Jesus, or didn't believe him as the Savior - now all of a sudden, several Christians accept Jesus Christ as their savior.
Why?
Because of what our ancestors witnessed.
The gospel, Jesus said this was to be spread to the Gentiles - and look around you; is it only Jews whom believe in God?
Of course not.
God said even the Gentiles would know of him. We know.
Now was this the end of God's appearances to mankind?
Of course not - the salvation work isn't finished, or else his people would have already been in heaven and the Earth destroyed.
The Bible continues on into the fulfillment of our modern day times, through the revelation of 2nd Coming Christ. Many believe this person to be Jesus ascending from heaven, but actually Jesus says the Christ will come in his name - ( Hebrews 9:28) meaning, not with his actual name Jesus - a new name, but with the same exact will of God and finalization of God's salvation work.
(When exactly is this person coming?
That I cannot disclose, but seek and you will find.)
_
So that is the first part of my physical proof of God. Basically, God showed his power which falsified all the other false gods in the old testament, the witnesses of this carried on the message of God through the generations, Jesus Christ was God in the flesh who came to bring forth the New Covenant and establish the gospel, this also witnessed physically by our ancestors and carried on into the modern world. Father is finishing his salvation work and has forecasted an appearance for our generation.
Essentially, our God made himself known, and the other gods have since died away.
_
Part 2 of Physical Proof
Revelations 22:7
" Blessed is he who keeps the prophecy of this book."
I can't emphasize this verse enough. Prophecy is the fortelling of events before they happen. The Bible has done this since the very beginning of Genesis, all the way to the end of Revelations, and describing in incredible detail how they were all accurately fulfilled in human history.
I had to explain this slowly to my atheist buddy, because it went over his head the first time.
If any atheist are reading this, can you say that WW2 never happened?
Of course not. There is so much proof from veterans ( physical witnesses like in the Bible,) planes from the war ( physical objects like the bread and wine,) etc that prove WW2 took place.
This is how prophecy works in the Bible. Events were proclaimed to happen in specificic detail in order to both explain the purpose of our time on Earth, as well as help those who believe identify the will of God and understand the salvation work at hand which is so critical to getting salvation.
I would happily explain some prophecies in the Bible, but I can't disclose that at the moment.
It's serious stuff actually.
The basis is that if you pay attention to prophetical books such as Isaiah which proclaimed the birth of Jesus Christ hundreds of years before it happened, prophesied about Jesus's gospel work, testified in specific how Christ would carry out the salvation work of that time - hundreds of years before Mary was even conceived - then read in the New Testament how each proclamation from God's prophet Isaiah was accurately fulfilled in the real physical life of Jesus - you can get a brisk idea of how prophecy works.
The Bible prophecies about so many things; it's amazing.
Why this is adequate physical proof of God, I reference the WW2 example; I never physical saw WW2; does that mean it never took place?
Of course not. It did take place and there is physical proof of it. One cannot deny such an obvious chunk of physical human history - likewise, the Bible uses only physical human history to display it's legitimacy and God's salvation work, in events that physically took place.
The Bible just states these events were to happen hundreds - even thousands of years beforehand.
Essentially, things about Alexander the great, the Roman empire, Fall of Jerusalem in 70AD etc - the Bible already stated these things were going to happen long before they did. Even a ton of neat scientific stuff about the Earth being suspended over nothing and the water cycle which we didn't " discover " until the 16th century.
The Bible spoke of these science facts in the book of Job - one of the oldest books in the Bible.
God beat us to it guys, because he already knew what was going down on the Earth, past, present, and future.
And man, God does it so smoothly and boldly. When you understand these things, how can one not say " surely this our God."
Part 2.5 Bible Authenticity - is it really the work of God? Or a story by man only?
In finalizing this brief introduction to Bible prophecy, you don't have to know the prophecy adequately to notice that the Bible often re - states verses spoken by deceased prophets, in the books written by those living long after the deceased prophets.
This in turn, nullifies the argument that the Bible has been tampered with or corrupted; the prophecy is still very much in tack, and how you can tell, is because for a prophet hundreds of years later to know in precise detail what a past prophet had spoken -
It is impossible.
Literally in order for the Bible to stay in perfect prophetical order as it does - people would have to have teleported to the future to fill future prophets in, warped to the past to describe what events were coming in the future, and what not.
Again, impossible.
So how did the prophets of God get their accurate revelations?
Through God of course.
This concept has not changed at all - even the modern day prophets are getting some Holy Spirit juice.
They know what's coming, and it's scary yet so exciting.)
_
Finishing up portion 2 of this, all one needs to recognize here is that the prophecy of the Bible describes accurate world history events, several years before they happened, only revealed through the divine authority of God.
Trust me, you don't need to see fire raining down from the skies when you get just a little taste of prophecy.
Surely this is of God.
_
Part 3 Existing Beyond the Earth
Just as a little fun, we started talking about dying and the soul and what not. Him being an atheist, he harbors the belief that nothing happens after death, no heaven no hell etc.
There definitely is a hell, and heaven is indescribably incredible.
Why he wants to believe in nothingness, when it will be awesome to have somethingness...idk. It's that stuck in humanity mentality a lot of atheist seem to carry.
But, the Bible accurate proves existence after death; even describing life before the Earth was laid in the book of Ecclesiasties. God even straight up tells Job and Solomon that they walked in life before the Earth was even set in place. It's actually really beautiful to know that we once dwelled with God before the Earth, because we accurately know that we can return to God once we're redeemed from this death trial.
The apostles longed to die because they longed for heaven - but they knew they had to finish God's work for them on the Earth before hand. I believe one of them was stoned to death with a smile on his face, because he was so overjoyed to finally die and go to heaven.
It's there, don't even doubt that for a second.
The Bible describes our flesh as nothing more than the dust of the Earth, and the robe of our sinful nature - commonly known as the veil of sin.
People have asked me, well if we lived in Heaven before Earth, why don't we remember?
Your actions on Earth expose the truth of your spirit in Heaven. Really, the veil of sin is a testimony of our true spiritual natures. We become made complete in the eyes of God when we overcome the sin of the flesh, repenting and praying to be made blameless in Father's eyes.
If you haven't caught on thus far into it, we sinned in heaven and were cast down to the Earth for it. Having little to no recollection of our past lives in Heaven, we come to both realize our sin ( evil,) and realize the love and truth of God ( good,) note the parable of the Garden of Eden - the tree was named " The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."
The Earth is pretty much like a trial in which we who overcome sin ( evil,) come to know of it and be made perfect by allowing God to refine us in what is good. This is why the Earth contains this odd state of good and evil coexisting around us; evil was the only alternative to the reality of life that is the true reality; God did not want us to be ignorant of this for the sake of our own well - being and understanding.
It is best compared to a simple family in which the parents nurture the young children as to what is right and what is wrong. Naturally, parents do not tell their kids not to do wrong to hide anything from the child, but rather to protect the child and give the child wisdom for the future.
So why is it that people get upset at our heavenly Father who is nurturing us on Earth in the ways of what is right and wrong, yet do not criticize physical parents for doing the same thing?
Children do not always understand why their parents scold them; even getting angry and rebelling against their parents altogether; likewise, we go through hardships on the Earth without understanding why it is this has happened to us.
If our parents took a shot at nurturing us to be decent human beings - how much more will we be as the beings of God?
This is why God ask for nothing more than our trust in him.
For God is wholesomely good and will raise us up on the Last Day to dwell in the glory of all that is good.
~
He asked one simple question;
How can you believe God is real? There is no proof -
Part 1
Actually, there is tons of proof, and God did it in a way that even the most die - hard atheist can't argue against.
History.
It's one thing to claim that Jesus died here, or this cloth is a sign of God - those are easily refutable. It is however, impossible to make claims against what has happened in the history of the world in regards to God. It is as clear and physical as one can see.
To explain this, we have to start with something obvious; religion is dying out.
Looking at the history of the world, there have been several religions, featuring different gods and lifestyles of that particular belief.
What is strange, is that most the pagan dieties once held onto as true gods, have died out upon coming into the modern age - known only as mythical gods - no more than fanciful tales of divine beings.
Even more unusual, is that the idea of God and belief of God, coexisted with these gods - yet somehow God is majorly the only God who is still being believed and adhered to as a God, rather than a myth.
This has to do absolutely with God.
The Bible clearly testifies that God showed his physical power to the people of the Old Testament:
splitting of the Red sea, plagues on Egypt, staff turning to snake, burning bush, etc etc. There were actually many times where judgment was brought against the false gods, with people praying to the false gods to show signs which they didn't because they weren't real. On the other hand, prophets prayed to God to show signs at that time. There is a case in which two heifers were put outside, and the priest of the false gods were asked to make their heifer catch on fire, and a prophet of God was asked to make his heifer catch on fire.
Naturally, the false god heifer didn't combust, even though the people were praying and sacrificing to the false god. The prophet of God simply prayed once and fire consumed his heifer.
Even just reading the conversations God has with Moses about the Israelites, he answers them with hints at the fact that they believed in God because of their fore - fathers - because of their ancestors whom also were shown some of God's physical power.
Now people then ask, why does God not show those amazing signs now?
God doesn't need to, because it isn't necessary for his salvation work in our time.
In those older days, God began by establishing himself as God; as in, a powerful celestial being. The people believed and adhered to the covenatn promise of that time - that is, those whom were indeed God's people and follwed as faithfully as they could.
A lot of people believe that God's power stopped there, but actually, the next installment of God's power was
Jesus Christ.
Many believe that Jesus Christ wasn't as amazing as old Testament God, because he appeared as a mere human being. However, the Bible adequately confirms that Jesus Christ was indeed God in the flesh; and with that, Jesus showed some of his power through healing and raising the dead. This of course wasn't as grand as making fire rain down from the sky, but what mere mortal can heal someone else, or honestly forgive the sins of men? What mere human can be blameless in his ways?
Impossible.
The apostles were all witnesses of Christ, and testified boldly and accurately on the accounts of Jesus, even him rising from the dead.
This witness and teachings Jesus demonstrated to his apostles, carried over into OUR GENERATION.
In those days, a lot of people scrutinized Jesus, or didn't believe him as the Savior - now all of a sudden, several Christians accept Jesus Christ as their savior.
Why?
Because of what our ancestors witnessed.
The gospel, Jesus said this was to be spread to the Gentiles - and look around you; is it only Jews whom believe in God?
Of course not.
God said even the Gentiles would know of him. We know.
Now was this the end of God's appearances to mankind?
Of course not - the salvation work isn't finished, or else his people would have already been in heaven and the Earth destroyed.
The Bible continues on into the fulfillment of our modern day times, through the revelation of 2nd Coming Christ. Many believe this person to be Jesus ascending from heaven, but actually Jesus says the Christ will come in his name - ( Hebrews 9:28) meaning, not with his actual name Jesus - a new name, but with the same exact will of God and finalization of God's salvation work.
(When exactly is this person coming?
That I cannot disclose, but seek and you will find.)
_
So that is the first part of my physical proof of God. Basically, God showed his power which falsified all the other false gods in the old testament, the witnesses of this carried on the message of God through the generations, Jesus Christ was God in the flesh who came to bring forth the New Covenant and establish the gospel, this also witnessed physically by our ancestors and carried on into the modern world. Father is finishing his salvation work and has forecasted an appearance for our generation.
Essentially, our God made himself known, and the other gods have since died away.
_
Part 2 of Physical Proof
Revelations 22:7
" Blessed is he who keeps the prophecy of this book."
I can't emphasize this verse enough. Prophecy is the fortelling of events before they happen. The Bible has done this since the very beginning of Genesis, all the way to the end of Revelations, and describing in incredible detail how they were all accurately fulfilled in human history.
I had to explain this slowly to my atheist buddy, because it went over his head the first time.
If any atheist are reading this, can you say that WW2 never happened?
Of course not. There is so much proof from veterans ( physical witnesses like in the Bible,) planes from the war ( physical objects like the bread and wine,) etc that prove WW2 took place.
This is how prophecy works in the Bible. Events were proclaimed to happen in specificic detail in order to both explain the purpose of our time on Earth, as well as help those who believe identify the will of God and understand the salvation work at hand which is so critical to getting salvation.
I would happily explain some prophecies in the Bible, but I can't disclose that at the moment.
It's serious stuff actually.
The basis is that if you pay attention to prophetical books such as Isaiah which proclaimed the birth of Jesus Christ hundreds of years before it happened, prophesied about Jesus's gospel work, testified in specific how Christ would carry out the salvation work of that time - hundreds of years before Mary was even conceived - then read in the New Testament how each proclamation from God's prophet Isaiah was accurately fulfilled in the real physical life of Jesus - you can get a brisk idea of how prophecy works.
The Bible prophecies about so many things; it's amazing.
Why this is adequate physical proof of God, I reference the WW2 example; I never physical saw WW2; does that mean it never took place?
Of course not. It did take place and there is physical proof of it. One cannot deny such an obvious chunk of physical human history - likewise, the Bible uses only physical human history to display it's legitimacy and God's salvation work, in events that physically took place.
The Bible just states these events were to happen hundreds - even thousands of years beforehand.
Essentially, things about Alexander the great, the Roman empire, Fall of Jerusalem in 70AD etc - the Bible already stated these things were going to happen long before they did. Even a ton of neat scientific stuff about the Earth being suspended over nothing and the water cycle which we didn't " discover " until the 16th century.
The Bible spoke of these science facts in the book of Job - one of the oldest books in the Bible.
God beat us to it guys, because he already knew what was going down on the Earth, past, present, and future.
And man, God does it so smoothly and boldly. When you understand these things, how can one not say " surely this our God."
Part 2.5 Bible Authenticity - is it really the work of God? Or a story by man only?
In finalizing this brief introduction to Bible prophecy, you don't have to know the prophecy adequately to notice that the Bible often re - states verses spoken by deceased prophets, in the books written by those living long after the deceased prophets.
This in turn, nullifies the argument that the Bible has been tampered with or corrupted; the prophecy is still very much in tack, and how you can tell, is because for a prophet hundreds of years later to know in precise detail what a past prophet had spoken -
It is impossible.
Literally in order for the Bible to stay in perfect prophetical order as it does - people would have to have teleported to the future to fill future prophets in, warped to the past to describe what events were coming in the future, and what not.
Again, impossible.
So how did the prophets of God get their accurate revelations?
Through God of course.
This concept has not changed at all - even the modern day prophets are getting some Holy Spirit juice.
They know what's coming, and it's scary yet so exciting.)
_
Finishing up portion 2 of this, all one needs to recognize here is that the prophecy of the Bible describes accurate world history events, several years before they happened, only revealed through the divine authority of God.
Trust me, you don't need to see fire raining down from the skies when you get just a little taste of prophecy.
Surely this is of God.
_
Part 3 Existing Beyond the Earth
Just as a little fun, we started talking about dying and the soul and what not. Him being an atheist, he harbors the belief that nothing happens after death, no heaven no hell etc.
There definitely is a hell, and heaven is indescribably incredible.
Why he wants to believe in nothingness, when it will be awesome to have somethingness...idk. It's that stuck in humanity mentality a lot of atheist seem to carry.
But, the Bible accurate proves existence after death; even describing life before the Earth was laid in the book of Ecclesiasties. God even straight up tells Job and Solomon that they walked in life before the Earth was even set in place. It's actually really beautiful to know that we once dwelled with God before the Earth, because we accurately know that we can return to God once we're redeemed from this death trial.
The apostles longed to die because they longed for heaven - but they knew they had to finish God's work for them on the Earth before hand. I believe one of them was stoned to death with a smile on his face, because he was so overjoyed to finally die and go to heaven.
It's there, don't even doubt that for a second.
The Bible describes our flesh as nothing more than the dust of the Earth, and the robe of our sinful nature - commonly known as the veil of sin.
People have asked me, well if we lived in Heaven before Earth, why don't we remember?
Your actions on Earth expose the truth of your spirit in Heaven. Really, the veil of sin is a testimony of our true spiritual natures. We become made complete in the eyes of God when we overcome the sin of the flesh, repenting and praying to be made blameless in Father's eyes.
If you haven't caught on thus far into it, we sinned in heaven and were cast down to the Earth for it. Having little to no recollection of our past lives in Heaven, we come to both realize our sin ( evil,) and realize the love and truth of God ( good,) note the parable of the Garden of Eden - the tree was named " The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."
The Earth is pretty much like a trial in which we who overcome sin ( evil,) come to know of it and be made perfect by allowing God to refine us in what is good. This is why the Earth contains this odd state of good and evil coexisting around us; evil was the only alternative to the reality of life that is the true reality; God did not want us to be ignorant of this for the sake of our own well - being and understanding.
It is best compared to a simple family in which the parents nurture the young children as to what is right and what is wrong. Naturally, parents do not tell their kids not to do wrong to hide anything from the child, but rather to protect the child and give the child wisdom for the future.
So why is it that people get upset at our heavenly Father who is nurturing us on Earth in the ways of what is right and wrong, yet do not criticize physical parents for doing the same thing?
Children do not always understand why their parents scold them; even getting angry and rebelling against their parents altogether; likewise, we go through hardships on the Earth without understanding why it is this has happened to us.
If our parents took a shot at nurturing us to be decent human beings - how much more will we be as the beings of God?
This is why God ask for nothing more than our trust in him.
For God is wholesomely good and will raise us up on the Last Day to dwell in the glory of all that is good.
~
