Part Two: God’s Existence Is intuitive to the Human Race— Whether Acknowledged or Not
Every culture throughout recorded history, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, has believed in the existence of deity and some form of an afterlife. Christian scholar Arthur Roberts wrote,” Intuitions differ around the world, from myths of eternal return to popular stories about the afterlife, but they abound . . . . Persistent transcultural accounts of heaven point toward a reality difficult to comprehend empirically but less difficult to know intuitively.” (Exploring Heaven; What Great Thinkers Tell Us About Our Afterlife with God, 67-68).
The intuitive knowledge that God exists and eternal life await us after physical death is a fundamental human understanding. The best and most satisfying explanation for this worldwide phenomenon is that such knowledge was implanted into the human soul by our creation in God’s image. As King Solomon put it, God has “set eternity in [the human] heart” (Eccl. 3:11).
Christian theologians agree that humankind’s intuitive awareness of God’s existence is part of our created, collective human consciousness. Furthermore, it is an awareness that can be awakened through creation (Romans 1:19-20). Consequently, nature represents a point of contact between God and all humans that rouses what we intuitively know about spiritual realities—even if suppressed. Theologians usually refer to this as “general revelation.”
When we look at the world around us, as well as into our hearts, corporate human experience and observation compel us to recognize that nature is too complex and too beautiful to have come into being without a creator. Something within us is highly skeptical of naturalistic evolution’s notion that nature and the cosmos are a product of mindless, purposeless, random processes. Alongside scientific confirmation,* the best explanation is the one we carry in our hearts—and revealed in Scripture. Nature is an expression of God’s creative glory and handiwork. As King David wrote centuries ago, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
This does not mean every view of deity or belief in the afterlife is correct. Logically, when mutually contradicting views exist, only one can be correct—and the opposing views must be false. Christian apologists have overwhelmingly demonstrated that only the biblical view of God and Heaven is correct. Nevertheless, because God won’t coerce anyone into belief, people can and do suppress general revelation (Romans 1:18), and the objective evidence from centuries of Christian apologetics. Rather than acknowledge and seeking God, many people convince themselves God does not exist or substitute the living God for false gods. The tragic result is God will hold them accountable for rejecting biblical revelation, as well as the truth revealed to the entire human race through general revelation (nature) (Rom. 1: 19-32). ©
* For a summary of scientific and other evidence for God’s existence, see my updated and revised edition of Defending Your Faith” described on my homepage: www.danstory.net.