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[Stamp Collector]

Is it the case that you believe Christian God is real?

If so, on a scale from 0-100% how confident are you that Christian God is real? 0% means this may be true, this may be false, and you have no clue whatsoever which case it is; the higher the percent the more you are inclined to think this is true; 100% means you are absolutely certain this is true, there is no way you can be mistaken about it. You can skip this question if you want.

[jimwalton]

I said I would be glad to dialogue with you, so I won't skip the question. I would say 100%: absolutely certain and there is no way I can be mistaken about it.

I believe in the reality of the external world, the capability of the human mind to discern reality and truth, the competence (though not guarantee) of the sense to discern reality, and the legitimate authenticity of reason. I think there is such a thing as truth, and truth can be known.

On the bases of those experiences, observations, and assumptions, I could say I know with 100% certainty that God is real. There are several ways to figure out if God is real or not. I'll mention four.

1. We reason about it. You are probably aware that there are logical "proofs" of God's existence: causality, purpose, morality, consciousness, personality, teleology, etc. These arguments make a whole lot of sense, though none of them are watertight or foolproof. I find that they are far more solid and substantial than arguments against God, but whenever such arguments are posted in a forum like this, they are ridiculed by the people who don't find them convincing—and yet not a single person has ever presented me with a stronger argument. Here is where reason alone will serve you, to consider how much the arguments make sense to you, to weigh their logic against the counter-arguments, and to infer the most reasonable conclusion. I, for one, have evaluated that arguments for the existence of God are strong, and that there are no good arguments that atheism is true or that scientific naturalism is true. Whenever I say such things, I get drilled to the wall by people who feel these arguments are worthless. No matter, because they never present stronger ones. This is one way I determine that God is real, and it's possible to figure out if God exists or not.

2. Evidences. Some people are convinced there are evidences of God in the world. They believe in evidences of spiritual forces; they intuit that this life is not all there is; they have experienced answers to prayer or the presence of God in a situation. These are all subjective, but for some people they are so strong and convincing they would say they have evidence for the existence of God. I fit into this category. I have seen evidences that to me are convincing.

I also find strong evidences in the natural world. When we have to figure out where informational data came from, science always tells us that informational data came from other informational data. There is to date no plausible scientific explanation as to how intelligence arose. There is a plausible theistic explanation. There is not plausible scientific explanation for the existence of consciousness, but there is a theistic one. There is not plausible scientific explanation for the existence of such fine tuning, life-enabling cosmological constants in the universe, but there is a theistic one. Science fails at the principle of sufficiency of explanation, while theism shines. The natural world is more supportive of a theistic explanation than a naturalistic one.

3. Experience. You can know God exists completely separately from arguments. Things make sense to us; we believe in the external world and the objectivity of reality; we believe other minds exist besides our own. We use logic, abstract reasoning, intuitions and perceptions to arrive at reasonable conclusions. We can also use our own experiences, subjective though they are, to understand our world and other abstractions such as time, motivation, preferences, advantages, and even spiritual realities. Scoffers, again, will say that nothing reliable can be based on one's experiences, but you and I both know that our experiences are not always false or untrustworthy.

4. The Bible. The Bible for some is a powerful book of truth and wisdom, even though for others it is a joke. The Bible's interpretations of life events make sense to people, its prophecies are astounding, and its teachings are life-changing. One investigation of the evidence, I find the Bible to be a forceful and stalwart source of spiritual truth.

As is evident, these four factors are highly debated. Over 2 billion people in the world self-identify as Christians and find these arguments convincing. That also means slightly less than 5 billion people in the world don't find them convincing. You have to weigh the arguments, study the evidence, search your heart, and come to the most reasonable conclusion. I have weighed them and am 100% convinced that God exists, the the Bible is true, and Jesus is God, that Christianity is the narrative of truth, and that salvation is through Jesus alone. There is no doubt in my mind.

Let's talk.

[Stamp Collector]

Here is a short summary of what you said with a couple of clarifying questions. A lot of these are direct quotes. Please, let me know if I missed an important point or if something is inaccurate.

You are 100% certain that Christian God exists, there is no way you can be mistaken.

Reasons why you believe that Christian God exists and more reasons to consider in general:

1. There are strong logical arguments for existance of God. There are no good arguments that God doesn't exist. To be clear I think you are referring to arguments which state that an unspecified God exists, not necessarily Christian God, correct?

2. You have seen evidences which were convincing to you.

3. There are plausible theistic explanations to the questions that science has no answer to.

4. Experience. What I'm reading is that we are capable to get some understanding of the world around us. I don't see how does this relate to Christian God existing. Do I miss an important point to this?

5. The Bible is a powerful book of truth and wisdom, its teachings are life-changing. What do you mean by saying it is a "book of truth"?

6. Over 2 billion people self-identify as Christians and find these arguments convincing.

[jimwalton]

> To be clear I think you are referring to arguments which state that an unspecified God exists, not necessarily Christian God, correct?

Correct. In this comment I am speaking to the logical arguments for theism, not for the Christian God in particular. I deemed it pertinent since it is necessary to establish theism as a foundation for establishing the Christian God.

> You have seen evidences which were convincing to you

Technically this is true, but that was not my point. It's true that essentially all evidences have to be processed personally and that the admission or recognition of truth lies within each individual, but my point was more that my conclusions of are grounded in the evidences nature and science afford us rather than in some blind faith.

> There are plausible theistic explanations to the questions that science has no answer to.

My point here is a determination of where sufficiency of explanation lies. Theism has complete explanatory power which naturalism has only partial explanatory power, and therefore the intrinsic probability of theism is, relative to other hypotheses about what there is, very high. As Swinburne writes, "The universe is characterized by vast, all-pervasive temporal order, the conformity of nature to formula, recorded in the scientific laws formulated by men. These phenomena, like the very existence of the world, is clearly something 'too big' for science to explain. If there is an explanation of the order of the universe, it can’t be a scientific one. ... Science can explain part of it, and particulars of it." But theism can explain all of it, giving it a sufficiency of explanation.

> What I'm reading is that we are capable to get some understanding of the world around us. I don't see how does this relate to Christian God existing. Do I miss an important point to this?

Yes, you did. I was asserting that we can experience God. There is overwhelming evidence that experiences can be reliable and can be taken as genuine, and there is no rational reason to isolate religious experiences as being in a different category. There are substantial experiential grounds to believe in the existence of God. It is to those I was referring.

> What do you mean by saying it is a "book of truth"?

What I mean by it is that the Bible has been shown to be historically accurate, as corroborated by archaeological artifacts and historical documentation; it has been shown to be true to life in its assessment of the human condition, and it has been shown, by the experience of many people whose lives have been changed by the Bible and Christianity, to be true in its descriptions about God and the difference He makes in one's life.

> Over 2 billion people self-identify as Christians and find these arguments convincing.

The point behind this is not that a large number of people subscribing to a position guarantee its truth, but instead that so many people recognizing the truth of the belief system does show it deserves more than a casual disregard.

I hope that helps.

[Stamp Collector]

I appreciate the elaborate answer, there is a lot. Could you identify up to three reasons which convinced you the most that the Christian God is real

[jimwalton]

1. The God of the Bible conforms to reality and real life as we see it (as opposed to the teachings of Hinduism and Islam, and opposed to the position of naturalism). The Bible says God is a God of order, and the universe is orderly (in agreement with Islam, Judaism, and the observations of science). The Bible says God is a God of power, and what caused the universe to "bang" would have to be a powerful entity ( (in agreement with Islam, Judaism, and the observations of science). The Bible says God is timeless, and what caused the universe to "bang" would have to be outside of time since as far as we know time didn't exist then (in agreement with Islam, Judaism, and the observations of science).

2. The Bible says God is personal. Since humans are personal, reasoning our way to the source of human personality convinces me of the Christian God ( (in agreement with Judaism; contrary to Islam & Hinduism, and a more sufficient explanation than naturalism).

3. The evidence for the historical, bodily resurrection of Jesus. Several years ago I went through a severe life crisis and was very close to walking away from Christianity. But I just couldn't get around the resurrection. The evidence is convincing: empty tomb (couldn't have been graverobbed or mistaken), lives changed on claims of having seen Jesus (couldn't have been hallucinations), church born in a very unlikely place (Jewish Palestine), and others.

4. The Bible says we are made in the image of God, which conforms to man as a rational being (intellect and will), and the abnormality of man in his current position as the result of sin (contrary to Hinduism).

5. The Trinity is the foundation of particularity and subject/object relationships, without which creation (the cosmos) is impossible and there is no foundation for knowledge or personality.