FIVE EXCELLENT REASONS TO BELIEVE IN GOD

In any conversation with friends who are atheists, it’s very common to hear the refrain “there’s no evidence for God’s existence.”

Using natural theology’s five arguments for the existence of God, we would automatically reply that there are, in fact, at least five excellent reasons to believe in the existence of God:
1. God is the best explanation for the existence of objective moral values and duties in the world. (moral argument)
2. God is the best explanation for the beginning of the universe. (kalám cosmological argument)
3. God is the best explanation for why the universe is so finely-tuned to sustain life. (fine-tuning argument)
4. God is the best explanation why anything at all exists rather than nothing. (Leibniz’s contingency argument)
5. The very possibility that God exists indicates to us that he actually does exist (ontological argument).

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FIVE ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

The Moral Argument
1. If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
2. Objective moral values and duties exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

Kalám Cosmological Argument
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, the universe has a cause.

The Fine-tuning Argument
1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance or design.
2. The fine-tuning is not due to physical necessity or chance.
Conclusion: Therefore, it is due to design.

Leibniz’s Contingency Argument
1. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence.
2. If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God.
3. The universe exists.
4. The universe has an explanation of its existence.
Conclusion: Therefore, the explanation of the universe’s existence is God.

The Ontological Argument
1. It is possible that a maximally great being exists.
2. If it’s possible that a maximally great being exists, then it exists in some possible world.
3. If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world.
4. If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world.
5. If a maximally great being exists in the actual world, then a maximally great being exists.
Conclusion: Therefore, a maximally great being exists.