Can we offer 100% proof that God exists, and that the Bible is His Word?

Scripture Memory - Philippians 2:1-2 - 1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Lesson: Can we offer 100% proof that God exists, and that the Bible is His Word?

There is almost nothing of which we can be 100% sure (for example, where we were born — we were there, but none of us actually remembers. We have to use the evidence from our birth certificate).

Some philosophers argue that we cannot be sure of even our own existence. This led the philosopher Descartes to conclude that there is only one basis for which to be certain of anything - the fact that I am thinking about existence at all is good evidence of it. His famous conclusion: cogito, ergo sum — I think, therefore I am.

We make 100% commitments every day with less than 100% proof - based on faith and evidence. Preachers often use the example of flying on an airliner. We cannot be 100% certain that we will arrive safely, but most of us are willing to fly anyway. Why? The statistical evidence is convincing to us that we will not crash; air travel is regarded as one of the most safe ways to travel. . God has given us abundant evidence, and expects us to use our heads to evaluate the evidence.

The Christian faith is intelligent and rational.

Christianity appeals to the "mind" as well as to the "heart". God expects us to use our minds (Matt. 22:36-38; John 8:32). We do not have to commit intellectual suicide in order to have faith.

Have you ever felt, as I once did, that you have to check you brain at the door when entering a church? Weakness in your faith may be the result of trying to believe in something that you cannot accept intellectually. If there truly is a God, and if the Bible is His word, then we must be able to accept Him spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. Anything less is not giving ourselves completely to God, and He will accept no less. Strong faith requires both the mind and the heart.

"We cannot pander to a man's intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity." - Paul Little

It is important that we present reasons why we believe in an intelligent and rational manner.

One of the complaints most often heard by skeptics is that religious people will not or cannot present a rational, logical reason for believing what they do.

Does God require blind, unquestioning faith, beyond the reach of reason? The Bible presents quite the opposite picture of God — He answers Job's questions with kind but firm assertions, presents Gideon with the sign that he asks for, and appears to the Apostle Thomas with unequivocal evidence of His resurrection.

As Christians, we have to accept that there is a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and who intervenes in history and in the lives of men. The Bible is full of stories of the Creator of the Universe intervening and interacting with His people, sometimes in miraculous ways - and we can expect him to intervene in our lives, too.

Can we expect God to interact with us the same way that He did for Job, Gideon, or Thomas? No, we don't normally see miraculous things today; miracles were not an everyday occurrence in Bible times either. But do we really want or need miraculous signs?