9

I know Christianity at a glance as I haven't read the Bible thoroughly from start to finish. I haven't found bad things Jesus taught us. But I have a crucial question to raise my confidence in believing Jesus as my savior. The question is:

Is there a mentioning (in the Bible) about why god exists?

Improve this question
2
  • You might find it more fruitful to ask, Why did God become man? (To seek and save the lost!) In other words, I think you'll find more answers if you ask What was God's purpose in interacting with his creation, moreso than why he exists. I exist because of the will of the flesh (i.e. my parents desired a child... well, sort of, but I digress), but that doesn't really answer why I came about. How much harder would it be to answer why God, who has no parents, exists.
    – Affable Geek
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 4:23
  • Good question...
    – Greg McNulty
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 15:04

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
13

The Bible assumes God exists. It begins with:

Genesis 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Not answering the question "Why", but simply having God as a premise.

I heard Ravi Zacharias say once. That in the Occident that we asked the question if we should believe in God, but in Orient they ask which god you believe in. In Orient they take for granted that you will believe in something.

Since the Bible was written in the Est and during an age where atheism and skepticism was not what it is today, I ,personally, find it normal that they did not answer a question that was not in their mind and in their reality.

Since the vast majority of the people at the time of the writing of the Bible believe in some God the Bible defines God, it does not explain the reason why.

Improve this answer
1
  • nicely put......
    – Greg McNulty
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 15:00
4

This may sound like a cop out, but God precedes "why?".

You might had well ask, why does the question "why" exist.

The moment you bring God into our earthly view, you change who God is by limiting Him. He is eternal and unchanging. He exists even if the Universe disappears and all the laws of Physics with it.

Have you ever tried to imagine nothing? It is like that. We can't go there, it is actually impossible to imagine nothing. Yet, that is where you must start to have the perspective to understand why God exists. I love that God told Moses His name meant "I am" (yea, lots of translations). Maybe that is the answer, God exists because He IS.

Improve this answer
9
  • So there is no such a mentioning, right?
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 8:00
  • I'm sure the answer to the question is "No, there isn't," but that's not particularly helpful! ... To expand on @Hammer's answer, you might just as well ask, "Why does the universe exist?" Without God, there is no answer -- there is an answer perhaps to "How" but not "Why". With God, the answer might be simplistically "Because God is love and he wanted to create something to love and so had to make an environment for his creature." God is outside our universe of experience: so even if there were an answer to "Why God?" we wouldn't be able to comprehend it.
    – Andrew Leach
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 8:39
  • 1
    "Without God, there is no answer" - I'm not sure that is a valid assertion; we do not currently have clear data for a precice answer, but that does not mean that there is not one, nor does it mean that we won't be able to find it if it exists. I also don't think that introducing God here actually provides any kind of meaningful/valuable "how" or "why" answer to the question.
    – Marc Gravell
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 9:06
  • 1
    How important is the answer for us? For me, it is the starting point to make the next steps.
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 11:05
  • 1
    @Hammer then I'd say they are great and important questions, that are worth of good answers. So let's find the actual answers, and not just make things up ;p
    – Marc Gravell
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 14:15
3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_that_I_Am

To ask why X exists is to inquire about the causes of X coming into being, it is to suppose there is a source, or creator, of X with some motivation for bringing about X.

God is, by definition, uncreated - the uncaused first cause. He is existence. Everything else that exists does so because of Him.

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    By assuming universe is uncreated then it will be "illegal" to ask why the universe exists?
    – kiss my armpit
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 15:31
  • 2
    @DamienWalters - Not illegal, illogical. Something eternal has, by definition, never not existed. It helps me to remember that time itself is an attribute of creation.
    – kurosch
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 15:35
1

Working backwards from one of my favorite verses, Hebrews 11:6 -

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Clearly, here, for man's purpose, in regards to God's existence, is to believe that he is and that he is good. From the perspective of man, God's existence is to be that object of faith that pleases God.

My training is to read the Bible as a character study in who God is, and given who God is, what implications that has on man. In this perspective, God's existence is assumed, and the implication is that his existence provides an object for faith. Turning that around, as the question presumes, is linguistically tortured, but still valid.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .