November 15. 1964
Donald R. Givens
One reason why I believe in a personal supreme being is because of the very origin of this orderly earth in which we live. This material world and universe had to have a starting point. This is the issue. Who started it? or what started it?
No one can deny that matter is here. A material, tangible universe does certainly exist. It is all around us. Matter is an effect of some other cause than itself. It could not have created itself in the beginning because something would have to have created it. Something cannot come from nothing. Material things or "matter" has to be an effect of the first cause.
Someone may ask, 'How do we know that matter was the first cause?" "Could not matter have produced life?" We shall let Mr. John Gerstner from his book Reasons For Faith, answer this:
"If matter were the author of all things, it would be, in the first place, the author of life. But how can it be? Matter itself has no life. It is, by definition, 'inanimate.' That is Webster speaking. The man on the street has the same idea: 'lifeless matter' he calls it...So anyway you look at it, matter does not seem able to account 'for life, even life within itself, much less outside itself." (emp. mine DRG)
So we know matter did not and could not create itself. Something or someone had to create it. Matter is lifeless and did not of itself begin life. Matter could not have come out of nothing, for out of "nothing" only nothing can come. One cannot have something created or begun from nothing. This is a simple fact, yet very true.
Something is. Something DOES certainly exist. We know this for a fact as surely as we know that we ourselves exist. Mankind and animals and plants and minerals DO exist in abundance. Therefore, since we have matter (something) we know that something, whatever it may be, has always existed. One has finally to get back to "something" without a cause and without a beginning. This is Almighty God, the Supreme Creator of the universe. For something is — therefore something always was. God is eternal and everlasting.
Either this material universe came by CHANCE or it was created by an INTELLIGENCE. It has to be one or the other. Which is more reasonable to believe? Did the earth we now live on, just "happen" to evolve into a wonderful unity, or did a personal and intelligent being give it this unity?
The elements in this earth had to come from somewhere. They are so wonderfully and intelligently arranged as to argue for One Cause back of them. The cosmos (or world) proves the glory and the handiwork of Jehovah, (Psalm 19:1-6). Let us notice again what Mr. Gerstner has to say concerning this aspect:
"Our world and our universe argue that the cause back of them is one cause. The universe is composed of many parts but one plan. A cosmos, or ordered whole, implies a single ordering mind back of it."
Yes, how true, the whole universe does work as a team together in harmony and unity. Its laws are purposeful, and they argue for one Greater, one great Mind, back of it all.
Could mere chance produce such an effect as one sees in the whole world today? Could mere chance produce even a small thing as a wrist watch? No, the working design of the watch proves it was made by an intelligent designer. The designer we call the watchmaker. It is the same in the universe but on a much grander scale. It would be just as easy to believe that the wrist watch "happened to come together by chance" as to believe the universe came about by "mere chance or evolution." Perhaps the former would be much easier to believe than the latter.
On the physical universe and all materials in it is seen the stamp of an intelligent design. The imprint of a wonderful and united design is here. WHO was the designer? Was it "mere chance?" Was it an impersonal bring: Or was it a Personal, Intelligent Being? Which is more logical and reasonable? The very design of the cosmos argues for an intelligence behind it just as the design of the watch argues for an intelligent watch-maker behind it.
Is this intelligence behind the cosmos? impersonal or personal? Which makes better sense: to say something impersonal can possess superior intellect; or to say that something personal possesses this superior intellect? There cannot be an intelligent design without first an intelligent designer. The wrist watch did not "just happen to evolve" into a working mechanism that "just happened" to tell time accurately! Neither did the universe "just happen!"
As Adam Clarke has expressed it, "God is infinitely wise." The Creator of this orderly universe is an intelligent, all-wise, and personal being. Everything in the universe, from the glowing sun to the smallest raindrop, shows forth His supreme intelligence and great glory and beautiful design. His handiwork is deeply imprinted in every element of this wide earth. Mere chance or an impersonal entity could not have produced such a splendid and perfect effect.
Jehovah, the One True and living God, created this earth that we live in and enjoy. The design that permeates the universe proves there was an intelligent designer who designed it all. For there to have been an intelligent designer, there must have been personality behind this design. This personality is GOD.
"In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth." This I believe.
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