Episode 2: How Do We Know There Is a God?
What if faith did not require you to turn off your brain?
For many people, the question “How do we know there is a God?” is deeply personal. It is not enough to say that belief is comforting, that our families raised us to believe, or that someone else had a powerful spiritual experience. We want to know whether there are good reasons to believe God is real.
Christianity welcomes that question. Jesus regularly received questions, invited people to examine His words, and gave them reasons to trust Him. Biblical faith is not blind faith. It is confidence grounded in what God has revealed.
In Episode 2 of the Faith That Stands Podcast, Angel and Marlon explore two ways God makes Himself known: general revelation and special revelation. Together, they help us move from seeing evidence that God exists to discovering who He is.
General Revelation: The Signs All Around Us
General revelation is what God reveals through creation and through realities shared by humanity. The world around us, the moral awareness within us, and the longings of the human heart all point beyond themselves.
As Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Romans 1:20 similarly teaches that God’s power and divine nature can be perceived in what He has made.
General revelation does not tell us everything about God, but it gives us reasons to believe that the universe is not an accident. Episode 2 examines four of those reasons.
1. The Universe Points to a Creator
The cosmological argument begins with a simple observation: the universe exists, and anything that begins to exist has a cause.
When we look into space, its scale is almost impossible to comprehend. The Milky Way alone is approximately 100,000 light-years across. Even if we could travel at the speed of light—about 186,000 miles per second—it would take roughly 100,000 years to cross our galaxy. And the Milky Way is only one galaxy among billions.
The universe displays staggering power, complexity, and order. It raises unavoidable questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? Where did space, time, matter, and energy come from? What kind of cause could bring a universe into existence?
The biblical answer begins in Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Christian theology describes this as creation ex nihilo—a Latin phrase meaning “out of nothing.” God did not merely rearrange preexisting materials. He is the source of all creation.
If God created space, He is not confined by space. If He created time, He is not bound by time. If He created an intelligible and ordered universe, its existence points toward a powerful and intelligent Creator.
And if that Creator works with intention, then our lives are not meaningless accidents. We were made with purpose and value.
2. Design Points to a Designer
The teleological argument moves from the vastness of the cosmos to the intricate design found within creation.
Consider the information carried in DNA. Our bodies contain trillions of cells, and within them are complex molecular systems that store, copy, read, and repair genetic information. Enzymes such as topoisomerases help manage the twisting and tangling of DNA so essential cellular processes can continue.
The deeper we look, the more order we find.
That same sense of design appears throughout the living world. Birds navigate, communicate, form bonds, and express remarkable intelligence. Plants convert sunlight into energy. The systems within a single human body work together in ways we are still learning to understand.
As geneticist Francis Collins wrote in The Language of God, “The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome.” Science can help us understand how creation works while also deepening our wonder at the One who made it.
The point is not simply that creation is impressive. It is that we are continually confronted with order, information, and purpose. Design points beyond itself to a Designer.
3. Moral Law Points to a Moral Lawgiver
Human beings do not merely have preferences; we also carry a deep conviction that some things are truly right and others are truly wrong.
We know that murder, betrayal, abuse, and injustice are not wrong simply because we dislike them. We believe they ought not happen. Even when cultures disagree about how moral principles should be applied, people across history have recognized concepts such as justice, courage, honesty, obligation, and guilt.
Where does that moral awareness come from?
If there is an objective moral law, there must be a foundation for it beyond changing human opinions. The Christian worldview locates that foundation in the character of God. He is not merely powerful; He is good.
Yet our moral awareness also exposes our problem. We know what is right, but we repeatedly choose what is wrong. The law reveals both the Lawgiver and our need for rescue.
This is where the gospel becomes beautiful: Jesus, the perfect Lawkeeper, came to save lawbreakers like us. We cannot repair our brokenness through our own broken efforts. We need a Savior.
4. Longing Points Beyond This World
The longing argument begins with an ache most of us recognize.
We pursue the job, the home, the relationship, the platform, the money, or the answered prayer. These can be good gifts, but once the excitement fades, a restlessness often remains. We find ourselves asking, “Is this all there is?”
C. S. Lewis argued that if our deepest desires cannot be fully satisfied by anything in this world, it may be because we were made for another world.
Our longing is especially visible when we encounter death, injustice, and loss. Something within us protests that these things are not the way life is supposed to be. Christianity agrees. We were not made for a world saturated with sin, chaos, and death. We were made for God and for eternity with Him.
The ache is not proof that life is meaningless. It may be a sign that our hearts were made for more than this present world can provide.
General Revelation Can Tell Us There Is a God—but Not Who He Is
Taken together, these four arguments form a powerful cumulative case:
- The universe points to a beginning and a Creator.
- The order of life points to intelligence and design.
- Moral law points to a moral Lawgiver.
- Human longing points beyond this present world.
But general revelation only takes us so far. Walking into a carefully designed building tells you that a builder exists; it does not tell you the builder’s name, character, or intentions.
To know God personally, we need Him to speak.
Special Revelation: God Has Made Himself Known
Special revelation refers to the particular ways God has revealed His identity, character, will, and saving work. Christians believe God has acted in history, spoken through Scripture, and revealed Himself most fully in Jesus Christ.
God is not an impersonal energy or a vague force. He has a voice, a character, and a will. He is personal—and that means His revelation calls for a response.
Episode 2 highlights three reasons the earliest Christian testimony deserves serious consideration.
1. The apostles were transformed witnesses.
The apostles said they saw Jesus alive after His crucifixion. Their proclamation brought rejection, imprisonment, suffering, and, for several of them, death. Suffering alone does not prove a belief is true, but it does show that these witnesses were deeply convinced of what they proclaimed. They did not gain comfort, wealth, or status by announcing the resurrection.
Their lives force us to ask: What changed fearful, scattered disciples into courageous witnesses willing to suffer for the message that Jesus had risen?
2. Jesus’ brothers went from skepticism to worship
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, His brothers did not believe in Him (John 7:5). After the resurrection, however, His brother James became a leader in the Jerusalem church. First Corinthians 15:7 specifically records that the risen Jesus appeared to James. James and Jude later identified themselves as servants of Jesus Christ and devoted their lives to proclaiming Him as Lord.
It is difficult to imagine what would persuade someone to worship his own brother. For James and Jude, the resurrection changed everything.
3. The gospel has endured
In Acts 5:33–39, a respected teacher named Gamaliel advised the religious council to be cautious. Other movements had appeared and disappeared, he explained. If the apostles’ work was merely human, it would fail—but if it was from God, they would not be able to stop it.
Nearly two thousand years later, the good news of Jesus continues to cross cultures, survive persecution, and transform lives. Empires have risen and fallen, yet the gospel is still being proclaimed around the world.
From “Is God Real?” to “Do I Know Him?”
Faith that stands must be built on more than emotion, habit, or family tradition. It must be rooted in truth.
Creation gives us reasons to believe there is a God. Scripture and the person of Jesus show us who He is. And when we look closely, we do not find a distant, indifferent Creator. We find a loving Father who has made Himself known because He wants us to know Him.
The evidence is not meant merely to win an argument. It is an invitation.
Wherever you are in your journey, you do not have to silence your questions or approach God in fear. Look carefully. Ask honestly. Explore the evidence. The God who created you with purpose is not hiding from you. He has spoken, He has acted, and He invites you into a relationship with Him through Jesus.
Listen to Episode 2 of the Faith That Stands Podcast for the full conversation. Then join us for Episode 3, where we will explore an essential next question: Why should we trust the Bible?
