Is God Real?

God is real.

What does that mean? "...in Him we live and move and have our being," the Greek poet Aratus wrote. 

Aristotle pointed out that since all things are alive and in motion, then there had to be a first source of life and a first mover, the unmoved mover, the uncaused cause. Though there were many Greek gods, Aristotle argued that there has to truly only be one prime mover who is unmoved, who is the the source of all motion and life. Nothing can bring itself into being; all things are contingent. 

Therefore, there had to be Something before all other things came into existence. The Big Bang theory would indicate that at one time (for the lack of a phrase) there was no time, yet from the moment when everything came into being, that is the beginning of time. Granted, this is a deistic stance that admits of God, but not necessarily that God (or the gods) care anything for the human race, or any of the created order. That would have to be revealed by this unknown God, the great unmoved mover. So much for Athens.

Meanwhile, in the land of Canaan about 1925 BCE there was a man named Abraham who believed there could only be one God. His story and the story of his ancestors reveal that this One God began to reveal Himself to their people. For the People of Israel, this God was very real for He continued to save them and care for them. One of the poets of Israel wrote: "O Lord... it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother's womb...you knew my soul, my body held no secret from you when I was being fashioned in secret and molded in the depths..." (Psalm 139.13-16) and elsewhere: "O Lord, when I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him? (Psalm 8.4-5) [to be continued...]