Dear student from China,
I’m so glad to have you in my country! I hope that you can find some opportunities to experience American culture and have fun outside of your classroom and laboratory. Let me know if you need help connecting with an American friend at your campus. I work for Bridges International, which is a Christian ministry to all international students. Our mission is to serve international students to help them adjust to life in the U.S., to promote social connections between fellow students and with local Americans, and to offer spiritual resources and discussions. We want to see you become an international leader!
During your time in the United States, whether you’re here for a brief exchange program, or for a number of years as you pursue one or more college degrees, you will notice something that must seem peculiar: Americans are very religious. You might have heard this from your English teacher in your home country. Your parents may have informed you or even warned you about this. Maybe you saw a religious character in an American movie or television show – in which case it’s likely you saw a caricature of a Christian. Or maybe as you’ve grown accustomed to your campus and city, you’ve observed how many churches there are. You might be wondering to yourself, “How can Americans be so educated and yet so superstitious?” Belief in God, or at least the God of the Bible, probably seems like a weird idea to you. Why would anyone dedicate their time, money, and – most of all – their mind to an invisible person in the sky? In short, is it reasonable to believe in the God of the Bible?
I would like to answer this question by exploring three areas that are accessible to both you and I: Cosmology, Physics and Biology. You may even be here in the U.S. to study one of these areas. Now, I will be the first to admit I am not an expert in any of these fields. But what I can say is that, from what I can understand, I find these words from the Bible to be true: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20). There’s lots of evidence for God as we study the world around us. To set the right expectations: nobody can offer concrete, 100% proof that God exists (or doesn’t exist), but I hope that by analyzing some interesting facts from these three areas, you will agree with me that it is more reasonable than not to believe in and follow God.
• COSMOLOGY – “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God” (Psalm 19:1) •
Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, where did all of these stars and galaxies come from? Why is there something rather than nothing? If you’ve done any studying about the universe, you’ve learned that it is expanding. This discovery dates back 80 years ago to a scientist named Edwin Hubble. By studying the red shift in light from other galaxies, he was able to determine that galaxies are all moving away from each other, like how a balloon inflates. Since then, we have known that the Universe had a sudden beginning – what many call the Big Bang. What you may not know is that before this discovery, the prevailing wisdom of the world was that the universe was static, neither expanding nor contracting. This “steady state” theory fed into a larger, philosophical idea that existed for millennia, that the physical universe is all there is, and it is eternal. Now we know that the universe is finite, and that at a single point in space and time it came into existence.
The implications here are vast. But let’s first agree on a few things, shall we? Something cannot come out of nothing. Otherwise, this would violate the First Law of Thermodynamics, namely that matter and energy cannot be (naturalistically) created nor destroyed. It is beyond the capability of physical matter to “will” itself into existence. Secondly, every effect must have a cause. Every event in history happens because of a prior event. An avalanche doesn’t happen because the snow suddenly decides to go for a slide. Either a natural cause (such as an earthquake) or a human cause (such as an explosion) would have to be the culprit. Likewise, as we study the stars and galaxies, we observe this basic reality of cause and effect, one event happens after another.
But here’s the catch: cause and effect can only exist within time, and must involve physical matter. As we looked at before, we know that all the physical matter of the universe, indeed all of space and time, originated from a single point. Before this point, there was neither space, nor matter, nor time. That would mean that the ultimate First Cause of the universe would be something non-physical and eternal. Since this could not be a natural thing, it would have to be something with a will, with a mind. It would have to be a Person. In the Bible, it says of God, “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain You.” (1 Kings 8:27).
Now, many have studied this and theorized that perhaps the universe expands and contracts on a regular rhythm. However, any astronomer will tell you that the expansion of galaxies is accelerating, and that there is simply not enough gravity to bring everything back into a Big Crunch. Secondly, others have theorized that maybe our universe is simply one of many inside a multiverse. Well, that’s interesting and all, but there’s absolutely no evidence for it, as any cosmologist will tell you.
Does this prove that there is a Creator God to the universe? No, but hopefully it should seem at least a reasonable to you that God is the First Cause.
• PHYSICS – “In Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17) •
Besides studying the origin of all things, I’d like for you to consider the fine-tuning of all things. Let’s consider something extremely small, the force that binds every atom together – the Weak Atomic Force. If you somehow had the ability to change this physical constant, you would have a margin of error of only 1 in 10^100, or:
0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 otherwise all matter would not be able to stay bound together. What is the explanation for how precise this physical force is? Perhaps you would say that it is mere chance. Let’s examine that. In the entirety of the cosmos, it is estimated that there are 10^80 atoms that make up all the galaxies and planets, or:
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. Although a huge number, it is insignificant compared to the Weak Atomic Force. Here’s how to put it in perspective.
Let’s say that out of all these atoms, out of every galaxy, you and I each got to choose only one. There’s no way that you and I would pick the same one, right? Well, the ridiculously improbable odds that we would pick the same atom are greater than the Atomic Force being the “right” number by chance. Specifically, the odds of us choosing the same atom, out of the entire universe, have a greater chance of happening by 1 in 10^20 or one in a billion billion thousand. If our little game seems improbable to you, then the universe being an accident should seem completely impossible to you!
So as we’ve seen, purely natural forces cannot account for the beginning or the universe, nor can chance explain the existence of all matter. That means that there must be a supernatural reason, a Creator. But maybe you need one more line of evidence.
• BIOLOGY – “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) •
Suppose that you are lost and wandering through a rocky desert. You are all alone, and you’ve run out of food and water. The sun overhead has burned your skin, and you barely have enough moisture in your body to sweat anymore. You’re exhausted, and in danger of expiring. What would you look for? An oasis, or really any amount of water, to be sure. But let’s say during your search you see three parallel lines carved into the rock. Curious, you go in for a closer look. Maybe somebody carved those lines, or maybe it was just the wind or the rain. But as you come up to the lines, you see that they aren’t just shapes, but they appear to be letters. And they aren’t in some random order, but they’re a clear, intelligent message:
TOWN, THIS WAY —>
FOOD AND WATER —>
SHADE, THIS WAY —>
You know, from instinct, that an intelligent message cannot arrange itself by chance. It would have to come from intelligence – from another person. But you wouldn’t even stop to think about this, you would simply follow the arrows and save your life!
Let’s stop and think about this: it only takes three “lines of code” in a desert to convince you that someone else is out there. Do you know that a simple iPhone game requires several hundred lines of code? The NASA Space Shuttle uses about four thousand lines of code. Newer, more sophisticated aircraft like drones utilize three million lines. Microsoft Office, thirty million. Facebook, sixty million. The computer inside a luxury vehicle, 100 million. All of Google’s internet services, two billion.
The human genome, by comparison, consists of 3.3 billion “lines” of code.
Now, I can’t prove to you that the human DNA sequence was all arranged by a supernatural Intelligent Being. But can you prove to me that it all came together by chance? Could an iPhone game, airplane or computer company happen on its own? Could those three lines in the desert have arranged themselves by accident? Doesn’t intelligence come from intelligence? Hopefully you can see, it is a rational conclusion that human beings, and all of life, were in fact designed by an intelligent Creator.
• CONCLUSION – “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) •
Each of these quotes I have provided are from one source, the Holy Bible. It is the most-printed and most-translated book in all of history. As such, it is a book for all people in all times. I would be in error if all I did was try to persuade you that you and I have a Creator. If you’re willing, I want to take you further to show you what this Creator has said to us. His words are contained in this book, the Bible. And one of my favorite passages is so relevant to you, my international friend! Check it out: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27).
There is a God who has made not only the universe, not only our planet, and not only humanity, but every nation, culture, and individual. And this God wants to know you personally. Do you want to know Him? If so, I would love to tell you how you can.
