by Harley Todd

Guest Columnist

What's your goal in life? There is a book that suggests one should make a list of 25 things you want to accomplish before you die and keep it with you at all times. What are your goals and ambitions in life? What keeps you going, what do you live for, what drives you on? What is it you want to accomplish, see, experience or feel more than anything else? What are you pursuing? Of all the various goals and ambitions that people have -- winning the Super Bowl, playing Major League baseball, getting married, climbing Mt. Everest, going to Disney World, owning your own island in the tropics, buying your dream house -- what would be the ultimate quest, search and ambition?

The ultimate goal to find and know God

Jeremiah 9:23-24: "But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me..."

What greater quest in life could one have than the aim of finding God, of knowing who He is, meeting Him face to face, and hearing the word of God from God Himself.

Acts 17:27: "That they should seek God... though he is not far from each one of us."

Is your hope set on seeing God as God is? Of standing before the Creator and having the Creator express His approval concerning you? (1 John 3:1-3)

How do I find God?

For many the question is: "How do I allow myself to believe in God? I can't see God or feel Him or taste Him. I have never heard His actual voice from heaven. I want to believe in God, but where do I start looking for Him?"

I think many people are desperately wanting to find God, but they are at wits end as to where to start this grand search.

What is faith in God? Too many people view faith in God as a "cross your fingers and hope God is there." Others would say that you have to close your mind to believe in God. Having faith in God and exercising your intellect are not compatible. Some view belief in God as beyond your control. You either have it or you don't.

Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen."

How can you be "convicted" about something you can't see? How can you be assured of something that you don't have? Obviously, something has "convicted" you, something has given you assurance, that even though you don't have it in your hands and you can't see it, it's there. That something is evidence.

Modern application

Most people don't stop to realize how much faith we exercise each and every day. Our knowledge of daily events is, for the most part, faith in the statements of journalists. Knowledge of history is, in the final analysis, nothing more than faith in the testimony of those claiming to have witnessed events in the past. Court decisions are based upon faith in the testimony of witnesses. We readily take medicine, which could be dangerous, because we have faith in our doctor and in the information on the label of the medicine bottle.

We are quick to believe friends, relatives, teachers and even strangers when they relate some incident to us.

In fact it is impossible to live without faith in this world. Faith is simply being persuaded by the evidence. Enough evidence has been presented that we are convinced and assured that our doctor is really a doctor; our parents are really our parents; this person did or did not commit this crime; and George Washington really did live, even though I never saw him, heard him, or even encountered personally another human being that did.

The Bible says there are reasons for the hope a Christian has (1 Peter 3:15) -- e.g. evidence that God is.

The evidence above us

Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God... showeth his handiwork." This writer asserts that the created universe bears the obvious marks that God made it. It is so clear that God Himself considers it inexcusable for man to be blind to the plain evidence of His existence and His mighty power.

The existence of the universe presents us with the following options:

1. The universe is or isn't eternal. The Bible says it isn't (Hebrews 1:10-12) and science agrees (Second Law of Thermodynamics).

2. Therefore, the universe was created. It either created itself (something came from nothing) or God created it. All the evidence in our world tells us that every effect has a cause, every product has a maker, every living thing came from parent stock, and that zero remains zero unless something is added to it. (Hebrews 3:4)

3. How do we explain the design and exacting conditions for life upon this planet? Did it happen by accident? Or did it happen because of planning and purpose? (Isaiah 45:18) A recent computer study simulated conditions that would exist on Earth if minor variations were to occur in our surroundings. Place the earth 5 percent closer to the sun and the average surface temperature would be 900 degrees F. Move it 1 percent in the opposite direction and the earth would be a barren desert like Mars.

The evidence looking at ourselves

Psalm 139:14: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

1. The human body: The stomach is able to digest materials which are compositionally much tougher than it is. We would have to boil our food in strong acids at 212 F to do with cookery what the stomach and intestines do at 98.6 F. One of the incredible things about the stomach is the fact that though is consists of flesh, it does not digest itself. One of the chemicals it contains is hydrochloric acid, an acid strong enough to dissolve a razor blade.

The liver weighs about 3 pounds and performs over 500 different functions. It filters enough blood in a single year to fill 23 milk trucks. The memory storage capacity of the human brain is equivalent to the information content of 20 million books. A computer that would match the memory capacity of the human brain would consume electrical energy at the rate of 1 billion watts (half the output of Grand Coulee Dam), take up most of the space in the Empire State Building and would've cost in 1981, $10 billion to build.

2. The real you... the soul: Genesis 1:26-27. Physically we resemble the animals. We also have a body of flesh, we bleed, we have offspring, and so on, but there are parts of our being that have no counterpart in the rest of creation.

Where did we get our concept of right and wrong? Where did we get our concern about fairness, obligation, justice, what you should do and what ought not to be done? All humans do not have the same moral standards, we don't all draw the line in the same place, But we do all draw the line somewhere. Even pro-abortion groups do, as they talk about the right to choose.

Where did you get your appreciation for beauty? Where did you get your ability to reason? Where did you get your religious nature? The question is not will man serve/worship something or someone? The question is what will a man serve/worship? (Matthew 6:24; Romans 6:16).

In Genesis 1:1, God created the heaven and the earth. If God can speak and the world existed, he would certainly try to communicate with us.

In Galatians 4:4-5 Paul wrote: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

In other words, "when the time was right." Since God knows everything, he said his word would last forever (Mark 13:31). Consider the evidence for yourself that there is a God beyond reasonable doubt, and the Bible is trustworthy lest man leads you astray. Read the Bible for yourself, for it really is good news.

Harley Todd is pastor of Tooele Church of Christ at 430 W. Utah Ave. in Tooele; Worship services are 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 6 p.m. on Sundays; Wednesdays at 7 p.m. For more information call 882-4642.