Session 6

LIFE’S MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION (Part 1)

“Does God exist?” Does it matter whether God exists or not? The answer is Yes!

I live in a HDB 3-bedroom apartment in Singapore. Opposite my block is a coffee shop that opens at 3.30am by a man named Yeo Sze Guan (nickname “Ah Guan”) I came to know him quite well because I would go down the coffee shop about 4-4.30am for early breakfast (a glass of coffee/tea, toasted bread and reading newspapers). He calls me by a few names, “Mr No Problem” (due to my cheery disposition?)  and “Mr Consultant,” because he consults me frequently on governmental, muni cap and personal issues that require literacy in English language.

Interestingly, each morning routinely, Ah Guan would bring his 2 birds— Mata Puteh—white eyes and Jambul —used in bird singing competition and hang them on a tree outside the coffee shop. To me it is simply a waste of time!  

Finally, one day I accosted him and asked, ‘Why do you bring your birds every morning and hang them on the tree? Is that not a waste of time?”

His reply, “Rearing birds is my hobby. I have all together 14 pet birds which I allocated one room in my 3-bed room apartment to them. My two children stay with my mother. My wife eats grapes that cost $3.00 but my pet birds eat grapes that costs $6.00!. What a devotion and dedication to birds. His fellow worker, Ah Man has nine birds!

Coming to your question, “I bring my 2 birds each day because I love to hear them sing!” That is therapeutic. My immediate response was, “Are you sure? I don’t hear anything.” With a broad smile, this is what he said. “Ah Ha! You must make an effort to listen and open your eyes to see.  Only then will you hear them sing.”    

So, next day I took his advice. Guess what? I made an effort to see and listen ten. To the two birds. True enough, I began to hear the two birds sing so beautifully and chirp so melodiously! My appreciation for birds began to develop.

That day I learnt a great lesson in life.  You and I will miss much of what life has to offer if we don’t make an effort to open our eyes to see and attune our ears to listen to the symphony of life.

In the same way, how can you know that God exists?  The answer is, you need to “open your eyes and you will see God’s handiwork, signature and footprints in his wonderful creation and attune your ears and listen for signals of transcendence.”

 Every other Friday a guard at the wheelbarrow factory saw a worker coming out of the factory pushing a wheelbarrow packed with hay. The guard searched inside the hay, found nothing and let the guy go. This ritual repeated over several years until a time when the guard was about to retire from the wheelbarrow factory. When the guy pushing the wheelbarrow appeared at the gate he told him: “I know you are stealing something from the wheelbarrow factory. I am just about to retire and this is my last day here. I will not tell anybody, but, please, let me know what are you stealing from the wheelbarrow factory!” The guy smiled and answered, “Oh, I am stealing the wheelbarrows.”

Isn’t a great tragedy to be born without having no eyes to see the wonders and beauty of God’s creation (nature, planets, starry skies, etc). But greater is the tragedy (mother of all tragedies) is for those who have eyes but fail to see God’s handiwork, signature and footprints in his wonderful creation (unity in diversity in unity, and simplicity in complexity).   Do you know Him?

Why Do People Believe in the Christian God?

Why do philosophers, scientists and people from different walks of life believe in the Christian or God in the Bible? There are several reasons. Let me highlight just two. Immanuel Kant (1724-18-04), a brilliant philosopher gave two pieces of compelling evidence that God exists that has enabled many intellectuals to believe in God — “the starry heavens above and the moral law within” proposed by the great philosopher Immanuel Kant. The unity and diversity, complexity and intricacies argue for an Intelligent Designer (God) and the moral law argues for a moral lawgiver (every culture, civilization know what’s right or wrong). Interestingly, many who are atheists, who became believers are convinced by these two evidences (e.g., C S Lewis). Put it in another way the cosmos and conscience argue for the existence of God.

The theory of Intelligent Design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. The leaders in the ID movement do not necessarily equate the intelligent cause with God; but willing to concede there is an Intelligent Designer. According top Dr Heinz Lycklama, “Naturalistic mechanisms or undirected causes do not suffice to explain origin of complex universe. Specified complexity and irreducible complexity are reliable indications of an Intelligent Designer. Design constitutes the best explanation for the origin of specified complexity and irreducible complexity in biological systems. Cosmological evidence suggests the universe--including all matter, space, time, and energy--came suddenly into existence a finite time ago, contradicting the picture of an eternal and self-existing material cosmos. Physics: evidence has shown that the universe is "finely-tuned" for the existence of life, suggesting the work, as Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle puts it, of a super-intellect.”

Other convincing reasons include: the Bible which is God’s Word —true and trustworthy. Many questions in life are adequately and satisfactorily answered when we factor “God” into the equation of life.  A Personal encounter with the creator God. Question: Do you know Him?

Let us suppose that after the service you walk outside the auditorium, you discover a beautiful Rolex watch. Which is easier to believe? The possibility of the Rolex watch falling from the sky or someone dropped it? If for some reason if you believe that it must have fallen from the sky, such belief is as incredulous as this bible came about as a result of an explosion in a publishing house (without a blueprint, plan someone publish it) or a Boeing 737 coming out of an explosion in a factory in the US. In fact, any rational human being would conclude say that someone dropped it, and its intricate design in the watch suggest there is a designer who crafted it!

Let me illustrate: T + T=T. When I see a THING, it leads me to infer that behind the THING there must have been a THOUGHT. It leads me behind the THOUGHT there must have been a THINKER! Put it simply, when I see a Rolex watch with all its intricate designs inside the watch (thing), I infer that much (thought) must have gone into making the watch. Behind the thought someone (Thinker) must have thought it out. When I look at the complexity and diversity of the entire creation, someone must have planned it and thought it out! That thinker, designer, architect is God and God alone.

Sir Isaac Newton had a friend who was an atheist. The friend did not believe in God, but preferred to take the position that the universe just happened. One day the friend was visiting his learned colleague and Newton showed him a model of the solar system. The sun, the planets, and the moons were all in place. The sizes of the spheres were in proportion and the planets and the satellites revolved around the sun at their relative speeds. The friends admired the model. “It's intriguing,” he said, “who made it?”  “Nobody,” said Newton, “It just happened.”

Ronald Regan the former President of the USA once made a remark: “Sometimes when I'm faced with an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we have finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there's a cook.

I’ve got good news for you. This infinite- personal creator God (aka God of the Bible; Intelligent Designer) created the heavens and the earth. God wants you to get to know you personally.  Have you found him? He is finding for you. Are you willing to get to know him personally?