Where's Your Proof?
Just because something is invisible doesn't mean it's not there
Have you ever heard of a man named Elwood P. Dowd?
Elwood P. Dowd is the character played by Jimmy Stewart in a 1950 movie Harvey. Stewart was nominated for a best actor Oscar for that role. He played an amiable but eccentric middle-aged man whose best friend was an invisible 6’ 3 ½” tall rabbit named Harvey.
In the movie, Dowd and his invisible rabbit friend frequent Charlie’s Bar, where the bartender Mr. Cracker always greets them both when they come in. It’s never clear in the movie if Mr. Cracker can actually see Harvey. He never talks directly to the rabbit. He asks Elwood what Harvey would like to drink, and the order is always the same – two martinis (viewers are left to wonder if it’s the drink order that brings Harvey to life).
Elwood’s family and friends think he’s crazy. He’s harmless. Wouldn’t hurt a flea. But the nonsense about the rabbit has his family members worried. They think he needs psychiatric help.
The climax of the movie comes when a doctor tells Elwood there is a treatment which will make Harvey go away and will make Elwood “normal.” As Elwood considers the option, he looks around. He’s not sure he wants to be like the “normal” people he knows – obsessive and neurotic. Elwood and Harvey are both easy going and relaxed.
The viewer is left to decide for himself whether Elwood P. Dowd is better off entertaining his rabbit delusion, or becoming “normal” like his anxious and fearful friends and family members.
Those of us who believe in God have something in common with Elwood P. Dowd.
We believe in an invisible being with whom we have a personal, close, intimate relationship. Not a rabbit. Our invisible Friend is the God who created everything. He gives life to everything. He sustains everything. And He will one day come and destroy everything that exists, replacing it all with a new heaven and a new earth where all who love Him and who have committed their lives to Him will live with Him forever.
We believe in something that a lot of modern, scientific people think is a fairy tale. Some of our friends think we believe in our invisible God because that belief helps us cope with the stresses of life. They say our belief in God is fanciful – a figment of our imagination. They see us setting reason and rational thinking aside. In their view, we are people who take a giant leap of faith in order to believe in someone or something that there is no way to prove.
Our friends are right when they say there is no way to conclusively prove that God exists.
But they are wrong if they believe that means that there is no evidence that God exists. Just because you can’t prove something conclusively – beyond any shadow of a doubt – doesn’t mean that what you’re trying to prove isn’t true. It just means it is unprovable.
I believe there is a God because there is a lot more evidence to support His existence than there is evidence to the contrary. In other words, it would take more faith for me to reject the idea of God than for me to believe in Him.
Where’s the evidence, you say?
Well, we can start by looking around.
We know there is a God – it’s plain and clear to everyone. We see the evidence in everything around us.
We can know there is a Creator because we see His creation.
When we go to the art museum and see a painting, we know there was an artist involved. We don’t have to see the artist to believe he or she exists. When we go to the car dealership and see a new car, we know there is a factory somewhere making those cars. We don’t have to tour the factory to believe it’s there.
The Bible says the existence of God is “self-evident.” For creation to exist, there must be a creator. Somebody had to do all this.
The idea that some eternally existent gasses somehow evolved into amoebas, which evolved into paramecium, which evolved into insects and fish and birds and plants and rocks and mountains and lakes and oceans and monkeys and people – that idea requires a whole lot more faith than it takes to believe in God. In fact, the Bible says that kind of unbelief come from people who are actively trying to suppress something they know is true.
If I was the attorney arguing for the existence of God, and I needed to show a preponderance of evidence in order to win my case, creation would be my Exhibit A. The size and scope and complexity and design of our universe, from molecules to the milky way, all scream there is a Designer who is greater and more powerful than we can imagine.
Let me summarize again here some of the conclusions we can draw as we consider the creation:
First, in order for anything to exist, that thing must either have come from something else or it must be self-existent. Nothing comes from nothing. For anything to exist, there must be a self-existent source.
Second, if we find complexity and order and design, there must be a Designer. Complexity and order don’t materialize on their own.
Third, the sheer size and the amount of energy that exists in the universe points us to the infinite power of a Creator God. Either that, or the tiny speck of matter or gas that has always existed got really carried away.
The heavens declare the glory of God. That’s what the Bible says. If you went out to the country on a clear night and you counted all the stars you could see, how many would you count? You might be able to see 2,000, give or take 500.
But how many stars are there in the universe? Astronomers estimate they can see about a sextillion (1021) stars through telescopes.
Do you know how many a sextillion is?
If you could see a million clusters of a million stars each, that would be one billionth of the total stars astronomers say they can see.
I don’t know if Harvey, the invisible rabbit, ever really existed. All I have for evidence is he testimony of a martini drinking witness named Elwood P. Dowd who claims he can see him.
But the evidence for God? It’s overwhelming. You’d have to really want to disbelieve in order to deny what creation testifies to. Sadly, there are many in our world today who want to disbelieve.
It is with eyes of faith that we see our God. But the faith isn’t blind faith. It’s a faith built on solid evidence that points to a solid conclusion.