Do We Really Need God?

You know my answer is going to be an emphatic yes. The thrust of this piece is going to be to explain why we need God. I believe even atheists might be convinced they need God if they are honest with their assessment of the human condition. What I am going to share is ancient wisdom – nothing new here. However, in light of current events, knowing this stuff and sharing it with others may be more important and poignant than ever.

To justify a need for God, I’m going to have to prove humans have a need that only God can satisfy. Naturally, I believe that is true; actually, there are three basic needs every human shares once the physical needs are taken care of. Every thoughtful human has asked three questions – perhaps not in the exact form I will pose them, but asked them in some manner. The three questions are: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Why does it matter?

Philosophers have referred to these three as the question of origin; the question of purpose; and the question of morals. In the late twentieth century, Francis Schaeffer asserted that only the Christian/biblical world-view answers all three questions satisfactorily. I fully agree. (For a fuller discussion of world-view see “The Battle is not Political” and “The End of Always” .) I am going to phrase my answers to each question in a way that I hope will be useful today.

The first question is one of origin: how did I get here? Obviously, this does not mean was it the stork or the cabbage patch. This question ultimately becomes one of the origin of life itself. In spite of our amazing efforts in biology and medicine, no one has discovered what life is, let alone where it came from. We can prolong it, end it, alter it, even clone it, but no one has a clue as to what makes a living thing living. We have discovered all the apparent building blocks of life – amino acids, proteins, and so-on – but we have never been able to assemble the blocks and create life.

As a biblical thinker, I believe the secret to life is spiritual in the sense that it is other-worldly. While I believe only humans have a spirit per se, the essence of life, be it animal, vegetable mineral, comes from a place beyond the reach of traditional science. We have now proven that a living cell is so complex that no amount of time and chance progression could have brought life into being. Darwin himself said that if a cell proved to be more complex that he knew at his time, his entire theory of evolution would fall apart. And so it has.

I believe the reason so many people are reluctant to accept a spiritual component to life is because of what it means in relation to the other two most important questions. If there is a higher power out there somewhere who brought life into being, that suggests that said higher power would have something to say about purpose and morality. Fallen humans do not want anyone telling them what their purpose is, and they certainly won’t accept a moral code that hinders their freedom in any way. This perfectly explains to me why such intelligent people as Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, Christopher Hitchens and many others have not only rejected a Christian world-view, but they openly despise it and those who adhere to it.

The answer to the first question is simply that I came from God: Genesis 1:1 asserts that our physical universe was created by God. As more and more scientists realize that evolution simply cannot be supported scientifically or logically, they are investigating the idea of intelligent design. This is not wholesale conversion to the God of the Bible, but it points in that direction rather than away as evolution does. At some point, an honest inquirer who is considering intelligent design can examine the claims of the Bible and find that they are fully sustainable.

The next thing that honest inquiry leads to is the realization that if a higher power designed all living things, perhaps there is a purpose behind the design. It is ridiculous to think that a being with the capability to bring about all that we see in the physical universe would have made such an effort for no reason whatsoever. An examination of the universe at any level, micro or macro, reveals a purpose in everything from the movements of stars and planets to the smallest microbe – yes, even corona viruses.

Those pesky mosquitoes you battle on a warm summer night may cause you to question God’s wisdom in some of His creation, but I am convinced that even the things we find bothersome have an ultimate purpose. There is too much proof in the telescopes and microscopes that things work together perfectly to doubt that everything exists for a reason.

So, to answer the question of purpose for the human being, one must go to the book that reveals the thoughts and intentions of the Creator’s heart. The answer given by the Westminster Catechism can hardly be improved upon: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” I have written elsewhere what it means to glorify God, but I will summarize here by saying it means to make God look good. The part about enjoyment is self-explanatory.

We must not think that God needed to create this universe and all that it contains. The Bible teaches clearly that God is entirely self-sufficient. However, another clear teaching of Scripture is that God is love. As such, He seeks beings upon whom He can shower His love. The Bible teaches that the angelic beings were created before our existence, and they were objects of His love, but apparently God wanted a different way to show His affection.

God chose to create beings of a different sort than angels that still had enough likeness to enjoy a relationship with Him. He placed them in an environment that was intended to be the perfect place for them to thrive and enjoy. Sadly, Scripture reveals that other created beings had different ideas about who should take care of the planet. Apparently there had been a previous disagreement, some would say rebellion, in Heaven that ended with a massive deportation from the presence of the Creator. Those rebellious ones instigated what has become know as the fall from grace which does much to explain our sorry situation.

The fallen state of humankind also set the stage for what became the record of redemption known as the Holy Bible. Immediately after the fall, God promised that He would take the initiative to make things right again. Throughout the millennia, the story has unfolded and continues to this present day. It also provides an explanation for the ultimate purpose of human existence. This purpose remained hidden, according to the Apostle Paul, until the culmination of the Gospel message. In Ephesians 3:10, Paul explains that the purpose of the church, therefore the ultimate purpose of humans in general, is to show the extraordinary wisdom of God to the beings He created before humans. In short, we are a demonstration to the angels.

We accomplish our purpose to glorify God, to make Him look good, by demonstrating His grace to “the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies,” as Paul puts it. I don’t know about you, but I cannot imagine a more worthy purpose than to reveal God’s ultimate plan to those eternal, heavenly, pre-existent beings. Naturally, in the process of demonstrating God’s love to the angels, we are also showing the rest of creation what He thinks about them. Is it any wonder that Jesus said it would be our love that would show the world our true character and allegiance?

It’s been a long time coming, but we are now to question three: why does it matter what we do, or what moral ground exists that cannot be overrun? Another way to ask the question if one follows the logic of the other two is to ask what right does God have to make the rules? The answer to that should be self-evident: He made us; He certainly has the right to tell us what to do. The current public education system is telling students that there is no absolute right and wrong; they claim that values are all relative. They are teaching “values clarification” on the basis that everyone has the right to his own moral system.

Again, we come up against the stubbornness and rebellion of fallen human nature. Fallen people don’t want to be told what they can or cannot do. Convincing anyone of this reality is the hardest step of all. This requires the deepest commitment and most difficult decision anyone can make. One must repent, meaning they must agree that someone else was right, and they were wrong.  With belief in answers one and two then repentance and acquiescence to number three, all non-material needs of the human are completely satisfied.

This has been a highly philosophical presentation, and I admit that the most important thing I said was way back in the fifth paragraph. Not only is the meaning of life to be found in the spiritual realm, the ability to grasp the meaning also has a spiritual component. Paul asserts in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that the natural man – that is a person not yet regenerated by the Spirit – cannot understand spiritual things. This could be a horrible catch-22. I need the Spirit to regenerate me, but I cannot know I need the Spirit to regenerate me until He does.

The solution to this sticky conundrum has led to deep and persistent differences between believers. The formal argument goes back centuries to the debate between Augustine and Pelagius. Still today, there are whole denominations that owe their existence to their position on this issue. I am not going to attempt to solve the riddle here. I will only say that Scripture is clear in saying that a fundamental change must take place to bring a person back into a right relationship with the Creator. That change happens on a non-material level; in other words, it is a spiritual matter.

Back to the question posed in the title: do we really need God? I believe the answer is yes because only the Creator can satisfy all the needs of His creatures. Because humans are spiritual beings in the final, ultimate sense, only a God who is spirit can offer the fullest provision for them. Humanity is in the sorry state that now exists precisely because we have turned our backs on the One and only satisfaction for our deepest needs.

If you understand your need for God, it is your responsibility to share that understanding with others. This is called “evangelism.” The literal translation of evangelism is “good news.” What better news is there than to announce that all human needs can be met by repentance and belief in the Creator God who loves His creation so much that He paved the way for them to get satisfied. What better way to share this news than to go about loving others as Jesus did? (See The Samaritan Revelation.)

In church today my pastor reminded us that evangelism, inviting people to follow Jesus, is not like inviting them to a picnic. At one point, Jesus said, “Take up your cross daily…” A cross in Jesus’ day did not lead to a happy place. We should not think that following Jesus is an escape from troubles. It is, rather, a new way to see troubles. Troubles are an opportunity to become what we are intended to become: Christlike. To be Christlike is to be fully satisfied – to have it all together as they used to say. I would say it is like having all our needs completely met. Do we really need God? Only if we want ultimate satisfaction.