ARLINGTON, Va., November 7, 2011 — How can we know that God is real? One way is to try to reason it out, and there are a number of good arguments supporting God’s existence. Communities writer Vasko Kohlmayer, for instance, recently contributed two very thought-provoking columns discussing this question, which can be found here.
To cite a different and separate example, a very detailed and well-reasoned argument for God’s existence can be found in the first chapter of Exposition of the Divine Principle, entitled, “The Principle of Creation,” which can be found here.
Another way to approach the question of God’s existence has to do with experience. Having an experience in which one feels directly touched by God’s love, guidance or inspiration is often far more persuasive and convincing than even the best rational argument. Often such experiences are life-changing.
One of my own most cherished “evidences” for God’s existence occurred in the mid 1970s. One morning I had been feeling very sad and discouraged, verging I suppose on mild depression, when I ventured to simply ask God for help. Before long, I felt a lifting of my mood, and then a steadily increasing feeling of hope. To try to describe this is difficult, but I guess I’d have to say that I felt surrounded by an atmosphere of combined hope and love. I felt comforted, reassured, inspired and encouraged all at the same time! Needless to say, I felt and still feel that God answered my prayer that morning.
A different experience, one that gives evidence of life after death and hence strongly suggests God’s existence, is something that happened to my sister-in-law, Barbara Eberly, when she was a young girl living in the town of Lufkin in East Texas. She and her sister had been staying overnight at the home of their great-aunt Helen, as their father was working and their mother had been called away to care for their ill grandmother.
In the middle of the night Barbara woke up to see her grandmother, standing by her bedside. She describes this unforgettable encounter as follows:
“She was smiling and she was beautiful. She told me that she had died and that she had come to say goodbye. She told me she loved me and that she would always be there if I needed her. …
“The next morning at breakfast I told my aunt and my sister that Granny had died last night. Everybody stopped eating and looked at me.
“My aunt said, ‘Why do you think that, Barbara?’ and I said, ‘Because she came and told me so.’ At that point, the phone rang. And I said, ‘That’s Mother calling to tell us about it.’ And it was.”
My appeal to our friends of the agnostic or even atheist persuasion is to simply ask God to show His reality and His goodness to you. Don’t be afraid to ask. God is not cruel, angry or vengeful, wanting to punish us. He is compassionate, caring and forgiving. He (She) is our Parent, with boundless love and wisdom to share. All one has to do, I believe, is to ask with a degree of humility and openness.
Another necessary element is persistence. Of course, one just might get a satisfying answer immediately, or very quickly. Often, though, one must be willing to ask, and ask, and ask for weeks or months, or even longer. Finally, you will receive a convincing answer.
Will your answer come in the form of a beautiful dream? Will it be a waking revelation? Will it be a very dramatic answer, or will it be much more subtle? Perhaps God will answer you with the simple, incremental emergence of peace of mind and a steadily growing assurance of His love for you and His willingness to guide your growth in wisdom, and happiness.
I don’t know how God might choose to answer you. But I do feel certain of one thing. If you do not give up asking, He will without fail, respond in a way so moving and convincing that you will feel it was worth all the effort!
Read more of Clark Eberly's Stories of Faith in the Communities at the Washington Times.
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