Seeker Questions Archives

November 6, 2026November 4, 2026

Evidence for God – Part 3

3- Life Exists

An Associated Press headline reads, “Scientists Believe Artificial Life Will Be Possible in 3 to 10 Years.” The article is dated August 20, 2007. The report discusses a new scientific discipline known as synthetic biology, which aims to create life in the laboratory.

Two of the pioneers in synthetic biology were Jack Szostak and the late Craig Venter. Szostak’s team took a bottom-up approach to building artificial life forms, aiming to assemble biomolecular building blocks step by step until they had a living cell. Venter’s team took the top-down approach, trying to re-engineer existing cells by changing the DNA to create novel forms of life. Neither team has achieved the ultimate goal of creating artificial life.

The AP article said there are three major hurdles to creating artificial life. First, you need a container or cell membrane. It serves as a protective wall, keeping the materials required for life inside while keeping harmful molecules out. Living cells must have that. Second, you need a genetic system that controls all cell functions. This system has to allow the cell to mutate in response to the environment and, very importantly, to reproduce. Third, you need a metabolic system. The cell must be able to take raw materials from the environment and convert them into energy to power itself.

Those three hurdles challenge scientists today. If scientists ever overcome those barriers and create fully synthetic artificial life, what will they have proven? Will they have shown that life arises spontaneously from non-life? No. They will have proven that great intelligence, under carefully controlled conditions, can turn non-living matter into life-forms. They will have shown that life is not an accident but the creation of an intelligent being. That is what the Bible has said for thousands of years.

Even if scientists manage to create a living cell, they will NOT have created it from nothing. They will use the materials (and intelligence) God has given us. It reminds me of the old story about a scientist who challenged God, saying that it was no big deal to create a man from the dust of the ground. God said, “Go ahead and do it.” The scientist grabbed a handful of dust, and God interrupted him, saying, “Wait a minute! Make your own dust.”

Meet us at the International Conference on Missions at America’s Center in St. Louis, November 12-14, 2026, booth 1223 in the Exhibit Hall.

November 5, 2026November 4, 2026

Evidence for God – Part 2

2- A Fine-Tuned Universe Exists

If you want to bake a cake, you need the right ingredients in the right amounts, mixed correctly, and baked at the right temperature for the exact length of time. A universe is far more complex than a cake. Therefore, building a universe would require far greater precision, with many more ingredients in the right amounts, assembled in the right sequence, over the exact amount of time. Every factor must be precisely fine-tuned.

Scientists recognize that the universe requires fine-tuning for complex life to exist. The number of factors that must be fine-tuned is vast, but five essential ones are these:

Gravitational Force Constant – This force holds us on the ground instead of flying off into space. More than that, it holds the planet together and makes it round. It also holds the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. It holds together the Milky Way and all other galaxies. This force must be strong enough to form stars and planets, but if it were too strong, stars would burn out quickly, and no planets would form.

Electromagnetic Force Constant – This force holds atoms together. It must be just right for chemical bonds to form, creating molecules that make up everything, including our bodies.

Strong Nuclear Force Constant – This force holds together the protons and neutrons in the nuclei of atoms. It must be just right to form stable atoms.

Weak Nuclear Force Constant – This force regulates radioactive decay and must be precisely correct to form stars such as our Sun.

Cosmological Constant – This force controls the universe’s expansion speed, balancing gravity’s attractive pull with the repulsive force driving space to expand. It must be extremely precise to prevent the universe from flying apart or collapsing on itself.

A properly “baked” universe requires that all of these constants and many more parameters be just right. The chance of all of them coming together by accident is beyond impossible. Fine-tuning the universe requires intelligent planning, and it could not have happened by accident. Realizing that and not wanting to consider a Designer, scientists have devised a hypothesis to explain the universe’s fine-tuning. It is the theory of multiple universes, or the multiverse theory. It suggests there must be an almost infinite number of universes with different parameters, and we just happen to live in the one that got everything right. This idea has many problems, but we can’t even call it science because it lacks evidence and can’t be tested.

On the other hand, plenty of evidence suggests that God created the universe. Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Meet us at the International Conference on Missions at America’s Center in St. Louis, November 12-14, 2026, booth 1223 in the Exhibit Hall.

November 4, 2026November 4, 2026

Evidence for God – Part 1

1-Matter, Energy, Space, and Time Exist

If someone tells you God doesn’t exist, ask: if there is no God, why is there anything at all? After many years, even centuries, of insisting that the universe is eternal and had no beginning, scientists finally surrendered to the strong evidence that the universe had a beginning. There was once no time, space, or matter/energy. Nothing existed.

The beginning is commonly known as the Big Bang, but a better name is the Cosmic Creation Event. If nothing existed before, how did the universe come into existence? Whatever explanation you suggest, it must be outside of space and time and immaterial. Those things could not have created themselves.

That leads to the question: “If nothing existed before the Cosmic Creation Event or Big Bang, why does anything exist now?” Whatever caused the beginning would have to be outside of time and space and immaterial—something unseen. What could that be? “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). The God described in the Bible perfectly matches the requirements for the ultimate cause.

Many of today’s scientists insist that nothing exists beyond the natural things they can measure. Astronomer Carl Sagan famously said, “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be.” Since the supernatural is beyond science’s limited boundaries, science can never answer these two questions: 1-“Why does the universe exist?” 2-“How did something come from nothing?”

The first question leads us to the second. If nothing existed before everything came into existence, “How can everything come from nothing?” If nothing existed before, how can something come from nothing with no cause? Since that does not make sense, scientists look for ways to redefine “nothing” to mean something other than absolutely nothing. But how can it be nothing if it is something, and what was the something? We suggest the answer is in Genesis 1:1.

— Roland Earnst © 2026

Meet us at the International Conference on Missions at America’s Center in St. Louis, November 12-14, 2026, booth 1223 in the Exhibit Hall.

November 3, 2026November 2, 2026

International Conference on Missions

Next week, the International Conference on Missions (ICOM) will convene in St. Louis, Missouri. This major gathering brings together churches connected with the Restoration Movement, along with missions, educational institutions, and support organizations from around the world. It will be a time to share, be inspired by outstanding speakers, and learn what is happening in evangelism today. Does God Exist? will be represented at ICOM.

In past years, the Christian Churches held the North American Christian Convention (1927-2018), and the Churches of Christ held the Tulsa Soul Winning Workshop (1977-2017). Since both of those gatherings have been discontinued, ICOM (which began in 1948) has helped fill the void, growing into a major gathering of like-minded Christians. We will be there to share the evidence for God’s existence with fellow believers, focusing on the areas listed in the picture above. It is essential for Christians to know why we believe what we believe.

If you are in the St. Louis area, we invite you to register for ICOM and stop by our booth (number 1223) in the exhibit hall. Even if you have to come from a distance, we are sure you will be inspired by the speakers and learn from the workshops and Bible study as you learn more about missions reaching the lost around the world.

The International Conference on Missions will be November 12-14, 2026, at the America’s Center in downtown St. Louis. You can learn more and register at theicom.org. Be sure to stop by our booth. We would love to see you there.

September 9, 2026September 8, 2026

How the World Ought to Be

In his book Unanswered, Jeremiah Johnston wrote that the number-one reason people walk away from faith in God is experiencing an unexpected personal tragedy. He described interviewing atheists who had once been believers. They told him that the reason they doubt the existence of God is “the world is not as it ought to be.” That raises the question of how the world ought to be and how we can know.

As Johnston wrote, stating that the world is not as it ought to be “infers a standard of objective worldwide virtue and goodness.” Where does that standard come from? From an atheist viewpoint, where could it come from? If the world is a cosmic accident that just happened and we are an evolving collection of molecules we call life, what is the criterion for deciding how the world ought to be? Who gives us the right to make that judgment?

Why should we expect anything good in this world? How can we define good, and how can we know the difference between good and evil? Skeptics can’t accept the idea of a God who cares when there is so much evil in the world. The question is: how can there be evil unless there is good, and how can there be good without God? What is the atheist using to define evil—or good?

Going beyond the existence of good and evil, why is there love? What is the source of love? Nobody can truthfully say that there is no such thing as love. The Bible tells us that God IS Love. (See 1John 4:8 and 16.) Love comes from God, in whose image we are made. God is also good, and without goodness, how can we define evil?

Yes, the world is not what it ought to be, but we cannot deny God’s existence because of that fact. Evil is obvious because good exists. Good and love exist because God exists. When someone asks why God allows evil, remember that evil exists because humans allow it. It is humans who have brought evil into the world, and it is up to the followers of Jesus to combat that evil with love.

We must begin by accepting God’s love, demonstrated by the sacrifice of His Son. When we become followers of Jesus Christ, we can share God’s love with others. Love and goodness, which come from God, can overcome the problem of evil. Those who deny the existence of God have no basis to know how the world ought to be.

September 4, 2026September 2, 2026

Questions of Faith and Charles Darwin

The late priest, professor, and author, Dr. Stanley Yaqui, told about a 17-year-old German student who wrote to Charles Darwin with questions of faith. He was confused and filled with doubt after the death of a friend

The young student was W. Mengden, and his letter to Darwin said, “I make bold to ask you whether strong belief in your theory is compatible with belief in God?” Darwin replied that his theory was compatible with belief. Mengden was not satisfied with that answer, so he pressed the question further in a second letter. Again, not satisfied with Darwin’s reply, he wrote again, “I therefore come to you for the third time, asking and begging, so that your kind reply may provide a directive that tells me what I should believe… I know not where apart from you, I can get hold get hold of the truth… Please tell me, can one believe in Christ as described in the Bible?”

Thinking about his best friend’s recent death, Mengden further asked, “If you, however, are kind enough to be generous with your answer, would you please tell me what one should think about life after death and whether one should expect to meet others in afterlife?”

Because Darwin’s health was failing, his son Frances pinned the reply on his father’s behalf. He wrote, “I am much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and I cannot spare time to answer your questions fully, — nor indeed can they be answered. Science has nothing to do with Christ, except insofar as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself, I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation. As for future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.”

As I read that correspondence from a young man seeking answers to some of life’s most important questions of faith, I can only think that Charles Darwin, a man who had given up his faith, would not be a good source for answers. All Darwin could say is that there are “conflicting vague probabilities.”

If you have questions of faith concerning the existence of God, the afterlife, and whether you can believe in Christ and the Bible, seek out the wisdom of a Christian who has a strong faith. And if you’re a Christian who can’t answer those questions, perhaps you need to study the scriptures and materials available from this ministry, along with information you can find on our websites. Christians should never fear questions, and we should never leave them unanswered.

For more information to answer these questions, see doesgodexist.org, doesgodexist.tv, and search the archives of this website, doesgodexist.today, or email jncdge@aol.com.

May 29, 2026May 27, 2026

Intelligent or Unintelligent?

Causes can be of two types: intelligent or unintelligent. As we look for what caused the universe to come into existence or what caused life to appear on this planet, we should ask whether it was an intelligent cause or an unintelligent one, meaning chance. When you see the Grand Canyon, you can conclude that it was the result of natural forces and therefore not a direct intelligent cause. When you see Mount Rushmore, the mountain itself can be attributed to natural causes, but the faces of four presidents carved into that mountain testify to an intelligent cause.

Darwinists agree that the living things we see around us appear to be designed. But those who reject intelligent causation for living things have to keep reminding themselves that what they’re seeing was not designed by an Intelligence, but rather merely happened by chance. Is that attitude intelligent or unintelligent?

The complexity of DNA is certainly a challenge to those who believe that life happened by chance. However, they also have to contend with the fact that DNA relies on proteins for its structure, while proteins require DNA to provide the instructions for how they are to be constructed and folded. Since each requires the other, which comes first: proteins or DNA?

Spontaneous generation of life from non-life was advocated by Aristotle and accepted by science for 2,000 years until Louis Pasteur disproved it. However, those who believe that life came into being without guiding intelligence from purely natural chemicals must accept the concept of spontaneous generation, even though it is not supported by any empirical observation. Francis Crick, an atheist and co-discoverer of the DNA molecule’s structure, said, “Every time I write a paper on the origin of life, I swear I will never write another one, because there is too much speculation running after too few facts.”

Other scientists, such as Fred Hoyle, recognizing the problem of life’s origin, have proposed panspermia (“seeds everywhere”). That idea suggests that life on Earth was seeded by aliens from another star system. Besides having zero evidence for such a thing, it doesn’t explain where the interstellar life came from, stretches the imagination, and requires a great deal of blind faith. When scientists and others stick to their belief in spontaneous generation or panspermia, is that intelligent or unintelligent?

Physicist and information scientist Hubert Yockey, realizing the difficulty of explaining intelligent life without an intelligent cause, wrote, “The belief that life on earth arose spontaneously from nonliving matter is simply a matter of faith in strict reductionism and is based entirely on ideology.” The faith of those who refuse to believe in intelligent design is not based on scientific evidence but on ideological bias. Do you think that believing in creation without a Creator is intelligent or unintelligent?

February 13, 2026February 9, 2026

Nonsense About a Created God

You’ve probably heard this question before. Someone says God created the universe, and then another person asks, “So who created God?” As silly as this question seems, it is often used as an argument against God’s existence by leading atheist Richard Dawkins. His best-selling book from a few years ago, The God Delusion, revolves around this very question. Asking “Who created God?” only makes sense if you are assuming a God who was created. But that’s not the God described in the Bible. It’s not the God that Christians, Jews, or even Muslims believe in. Let’s stop the nonsense about a created god.

When we talk about God, what do we mean? Are we thinking of the God described in the Bible who is eternal, uncreated, and exists before all things? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1). Not only did God create everything, but He also sustains the universe (Colossians 1:17 and James 1:17). Richard Dawkins makes it clear he does not believe in God, but the god he does not believe in is not the God described in the Bible. I also do not believe in the god that Dawkins does not believe in. The God who created and sustains the universe is eternal, which voids the nonsense about a created god.

The ancient Greeks believed that matter had always existed, and that some god or gods emerged from the matter. Various gods, filled with human passions and sins, fought for control, bringing about a chaotic world. In other words, matter existed forever, but gods arose and kept things in chaos. Because of this misunderstanding of creation, the Greeks didn’t make much progress in what we now call science. If you don’t believe there is order in the universe, you can’t really study and find order within it.

Long before the Greek philosophers, the ancient Hebrews knew about the eternal God, the Creator of the universe. When the apostle Paul addressed the philosophers on the Areopagus in Athens, he pointed out how inadequate understanding of God. In Athens, Paul saw many idols honoring various gods. Just in case they missed one, he saw an inscription “to an unknown God.” Paul told them that even their own poets acknowledged that humans are God’s offspring, and if that’s true, God cannot be made of silver, gold, or stone—carved by human hands.

Therefore, we don’t need the nonsense about a created god. It’s meaningless. God is not a created being. We are His creation, meant to serve Him. Only by establishing a relationship with God can our lives be truly fulfilled, and this is possible because He seeks that relationship with us. He went so far as to send His only begotten Son to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins and to open the way for us to be restored to the eternal God who created, sustains, and loves us.

February 10, 2026February 8, 2026

Looking for Answers in the Wrong Places

What do the Shroud of Turin, the statues on Easter Island, UFOs, and demon possession have in common? They keep appearing in the media because they are all money-makers for those who promote them, and because people are looking for answers in the wrong places.

The Shroud of Turin is a 14-foot linen cloth with an image of a man burned into it. It is kept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, and has been used by the Catholic Church as a relic to attract Christian pilgrims to Turin. Facts about the shroud show it is not a supernatural object. The image on the Shroud is too tall for the time of Jesus. The cloth dates back to the 1300s and is a single piece of fabric, yet the Bible mentions two cloths—one for the head and one for the body.

The large statues called the “moai” on Easter Island were visited by Norwegian explorer Thor, who provided a clear explanation for them and how they were erected. This led to a book and a movie, and now they are a popular tourist attraction. Many books have been sold claiming that UFOs and demon possession are real. There are countless claims about Noah’s Ark, many of which have been major money-makers, including a replica in Kentucky. In Texas, a religious group trying to prove the Earth is only thousands of years old has claimed that human and dinosaur footprints are found in the same rock layers.

The problem is that unsupported claims can weaken young people’s faith as they learn about the true evidence. This website aims to show that scientific evidence supports what the Bible actually says. We often spend time and effort countering false claims made by people who lack understanding or are trying to deceive others who are looking for answers in the wrong places.

We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we do have extensive experience and support from people with academic credentials who can address many of the faith-related questions people have.

January 8, 2026August 3, 2026

Believing Extraordinary Claims Despite the Evidence

In his 1979 book Boca’s Brain, the late Carl Sagan wrote, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” That aphorism is often called the Sagan standard or ECREE. I believe Sagan was guilty of making extraordinary claims that he couldn’t prove, but we’ve discussed that before. The truth is that people are often guilty of believing extraordinary claims despite the evidence.

An extreme example of rejecting clear evidence to believe extraordinary claims is Mike Hughes, who died in 2020 while attempting to “prove” that the Earth is flat. Some say he didn’t really believe the Earth is flat but used it as a publicity stunt. What reasons, besides a desire for publicity, could cause someone to reject evidence? Psychologists suggest that cognitive biases play a role. If you expect something to be true, you might dismiss evidence that suggests otherwise.

Another reason for believing extraordinary claims despite the evidence is social influence. If loved ones or admired figures hold those beliefs, it becomes easier to accept something that contradicts the evidence. Conspiracy theories are often embraced by those surrounded by a community of fellow conspiracy believers.

A common reason for believing something extraordinary is that your personal experience has led you to believe it is true. The flat Earth concept may seem reasonable when you stand outside and look around. Does this look like a sphere to you? Do you trust what others tell you, or your own eyes? Strange experiences, hallucinations, or psychoactive drugs can also lead someone to accept an extraordinary claim.

Extraordinary beliefs aren’t inherently good or bad. Scientists challenging the status quo—such as questioning the evidence supporting neo-Darwinism—can lead to new insights. Carl Sagan’s statement, “The cosmos is all there is or was or ever will be,” (from his TV series), cannot be backed by extraordinary evidence. It’s a philosophical statement, not a scientific fact. In fact, science can’t prove that God does not exist, and increasing evidence of fine-tuning points toward an intelligence behind creation.

Both scientists and believers in God should avoid letting social dynamics and peer pressure shape their beliefs. Carefully examine the evidence for what you believe and avoid falling into the trap of believing extraordinary claims despite the evidence.