How do you know God exists?
For a while, my answer to that question would have been, “I don’t know why. He just does.” I believed in God only because my parents said He was real. I began to have doubts about God’s existence. You know, maybe God isn’t real, I thought. He seemed far off, distant, and sometimes imaginary; so I acted almost like He didn’t exist, doing selfish and childish things.
Sometimes I would ask God, “Give me a sign that you’re real.” But though I asked for a sign, I didn’t search in the right places. I thought that God didn’t answer my prayer, but the truth was that He had already given so many signs to the world that He existed—I just didn’t bother to look for them.
A couple of years later, I’ve started exploring those signs. I no longer have as many doubts about God’s existence, probably because I have faced that doubt and learned more about the proof for His existence. A couple of months ago, a friend lended me her book, The Reason For God, which I just finished reading.
The Reason For God, as you can probably guess, is about the proof that shows God exists. It’s a good read if you’re interested in the topic. The language is harder to understand than I’m used to, even in Christian nonfiction books. The book was very helpful, but took me a while to finish.
Instead of writing about what I learned from the book, which I have already covered in this post, I am going to list who I would recommend this book to. I would recommend reading The Reason For God if…
You are doubting God’s existence and want to learn more.
One of the things I loved about the book is that the author did not discredit people’s doubts. He addressed them and gave reasons why God is real, but he never said anything like, “It’s dumb of people if they find such-and-such hard to believe.” He truly loves his readers and wants to help them learn so they can overcome doubts about Christianity and see the truth. The book is good for Christians and nonbelievers alike.
You want to be able to defend your faith in a loving way.
If you have doubts about Christianity, this book probably addressed them. However, the book’s content can also help you respond to other people’s doubts about Christianity in a loving and informed way. The book gives proof and arguments about everything from why the resurrection was real to how creation points to God’s existence. I feel much better prepared to answer if people ask me questions about Christianity after reading The Reason For God.
The Reason For God by Timothy Keller was a very informative book that I would recommend for learning about the proof for God’s existence. Learning the reasons that Christianity is true is something I think is important for Christians. Have you learnt anything about the proof for Christianity or apologetics? Do you have any resources you would recommend?
I saw a video where someone said “Is not creation proof of a creator?” and that really resonated with me.
Great article! The Reason for God sounds like a really interesting book. (Also, you spelled book wrong in the title)
I really appreciated how respectful Timothy Keller was about people of other faiths. That's something I think is essential to evangelism and even just presenting a good Christian witness. The Reason for God is a GREAT book.