Atheists believe that the universe was spontaneously generated, and changed and evolved over billions of years.  Shintoists believe that the universe was as an egg. One Native American tale explains that the earth is really dirt upon the shell of a turtle. Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe that there is a God who created the universe.

Who cares? Why the fuss over the beginning of the world? What does that have to do with daily life? Allow me to give an example.

Suppose you buy groceries and find you accidentally bought twice as much bread as you needed.  As you leave, you notice a woman outside the store. Adorned in tattered clothing, she holds a battered sign asking for food.  Do you give her your surplus bread?

Now, whether we actually give the bread to the woman is one thing.  After all, it’s scary to talk to people we don’t know (at least it is for us introverts!). But would we at least believe that we should give her the bread? I think probably all of us reading would say “yes”. It is good for us to help the poor. But what if you function under the Darwinian principle of “survival of the fittest”? To use one’ hard-earned resources as a producing citizen to help one of the least of these is completely against that worldview! Or what if you are a Hindu? Under many forms of Hinduism, the goal in life is to be reincarnated at a higher life form than what you currently on. According to them, the way to move forward in reincarnation is to adapt as perfectly as possible to the caste in which they were born. Under such Hindu anthropology, that destitute woman should not be seeking food to better her position; rather she should be embracing her poverty! Even a question like “Should I help the poor” is directly connected to one’s view of the universe and the purpose of humanity.

That said, we agree that none of us were around when the universe began. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have answer these questions. Allow me to make an argument for Christianity. While I absolutely can use the Bible to make my case (Genesis 1:1 will suffice), I will choose to use the lesser means of logic in the natural world to make my case.

Because Creation exists, there must be a Creator

I am typing on a computer keyboard at this moment. How foolish would it be of me to assume that it was designed, produced, and shipped by nobody. Nor does any single man wait with baited breath as he stares at the passenger seat of his car, expecting a woman to appear from nothing. It is possible for an object to act upon itself. But it is not possible for something to create itself. That goes for the universe as well. The universe can affect itself, but it could not create itself. That means that something existing outside of the universe created the universe. Whatever that thing is can appropriately be described as deity, or “God”. Thus, atheism simply is not true.

Because intelligence and communication exist, there must be an Intelligent and Communicative Designer

Have you ever heard a 4-year-old tell stories from when they were enlisted in World War II? Me neither. Have you ever tried to write a check for an amount greater than what’s in your bank account? Well, it’s not fun. The point is, you can’t give what you don’t have. If you don’t have any emotions, you cannot write a story about a character with emotion. You can have emotion and write about someone who does not have emotion, but never the other way around. In the same way, we can look at humanity and see that there exists intelligence and communication. In order for a God to create something with intelligence and communication, this deity must itself be both intelligent and communicative. Therefore, religions that describe God as an “impersonal force” that doesn’t communicate are not true. Whoever this deity is, it is intelligent and it communicates.

Because there is morality and desire for truth, the Designer must be moral and true

The next concept is similar to the one above. When we look at humanity we see a lot of things we would describe as ‘bad’ (to which I would ask, “According to what standard?”). But we also see, in every culture known to man, some form of morality, as well as a desire for truth as opposed to falsehood. Yes, exactly what that morality is differs (but not nearly as much as one might think), and many season their speech with falsehood, but we all seem to have an innate desire to be moral in some fashion, and we all value truth. Our systems of justice are linked to these desires. As above, so now; if we as humans seek morality and truth, it is only logical that whatever deity created us exhibits both morality and truth. Thus religions that place no importance on morality cannot be true. Furthermore, as this deity is a communicative deity, it stands to reason that this deity would speak to us, and as we are communicative people, that such communication would be written down. Yet because this deity values truth, whatever this communication is must be true. It cannot be contradictory. When we look at the sacred texts of world religions, they are almost without exception filled with errors and contradictions. The Qu’ran and Book of Mormon definitely have these. But there are two pieces of literature that do not appear to contain contradictions: The Old and New Testaments. At this point then, we can confidently trust the Old Testament as an accurate Scripture, explaining who this God is, what He has done, and what He has promised.

Because Christ clearly fulfills Old Testament prophecy, Jesus Christ must be God

So then the last question is this: What of the New Testament? Now that we have seen the Old Testament as true Scripture, we see that God promised the Seed of the woman to crush the head of the Serpent (Genesis 3:15). We see that This Seed is also a servant, who will Himself be crushed by God Himself (Isaiah 53:4-5). We see that the Lord sought by the Jews will suddenly come to His temple. (Malachi 3:1). These things remain unfinished as the Old Testament comes to a close. Because Scripture must be true as argued above, if the New Testament is God-breathed Scripture it must follow through with these promises. It cannot contradict them. And this is exactly what we find within the pages of the New Testament. God takes on flesh (Philippians 2:7), commits no sin (1 Peter 2:22), enters the Temple (Luke 19:45), and atones for His people (Romans 3:25). The New Testament is in perfect harmony with the Old Testament, and thus Judaism, as it rejects the New Testament, is not true.

These reasons all show me why I believe that Christianity is the one true religion. But it is not for these reasons alone. The Holy Spirit mentioned in John 16:12-15 illumines these things. While this certainly gets ahead of ourselves, my belief is appropriately stated in the 1689 London Baptist Confession:

We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church of God to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies, and entire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. (1.5)