THE GOD WHO CANNOT NOT EXIST
Try to imagine absolute nothing. No space, no matter, no energy, no time, no laws of nature — not even emptiness. Just nothing at all. But the more you try to imagine it, the harder it becomes. The mind almost refuses to think about it. Because if there was ever a time when nothing existed, then nothing could exist now. From nothing, nothing can come. That is not religion; it is simple logic. Every effect has a cause, every movement needs something to start it, every created thing must have a maker. To deny that is to deny reason itself.
Yet many people today begin their thinking with the idea that everything came from nothing. They say the universe somehow made itself, without purpose or plan. Some use scientific language like “quantum energy” or “spontaneous creation,” but in the end, it is the same idea — that nothing made everything. But nothing cannot act, cannot move, and cannot create. Nothing cannot do anything at all. To say the world came from nothing is like saying a book wrote itself while no one was looking.
So, the existence of God is not just one idea among others. It is the only idea that makes sense of everything else. Saying “there is no God” is like saying “there is no truth” — you use truth to say it. In the same way, you use logic and reason, which only make sense if there is a God who created order. Denying God is like cutting off the tree branch you are sitting on, and still expecting to float in the air. The simple truth is this: because something exists, something must have always existed. And whatever has always existed must be eternal, uncaused, and independent of everything else. That eternal reality is what we mean by God.
The old Christian thinker Thomas Aquinas explained this clearly. He began, not with faith, but with observation. He looked at motion, cause and effect, and how everything in the world depends on something else to exist. Then he asked, “Why does anything exist at all?” He said: everything that moves must be moved by something else, but this cannot go back forever. If there were no First Mover, nothing would move now. There must be a First Mover who started it all — one who was never moved by anything else. Then he looked at causes. Every effect has a cause, but an endless chain of causes explains nothing. Somewhere there must be a First Cause that itself was not caused — a Being whose very nature is to exist.
Aquinas also saw that everything in the world depends on something else to keep existing. Nothing we see has to exist; everything is temporary and dependent. So if everything were like that — dependent and temporary — then at one time, nothing would have existed. And if that were true, nothing could exist now. So there must be one Being that must exist, one whose existence is necessary and cannot be taken away. That Being gives life and existence to everything else. Aquinas called God “Being itself.” God does not just exist — He is existence. He cannot not exist. Every star that shines, every heartbeat, every thought, is proof that He is real.
The universe cannot explain itself. It is like a painting that points to its painter, a song that points to its composer. The world is full of evidence that it was made on purpose. The sky, the mountains, the stars — all preach a silent message every day: God is real. Every sunrise and every raindrop repeats that sermon. All of creation points beyond itself. The only way to deny this message is to close your eyes and stop your ears to it.
To deny God takes more faith than to believe in Him. The unbeliever must believe that order came from chaos, that intelligence came from mindless matter, that love and morality somehow appeared from dead atoms. They must believe that beauty, justice, and truth are only accidents. That is not reason — that is faith in nothing. And even when a person argues against God, they are using the mind and logic that only exist because of Him. They use the gift to deny the Giver.
Look honestly at nature and you will feel something beyond it. The stars speak of purpose. The laws of the universe are too perfect to be random. The human heart knows right from wrong in a way no animal or machine can explain. Even the one who does not believe in God still loves, forgives, and hopes — things that dust and atoms cannot do. Something deep inside every person knows there is Someone greater. When the heart grows quiet, when the noise of the world fades, we sense it. The truth of God is not far away; it is near, waiting to be recognized.
To live in this world and say there is no God is like standing in a museum and denying there was ever an artist. It is like feeling the warmth of the sun and insisting the sun does not exist. A person can stop their ears to faith, but not to reality. Every heartbeat, every breath, every moment of life is evidence that we are not self-made. Even the air we breathe is a gift from the One we often forget.
So the existence of God is not far away or hard to see. It is the most certain thing there is. He is nearer than thought, more sure than math, more lasting than time itself. To argue against Him is to use the very logic that He designed. The material world rests on invisible laws and order — things that point to an invisible Lawgiver. Whether people admit it or not, the whole universe glows with the light of God’s presence.
Faith does not begin where reason ends. It begins where reason has done its work and bows before something greater. When reason reaches its highest point, it finds worship waiting there. For when the mind runs out of answers, the heart still whispers, “There must be more.” And that “more” is not an idea, but a Person — the One whose existence makes everything else possible.
God does not depend on belief to be real. He simply is. He is the source of all being, the ground of all truth, and the reason anything exists at all. The universe is His signature, and life is His testimony. To look at creation and not see Him is not wisdom; it is blindness. The heavens tell His glory every day — not only through ancient words, but through every law of nature, every star, every breath.
And if everything depends on Him, then every breath is a gift. Every thought, every heartbeat, every moment of life comes from His hand. The one who denies Him still lives by His mercy. Nothing comes from nothing — but everything, even doubt itself, comes from God.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
