25 Years, 25 Reasons To Believe – Hugh Ross

25 Years, 25 Reasons To Believe – Hugh Ross

In my 35 years of ministry, I’ve found that five evidences play an especially significant role in bringing thoughtful adults to faith in Jesus Christ. God used these same evidences to build my own faith.

1. Origin of the universe. The space-time theorems show that a Causal Agent beyond space and time must have created cosmic matter, energy, space, and time. Ongoing research establishes that any universe that expands (on average) throughout its history had a space-time beginning and, thus, was created by a transcendent Causal Agent.

2. Cosmic design for humanity’s benefit. As agnostic physicist Freeman Dyson comments, “The universe in some sense must have known that we were coming.” The laws and features of the universe are precisely fine-tuned to make physical life, especially human life, possible. The pervasive evidence for purposeful design tells us that the cosmic Causal Agent must be a personal Being.

3. Origin of physical life. Complex, diverse bacterial life has existed on Earth since 3.8 billion years ago. This early life origin occurred within a geological instant and without a primordial soup or any conceivable mechanism to produce homochiral amino acids and pentose sugars. No time, no soup, and no homochirality—these conditions rule out the possibility of a naturalistic explanation for life’s origin.

4. Origin of soulish life. Biologists confirm that birds, mammals, and perhaps a few reptile species manifest “soulishness.” The Old Testament defines soulish animals as creatures endowed with intelligence, volition, and emotion—thus with, the capacity to form relationships, to nurture members of their species, and the motivation to serve and/or please humans. The motivation and capacity to serve and/or please humans were fully in place before humans existed. These features could not have arisen from a purely physical, non-personal source. Rather, they must have come from a personal, relational Being.

5. Origin of spiritual life. According to the Bible, only one species on Earth bears “the image of God” and that’s us. Only humans relate to a higher Being. Only humans ponder their own existence. Only humans ask, Is there a God? Is there life after death? Why am I here? The human quality we identify as “spirit” can only come from a Source who is, Himself, Spirit.