The philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte understood the central question of all life. The main problem he said is, “there is something rather than nothing.” Maybe it’s the same idea that Descartes had when he said, “I think therefore, I am.” He said it in Latin, “cogito, ergo sum.” We can argue about most things easy enough, but it’s really hard to argue against the reality of my “being.” Neil Diamond sang, “I am I said to no one there And no one heard at all, not even the chair! I am I cried, I am said I and I am lost and I can’t even say why, leavin’ me lonely still.” There is a big problem regarding the source of all life in general and the source of my life specifically however if you come to grips with the first, you’ll resolve the second. It’s the second question that’s the real problem isn’t it? I could ignore the issue of the origin of the universe and all matter but it’s really hard to ignore the question of the origin of mankind. We all would like to know where we came from because we all scream at the universe for an answer.

The Bible is God’s answer to that existential scream regarding our existence. That’s one thing, even the greatest philosophers recognized. God doesn’t fool around with hundreds of pages of dialogue before answering this question for us. He begins his revelation to man with the answer. The first verse in the Bible is that answer. Genesis 1:1 simply says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  One day, students in one of Albert Einstein’s classes were saying they had decided there was no God. Einstein asked them how much of all the knowledge in the world they had among themselves collectively, as a class. The students discussed it for a while and decided they had 5% of all human knowledge among themselves. Einstein thought their estimate was a little generous, but he replied: “Is it possible God exists in the 95% you don’t know?” Phil Donahue turned Madelyn Murray O’hare from an atheist into an agnostic with this thought on his TV show once many, many years ago. You cannot actually claim that there is no God without claiming to possess all the knowledge in the universe. And from every which way you might look at that, it’s ridiculous to make such a claim. Twice in the Psalms we read, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (See Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1).

It just seems that the fact of one’s existence is undeniable. Even if you wished to deny your existence you have to exist to do so. The person who says there is no such thing as absolute truth is simply making a self defeating claim for if there is no absolute truth then that statement is not absolute truth so it’s self defeating. It is a contradiction in and of itself. We spend too much time in life struggling with the problem rather than enjoying our lives. Kierkegaard said, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” He also said, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” I found a blogger on the web that rejects the notion of God yet still understands that the contention that there is no such thing as absolute truth is a self contradictory statement. They write, “Let’s get one thing straight: Contradiction is not deep thinking. It’s make believe. It’s mysticism. It’s a galaxy far far away. It’s not philosophy. It’s not wisdom, and it’s certainly not truth…of any kind.” If atheism is patently ridiculous, our angst is not that there is not a God, but that we don’t know God. The Bible answers this issue also. In John 14:6, Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”