Does it Matter if God Exists?

So if God does exist, does it matter? Is it worth finding out? To start with, we need to identify God. If you are reading this, I will assume that you are open-minded about the existence of God and who God might be. So I’m going to use a word that some people seem to find offensive. The Bible. You’re still here? Good, then I guess you really are open-minded!

I’ve heard so many people say that they believe in God, but not the God of the Bible.  They say things like “my God would do this” or “my God wouldn’t do that”, as if everyone can just make up their own personal God.  I mean if everyone who thought like that was right, there must be millions of Gods, because that’s how many different ideas there would be!  Do you think there’s millions of Gods and that everyone gets to create their own?  I mean, that’s a bit backwards isn’t it?  If God created you, then you clearly can’t create God. 

So let’s say that you are uncertain about the existence of God, and I mean the God of the Bible, and you’re wondering whether or not you should even try to find out.  Let’s look at it from a “cost-benefit-risk analysis” point of view.  This type of analysis is sometimes used in business to decide if a proposed course of action should be taken.  You would identify the cost of taking the course of action, the possible benefit of taking the action, and the risks involved with taking (or not taking) the course of action.  The result of the analysis would then be used to decide if the action should be taken.  So, let’s call our proposed course of action “Seeking God”. 

Cost of Seeking God

What is the cost of seeking God?  To answer that, first we need to know how to seek God.  I have some suggestions for you in my next post, and I can tell you that all it will cost you is some of your time.  How much time is up to you.  I’m not going to ask you to go to Church, nor will I ask you to read the Bible.  To me, those things come after you have found God.  I will however give you some information from the Bible to help you out.  Overall the cost of seeking God is quite low.

Benefit of Seeking God

Okay then, so what would be the benefit of seeking God?  Well, the result of seeking him would be that you either “find” him, or you don’t.  And if you do find him, then you would believe in him, and you would also believe in his only son Jesus Christ.  And the benefit of believing in Jesus Christ is Eternal Life, according to the Bible.  As the Bible says:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

So the possible benefit of seeking God is Eternal Life.  What does Eternal Life mean exactly?  I can’t say I know exactly what that would look like, but it does sound a lot better than the alternative.

Risk of Seeking God

So how about the risk of seeking God?  The only risk would be the time and effort that you put into seeking in the first place.  But what’s the risk of NOT seeking God?  Note how John 3:16 says “should not perish”.  John 3:16 suggests that if you don’t believe in him (Jesus Christ, and therefore God), you will perish.  Do you want to “perish”?  Although John 3:16 doesn’t exactly specify what it means to perish, it doesn’t sound like much fun.  That seems like a pretty big risk.

So to sum up the cost-benefit-risk analysis of “seeking God”: the initial cost is quite low, the possible benefit is enormous, and the risk of NOT doing it is huge.  A reasonable business person would most likely at least make the initial investment.  And if you were thinking that it doesn’t really matter whether God exists or not, I suggest to you that it matters A LOT.

You can say to yourself, “sorry, I just don’t believe in God so I’m not going to bother”.  Or maybe you say “nah, that’s not the kind of God I imagine.  If he’s really there he’ll just save everyone.”  This is of course your own choice.  But what if you’re wrong?

Coin Flip for Eternity

What if not believing in God or in Jesus Christ is kind of like taking that bet, except that the coin has tails on both sides?  And let’s just also suppose that when you die you have no choice but to take the bet.  Wouldn’t you want to flip a coin that has heads on both sides?

Conclusion

Overall, I hope you’ll agree that at least seeking the truth about God is a worthwhile exercise.  It seems to me that too many people dismiss the idea of God out of hand, without actually putting in an effort to find out.  Or they decide that they already know about God, except it’s a God that they just made up in their own mind.  And there are also people who think that it’s simply not possible to find God, so they give up before they even start. 

I’m not expecting you to read this post and suddenly decide that God exists and that the Bible is the truth.  But do you at least owe it to yourself to find out? And I’m here to tell you, it is possible to find out! I will try to help guide you, if you read my next post.