How to Prove There is No God: Absolute Truth

You’ve given your reasoning for believing there is no such thing as a way to determine whether God exists, or not. I respect that, and believe you to be honestly stating what your life experience has led you to believe.

Let me tell you of a life experience of my own that occurred many years ago when I was pastoring my first church on the California coastline. A woman from Texas called me from several hundred miles away at nearly midnight seeking help. Her son, who had been raised a Christian of my denomination, but had left the faith of his childhood many years before, was in trouble. His wife and he had been having problems, and she had left him earlier that evening, taking their young son with her. The Mom had been speaking with her distraught and depressed son earlier in the evening, but when she tried to phone him back, his phone was off the hook. She feared he was so despondent that he might kill himself. With his phone off the hook, she didn’t know whether he might even then have taken a handfull of sleeping pills and be dying. Would I please go and check on him?

Of course, I would. I got the man’s address, put on my clothes, and drove down to find a filling station where I could buy a map and find the man’s house. He lived in a little town just up the coast. By the time I located an all night filling station with a map, traced my way through the fog and dark along a winding river to the man’s address, and arrived, it was nearly 3 AM.

The roadway up the dark hillside had about 20 houses, one of which was the one the man lived in. There was a street light down where all the mailboxes for those houses were located, but no lights up at the houses, and no numbers I could see, at any rate, on the houses themselves. I knew the man I was looking for was in one of the 20 houses, but had no way of knowing which house. I couldn’t go knocking on door at random. The man was in an emotionally difficult situation, and me knocking on the doors of his neighbors past the middle of the night asking questions would be of no help in him weathering his current situation. Nor could I go to the police and seek the correct address. If the Mom had wanted police intervention, she would have called them, not me. Nor could I go away and return at daylight for another try, since the man might be dying and dead before then.

I went back to where the mailboxes and street light was at, parked the car, and began praying to the God of the Bible, the God I worship. I said, “This is Your work, not my own. I need help here. I must knock on the right door the very first time, and I do not know which door that is.” Then I began walking up the dark roadway, keeping to the center of the street to avoid running into mailboxes or garbage cans that might be on the shoulders of the road where I couldn’t see them.

About 200-300 feet up the dark roadway, I ran into what I can only describe as “an invisible wall”. I could put my hand up and touch it. I could look through it to the shadowed roadway ahead. It slanted off to the left of the roadway, so I simply put my hand on its surface and began following where it led me. The wall was a force field of some kind, but not electrical. It was more like gravity, or some other force. I could push into its surface a quarter of an inch, or so. But it repelled me rather like two magnets whose fields are pushing against each other. Only it was just my hand sliding along the face of this force field.

My immediate reaction was that this was the very help I had prayed for, and that I should go where this most unusual “wall” led me. When I did so, I came to a tall dark hedge, with an opening in it where a small gate entered. I would not have been able to see this opening on such a dark night, ordinarily. But I opened the gate, fumbled my way to the front door of the house beyond, and rang the bell. In a few minutes, a man who had plainly pulled on a pair of jeans to come to the door after I had wakened him arrived. I said, “Excuse me, Sir, but I am looking for….” and I gave the name the woman from Texas had told me.

The man stood there for a minute, then said, “This isn’t his house. But his wife and his son are in sleeping on our sofa. Do you want to talk with her?” Of course, I did. Her leaving was the reason the man I had thought I was looking for was suicidal. I told the woman what had just happened outside that had directed me to her door. Then I said, “I believe God answered my prayer and that He directed me to you. I believe He did that so you would know there is hope and help for your marriage.” After I had prayer with her, she told me the house where her husband was staying, which was on the far end of the street. I went out and walked through the place where the invisible wall had crossed the roadway a few minutes before. It was gone.

The man came to the door when I knocked. I told him of the call his Mom had made, and of the invisible wall that had directed me to the house where his wife and son were staying, and that they were okay. His phone had simply fallen off the hook. That’s why his Mom couldn’t get through to him. The whole family began coming to church and last I knew before I left, were still working to preserve and strengthen their marriage.

I’ve often thought about that experience in the years since. I cite this unusual occurance here, not because it is the only such intervention I’ve experienced in nearly 30 years of active Christian ministry, but because it was one of the first. I prayed. I got help. That help came in a form that has no merely human explanation. It was given because I asked for the help, and it was given for the purpose of helping to strengthen that troubled marriage relationship–which is in keeping with the seventh of the Ten Commanments, as recorded in the Christian Bible. So it was an event that was beyond human, showed a knowledge of where I should go that exceeded any of the human actors involved, and was in keeping with what the Christian Bible says God wants for people, that they have successful, permanent marriages.

Now in the Christian Bible there are many stories of miraculous interventions by God. What I experienced, and even touched with my own hand, that “invisible wall”, could account for the technology behind some of the otherwise unaccountable stories found in its pages.

For instance, when the ancient people of God were about to enter into the land God had promised to their ancestors after 40 years of wandering in the desert after being released from slavery, the Bible says their way was blocked by a river. God told them to take the sacred ark that contained the Law of God and for the priests to carry it to the bank of the river. When they stepped in, the waters far upstream quit flowing. They piled up as though they were behind a dam (another “invisible wall” such as the one I encountered?) and stayed there until the nation had passed through the dry river bed. After all had crossed, the waters resumed their usual course again.

Sounds like a wild story to someone who isn’t sure whether God exists or not. But to me, who has actually reached out and touched something I cannot explain that was provided after I’d prayed for help, it doesn’t seem impossible at all. In fact, I have personally encountered a force that could achieve that very effect quite nicely.

Now why God chose to answer my prayer as He did on that occassion is something I cannot explain. But after experiencing that, and the many other things that go beyond the merely human that He’s also done since, I am not in a position where doubting His existence is either a reasonable, or a tenable position. Nor does intricate reasoning as to whether He exists or not hold a lot of sway with me. A drop of actual experience outweighs truckloads of mere mental conjecturing.

As I said before, I respect what you have written here, and believe you to be honestly expressing your belief. I’ve done the same. I’d be glad to discuss these things further, with anyone so inclined. My email is:

hey guys,
Its just your belief, nothing else……….If you believe in God, You can feel him everywhere. Have you ever thought how you were created or how you came in this world, have you ever think abt it how day and night cycle changes, there is somebody who is doing and maintaining the entire system of this world.

Okey, just answer my question, if there is no God then who is maintaining this all system of the world???????

this a speech from dr.zakir naik, i hope it answers u.
Congratulating an Atheist

Normally, when I meet an atheist, the first thing I like to do is to congratulate him and say, ” My special congratulations to you”, because most of the people who believe in God are doing blind belief – he is a Christian, because his father is a Christian; he is a Hindu, because his father is a Hindu; the majority of the people in the world are blindly following the religion of their fathers. An atheist, on the other hand, even though he may belong to a religious family, uses his intellect to deny the existence of God; what ever concept or qualities of God he may have learnt in his religion may not seem to be logical to him.

My Muslim brothers may question me, “Zakir, why are you congratulating an atheist?” The reason that I am congratulating an atheist is because he agrees with the first part of the Shahada i.e. the Islamic Creed, ‘La ilaaha’ – meaning ‘there is no God’. So half my job is already done; now the only part left is ‘il lallah’ i.e. ‘BUT ALLAH’ which I shall do Insha Allah. With others (who are not atheists) I have to first remove from their minds the wrong concept of God they may have and then put the correct concept of one true God.

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Logical Concept of God

My first question to the atheist will be: “What is the definition of God?” For a person to say there is no God, he should know what is the meaning of God. If I hold a book and say that ‘this is a pen’, for the opposite person to say, ‘it is not a pen’, he should know what is the definition of a pen, even if he does not know nor is able to recognise or identify the object I am holding in my hand. For him to say this is not a pen, he should at least know what a pen means. Similarly for an atheist to say ‘there is no God’, he should at least know the concept of God. His concept of God would be derived from the surroundings in which he lives. The god that a large number of people worship has got human qualities – therefore he does not believe in such a god. Similarly a Muslim too does not and should not believe in such false gods.

If a non-Muslim believes that Islam is a merciless religion with something to do with terrorism; a religion which does not give rights to women; a religion which contradicts science; in his limited sense that non-Muslim is correct to reject such Islam. The problem is he has a wrong picture of Islam. Even I reject such a false picture of Islam, but at the same time, it becomes my duty as a Muslim to present the correct picture of Islam to that non-Muslim i.e. Islam is a merciful religion, it gives equal rights to the women, it is not incompatible with logic, reason and science; if I present the correct facts about Islam, that non-Muslim may Inshallah accept Islam.

Similarly the atheist rejects the false gods and the duty of every Muslim is to present the correct concept of God which he shall Insha Allah not refuse.

(You may refer to my article, ‘Concept of God in Islam’, for more details)

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Qur’an and Modern Science

The methods of proving the existence of God with usage of the material provided in the ‘Concept of God in Islam’ to an atheist may satisfy some but not all.

Many atheists demand a scientific proof for the existence of God. I agree that today is the age of science and technology. Let us use scientific knowledge to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. to prove the existence of God and simultaneously prove that the Qur’an is a revelation of God.

If a new object or a machine, which no one in the world has ever seen or heard of before, is shown to an atheist or any person and then a question is asked, ” Who is the first person who will be able to provide details of the mechanism of this unknown object? After little bit of thinking, he will reply, ‘the creator of that object.’ Some may say ‘the producer’ while others may say ‘the manufacturer.’ What ever answer the person gives, keep it in your mind, the answer will always be either the creator, the producer, the manufacturer or some what of the same meaning, i.e. the person who has made it or created it. Don’t grapple with words, whatever answer he gives, the meaning will be same, therefore accept it.

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Scientific Facts Mentioned in the Qur’an

Theory of Probability

In mathematics there is a theory known as ‘Theory of Probability’. If you have two options, out of which one is right, and one is wrong, the chances that you will chose the right one is half, i.e. one out of the two will be correct. You have 50% chances of being correct. Similarly if you toss a coin the chances that your guess will be correct is 50% (1 out of 2) i.e. 1/2. If you toss a coin the second time, the chances that you will be correct in the second toss is again 50% i.e. half. But the chances that you will be correct in both the tosses is half multiplied by half (1/2 x 1/2) which is equal to 1/4 i.e. 50% of 50% which is equal to 25%. If you toss a coin the third time, chances that you will be correct all three times is (1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2) that is 1/8 or 50% of 50% of 50% that is 12½%.

A dice has got six sides. If you throw a dice and guess any number between 1 to 6, the chances that your guess will be correct is 1/6. If you throw the dice the second time, the chances that your guess will be correct in both the throws is (1/6 x 1/6) which is equal to 1/36. If you throw the dice the third time, the chances that all your three guesses are correct is (1/6 x 1/6 x 1/6) is equal to 1/216 that is less than 0.5 %.

Let us apply this theory of probability to the Qur’an, and assume that a person has guessed all the information that is mentioned in the Qur’an which was unknown at that time. Let us discuss the probability of all the guesses being simultaneously correct.

At the time when the Qur’an was revealed, people thought the world was flat, there are several other options for the shape of the earth. It could be triangular, it could be quadrangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, spherical, etc. Lets assume there are about 30 different options for the shape of the earth. The Qur’an rightly says it is spherical, if it was a guess the chances of the guess being correct is 1/30.

The light of the moon can be its own light or a reflected light. The Qur’an rightly says it is a reflected light. If it is a guess, the chances that it will be correct is 1/2 and the probability that both the guesses i.e the earth is spherical and the light of the moon is reflected light is 1/30 x 1/2 = 1/60.

Further, the Qur’an also mentions every living thing is made of water. Every living thing can be made up of either wood, stone, copper, aluminum, steel, silver, gold, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, oil, water, cement, concrete, etc. The options are say about 10,000. The Qur’an rightly says that everything is made up of water. If it is a guess, the chances that it will be correct is 1/10,000 and the probability of all the three guesses i.e. the earth is spherical, light of moon is reflected light and everything is created from water being correct is 1/30 x 1/2 x 1/10,000 = 1/60,000 which is equal to about .0017%.

The Qur’an speaks about hundreds of things that were not known to men at the time of its revelation. Only in three options the result is .0017%. I leave it upto you, to work out the probability if all the hundreds of the unknown facts were guesses, the chances of all of them being correct guesses simultaneously and there being not a single wrong guess. It is beyond human capacity to make all correct guesses without a single mistake, which itself is sufficient to prove to a logical person that the origin of the Qur’an is Divine.

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Creator is the Author of the Qur’an

The only logical answer to the question as to who could have mentioned all these scientific facts 1400 years ago before they were discovered, is exactly the same answer initially given by the atheist or any person, to the question who will be the first person who will be able to tell the mechanism of the unknown object. It is the ‘CREATOR’, the producer, the Manufacturer of the whole universe and its contents. In the English language He is ‘God’, or more appropriate in the Arabic language, ‘ALLAH’.

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Qur’an is a Book of Signs and not Science

Let me remind you that the Qur’an is not a book of Science, ‘S-C-I-E-N-C-E’ but a book of Signs ‘S-I-G-N-S’ i.e. a book of ayaats. The Qur’an contains more than 6,000 ayaats, i.e. ‘signs’, out of which more than a thousand speak about Science. I am not trying to prove that the Qur’an is the word of God using scientific knowledge as a yard stick because any yardstick is supposed to be more superior than what is being checked or verified. For us Muslims the Qur’an is the Furqan i.e. criteria to judge right from wrong and the ultimate yardstick which is more superior to scientific knowledge.

But for an educated man who is an atheist, scientific knowledge is the ultimate test which he believes in. We do know that science many a times takes ‘U’ turns, therefore I have restricted the examples only to scientific facts which have sufficient proof and evidence and not scientific theories based on assumptions. Using the ultimate yardstick of the atheist, I am trying to prove to him that the Qur’an is the word of God and it contains the scientific knowledge which is his yardstick which was discovered recently, while the Qur’an was revealed 1400 year ago. At the end of the discussion, we both come to the same conclusion that God though superior to science, is not incompatible with it.

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Science is Eliminating Models of God but not God

Francis Bacon, the famous philosopher, has rightly said that a little knowledge of science makes man an atheist, but an in-depth study of science makes him a believer in God. Scientists today are eliminating models of God, but they are not eliminating God. If you translate this into Arabic, it is La illaha illal la, There is no god, (god with a small ‘g’ that is fake god) but God (with a capital ‘G’).

Surah Fussilat:

“Soon We will show them our signs in the (farthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?”

[Al-Quran 41:53]

“however there is no way to have the absolute truth about anything.”

My only question is: Is THAT true?

It is logically impossible to assert a universal negative.