Getting Started On God’s Existence
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, September 17, 2025 (Donate)
Great is our Lord, and mighty in
power; His understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:5, NKJV)
Where Do We Start?
When it comes to the existence of the God of the Bible, “where
do we start?” Not everyone reading this truly understands the power of this
question. This simple question of where
do we start is the actual crux of the entire debate about the existence of
God and the truthfulness of the Bible! Did you realize that? Let me explain the
power of this.
Where Does God Start?
Where does God start?
He starts with Himself—the supreme authority in all matters. In other
words, God doesn’t start with man, nor does He start with logic or rocks,
fossils, planets, DNA, or any other created evidence.
Instead, He starts with Himself. And this is clearly seen
from the very first verse of Scripture, where God doesn’t try to “argue”
or “prove” His existence or anything like that—He simply declares His existence
as the supreme Creator of everything:
In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, NKJV)
Which is repeated
in similar fashion in the first verses of the Gospel of John:
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without
Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3, NKJV)
This makes sense; our logical God is the self-existent and
uncreated Creator who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent—who lives in eternity
beyond time. God, being the ultimate and final authority on all matters must
start with Himself—anything else makes no sense.
And God being the absolute authority is consistent throughout
Scripture. Consider when God made a promise—who did He swear by and why?
For
when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater,
He swore by Himself. (Hebrews 6:13, NKJV)
Where Should We Start
Then?
So then, where do we start?
The answer should be obvious: we ought to mimic God and start with Him, and by
extension His authoritative Word as well. The Word of God, the 66 Books of the
Bible that was progressively revealed by God to man, comes with the authority
of God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16[1];
2 Peter 1:21[2]).
Starting with the God of the Bible—which is the way God does
in His Word (e.g., “In the beginning God…”)—automatically takes you in one
direction and one direction alone—that God exists and His Word is true. Don’t
miss this critical point that is key to our entire discussion: With God
and His Word being true as our starting point, we have a basis for truth to exist, logic to exist, knowledge to exist—and
why we are made in such a way as to even recognize and understand logic,
knowledge, and truth (and so much more).
You see, we are made in the image of a truthful,
all-knowing, logical God (Genesis 1:26-27[3]).
The Bible is the starting point for all intelligibility
because God is intelligible and the absolute standard for intelligibility, thus
giving us a rational basis for all preconditions of intelligibility.
Again, don’t let the big words scare you—it simply means the
Bible must be true for logic, knowledge, truth, and so on to exist. Likewise,
if someone denies the Bible, then they give up the basis for logic, truth,
knowledge, and so on. Suddenly, you can’t prove anything and can’t know
anything, when God and His Word is “thrown out the window”.
If you want another big word, the Bible must be predicated as true before we can even
begin any argument or to have any knowledge claim at all! (In fact, the ability
to even speak coherent sentences would be impossible if the Bible was not
true!)
For instance, when someone asks, “how do we know God
exists?”, right off the bat they are assuming certain things just to even ask
the question. For example, they are assuming knowledge exists. They are
assuming truth exists. They are assuming that we are made in such a
way as to understand logic and conclusions, questions and answers, (i.e.,
being made in the image of an intellectual and communicative God) and assuming
we know who God is (as defined in the Bible).
So philosophically, why not ask, what must be true for this question to make sense. (i.e., how do we
know anything is true?) As Dr. Greg Bahnsen once wrote about his mentor Dr.
Cornelius Van Til:
“Van Til urged Christians to be
ever cognizant of the uniqueness of what God has revealed about Himself,
developing their theology and apologetics with utter consistency and personal
loyalty to His Word.”[4]
God started with God, so we should be loyal to God and start
with God too. But from a big picture, if one opts to start somewhere other than
God, then that person is not starting with God and by default mistakenly starting
with a lesser authority like man. Another
way to put it: if you don’t start with God, then by default, you start with man—and
this is an active denial that God is an authority higher than oneself.
That is, when someone is starting with themselves, they intrinsically oppose starting with God. Philosophically,
this is called “autonomous human reasoning” which I know is another big series
of words. It simply means human-based (fallible) reasoning apart from God. In other words, man is seen as the “supreme
authority” over God at the onset of any argument.
God Vs. Man
Looking at these two options, and only two options:
“God” and “not God”/man, one is the supreme authority on all matters, and one
isn’t. At the very onset of this debate
over the question of starting point is an issue of authority—God vs.
man.
It’s simply this: God is the absolute authority and man
isn’t (and man’s arbitrary opinions never will be, no matter how hard man
tries). To try to object to God’s absolute authority is to commit a logical
fallacy right from the start (called the faulty appeal to authority fallacy/false
authority fallacy/misplaced authority fallacy).
Starting with arbitrary man’s opinions in opposition to God
and His authoritative Word, starts with a fallacy, destroys the only foundation
for absolute logic and absolute truth (i.e., intelligibility), and takes you
down a road where man is seen as a substitute or counterfeit authority in place
of God.
Essentially, man, by default, is seen as some form of “god” (when starting with man in a superior position than God).
Obviously, these are two entirely different paths from the onset. Both cannot
be true at the same time. (Remember the law of non-contradiction from the last
chapter?)
Furthermore, when people claim to start with themselves,
they are assuming things about themselves before they even truly start with
themselves. (Clear as mud?) For instance, self-identity and logical thought
about oneself still stem from a logical God making us in His image, which
allows thoughts about oneself to be possible.
The Objection Fails
Some may object and argue that you inevitably must start
with yourself first and foremost. However,
that argument still fails because there are certain things you must first
believe about yourself before you can even think about yourself. For instance,
it must be predicated that you exist (identity
in logic) and that you are made in such a way to think logically about yourself—hence,
you are made in the image of a logical God (and not in the image of a rock, for
instance).
Regardless, even though one may claim to start with
themselves (thus, fallaciously having no basis for identity and logic), they
really aren’t starting with themselves but rather borrowing aspects of a
biblical worldview (unbeknownst to them while actively attempting to usurp God’s
authority.
To truly start with man (i.e., oneself), then God’s logic
must also be given up—which leaves that person without a logical basis for
anything at all—and in doing so, committing several logical fallacies up
front.
Starting Point
So, going back to our original question: where do we start? The
God of the Bible is where we start. There is no other logical option!
Otherwise, again, there is no basis for logic, truth, knowledge, and so much
more.
We must, just to recognize our own existence, follow in
God’s revealed footstep of the 66 books of the Bible. This is powerful by the
way—to give up God and appeal to yourself as the “supreme authority” is to
commit (for lack of a better word) “intellectual destruction” right from the
start.
□
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker,
writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers
News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in
2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a
501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in
churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.
[1] 2
Timothy 3:16 All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is]
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. NKJV.
[2] 2
Peter 1:21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. NKJV.
[3]
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our
likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the
image of God He created him; male and female He created them. NKJV.
[4]
Greg Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic: Readings & Analysis, Presbyterian and
Reformed Publishing, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 1998, p. 275; as a point of
note, Greg Bahnsen died in 1995 having finished the manuscript but the actual
publication date was posthumous in 1998.
