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Existence of God

How can we know that God exists? One way is to look at nature. The things we see all around us could not have come into being on their own.

  • The Ant - Many years ago, a wise observer bent his gaze upon the lowly ant, and took notice of its incessant, purposeful activity. He then wrote for posterity this sage advice: “Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer, and … Continue reading
  • The Dance of the Bees - Imagine at this moment that you are a honey bee. As a bee, you have been out in the far meadows, foraging for blossoms rich in nectar. Now you have found a fine field of blooms, just begging to be harvested. You quickly fill yourself with the sweet nectar and hurry back to your hive. … Continue reading
  • Locusts - We are what we are. We are male of female, short or tall, and there is nothing we can do about it. We are the product, physically, of the combination of the genes of our parents, and their parents before them. But which of us has not at some time wished we could be smarter, … Continue reading
  • Worker Bees - The worker bee is a dedicated servant of the hive. Throughout its short life – only 4 or 5 weeks in the busy seasons – it gives of itself incessantly and unselfishly. Indeed, if necessary it will literally pour out its life in defending the hive against intrusions of man or animal. The bee’s stinger … Continue reading
  • Monarch Butterflies - Birds which migrate vast distances each year have long been a marvel to interested observers – but even more marvelous is a migrating butterfly: Danaus plexippus, commonly called the Monarch butterfly. Monarchs travel up to 3,000 miles every autumn, to gather by the millions in a small forest in central Mexico, coming from most areas … Continue reading
  • Bees - “Busy as a bee” is a way we may describe someone who is always on the go, always hurrying about his appointed duties. And that certainly is the way bees are, for they seem to display almost ceaseless expenditures of energy. In fact, the workers do literally wear themselves out at their work. During the … Continue reading
  • Paper-Making Wasps - Paper is a wonderful product of a thousand uses, but where did it come from? How was it invented, and by whom? Well, people who investigate that sort of thing credit the Chineese with the invention of paper, about the beginning of the Second Century A.D.1 But we must share with you that the Chinese … Continue reading
  • Hummingbirds - Suppose you were given the responsibility of designing the ultimate flying machine: It must be capable of flying backward as well as forward, and be able to fly straight up or straight down with equal facility. It must also be able to hover motionlessly in mid-air. Such an assignment would be quite a task, wouldn’t … Continue reading
  • Pigeons - Today we have a puzzle for you: What is it that drinks its mother’s milk, is able to find its way home across hundreds of miles of trackless waste, and is universally known as a symbol of peace? If you guessed the pigeon family of birds, you answered correctly. Actually there is no single species … Continue reading
  • How Birds Fly - Probably man has always envied the birds for their ability to fly. Throughout our history, man has been the earth-bound plodder, watching birds swoop and soar overhead. The ancient Greek legend of Icarus, who supposedly fastened feathers to his arms with wax, recalls our long frustration. According to the legend, Icarus was enabled to fly … Continue reading
  • Spider Webs - All over the world, in plains and forest, in gardens and pastures, in homes and alleys, an oft repeated miracle takes place every summer day. This event is the construction of millions of spider’s webs. What? Miraculous? Let us not reject the thought without examination: Let us scrutinize some of these marvelously engineered lacy filigrees … Continue reading
  • The Beauty of Death - What is so glorious as a fine Fall day as the gilding of Autumn makes the broad-leafed trees almost to be aflame in the afternoon sun? How often, as we rejoice in the riot of color, are we made to feel glad to be alive, and able to revel in such a scene? But at … Continue reading
  • The Balances of Life - The more we learn about the conditions under which life is possible, the more remarkable it seems that life as we know it can exist at all. Consider, for example, some of the many delicate balances in nature which are vital for life on earth: The distance of our earth from the sun is one … Continue reading
  • Knowing God - Everyone, at some point in his life, knows at least two important things about God: This is the clear teaching, both of the Holy Bible and of ordinary experience. What are these two things? And why, if this knowledge is truly universal, does not everyone acknowledge God? The answers to these questions may tell us … Continue reading
  • Warts - Everyone knows what warts are. They are ugly little excrescences that appear on our skin. They seem to, and actually do, have a life of their own. They are made from our bodies, but don’t belong to our bodies. They even develop their own blood supply, tapping into the body’s arterial system for a source … Continue reading
  • Crocodiles - Consider the crocodile. See him quietly sunning himself on the bank of a muddy tropical river. Ugly specimen, isn’t he? With that knobby hide, and bulbous eyes, he’ll never win a beauty contest. Notice, too, that great maw of his, with all the ferocious teeth! And don’t forget his tail: it’s a fearsome weapon also! … Continue reading
  • Snakes - Can you imagine a snake wearing spectacles? And, if a snake did wear spectacles, how on earth would it keep them properly pushed up on its nose? Yet snakes do wear spectacles. Every single snake that has ever lived has worn them, and every snake in the foreseeable future will wear them. Obviously, we are … Continue reading
  • Kangaroos - Australia’s great kangaroos are marvels of nature. They hop like grasshoppers – only further; they eat grass like sheep – only better; they box like men – but never in anger; and they carry their young about in built-in nests that offer all the comforts of home. An adult great gray kangaroo, for example, can … Continue reading
  • Robber Crabs - The shell of a coconut is one of the hardest substances in the plant kingdom. Almost anyone who has ever tried to open one will testify to that fact. But inside that tough shell is rich, tempting food and the “meat” of the coconut is desired by man and beast. However, very few beasts have … Continue reading
  • Salmon - The thousands of sportsmen and commercial fishermen who take salmon from northern Pacific waters generally pay scant attention to the circumstances that make their harvest possible. They are more interested in the catching and eating than they are in studying the life-cycle of this large, handsome fish. Yet, accompanying each mature salmon making its way … Continue reading
  • Lemmings - Most of the time, the Norway lemming is one of the most ordinary creatures you could imagine. It is only when his generation sets its mind on moving that the lemming becomes out of the ordinary. Norway lemmings are shy little rodents which inhabit the waste spaces of northern Scandinavia. They like to feed upon … Continue reading
  • Trees (Lifting Water) - Bring to mind, please, a tree which you have admired: a tall tree – a monarch of the forest, perhaps. There it stands, a magnificent specimen, towering against the sky. Now, if you please, imagine that you must climb that tree to the very top, with a 60-pound pack on your back. As soon as … Continue reading
  • Mallee Fowl - What is it that looks like a turkey, and works like a horse? Actually, nothing exactly matches those qualifications, but the Mallee Fowl of Australia comes close. It is only the male of species that works so strenuously, though his mate also labors in her own way. The cock Mallee puts in up to eleven … Continue reading
  • Cockroaches and Cows - What could cows and cockroaches possibly have in common? Cows are large animals which provide man with milk and meat and hides, while roaches are squalid insects which do not provide man with anything, except perhaps to serve as objects of his hatred. But different as they are, cockroaches and cows do share one important … Continue reading
  • Rhinoceros - The Black Rhinoceros of Africa not only looks somewhat like an animated army tank, he frequently acts like one. His massive body is covered with a very thick skin, suggestive of armor plate, and he is armed with two great horns, the larger of which may extend more than four feet. With this horn the … Continue reading
  • Pine Tree Parents - It is the nature of all living things to reproduce themselves, to produce the next generation of their kind. But when trees in dense forests try to do so, they often encounter a serious problem: There is no place for their offspring to grow. Even though there may be room enough and to spare on … Continue reading
  • Auxin (How Plants Grow) - Have you ever wondered why plants grow upwards instead of sideways? Or thought about why roots grow down? These are constants of nature, but why are they so? Plant scientists have discovered part of the answer, and it is a plant hormone. (Of course, they first had to discover that plants had hormones, just as … Continue reading
  • Palm Trees - What is that can be made into “millionaire’s salad” at one end, and into toothbrushes at the other? While you are pondering that question, let us add that almost everything in between the ends is also useful to man. What is it? It is the palm tree – or rather the family of palm trees, … Continue reading
  • Grass - Those wonderful grasses! What in the world would we do without them? The family of grasses can easily qualify as royalty in the kingdom of plants, for they are the most useful and needful to man of all the plants on earth. We think of wheat, from which bread – the staff of life – … Continue reading
  • Killer Trees - Lions and tigers and bears – and other animal predators – aren’t the only killers in nature. Some plants also make their living by killing. One of the most unusual of these is the Strangler Fig, which grows in tropical forests. Its uniqueness is apparent even from infancy. For example, Strangler Figs almost never start … Continue reading
  • How High Is Up? - How high is “up?” When you look up into the night sky and see countless twinkling lights, what are you looking at? In one sense, with your unaided eyes, you are seeing the same sky – though perhaps a different portion – that the patriarch Abraham observed in his nighttime vigils. He could have counted, … Continue reading
  • Clouds - What would our earth be like without clouds? For one thing, we would be deprived of a great deal of beauty. Clouds add pleasing variety to our skies, and sometimes at sunrises and sunsets they form fantastically beautiful tapestries in the air. But this is merely the least thing that clouds do for mankind. Of … Continue reading