How Do I Know Whether God Exists?

The problem is that belief in God does not seem to rest on any particular foundation. Most likely, you were raised with that belief, taught it as a child, and encouraged in it as you grew to maturity. You were taken to church or temple and naturally came to assume that the deity to which everyone referred, and to whom you yourself had often prayed, exists. But what is the evidence for that belief? How can you prove that your natural assumption is justified? A few people claim to have had God speak to them, but they are few and far between and are not always the most reliable witnesses. One popular proof of God's existence is the fact that the Bible tells us, over and over again, about God. But appealing to the Bible as evidence of God's existence presupposes just that sort of belief that is at issue, a logical fallacy often called "begging the question." Believing in God and believing that the Bible is the revealed word of God are two aspects of one and the same belief, and one cannot be used to prove the other. You may have "felt" God's presence, but feelings, too, must be justified, because sometimes they can be misleading. Sometimes you sense danger when there is no danger, and, in the same way, it is possible to have a religious feeling without that proving the feeling refers to anything outside of you. Indeed, the very nature of God, according to many theorists and theologians, is such that God "transcends" the world and is outside of our experience. God cannot be seen or sensed as such, and that is why it is necessary to believe in God. If God could simply be presented to us, like a statue or a person, such a powerful notion of belief would not be necessary. A different way of putting the same point is to say that believing in God is a matter of faith and not a matter knowledge. But many believers have refused to accept the idea that this most important belief is not part of our knowledge in the strongest sense. How can our most important belief not also be the best known? Accordingly, much of the history of theology has been devoted to the project of proving God's existence. The idea is not to replace faith or undermine the need to believe, but rather supplement faith and belief with a demonstration that they are indeed justified and based on knowledge of the most secure kind. -from Twenty Questions by Bowie, Michaels, Solomon