Nature bares testimony to God's existence: the abundance of stars in our solar system, which light up the night sky; the power of the sun, which brings just the right amount of heat to our planet Earth, without burning it to destruction; the water which continues to cycle, so that we always have rain for our crops, and the animals that display such creativity and unique design. It is difficult to spend time in nature without seeing the brilliance and beauty of it all. It is even more difficult to believe that it all came by accident, with no original intent; with no Creator.
Intelligent Design is a belief that this world is so well designed that it had to have a designer. The teleological argument states this idea, which brought about a whole movement. The Intelligent Design movement proposes that nature provides evidence that God exists. It does not claim that we can know who God is through our observations of nature, but advocates say that the world is so perfectly and intricately designed that a designer had to be behind the masterpiece. Others say that creation is so complex that it could not have evolved through natural processes. These propositions lead to more sophisticated arguments within the ID movement.
Intelligent design advocates do not necessarily believe in the God of the Bible. They do not agree on who is the one true God, except that which can be deduced through nature. However, nature itself does not reveal the identity of God. Nature only leads us to him. As a result, many people who believe in ID are theistic agnostics. It just so happens that many of these agnostics will buy into the notion of the Christian God because of their own personal convictions.
The Bible says that we can conclude God exists through observing nature. "But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse" (Romans 1:19-20, NIRV). However, no one can know God unless he reveals himself. God is beyond his creation. It is because of this reality that God must actively reveal himself, not just through nature, but in very specific ways.
God has chosen to reveal himself in a personal way. He made himself known to his creation by talking and walking with them, by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, into this world, and by giving us the Holy Spirit. He gave us the Bible so that we can learn about him, as well as his purpose for our lives. God has taught us that he has been with us since even before we were born. God has made himself known in ways nature cannot.
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