How Do You Know That God Exists? Family, Marriage, and Societal Structures Prove It (Genesis 1:27)
Society and morality exist. How did they get here?
That is a question that, when answered, is another proof of God’s existence. The very existence of these things is proof that things did not develop in a chaotic manner over time. Any discussion about origins must deal with this. And so, we will look at the purely naturalistic explanation and then we will look at what Scripture has to say.
When confronted with the Scriptures, some people will argue that they no longer need the Bible to explain reality. They believe they can explain everything that exists with their naturalistic philosophy. But we believe they can’t really give a rational explanation for existence. And you’ll see why as we examine their claims.
Those who do not believe in God say that society and morality developed over time in a struggle for survival. And this means that love, marriage, and the structure of society is just how a group of apes figured out how to survive. And, over time these things took the form that we see today.
The Christian answer to this is much different. And I believe it actually explains why things are the way that they are. The Christian answer is that people were created in the image of God, and because of that they have an ingrained need for love and community.
Let’s explore the two sides of this and I think you’ll see that the existence of marriage, family, and society is proof that God exists. We will look at morality a little. I would like to look at it more in the next post because it seems too much to cover here. But modern day naturalist thinkers believe that morality developed right alongside the family and society, so it would be very difficult to completely disentangle it.
A Summary of the Evolutionary Development Of Family, Society, and Morality
I am in no way giving a complete look at how evolutionary biologists believe family, society, and morality developed. But I am going to attempt to give a summary view of what they say took place. Obviously, if you are digging into this topic you should go and do research into this topic yourself. But I hope to give enough of an overview that you see the ludicrousness of the position that evolutionary thinkers must take concerning the development of family, society, and morality.
The purely naturalistic model states that mankind developed a sense of right and wrong over time. And this came as they were attempting to survive together. The structure of society and the morals that hold it together developed as a special group of apes tried to survive. Those traits that were seen as beneficial to your tribe were carried on while others passed away.
It might help to think about the way that lions or wolves hunt and eat. They do this together. And the same is true for foraging apes. But when food is found, dominance is asserted and the strongest get first choice of food. There are some in the group that get little to eat, and it is the weakest among them.
Evolutionary biologists propose that the apes that became humans evolved differently. They claim that the competition for food in a time of scarcity and stiff competition made a group behave differently. They hunted different game and cooperated more. This group not only worked together, but they shared among the group for the good of the group. And the claim is that this group developed a sense of community out of this behavior.
In the article entitled “The Origins of Morality” Michael Tomasello, who is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University put it this way,
“An essential part of the process of obligate collaborative foraging involved partner choice. Individuals who were cognitively or otherwise incompetent at collaboration—those incapable of forming joint goals or communicating effectively with others—were not chosen as partners and so went without food. Likewise, individuals who were socially or morally uncooperative in their interactions with others—for example, those who tried to hog all the spoils—were also shunned as partners and so doomed. The upshot: strong and active social selection emerged for competent and motivated individuals who cooperated well with others.”
Those that believe that God does not exist claim that in the fight for survival, those apes that best cooperated with one another survived and developed. Sympathy, love, caring, marriage, family, morals, and society are all said to have come from this.
In fact, I googled how marriage developed to see the answer that AI would give me. And it gave me the exact answer that I expected. Here is what it said,
“Marriage is a reproductive social arrangement that is universal and has evolved to support species with young that are highly dependent on their parents.”
The AI bots looked at the internet and the information it spit out was that marriage was produced in species that have young that are highly dependent on their parents. And it was not pulling this out of thin air. Many evolutionary biologists believe that the only reason marriage exists is because humans have children that need parents to stick around. The argument is that a sense of cooperation was needed to further the species.
One article that the AI used to get this answer is from AEI, American Enterprise Institute, which is a public policy think tank that puts forth policy proposals for conservative candidates. It is similar to the Heritage Foundation, but not as widely known. These are not people that we would call liberal God haters. And James Q. Wilson, who wrote this article was a Harvard Professor and prominent political scientist. Notice what he wrote for them in 1999,
“If the human infant were born able to move about and feed itself, as is true of sharks, marriage would not exist…Human marriage is a reproductive alliance.”
One of the people at church stated what now seems obvious. He said that there is no other subspecies in that we can look at and say, not only did they leave the group, but they created a far different and far greater way of living than the other group. And his point was clear. They had to come up with a story to make this leap from ape to civilization, and there is nothing at all undergirding that leap.
Here’s the point in all this. Those who begin with “no god” as their starting place must figure out how love and community exists apart from the Lord. They exist. And they believe that we are all just meat controlled by hormones and chemicals. So, this is how they explain things like love, marriage, and society. This is also how they explain the development of morals all around the globe.
But, I don’t think that they truly believe these things their selves and I’ll put forward a few reasons why and then we will talk about the Christian viewpoint. We will end on what actually works and makes sense.
Proof That They Don’t Even Believe This
I have been greatly influenced by people like Francis Schaeffer and Nancy Pearcey. They have made me realize that it is necessary to look at how people live their lives to see if they actually believe the words that are coming out of their mouths. And there are two things that make me believe that they don’t believe what they’re saying.
The first is that they also claim that evolutionary impulses is what make a man cheat on his wife. I remember when Bill Clinton had the affair with Monica Lewinsky and other women. People would go onto talk shows and claim that Bill Clinton did this because he was a powerful man and that’s what powerful men did to make as many children as possible. The explanation was that men have the biological impulse to have as many children as possible, so they seek to impregnate as many women as possible. And powerful men took advantage of their situation and did just that. Article after article explains that men are more likely to commit adultery because of their biology and desire to procreate with as many women as possible.
They don’t really think that natural selection does both do they? The argument is that humankind developed an innate impulse to be cooperative and monogamous and so marriage was created. But then in the next breath they say that men have and innate impulse to breed with every woman on earth, so they cheat. Which is it? Did natural selection cause him to desire a wife or did it cause him to desire to be promiscuous?
The dissonance in the two answers helps us to see that they don’t actually believe that love, marriage, and the makeup of society actually came about how they did. They want to believe their explanation but they really don’t. Otherwise things would be a bit more coherent.
The second thing I would like to say is that they don’t live like they believe this either.
When the Evolutionary Biologist goes home to his wife and kids do you think he behaves as if his home is little more than the development of a societal structure by bags of meat that wanted to survive? Are his children the only reason he got married or stayed married? Would his wife excuse his promiscuousness if he cheated on her because he has this innate desire to commit adultery? Do you think that he views his wife as the best chance for his offspring’s survival? Is that why he married her?
Of course not. These people can’t possibly live according to their professed beliefs. And the reason for that is quite simple. They are not true and deep down they know it.
But I’ll tell you who can live according to their professed beliefs. And that is Christians.
The Christian View On The Development Of Marriage, Society, And Morality
As Christians we believe that God is Himself Triune. God is one. And God is also Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Love and community have always existed in God. And God created human beings in His own image.
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27 ESV)
In ancient times kings would put up images of their selves around their kingdom. And this reflected his image and attributes he wanted to display to the people. God did that with people. He created people in His own image and placed them all over the globe. People were created in God’s image and this means they image forth to the world characteristics of God. And love and community are part of what humans reflect to the world.
Now, why does that tell us anything about whether God exists?
Because we are image bearers to our very core. And the need to have a family, be a part of a community, build a community, and live according to a moral standard are all part of who we are. It’s not an impulse within us created by chance circumstances. It is who we are to our very core.
We have a need to live in community with others and study after study has revealed this. A recent review of 148 longevity studies showed that isolated people have a 50% higher risk of early death. That’s more than an impulse. That is a need. We need community because we were not actually made to go it alone. We are image bearers of God and must have this in our lives.
As we discussed this at church one college student that is majoring in child psychology pointed out that there are numerous studies done on the awful damage that is done to a child when they are neglected. This means that, not only do we see the effects of this in older people, but we see it in younger people as well. We need community because it is a part of who we are.
We find a spouse, raise our children, live in a community because god created us for that and gave us the cultural mandate. If we read on to the very next verse, we see the task we were created for.
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28 ESV)
These things are engrained in us because God created us in His image and given the mandate to go. “Be fruitful and multiply” is to marry and have children. To “subdue” the earth is to build societies and communities that honor the Lord. Again, we were created for community so we build them and become a part of them.
We were created for community and given the mandate to go and fill the earth. That’s why family and society exist.
Shall I Eat Crow Or Is There An Explanation For Adultery In Christianity
Now, I made fun of the Evolutionary Biologists for explaining both marriage and adultery with impulses created due to natural selection. How will I do this without looking as ludicrous as they do?
Being created in the image of God explains marriage, but it does not explain divorce. To do that we move forward a few chapters to the Fall in Genesis 3.
At the fall of mankind, sin and rebellion were introduced into the world. We now have a natural impulse to rebel against the One who created us. In other words, we are now damaged image bearers who are stained with the taint of sin.
So, while we have the impulse to build communities and family because we are created in the image of God, we also have the impulse to run counter to that because we are sinners.
In other words, we marry and build communities because we were created for these things. And we need to have that sense of fellowship and community in our lives. That’s why people with good social lives live longer. We were built for it and need it.
And we also mess the whole thing up because we are broken image bearers.
There Is Good News For Broken Image Bearers
If you have made it this far, then I have a little more to say. Because we are sinners, we earn God’s wrath and justice. But He made a way for us to be saved. He made a way for us broken image bearers to be renewed. And He did this through His Son.
God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life, the perfect life that we should have lived. And He died on the cross. On the cross he bore the punishment for sin that we deserve. And all those that turn from ruling our own lives and trust in Him are forgiven of our sins and given eternal life.
But we will also be renewed. Notice what Paul says in Romans 8.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29 ESV)
What is it that Christian is predestined to? “To be conformed to the image of His Son”. The Christian is being formed into the image of Jesus Christ. What does that mean for us?
It means that the image of God in the Christian is being restored. All of humanity has fallen. All of humanity images forth God in a distorted manner because of the Fall. And Christians are being renewed.
Here is a word form Anthony Hoekma on this topic.
“After the Fall the image of God was not annihilated but perverted, so that human beings now function wrongly in each of the three relationships (toward God, toward others, and toward nature). In the process of redemption, however, the image is being renewed, so that man is now enabled to be properly directed toward God, others, and nature.” (Anthony Hoekema, “Created in God’s Image”, Eerdman’s, 1986, p. 95)
The Christian is not a perfect person. We understand we’re broken and in need of forgiveness and renewal. So we flee to Christ who gives us forgiveness and a renewal of the marred image as we are formed into the likeness of Christ.
Conclusion
I hope that you have examined the development of family and society in this post and considered the different viewpoints. They are vastly different. After thinking through it, I think you’ll agree that the Christian view of humanity is coherent and explains reality. And the view of those that do not believe God exists does not comport with reality.
And, if you’d like more information about the salvation found in Jesus Christ, please check out this ebooklet.