Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Evidence of God: Personal Experiences
I have written about many different pieces of evidence of God's existence. There is however, evidence that in my humble opinion, stands above all the rest. Evidence that is so strong, that I would list it as logical proof! It is called personal experience.
Now if you do not believe in God, or even question His existence, you may be thinking that someone's testimony is not even good evidence much less logical proof. I only ask you to read this article before deciding if that is true or not.
There was a time when I was in church. In protestant churches, the service is usually split into two. The first half is a praise and worship service. The second half is the pastor's preaching. It was during the worship part when I felt God's presence embrace me. It was a feeling of love that was so powerful, I broke down weeping. I mean seriously bawling my eyes out. Usually a hard cry like that will drain a person. Exhaust them. This refreshed me. From that moment on, I knew I could never deny that God was real. Never!
Another time when I was young, I was dealing with sharp pains in my lower back. I was still in high school and it was so bad that I couldn't even sit up from a laying position. When I woke up in the mornings, I had to roll over to my stomach, slide my legs off the bed and get up from my knees. So long as I was standing on my feet or laying down, I felt no pain, but certain motions like trying to sit up from a laying position would feel like a knife being shoved into my lower back.
One day, my pastor did something different. Something I had never seen him do in the couple years I had been going to that church. He held a healing service. It was a large church, seating 2,000 and it was packed. People were walking down to the front and he was walking around laying hands on people and praying over them. I bowed my head and began to pray. I told God that I was not a big believer in the healing stuff and if He wanted me to go down there, He would have to make it very clear to me. I had just finished saying the word "Amen" when my pastor stopped and began to speak. He said "There is someone out there who is having back pain." Then he went on to even describe exactly how I had to get up out of bed in the mornings. Between the timing and description, I had no choice. I had to go down and so I did.
Likely you have seen those crazy fake services on TV where preachers laid hands on people they fell back to the floor. Being "slain in the Spirit" is what they called it. A whole lot of that stuff is fake. That is a fact! Not all of it though.
He touched my head and I fell backwards. To this day I still believe nobody caught me as I remember a motion as if I bounced a little when I hit the floor. Never felt it though. Never felt hands catch me and never felt myself hit the floor. Just felt the motion as if I fell and bounced off a cloud. Then I laid there in silence praying. After a bit, I don't know if it was a few seconds or several minutes, I stopped praying but I could not move. I couldn't even open my eyes. I just laid there perfectly still. Then suddenly I felt a release and knew God was done with me and I could move again. I sat up and got to my feet and went back to my pew. Never felt a single twinge of pain. Only once did I feel that pain, some days later, but I prayed and thanked God for healing me and it went away. Never felt it again. That was back in the early 1980's.
Here is the thing. I am not the only one with these experiences. There are millions across the world who have had similar experiences. I have lost count of all the testimonies I have heard in the past where someone was a bad person and God changed them. I mean people who were in gangs and had killed people. People who were filled with hate and anger and had no respect for human life. People who turned to Jesus and suddenly found themselves filled with love and compassion and forgiveness for others. Some of the testimonies I have heard are just amazing.
The real question is, if God is not real, how does one logically explain all of these experiences? How do millions across the globe, in every nation, have similar experiences?
Are they Lying?
Think about that for a minute. 99.99% of Christians are normal every day people like yourself. They work jobs to survive. What would they have to gain in lying? They don't run churches. They don't have books on the shelves. They don't have talk shows. They have absolutely nothing to gain by lying, except maybe to make their friends and family think they are crazy. People die for their faith all the time. People are not going to die for what they know is a lie. It just is not logical that there are millions across the earth who will claim God has touched them in some special way, and that every single one of them are lying. And remember, if even one of them is telling the truth, it means that God is real. Certainly there are a few who are lying, but there is no chance that all of them are lying.
Are they all Crazy?
You might think they are crazy, but think hard on that. Millions all over the world going crazy and having the same delusion? Really? Does that really seem logical? What about the many who have testimonies of how God changed them in such drastic ways? The last I knew, insanity did not make a habit of turning people into better human beings. To put it simply, crazy don't work that way!
Summary
One person's testimony means nothing in the book of evidence. My personal experiences simply are not real evidence. But the more people who have the same experiences, the stronger that evidence becomes. With millions all over the world having similar experiences, that evidence is basically logical proof.
The truth is, they are not all lying. That simply isn't logical! They are not all crazy either. Can you come up with one single logical explanation? If not then you must consider the only logical explanation. That God is real! It is the only answer that fits.
Now if you do not believe in God, or even question His existence, you may be thinking that someone's testimony is not even good evidence much less logical proof. I only ask you to read this article before deciding if that is true or not.
There was a time when I was in church. In protestant churches, the service is usually split into two. The first half is a praise and worship service. The second half is the pastor's preaching. It was during the worship part when I felt God's presence embrace me. It was a feeling of love that was so powerful, I broke down weeping. I mean seriously bawling my eyes out. Usually a hard cry like that will drain a person. Exhaust them. This refreshed me. From that moment on, I knew I could never deny that God was real. Never!
Another time when I was young, I was dealing with sharp pains in my lower back. I was still in high school and it was so bad that I couldn't even sit up from a laying position. When I woke up in the mornings, I had to roll over to my stomach, slide my legs off the bed and get up from my knees. So long as I was standing on my feet or laying down, I felt no pain, but certain motions like trying to sit up from a laying position would feel like a knife being shoved into my lower back.
One day, my pastor did something different. Something I had never seen him do in the couple years I had been going to that church. He held a healing service. It was a large church, seating 2,000 and it was packed. People were walking down to the front and he was walking around laying hands on people and praying over them. I bowed my head and began to pray. I told God that I was not a big believer in the healing stuff and if He wanted me to go down there, He would have to make it very clear to me. I had just finished saying the word "Amen" when my pastor stopped and began to speak. He said "There is someone out there who is having back pain." Then he went on to even describe exactly how I had to get up out of bed in the mornings. Between the timing and description, I had no choice. I had to go down and so I did.
Likely you have seen those crazy fake services on TV where preachers laid hands on people they fell back to the floor. Being "slain in the Spirit" is what they called it. A whole lot of that stuff is fake. That is a fact! Not all of it though.
He touched my head and I fell backwards. To this day I still believe nobody caught me as I remember a motion as if I bounced a little when I hit the floor. Never felt it though. Never felt hands catch me and never felt myself hit the floor. Just felt the motion as if I fell and bounced off a cloud. Then I laid there in silence praying. After a bit, I don't know if it was a few seconds or several minutes, I stopped praying but I could not move. I couldn't even open my eyes. I just laid there perfectly still. Then suddenly I felt a release and knew God was done with me and I could move again. I sat up and got to my feet and went back to my pew. Never felt a single twinge of pain. Only once did I feel that pain, some days later, but I prayed and thanked God for healing me and it went away. Never felt it again. That was back in the early 1980's.
Here is the thing. I am not the only one with these experiences. There are millions across the world who have had similar experiences. I have lost count of all the testimonies I have heard in the past where someone was a bad person and God changed them. I mean people who were in gangs and had killed people. People who were filled with hate and anger and had no respect for human life. People who turned to Jesus and suddenly found themselves filled with love and compassion and forgiveness for others. Some of the testimonies I have heard are just amazing.
The real question is, if God is not real, how does one logically explain all of these experiences? How do millions across the globe, in every nation, have similar experiences?
Are they Lying?
Think about that for a minute. 99.99% of Christians are normal every day people like yourself. They work jobs to survive. What would they have to gain in lying? They don't run churches. They don't have books on the shelves. They don't have talk shows. They have absolutely nothing to gain by lying, except maybe to make their friends and family think they are crazy. People die for their faith all the time. People are not going to die for what they know is a lie. It just is not logical that there are millions across the earth who will claim God has touched them in some special way, and that every single one of them are lying. And remember, if even one of them is telling the truth, it means that God is real. Certainly there are a few who are lying, but there is no chance that all of them are lying.
Are they all Crazy?
You might think they are crazy, but think hard on that. Millions all over the world going crazy and having the same delusion? Really? Does that really seem logical? What about the many who have testimonies of how God changed them in such drastic ways? The last I knew, insanity did not make a habit of turning people into better human beings. To put it simply, crazy don't work that way!
Summary
One person's testimony means nothing in the book of evidence. My personal experiences simply are not real evidence. But the more people who have the same experiences, the stronger that evidence becomes. With millions all over the world having similar experiences, that evidence is basically logical proof.
The truth is, they are not all lying. That simply isn't logical! They are not all crazy either. Can you come up with one single logical explanation? If not then you must consider the only logical explanation. That God is real! It is the only answer that fits.
