god exists

HXTSTSI

PROOFFOR

THE, SKEPTTCi

byRalph Epperson

1976

peffinission is herebygrarfied

tocopy this information

and distribute it as

you see fit

NBOUT TI.IE NUTI{ORI am the author of four published books and nine booklets, and I have writtenand produced eleven videos. Two of my books have been pubtished in fiveforeign countries, and I have been selling all of these works all over theUnited States for 13 years. For those of you who wish to know more aboutwhat I written, you may view my two websites at:

WWW. RALPHEPPERSON. COMwww. SENATORJE SSEJAMES . com

or you may write me for a catalog. My mailing address will be shown at theend of this booklet.

If you wish to correspond through the internet, my screen name is:

[email protected]

I am not a theologian, nor a "religious" person, but I do believe in a creatorGod, the God of the Bible. However, what you are about to read was writtenby Ralph Epperson, the questioner. Like you, I too had questions about theexistence of a God, and one night, while I was thinking about this questionthat has caused countless people to wonder, I wrote this booklet as my wayof dealing with the issue.

I am a graduate of the University of Arizona, but must confess that I wentthere with little or no belief in a God. And not one of my professors thereencouraged me to deal with this question. So, what you are about to read

came many years after my graduation, and is the result of my own reflectionon this timeless and crucial question.

I believe what you are about to read will convince even the most diehardskeptic that

GOD EXISTS: THERE lS nO OTI{ER OPTIODT

Page 2 of 26

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!"

That was the famous reply of Mr. Francis P. Church of the New YorksuN newspaper on september 2L, t897 , to a young reader who had writtenby the name of Virginia O'Hanlon who had asked him to respond to herquestion:

"Is there a Santa Claus?"

Mr. Church was not telling the truth.

There is no Santa Claus, at least as man has depicted the mythicalfigure, someone who lives at the North Pole and "makes lots of toys for allof the good little girls and boys. "

But, today other Virginias are asking a similar question of the world:

"Is there a God?"

One does not need a newspaper writer to lie about the answer to thatquestion: all of the Virginias everywhere can know with scientific certaintythat the truthful answer to that question would be:

"Yes, Virginia, there is a God!"

There is indeed a "First Cause," a Master Creator, a God, in the uni-verse. All of the Virginias of the world can know that with certainty!

There is a simple three question series that leads the answerer to the

inevitable conclusion that GOD DOES INDEED EXIST!

By his, or her, own answers to these three questions, the skeptic can

know with absolute certainty, using science, logic, reason and the Laws ofMathematics that GOD DOES EXIST! Any reasonable, thinking person, even

though they have previously denied the presence of a Divinity in the past, willbe forced to conclude, through the use of their own mind, that God exists!

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So, if Mr. church was asked the question "Is there a God?" today byall of the little Virginias of the world, he would not have to lie when heanswered:


I do not claim that the following series of three questions is originalwith me, but I do know that I had never seen them before they occurred to meone night about twelve years ago when I was thinking about the existence ofa God.

With these questions, and the answers of the skeptic, it is now easierto prove that God exists than it is to lie and say that there is a Santa Claus!

By the w&y, I would like to caution those who may want to try thisseries of questions on their non-believing friends. In many instances, somedoubters will still refuse to believe what their mind tells them to be true. Afterthey supply the answers to these three questions, their mind will demand theconclusion that GOD DOES EXIST!

However, some will continue to deny that truth.

There is something innate in certain people that will not allow them toaccept the truth even when their mind demands that they accept the newconclusion, and reject their long-held beliefs. But if the skeptic will keep anopen mind while answering these three questions, he, or she, will have toconclude that there is indeed a God in the universe by the time they are

finished.

So, do not be retructant to try it with your skeptical friends!

Just be prepared to experience the inability to understand the fact thatsome people will not believe what their mind tells them is true.

Page 4 of 26

QUESTTOn # I

DOES THE UNIVERSE EXIST?

There are only three possible answers to this question:

1. The universe exists;2. The universe does not exist; or3. The answerer is not sure.

These are the only possibilities.

Shown this way, the question is:

UNIVERSE:I

DOES EXIST DOES NOT EXIST NOT SURE

There are philosophers of the past who have reasoned, quite incor-rectly, that the external world does not exist, that only mind and ideas existed.And others have answered this question with uncerlainty: it was not possibleto know whether or not the universe exists.

I contend that both of these answers are illogical, unreasonable, andwithout scientific validity!

The universe exists!

And a mind capable of asking the question has to exist before it can askthe question!

Descartes , aLTthcentury philosopher, wrote: "I think, therefore I am. "The universe exists because the human mind can think about whether or notit exists!

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I see no logical, reasonable or scientific reason to believe that the uni-verse does not exist, or that thinkers on the answers to this question shouldhave any doubt.

The answer to QUESTION # t has ro be:

THE UNIVERSE EXISTS!

Therefore,

IINIVERSEttt

DOES EXIST DOES NOT EXIST NOT SURE(NOT AN OPTION NOT AN OpTIOi\r)

THE UNIVERSE EXISTS!

Page 6 of 26

QUESTTOn # 2

SINCE THE UNIVERSE EXISTS. DIDIT HAVE A BEGINNING;

OR

HAS IT BEEN IN EXISTENCEFOREVER;

OR

IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW?

These are the only options to this question.

Science proves that the universe had to have had a beginning, because

it could not have existed forever.

One of the ways that the scientists can verify this certainty is throughthe study of THERMODYNAMICS, the science of Heat Transfer.

THERMODYNAMICS has two basic laws that are deemed to be uni-versal in their application. They are called laws because they are thought tobe applicable throughout the universe. They work in the earth's solar system,

and they work in the entire universe as well.

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This state is called a Heat Equilibrium.

The fact that the universe has not reached the stage known as HeatEquilibrium means that it is not infinitely old. Since there will be a heatequilibrium one day, the fact that it has not occurred yet teaches the observerthat it cannot be of infinite age. If it was infinitely old, it would have burnedout by now.

Since it has not, it is not infinitely old.

Another way of illustrating this would be to use the example of a candleburning in a room. The observer could precisely measure both the candle todetermine its precise height, and its exact rate of burn.

Let us say that the candle was exactly four inches tall and that it wasburning at arate of ll4 inch an hour. It follows that the candle will burn itselfout in sixteen hours.

The only thing that cannot be determined is how long the candle hasbeen burning. There is no way to determine this. The only thing that we canbe certain of is that it has not been burning forever, because it has not burnedout yet. We can know absolutely that it has not been burning forever, becauseit would have burned out by the time we started our observations if it had.

Therefore, the observer can scientifically as well as logically say that:

1. The candle is four inches high;

2. The burning rate rs tl4 inch per hour; and

3. It has not been burning forever.

The one thing we cannot know is:

4. How long the candle has been burning.

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The universe is exactly like the candle. We can logically and scientifi-cally say that we know the following about the universe:

1. The universe is slowly burning itself-out (like the candle);

2. We can determine how fast the universe is burning itself out;and

3. We can know that someday there witt be a heat equilibriumthroughout the universe.

But since the universe is still both hot and cold (the point of heatequilibrium has not yet been reached) we can know one more thing:

Since the universe is slowly burning itself out, we can know forcertain that it had a beginning, or it wourd be in a state of HeatEquilibrium at the present time.

So, the answer to QUESTION # 2 is

IEXISTS

THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING!

Therefore, after the first two questions, we can now say:

UI\{IVERSEtt

NOT SURE DOES I\OT BXIST(NOT AN OPTTON (NOT AN OPTTON)

BEGINMNG NOT SURE(NOT AN OPTTON

We are forced to conclude:

IEXISTED FOREVER(NOT AN OPTTON)

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THE UNIVERSE EXISTS AND IT HAD ABEGINNING!

There is no other option!

QUESTIOn # I

ICREATED

HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN?

There are, once again, only three possible answers to this question.

1. It was created by something larger than itself since theFirst Law of Thermodynamics says that energy cannot becreated, only changed.

The universe had to be created by something outside of it-self, because of the same law. We also know that man could nothave created it. (We have already discounted the possibility thatthe universe was "created" by man's mind in discussing the an-swers to question # I);

2. It was begun by chance (or accident); or

3. The answerer is not sure.

Shown this way, the question is:

IACCIDENT

INIYERSEI

NOT ST]RE

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Let us first examine the chances of Chance (accident) accounting for theinitial creation of energy.

Chance is not really Chance!

Mathematicians can accurately measure the probability of anythingoccurring once they know the nature of the things that chance will be acting

upon.For example, a quarter has two sides, and if tossed up into the air and

allowed to land on the ground, it will land only one of two ways:

1 . either it will land on one side (called "heads, ")

or

2. on the other (called "tails.")

We can say, therefore, that the chances of a quarter landing on "heads"

is one in two (barring the unlikely and extremely low percentages of time that

it could land on its side. But even this probability could be scientificallydetermined once scientists tossed the coin enough times. But, for the sake ofargument, we will say that there are only two ways that the coin can land,

either on one side or on the other.)

If we toss up two quarters, there are now four ways that the coins can

land:

1. either they will both land on "heads;"

2. they will both land on "tails;"

3. the first will land on "heads," and the other will land on"tails;" or

4. the first will land on "tails," and the other on "heads."

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There are two ways that these things can be measured: scientists can

actually toss the coins into the air enough times and record their acfual obser-

vations, or mathematicians can calculate the probabilities involved by using

the laws of mathematics without actually tossing the coins.

Let us now examine the number of times that ten consecutively num-

bered cards in a deck of 10 can come up in a random fashion (meaning by

chance,) one being drawn out of the pack at a time.

There arc 3,628,000 different ways that those cards can be drawn out.

In other words, 4,'7,5,9,1, 8, 3,2, 10, and 6 would be one such

example. The chances of this sequence coming out of such a single random

drawing would be one in 3,628,000.

If we increase the number of cards to 1 00 , there would be 10( 1 5 8) ways

that the numbered cards could come out in any random drawing.

Let me explain what that number, 10(158), represents for those not

familiar with such things. The result of the multiplication of 10 times 10 is100. When written as a square, it is written as 10(2).

When written as a number, it is a 1 followed by the number of zeroes

shown after the number, in this case, one followed by two zeroes, or 100.

10 times 10 times 10 is 1,000, written as 10(3), or 1 followed by three

zeroes (1,000).

10(158) would be the number 1 followed by 158 zeroes, or:

1 00, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000,000 ,000 , 000 , 000 , 000 ,000 , 000 ,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000, 000, 000,000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000,

000,000,000,000,000

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What are the chances of any particular sequence of, say, all odd num-bers occurring, in increasing numbers, and then all even numbers, in decreas-ing numbers, coming out of a randomly drawn series of just 100 numbers?

The answer to that question can be determined by the laws of math-ematics.

The answer is, once again, one chance in one followed by 158 zeroes.

The age of the universe has been estimated by some scientists at 30billion (30,000,000,000) years. (This estimate of the universe's age is not sci-entifically sound, because true science proves that the earth is young. If youwant that documentation that even the evolutionists admit that the earth andthe universe is not over 8,000 years old, please send me a stamped, self-addressed envelope to my address shown at the end of this article, and I willsend you that information. So, I am using the figures admitted to by these

evolution based scientists as they present their theories. But, just think howmuch worse it would be when you factor in an earth or a universe of only8,000 years of age!)

There would be 10(18) seconds in those 30 billion years (1 followed by18 zeroes, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 seconds.)

(Notice how much smaller that figure is compared to 10 (158).

Astrophysicists estimate that there are no more than 10(80) infinitesimal"particles" in the universe. Assuming that each particle could participate ina thousand billion (10(12) different events everlr second (an impossibly highfigure, by the way,) then the greatest number of events that could ever happen(or trials that could be made) in all of the universe throughout its entirehistory is only 10(110).

This number is arrived at by multiplying the number of particles in the

universe, 10(80), by the number of seconds in the universe, 10(18), times the

thousand billion trials, 10(12).

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Most mathematicians believe that this figure is much lower, about10(50).

Any event with a probability of less than one chance in 10(110),therefore, can not occur by chance. Its probability becomes zeto, at least inour known universe.

Thus, the sequence of the ascending and then descending numbers of100 components has a zero probability of happening by chance.

Some scientists have measured the chance of a replicating (defined as

a repetition of an experiment under controlled conditions so that a specificresult may be observed) molecule occurring by chance at 10(450).

Frank Salisbury has calculated the probabiltty of a typical DNA chain

arising by chance to be 10(600). (DNA is the basic building block of life, and

it has a zero probability of occurring by chance!)

Mike Stubbs has calculated the chance of insulin, an important proteinhormone secreted by the pancreas, developing by chance at 3 x 10(158). He

states that even if there was a machine which could sort the amino acids thatmake up insulin into groups of 512 at a rate of one billion per second, itwould take 10(52) years to produce 10(68) combinations only one of whichwould be insulin.

In other words, you could expect to get the insulin combination onlyonce in 10(52) years.

Yet there are only 10(18) seconds in a 30 billion year universe!

Other scientists have made some calculations of the probability of lifeoriginating by chance.

Sir Fred Hoyle, one of the leading scientists of this age, (he was one ofthe two scientists discussed in that London newspaper article at the beginning

of this booklet) has computed the number of chances necessary for even the

simplest life imaginable to have evolved by chance to be one chance in

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10(40,000). (That is roughly comparable to the probability of rolling doublesixes, L2, on two dice, 50,000 times in a row!)

Dr. Harold Morowitz, professor of Molecular Chemistry at Yale Uni-versity, has concluded that the odds of life creating itself by chance are onein 10 followed by one billion zeroes!

Yet any chance with less than one chance in 10 followed by 110 zeroes

has NO CHANCE!

Lastly, Edward Conklin, a biologist, has stated that:

"The probability of life originating from accident [orchancel is comparable to the probability of an unabridged dict-ionary resulting from an explosion in a print shop. "

In other words, the universe originating by chance

HAS NO CHANCE!

If the universe did not originate by chance, what then are the otheralternatives?

Either the universe was started by something or someone capable ofcreating a universe (a master designer) or no one is sure how it got started.

First, we'll examine the thought that the universe was created by adesigner.

Presume that you are someone who has lived by yourself in a forest allof your life and you suddenly decide to take a long walk into the neighboringdesert. As far as you know, there are no other human beings anywhere

because you have never seen anyone else.

As you are walking, you look down and spot a shiny object in the sand.

You pick it up, and examine it carefully. You do not know what the object is

because you have never seen one before. (It is a wrist watch, but it is an

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unknown object as far as your experience extends.)There are only two ways

that this shiny object could have gotten there:

1. either it was made by something or someone,

2. or else it got there by accident or chance.

If it got there by chance, it's origins would have to be no different than

any other object in your view: for instance, the rocks or bushes nearby.

You examine the unknown object and notice that parts of it are moving,

and if you examined it long enough, you would discover that every time one

little moving part got to the unknown symbol * I2," it was either totally dark

or the sun was directly overhead.

Your mind starts to tell you that this is no ordinary object. It seems to

have some function, one not associated with a random happening.

Your mind has got to start thinking that it could not have come together

there by chance.

You start to conclude that it was actually created by someone or some-

thing, with an actual purpose in mind.

You look around the area and find no other objects of a similar nature.

If the object did not get there by chance, it had to have been created by

something or someone more powerful than chance. But you see no one in any

direction, nor anything capable of making such an object.

Yet, your mind tells you that it was actually created; it could not have

gotten there by chance!

What are your conclusions?

Even though you can not identify who or what made this shiny object,

your mind tells you that it was not created by accident.

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It had to have been created!


The universe is far moreasked by some to believe thathappening known as chance!

complex than that watch. Yet we are beingit got there by accident, by some random

The human mind screams at the observer:

"The universe is too complex to have been assembled bychance! It had to have been the result of a conscience design ofa designer! "

Perhaps another example of the human mind's unwillingness to logic-ally conclude that there was a designer in the universe occurred a few yearsago when scientists looked at some pictures of parts of the planet Mars. Thesepictures had been taken by a "flyby" space mission, and appeared to show a"monkey" face on the surface of the planet.

The almost immediate response by some in the scientific communitywas that the face had to have been created. It seemed to show that some formof intelligent mind had physically created the face. These scientists w'erejubilant! They had found what appeared to be evidence of intelligent life onanother planet!

Yet, it appeared that those who wanted to believe that the face had beencreated by some sort of conscious design, had excluded the possibility that theface could have been created by chance. Anyone would have had to concludethat there was at least a possibility that the face could have been created bywind, erosion, or just simply by chance.

I live in Tucson, Arizona, to the south of a 9,000 foot high mountaincalled Mr. Lemmon. The road that takes you up to the summit winds rightpast what we locals call "Punch and Judy," two rock formations that look likethe two famous hand puppets. We know that these formations were not made

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by anyone, they were created by wind or water erosion. They were createdby chance!

(Oftentimes, when I come to this place in a disbussion with a skeptic,I use this story to illustrate just how this thing works.

Lets just say that one day when I was visiting the "Punch and Judy"stone objects, a UFO landed and two little green men got out and asked me:"Who made these two puppet forms?rr

And I would answer: "I did. "

The two aliens would get back into their UFO, one saying to the other:"Let's get out of here. There is no intelligent life on this planet!")

But the scientists who examined the face on Mars were quick to pointout that the face had been made by an intelligent form of life.

The possibility that the face had been created by chance was almostdismissed as having no chance!

The face had to have been created!

Many of these same scientists look at the universe, with all of its pre-cise laws, and claim to see no evidence of design, nor any designer!

Yetthese same scientists had determined withprecise accuracy justhowfar away from Mars their probe had to be so that it would not crash into theplanet itself.

They had to know precisely just how far it would have to be so that itwould not fly by into an trajectory that would not allow it to orbit.

These scientists were making their projections based upon scientificlaws, in a universe that is structured on such scientific laws.

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Yet, they reason that the universe was not created! As we have exam-ined, there is absolutely no chance that the universe was created by chance!

But, many scientists are quick to believe that-it had to be created bychance, because they refuse to believe in a designer!

A universe that could not have occurred by chance, had been created

by chance

A "monkey" face that could have been created by chance had been

created solely by intelligent life!

It doesn't make sense, unless you think like a scientist!

The human mind screams at the observer:

"The universe is too complex to have been assembled bychance! It had to have been the result of a conscious design of adesigner!"

America's founding fathers said that the fact that man had human rightswas a "self-evident truth." They recognized that certain things were self-evident! That meant that they understood that they were not debatable. They

were true simply because they were simply true!

They wrote the following into America's Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain

unalienable rights . . . ."

A "self-evident truth" is not debatable. There are no other options! Itis true simply because it is simply true! That is the way it is!

The fact that the universe was created by a Master Designer is a "self-

evident truth. "

Page 2A of 26

The human mind is compelled to conclude that there is a creator, a firstcause! That thought is a "self-evident truth!"

Unless you think like a scientist!

Now where does that leave the skeptic?

We can now review the answers to the three questions:

OUESTION # 1=

DOES THE UNIVERSE EXIST?

Answer to question # l: The universe exists!

OUESTION # 2=

DID THE UNIVERSE HAVE ABEGINNING?

Answer to question # 2: The universe had a beginning!

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OUESTION # 3:

WAS THE UNIVERSE CREATED BYSOMETHING LARGER THANMAN AND THE UNIVERSET

Answer to question # 3: Yes, the universe had to be createdby a master designer, larger thanman and the universe.

The answers to the three questions can now be put together:

''IN THE BEGINNING.A CREATOR CREATED

THE UNIVERSE.''

The human mind has just scientifically, logically and rationallyconcluded that:

''IN THE BEGINNING.A CREATOR CREATED

THE UNIVERSE.''

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The first ten words of the Bible are found in Genesis 1:1.

They read:

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. "

That is a self-evident truih!

There is no debate.

It is the only way that it could have happened!


Notice that the first 10 words in the Bible are nearly identical with theconclusion reached by the answerer's answers to the three questions:

"In the beginning, a Creator created the universe. "

The two statements are self-evident truths!

There is a God!


The answer to Virginia's question:

"Is there a God?"

must be:



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There were three courses of action detailed in Mr. Epper-son's article. These were:

1. Send me the documentation that"Charles Darwinhimself did not believe in Evolution

2. Send the documentation that the earth and the uni-verse are both young, and not billions of years old

3. Go to Ralph Epperson's website

Should anyone be interested in corresponding with Mr.Epperson or in obtaining a free catalog of his books orother materials, he may be reached through:

PUBLIUS PRESS3100 South Philamena Place

Tucson, Arizona 85730the united States of America

or through the internet [email protected]

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GST} EXESTSITFIERE IS

NO OTHER OPTION!

The Humanists, those who believe in the Humanist retrigion, tell usthatthey find "insufficient evidence for a belief in the existence ofa supernatural fmeaning a God.]" They also proudly boast that "thetime has passed for theism [a belief in God.]"

John Dewey, "the father of progressive edueation." America'sleading f;gure in public education, and a believer in tkre Humanistreligion, wrote: "llhere is ao God, and there is no soul."

This booktret wiltr prove to you that John Dewey and the I{urnanistsare dramattca.Ily wrong. This booklet asks the reader three ques-tions, and by your own answers, YOU will prove it to yourself!

So John Dewey and the Humanists are wrong! You can know withscientific certainty that there is a God, and that there is no otheroption but a knowledge tnrat FIe is real !

A belief in God can now be based upon science, logic and reason!This booklet will prove that this statement is true even to the rnostskeptical atheist!

PRIGET $8"O0 total {$6.00 + $2.OO postage lf mailed)

god exists

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