This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Can an Intellectual Believe in God?.
Can an intellectual believe in God?
As a matter of fact, your intellect has very little to do with it. Unbelief always comes out of the heart. (See Psalm 14:1.)
God has spoken to mankind in three mighty ways, and God will speak to you in these three ways.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1)
The very skies are strong evidence of God. What do they tell us about God?
Go out and look up at the night sky. Think about those stars, the candelabra of Heaven. Think how vast His mighty Universe is. You will be filled with a sense of awe—the same awe David must have had as a shepherd boy when he looked up at those heavens, and wrote Psalm 19.
The firmament (another word for the heavens) shows that all of this is the work of God.
The Bible never argues the existence of God. It just presents Him. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Man cannot create anything; all the scientists can do is rearrange what God has created.
Light travels 186,282 miles per second. In two seconds, light from Earth has passed the moon. But it takes that light four and a half years to pass our nearest star. In order to reach the edge of our known universe, light would have to travel for ten billion years.
The Psalmist said in another place: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psalm 139:14). There are more than thirty billion cells in your body. Yet scientists say that one cell in your body is more complicated than New York City.
…What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:19-20)...
Is God real? If you are intelligent, you have to look at this scientific evidence and say that somebody created all of this.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. (Psalm 19:2)
That means there is a fixed order in the Universe. Day follows night, night follows day. There is beauty, order, and harmony, and you can thank God that His mercies are new every morning. The light and warmth of the sun speak of the light and warmth of God’s grace.
You have to feel sorry for an atheist who sees a sunset and has nobody to thank for it—don’t you?
But, you can never know the heart and mind of God by looking at the stars. You need more than natural revelation. You need the Word of God to explain it.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7)...
The only way you can be saved is by the perfect Word of God. (See 1 Peter 1:23.) Scripture is inerrant: every sentence, syllable, jot, and pen stroke were put there by God. Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken.” (See John 10:34-35.)
Do you want to be a true intellectual? Get into the Word of God. It is sure—which means you have a foundation. Ordinary people can go to God’s Word and receive food for their souls. “Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’” (Matthew 11:25).
We think that God’s will is onerous. But no:
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes (Psalm 19:8)...
We ought to delight in the Word of God. There is no evil, nor error in it. There are more than 6,000 promises in the Bible and every one of them is, “Yes and Amen” in the Lord Jesus. (See 2 Corinthians 1:20.)
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether (Psalm 19:9).
God’s Word will last. It has been several millennia since David wrote Psalm 19, and we are reading it today. The Bible applies to every age. It never needs to be updated or revised. Thank God for His inerrant, infallible, incorruptible Word! (See Isaiah 40:8.)
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb (Psalm 19:10).
To a true believer, there is nothing more precious than the Word of God. A man cannot truly love God without loving His Word.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:11).
Protection is better than cure. The Word of God will keep you from so many harms, if you will only bathe your soul in its truth and walk in its light.
You might see the stars and believe in God. You might pick up a Bible, hear somebody preach, and say, “Yes, I believe the Bible is the Word of God.” You’re still not home yet.
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults….Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer (PSalm 19:12, 14).
To know God, you must have the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Your dirty heart is not going to expose your dirty heart. Only the Holy Spirit of God can help you. (Read John 16:7-8.)
You have secret faults that you know nothing about. A lot of sin comes from an undetected weakness, an unexpected temptation, and an unprotected life. You have a secret moral fault; along comes some temptation you have never faced before; and you have not prayed, “Cleanse me from secret faults,” so you are unprotected. Down you go.
What happens when you pray, “God, help me understand my errors”? You move from the conviction to the cleansing.
There is no cleansing apart from the blood of Jesus Christ. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression (Psalm 19:13).
There are hidden faults, and there are times when we sin with eyes wide open—because we do not have the strength to say no. So, we must pray, “Do not let those sins have dominion over me.”
The control of the Spirit is linked to your prayer life. Every morning—not at the end of the day—say, “Lord God, cleanse me from secret faults, and keep me from presumptuous sin.”
Then you will know God, and have fellowship with Him.
God has put His Word in the skies, in the Bible, and has sent His Holy Spirit to convict, cleanse, control, and have communion with you.
Can an intellectual believe in God? Absolutely! But you do not come to God because of intellect:
We love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19).
Psalm 14:1, 19:1-2,7-14, 139:14; Genesis 1:1; Romans 1:19-20; 1 Peter 1:23; John 10:34-35, 16:7-8; Matthew 11:25; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Isaiah 40:8; 1 John 1:9, 4:19
And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
Then the LORD said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? (Numbers 14:11)
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23).
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18-19).
