Have you ever etched something into the trunk of a tree? I wonder about the people who come along at a later date and attempt to decipher our primitive code language for who hearts who.

Suppose you stumbled across a tree etching, a simple straight line for example. Now, you might conclude that it was an unintentional mark, a random scratching from an animal’s claw perhaps.

Now suppose that line was followed by a love heart. The likelihood of that etching being the result of a random wild creature decreases drastically. There is an obvious level of intentionality behind that ‘I heart’ etching that no animal can replicate, must less a series of random processes.

What if the etching was followed by someone’s initials? Would any body in their right mind question whether or not there was intelligence behind the message?

In fact, the more letters you add to the sentence, the more complicated it becomes. And the more complicated it becomes, the greater the likelihood of an intelligent scribe.

In his book The Battle for the Beginning, Dr John MacArthur said, “Honest scientists must admit that all of life had to be designed by an immensely intelligent mind. The more science looks at life, the more complex it becomes.”

We are talking about something far more complex than tree etchings. MacArthur continues, “The human brain is far more complex than NASA’s space shuttle. The brain alone is made up of at least six million functioning parts.”

Could you be convinced that six simple letters etched into a tree came about by random, unintelligent processes? What about a million letters? What about something as complex as a space shuttle? What about life itself?

The atheist says he does not believe in God. Well according to the Bible, God doesn’t believe in the atheist, and the reason is obvious. In Romans 1 the Apostle Paul said the truth of God is plain to all people, because God has shown himself to all people. But in what sense has God shown himself to all people?

According to verse 20, “God’s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

In other words, just as the etching on a tree tells us there was an etcher, just as a building tells us there was a builder, just as a painting tells us there was a painter, so too does creation itself tell us that there is a Creator.

So, the next time you find a scratch on your driver-side door and your first impulse is to look around for somebody to blame, look up at the world around you and find Somebody to thank, because atheists don’t exist.

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