The Search for God Page 5.2
There are a few ways I think about the journey to determine whether God not only exists but whether he spoke to a human being.
At each step, there are assumptions and building blocks.
Step one: there seems to be evidence that a creator of the universe and humans exist, which is general revelation and knowledge. To find out if a religion is true, the following is my basic hypothesis:
- A creator, termed God, exists
- God has a purpose
- God spoke to mankind
Would he ensure that his purpose in communication continues? The simple answer is yes; you may want to review “What is the Purpose of Communication?” When examining religions, I assumed that religious communication from God, for his purpose, would still exist to this day.
That is what I mean by extant. Are the communication, the religion, and the word from God still existing to this day and moment in history? If this does not make intuitive sense, then read “Why Communication from God Would Never Die Out.”
If you think that the God of the universe would allow his communication to humankind to die out, then please read “Why a Religion Must Be Extant.” By this logic, I excluded all defunct religions like Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and other polytheistic deity worship from consideration.
I obtained a list from Wikipedia. But, back in college, I had to look up religions the old-fashioned way. The library! This group, minus a few (Rastafarian, Tenrikyo, Cao Dai), was my starting checklist.
If you agree that a religion must still exist (be extant) today to be from God, then read, “Is the Religion Old?” If you’re still not convinced, please reread previous articles or “Why a Religion Must Be Extant.”
This list is an excellent source to begin our research into a creator, eternally existent, all-powerful, all-knowing.
| Religion | Adherents | Percentage |
| Christianity | 2.382 billion | 31.11% |
| Islam | 1.907 billion | 24.9% |
| Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist | 1.193 billion | 15.58% |
| Hinduism | 1.161 billion | 15.16% |
| Buddhism | 506 million | 5.06% |
| Traditional Chinese religion | 394 million | 5% |
| Ethnic religions | 300 million | 3% |
| Traditional African religions | 100 million | 1.2% |
| Sikhism | 26 million | 0.30% |
| Spiritism | 15 million | 0.19% |
| Judaism | 14.7 million[5] | 0.18% |
| Baháʼí | 5.0 million[6] | 0.07% |
| Jainism | 4.2 million | 0.05% |
| Shinto | 4.0 million | 0.05% |
| Cao Dai | 4.0 million | 0.05% |
| Zoroastrianism | 2.6 million | 0.03% |
| Tenrikyo | 2.0 million | 0.02% |
| Animism | 1.9 million | 0.02% |
| Neo-paganism | 1.0 million | 0.01% |
| Unitarian Universalism | 0.8 million | 0.01% |
| Rastafari | 0.6 million | 0.007% |
total | 7.79 billion | 100% |
So this is the first step in narrowing down if God spoke to humankind. What is the take-home point? If God were eternal and wanted to communicate with mankind, he would ensure that the religion would still exist today.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Why is that significant?
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
References and Links
- Creation Science Update – Evidence that a creator of the universe and humans exist
- Jehovah’s Witnesses – To find out if a religion is true