The God Who Is Real

In July of 1997, Barney, the purple dinosaur, had an accident. During the filming of a Barney and Friends show, a cooling fan inside the sixty-pound dinosaur suit short-circuited and started to smoke. The actor playing Barney quickly got out of the suit but did suffer smoke inhalation. He was taken to the hospital and released a few hours later.

The next day, the story of the accident was carried on news programs across the country. Many children became very upset, and hundreds of parents called television stations to express their concerns. After seeing the news reports, some of the young viewers were afraid that Barney had been seriously burned. Folks at the TV stations were able to quickly assure everyone that Barney was doing just fine and would be on the air the next morning. Many children, however, were most disturbed by the report that a man had “escaped from the Barney suit.” Did this mean Barney was a fake? What did a man in a dinosaur suit have to do with what they saw on television each day? Wasn’t Barney a “real” purple dinosaur? Those questions were much harder for parents and people at the television studios to answer.

Most agree that a “make believe” character like Barney can be a positive influence in the lives of young children, yet there is always a certain amount of tension when a child discovers the truth and recognizes the difference between reality and fantasy.

Some folks say that God is a “make believe” character, much like Barney. They concede that people often benefit from believing in God, but claim the hard truth is that God belongs in the category of fantasy, not reality. According to them, “intellectual maturity” enables people to cast aside the idea of God and live in the “real world.”

It seems, however, that it is foolishness, not maturity, which causes folks to try to confine God to the realm of fantasy. Though it may not be possible to scientifically prove that God exists, there is plenty of evidence that He is indeed “real.” The noted philosopher Alvin Plantiga puts it this way: “We have just as much reason to believe in the existence of God as we do to believe that other human beings (besides ourselves) exist.” The mere fact the universe exists, the fact our planet can support human life, the reality of right and wrong, the consistency and coherence of the Bible, the teaching and miracles of Jesus Christ, His resurrection from the dead, the testimonies of countless believers from a wide variety of cultures, all point to the truth that God is not make believe, but real.

If anyone is guilty of hanging onto a fantasy, it would seem to be those who insist that real purpose, true morals, and actual knowledge are possible even if there is no God. If we are simply the product of a chance process of naturalistic evolution, we are then cosmic accidents who are really nothing more than “dust in the wind.” Concepts such as purpose, morality, and knowledge really are meaningless if God is not real.

Fortunately, however, the God of the Bible does exist. Unlike Barney, He is not fake. He is there in the realm of reality, not fantasy. We can turn to Him, not just because it makes us feel better, but because He is the one who really can help us. He truly is our Sovereign Creator and Redeemer.