forever in happiness in an earthly paradise. Why, those who have died will even be resurrected and have the opportunity to live forever!

3, 4. Why do such persons feel confident about their view?

³ Is this view of the future just a dream, just wishful thinking? No, not at all. It is founded on a solidly based faith that this incoming Paradise is inevitable. (Hebrews 11:1) Why are they so sure? Because the almighty Creator of the universe has promised it.

⁴ Regarding God’s promises, the Bible says: “Not one word out of all the good words that Jehovah your God has spoken to you has failed. They have all come true for you. Not one word of them has failed.” “God is not a man that he should tell lies . . . Has he himself said it and will he not do it, and has he spoken and will he not carry it out?” “Jehovah of armies has sworn, saying: ‘Surely just as I have figured, so it must occur; and just as I have counseled, that is what will come true.’”—Joshua 23:14; Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 14:24.

5. What questions need to be answered?

⁵ However, if God’s purpose was to establish an earthly paradise free from suffering, why did he permit bad things to happen in the first place? Why did he wait six thousand years until now to correct what is wrong? Might all those centuries of suffering indicate that God does not really care about us, or even that he does not exist?

Part 3

How We Can Know There Is a God

1, 2. What principle helps us to determine whether there is a God?

ONE way to determine whether there is a God is to apply this well-established principle: What is made requires a maker. The more complicated the thing made, the more capable the maker must be.

² For example, look around your home. Tables, chairs, desks, beds, pots, pans, plates, and other eating utensils all require a maker, as do walls, floors, and ceilings. Yet, those things are comparatively simple to make. Since simple things require a maker, is it not logical that complex things require an even more intelligent maker?

Our Awesome Universe

3, 4. How does the universe help us to know that God exists?

³ A watch requires a watchmaker. What of our infinitely more complex solar system, with the Sun and its planets revolving around it with split-second precision century after century? What of the awesome galaxy we live in, called the Milky Way, with its more than 100 billion stars? Have you ever stopped at night to gaze at the Milky Way? Were you impressed? Then think of the incredibly vast universe that contains untold billions of galaxies like our Milky Way! Too, the heavenly bodies are so reliable in their movements century after century that they have been compared to precision timepieces.

⁴ If a watch, which is relatively simple, implies the existence of a watchmaker, surely the infinitely more complex and awesome universe implies the existence of a designer and maker. That is why the Bible invites us to ‘raise our eyes high up and see,’ and then it asks: “Who has created these things?” The answer: “It is the One [God] who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:26) Thus, the universe owes its existence to an invisible, controlling, intelligent power—God.