BRUCE LICHT
FOUNDER OF MY ELEVATOR PITCH FOR GOD, ENTREPRENEUR, AND AUTHOR
Bruce grew up in Lafayette, California and received a BA in Political Science from UCLA as well as a Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America. After graduating, Bruce operated his family’s 100 year-old retail fine jewelry business for twenty-two years. Bruce had a passion for computers and graphic arts, so he changed careers and joined his best friend at a national technical publishing company for seventeen-years as the company’s Publisher, where they invented the modern labor law poster industry, including the first “All- On-One Labor Law Poster” and “Labor Law Poster Compliance Plan.”
Aside from being the Founder of this website, My Elevator Pitch for God, Bruce was the co-editor of the book titled, Elevator Pitches For God: Volume 1, and author of the cookbook titled, Immediate Chef: No Previous Experience Required.
Bruce’s goals for this website are: To introduce more people all around the world to God and strengthen the faith of those who already believe in a non-political and non-religious way, to bring people together, find common ground between different faiths, create meaning in people's lives, and start to move the world in a better direction.
You can help by sending this website to friends and family and posting it on social media!
You can also connect with the website project’s LinkedIn page below:
From Observation
to Omnipotence
BRUCE LICHT
For thousands of years, long before there was a scientific vocabulary to describe what scientists were seeing, scholars studied the world around them. As modern science has progressed, what's become increasingly clear is that in many areas, science and Scripture are finally beginning to align with each other as physics, cosmology, and mathematics are providing a new language to describe Creation that in many cases mirrors concepts that already existed for millennia. (1)
Aside from how scientists now finally agree that there actually was a “beginning,” or that the universe is “fine-tuned” for life—there exists a much older line of analysis. This approach does not rely on instruments or equations, but on intuition, observation, and reason. It begins by looking at the world around you and asking: How could such order and complexity arise randomly?
This exact inquiry is what propelled Abraham, (2) humanity's first monotheist, toward his foundational conclusion that there was one God, and He created the heavens and the earth.
This revolutionary concept has fundamentally reshaped human history. Today, the global population stands at roughly 8.2 billion people, (3) with an estimated 55–60% adhering to monotheistic faiths. (4) The natural question then becomes: What sparked this massive global shift? The answer reveals a process of personal and intellectual discovery accessible to everyone.
Post-biblical tradition, specifically Midrashic literature, (5) elaborates on Abraham's development of faith through his rigorous personal reflection, observation of the natural world, discernment of its patterns, and logical reasoning toward the necessity of there being a single, ultimate Creator and Sovereign. These reflections included:
· Observation of celestial bodies: As a child, Abraham reportedly observed the sun, moon, and stars, noting their predictable rising and setting. From this, he concluded they couldn’t be independent deities, but must be governed by a higher, unchanging Power.
· Rejection of idols: He realized that the idols his father (6) made were inert and powerless. (7)
· Reasoning from contingency: (8) He observed that the elements of nature—fire, water, clouds, wind, and animals—operate in cycles of dominance, each surpassing another only to later be overcome. From this, he reasoned that nothing within the system could be the ultimate cause or true “Master.”
· Conclusion of unity: Abraham inferred that the coherence and order of creation required a single, intelligent, and eternal source—one that exists outside the system it sustains.
· Intuition and empathy: Through deep reflection, meditation regarding reality’s purpose, and personal experiences of loss and hardship, Abraham developed an empathetic and receptive disposition, opening him to a deeper spiritual calling.
Ultimately, Abraham recognized that a complex, ordered, and interconnected universe couldn’t arise from randomness or competing deities, but must originate from a single, omnipotent “Master Planner.” This conclusion aligned seamlessly when God later spoke to him when he was 75 years old. (9, 10)
So, the final and unavoidable realization then is this: If Abraham could discern God through observation and reason, we can too! (11)
God “whispers” to us in a still, quiet voice, but also gives us the intellect and senses to discern Him through His Creation.
Footnotes:
1) From Dan Kullman’s “The Shema Podcast for the Perplexed”: The Physics of Creation with Dr. Berel Epstein, Dec 15, 2025.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shema-podcast-for-the-perplexed/id1498489422
2) At the time, Abraham was named Abram.
3) The approximate world population of 8.2 billion people is supported by several authoritative sources as of late 2025. Here are citations from reputable websites:
The World Bank Blogs cite the 8.2 billion figure, stating, "It is estimated that there are about 8.2 billion people on this planet in 2025.” You can find this information on the World Bank's website.
The U.S. Census Bureau projected the population would reach 8.09 billion on January 1, 2025, and provides an updated estimate via their online tools. Further estimates for the year 2025 can be found using the U.S. Census Bureau's World Population Clock.
Worldometer, a real-time statistics website that uses United Nations data, shows the current live population at approximately 8.2-8.3 billion people. You can monitor the live count on the Worldometer site.
4) The key monotheistic religions are:
· Christianity: Around 2.5 billion adherents (over 31%)
· Islam: Around 1.9 billion adherents (over 24%)
· Judaism: Around 15.8 million adherents (under 2%)
· Others: Sikhism, and the Baháʼí Faith contribute smaller percentages
5) “Midrash” is an ancient commentary on part of the Hebrew scriptures. The earliest Midrashim come from the 2nd century CE, although much of their content is older.
6) Terah, Abraham's father, was a patriarch from Ur of the Chaldees, known in biblical and Jewish tradition as a wealthy leader who manufactured and sold idols, prompting his son Abraham (at the time named Abram) to leave his idolatrous ways after God spoke to him.
7) The famous Midrashic story recounts how Abraham (at the time named Abram) smashed all the idols in his father's shop except the largest one, then blamed the destruction on the remaining idol to illustrate its powerlessness and his father's folly in worshiping them.
8) "Reasoning from contingency" refers to an argument, primarily in philosophy and theology (specifically, a form of the cosmological argument), that attempts to prove the existence of a necessary being (often identified as God) based on the observation that the world contains contingent things.
9) God spoke to Abram in Mesopotamia in Genesis / Parshas Lech Lecha / Chapter 12, Verses 1-4 when he was 75 years old.
“God said to Abram, ‘Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.’ So Abram went as God had spoken to him, and Lot went with him; Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.”
10) Abram's name was changed to Abraham in Genesis / Parshas Lech Lecha / Chapter 17 / Verses 4-8, when God appeared to him again at age 99, establishing a covenant and promising him to be the father of many nations, signifying his new identity as "father of a multitude". This divine act confirmed God's promise to make him fruitful and establish everlasting covenants with his descendants.
“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be a father of a multitude of nations; your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations; I will make you most exceedingly fruitful, and make nations of you, and kings shall descend from you. I will ratify My covenant between Me and you and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you; and I will give you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojourns—the whole of the land of Canaan—as an everlasting possession and I shall be a God to them.”
11) From Blake Cohen’s “Third Rail Judaism” Podcast: Conversion - Your People Will Be My People - With Rabbi Barry Gelman, June 1, 2025.
“I think we could argue that Abraham was the first convert. He was born into a family of idolaters. And through his study of the world and his own sort of internal calculations, he came to believe in one God, and in many ways did what converts do. He left his family, left his place where he lived, presumably left his friends and other important connections behind. And that's very much what converts do. Not necessarily all the converts move out of the place where they live, but they do move away in a very real sense from their previous life. And so maybe we could argue that Abraham, even though there was no formal conversion process back then, was the first convert.”