Chapter 8
The blog entry this week is from Isaac Mann:
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In chapter eight Keller explains a number of “Clues” pointing to the existence of God. I find these ideas fascinating, and I often wonder who the first person was to think of these. Some of them are obvious; nature is all around me and seems to work… hmm…
God apparently thinks they’re obvious too. Psalm 14:1 says, “the fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
Some of these clues are down right confusing though. One that the book doesn’t mention is called the ontological argument. It’s so complicated, in fact, that it’s been around for about a thousand years and philosophers are still debating it.
For me one of the most interesting ideas in this chapter is that the Big Bang Theory is helpful for our particular view. I grew up in a pretty conservative Christian family, and I always had the impression that the Big Bang Theory was bad for a Christian view of the universe. It seemed to explain the universe without reference to God. It wasn’t until recently that I was watching a documentary on the Big Bang Theory, and I realized that it could actually be a clue for God’s existence.
Apparently, many scientists used to think that the universe had no beginning. It just existed forever. Some people believed this because to think about a beginning for everything you have to admit that there’s something outside of nature… something “super” natural. Others probably just avoided the question since science (by definition) can’t explain what was before there was.
Eventually scientists started to realize the universe is constantly expanding. If it’s expanding that means that it used to be smaller, much smaller. In fact, there must have been a time when it was infinitesimally tiny. What was there before that? Science can’t say. If you’re a scientist who likes that science has all the answers, that answer should terrify you. It begs the question “Why is there something instead of nothing?”
So, it turns out the Big Bang Theory is a clue for the existence of God. Who’d a thought? That doesn’t mean I’m gonna completely buy into it. It is only a theory after all. But it is nice when man’s attempts to understand the universe accidentally lead to God clues.
I guess we can’t prove that God does exist just like atheists can’t prove that he doesn’t. But we can make it pretty hard to act like atheism is the intellectual choice. You’ve got to try pretty hard to “reason” your way to denying that there’s a God.
1. Does it bother you that we can’t prove the existence of God? Why or why not?
2. What might be some reasons that God hasn’t given us real proof?
3. We can’t get all the way to the Christian God from these clues. What do they show us about God?
4. Have you ever used one of these clues in a discussion? How did it go?
3 responses so far
Doesn’t bother me that there is no proof for the existence of God. I mean are humans so arrogant as to think we have all the answers? Do we humans actually think that we have all the capacity to comprehend all there is to comprehend? I believe that there are things that we just don’t have the mental ability to grasp and this point. So not being able to prove the existence of God doesn’t bother me or stop me from believing.
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I agree with Katie that it is not a concern to me that there is no proof of the existence of God. There is, however, plenty of evidence. If there were no doubt, there would be no need for faith.
Like Isaac, I also used to think that the Big Bang theory was one that did not require the existence of God, but now have come to understand, as many scientists have, that whatever exploded in the Big Bang had to come from somewhere. I recently listened to a commentary from John Patrick, MD, who said the question we should be asking atheists is, “In the beginning, what?”
In view of all the evidence that I have before me, it seems to be a greater leap of faith to say that there is no god, than to say that the God of the Bible does not exist.
In another place, talking of those who use the existence of pain and suffering as a reason to not believe in a god, Dr Keller says that it is arrogant of us to think that a God with the wisdom and power to create the universe would always have to act in a way that we would understand.
Keep up the good work.
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Question 2> God hasn’t given us real proof because “without faith, it is impossible to please Him”… Since the beginning of time, God has desired our faith in Him. If there were “real” proof, there would be no need for faith.
When (doubting) Thomas needed proof, he was showing his lack of faith. He had witnessed the works and miracles of Christ and had heard Jesus proclaim that He would be resurrected, yet he wouldn’t believe until he saw! We are no different!! We watch God perform awesome works in our lives and then a crisis arises and we fall prey to fear, worry and doubt. Yet, praise God, He is faithful when we are not. He works right through our unbelief time after time, and aren’t we glad HE does??!!
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