SEEK 38 – Evidence Against God
Question: If there was evidence to prove God wasn’t real, would you continue in your faith?
Bible Reading: Psalm 14
Text: “The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” (Psalm 14:1)
What is the evidence for God? When asked that question I can cite lots of things – Creation, the human mind and spirit, the moral law, beauty, religion, experience, history, the Church, the Bible and Jesus (The Dawkins Letters p154-157). In terms of Jesus, I tried to give the evidence for him in Magnificent Obsession. I have spent a lot of my life trying to provide the evidence for God. But what if it was the other way round? Your question is one I have been asked many times – what if you were given evidence to show that God isn’t real – would you continue in your faith?
The answer to that is simply no – I could not continue. Like the late great atheist Anthony Flew I follow the maxim, I go where the evidence leads me. (Flew eventually became a believer in God – if not Christ – precisely because of the evidence. See his book – There is a God.) If someone showed me for example the bones of Jesus, then my faith is over – because my faith is in the risen Christ. However, that is not the same as saying that if someone showed me that something I believed was wrong, that I would then give up the whole Christian faith. On secondary issues I might have to reassess aspects of my belief, but I would not give up faith in Jesus Christ – because my faith in Christ does not depend on me being right about every jot and tittle.
But what evidence could there be for God not existing? I don’t think that question even makes sense. It’s like asking if someone showed evidence that your wife did not exist would you still be married to her?! Now it is theoretically possible that someone could outargue me, drug me and convince me that my wife was really a figment of my imagination, and that I was just dreaming her – but then you have moved away from the realms of rational argument to a kind of surreal Matrix movie fantasy.
But you may think that whilst the existence of my wife is not in doubt, the evidence for God is not nearly as strong. Perhaps in my own experience that might be the case – but when everything is taken together, I would suggest that the evidence for God is more convincing and persuasive than the evidence for the existence of your nearest and dearest.
Do I ever doubt that? Yes – I have had my periods of doubts – what the puritan John Flavel calls ‘atheistic thoughts’. I can remember three periods of real spiritual darkness. The first was when, not long after becoming a Christian, I read Marxist historian Christopher Hill’s The World Turned Upside Down. In it he argued that the English puritans engaged in one of the most successful brainwashing exercises in history. The thought struck me – ‘what if I have been brainwashed?’. Many Christians who have been brought up in Christian homes often go through the same experience – as the devil seeks to deceive them out of their faith.
How did I get through that experience? The black holes of atheism are normally based upon feelings and spiritual attacks – not upon rational thought or evidence. I looked at the evidence and I came down to the foundations and asked, what do I believe? At that stage there were many things I doubted but the one thin sliver of faith I had left was that I believed in Jesus Christ and that he had died for my sins and was now alive. It was enough.
The other two experiences were very similar – although they were even more dependent on feelings rather than rational reasons. It’s a bit like the kind of irrational feeling someone has when they are standing on top of some high cliffs and begin to wonder what it would be like to jump. To obey that instinct would be suicide. To listen to our doubts and fears and jump into the black hole of atheism is spiritual suicide.
In summary it is foolish to go against the overwhelming evidence for the God of the Bible. He has provided us with so much evidence that the only way we cannot see it is to deliberately shut our eyes and claim it doesn’t exist. That is why the Bible calls it foolish. In today’s world there are people who believe in wacky conspiracy theories – and it is impossible to argue them out of it. Why? Because everything you say is part of the conspiracy. In the same way the person who says in his heart that there is no God is a fool. They won’t be persuaded by rational argument or evidence, because they didn’t come to disbelieve because of rational argument or evidence.
The question for you is not really whether there is a God – but whether you trust him and follow him. The real question is what do you think of Jesus Christ?
Consider: Do you think that we are able to sit in judgement upon God? Are our minds big enough, honest enough, and clear enough to be able to make those pronouncements? Do you agree that the temptation to atheism comes more from feelings and spiritual attacks, then it does from evidence? How do you think you can combat these?
Further Reading: The Dawkins Letters – David Robertson
Prayer: O Lord, you look down from heaven to see if there are any who understand, who seek you. We thank you that you are present in the midst of your people – and we pray that we would be faithful and continue to worship. When we walk in darkness, O Lord, grant us light. When we are full of fear, give us faith. When we doubt, help us to delight in you, in Jesus Name, Amen.