On Evidence vs Blind Faith

Many believe that faith in any God is really blind-faith by definition. After all, you can’t see God! The God of the Bible is written off as a Tribal God. Addressing this viewpoint is the purpose of this site. It’s a pleasure to write about as I find it compelling and a lot of fun. 

“Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very important when we didn’t know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened. Modern religion is the end trail of modern mythology.” – Actor Bruce Willis

I know, so silly to be quoting an actor on this subject. However, I think he shares a quite common modern viewpoint about God and religion. The problem with this view is that it is too simplistic, and doesn’t deal with any of the deeper questions that need answering. When someone in the family is dying or the world is at war, will anyone take solace in our vast improvements in getting a more accurate weather forecast? Technology cannot displace God quite that easily.

Since the question of God is settled – God is myth, that only leaves blind faith. This is misinformed.

Rather than pursuing a blind faith, which the Bible never suggests anyone do, by testing the teachings and propositions of the Judeo-Christian writings we can demonstrate that faith, along with evidence and observation, leads to some solid and satisfying conclusions about God and the Universe. Satisfying because they add up. That feeling you get when things make sense. As I will show here, the Bible doesn’t leave us feeling uneasy by forcing us to answer all of the difficult questions with blind faith. Instead, the Bible answers the important questions directly and early on.

God is Incomprehensible and yet knowable

It is important to agree that every last question about God isn’t going to get answered. If it were that simple God would indeed be a figment of our imagination. A God that could create the Universe from nothing can’t be fully explained by our limited capacity. However, if there is evidence that was left for us, maybe it tells us everything we really need to know, minus the things we couldn’t understand.

The Evidence for God

None of us have been alive long enough to view much history first hand. Rarely does anyone experience even 100 years on this earth. If eye-witness accounts are required to prove everything, there would be no science at all. Both science and religious studies have methods for testing and validating evidence along with experience and observation. Theology has a tremendous amount of manuscript evidence, frameworks, language studies, literature, history, philosophy and more, all of which are used to build a case for anything we believe about God. (Theology) Note that blind faith has no need for any of that process. That’s why they call it blind. Christianity does NOT require blind faith. I’m not saying that God doesn’t honor simple childlike faith – but he didn’t stop there! He gives more evidence to those that want it. This is God’s gift to those that seek him. 

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1)

The Judeo-Christian teachings do not lack evidence, thoughtfulness, or complexity. In fact the Bible consistently deals with the most important scientific, philosophical and spiritual issues of life. As the passage quoted above says, the universe itself is the evidence that God has given to people, along with the ability to see the divine nature in creation – things like beauty, power, grandeur, math, geometry, texture, light and darkness, and art itself. All from the mind of God.

For example:

• The first book of the Bible, Genesis, in the first chapter states that the universe came into existence by a causal act, and was not eternal as Aristotle believed. This was the prevailing view until relatively recently.
• Also in the first chapter of the first book, God says that the creation is good, establishing the idea of good immediately at the start. Was that an accident? It means the universe has purpose, and is good. God makes a moral judgment on what he created, and it seems obvious that he was happy with it.

If there is a creator, this is exactly what we would expect from a book that communicates his mind. Interestingly as well, the Bible doesn’t refer to this actor as a god (small ‘g’) since such a thing would make no sense, but the true God, whose name by the way is ‘I AM’ – think Eternal.

• The Origin of the Universe: The God of the Bible claims to be the unique author of creation, his mind and words causing what modern day science calls The Big Bang.
• He claims exclusivity, and rightly so if he created everything. Who else could he credit? As God says in Job 38:  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

Genesis starts with this: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” and then defines the most important philosophical dilemma in life – good and evil. If that weren’t enough, it goes on to explain the origin of evil. It’s almost like God wrote the first book of the bible for scientists and philosophers. It boggles the mind how timeless the book of Genesis is, and what a supernatural fingerprint it has on it. Our generation has been fooled into thinking that the big questions have been answered by science. They have not. (see the footnotes for additional reading)

The Tough Questions

There are Scientific questions in life, and there are equally important Philosophical questions. This is why I say that science has not explained God, or successfully done away with him. God is not dead!

• Is there any purpose to life or are we just atoms – evolutionary cause and effect? Most people believe that their life is important in some meaningful way.
• Why is there Evil and suffering? If there is no moral law, how do we even know what evil is? Maybe evil is really good!
• Why do we personally experience the moral dilemma between good and evil? (Conscience)
• Why do we humans uniquely possess sentience, and ponder our own existence? The Dolphins don’t ponder their existence do they? The Bible says that God created humans with an eternal soul, made in his image — unique!

We may not like the answers the Bible gives, but it’s difficult to deny that the book provided the most critical answers before anyone was asking the questions. The book of Genesis existed 1000 years before Plato and Aristotle were born, and yet it describes the Big Bang thousands of years before anyone believed it. If that’s not enough, Genesis names God as the causal agent of the Big event.

God identifies himself as eternal. The universe, we now all agree, is not eternal. This is very difficult to comprehend. However, he is the only one that answers the tough questions. Physics, Mathematics, Biology, Astronomy (etc) don’t come close to resolving the real dilemmas of an Atheistic, Materialist world view – a world with no God, no purpose, where good and evil have equal merit, and people live and die looking for some purpose, almost like they were designed to have purpose. We were!

Conclusion

Basic Judeo-Christian writings answer the most important questions consistently over 1500 years of writings in the Old and New Testaments, culminating in God’s plan for redeeming mankind through the substitutionary death of the Son of God – Jesus of Nazareth, the prophesied Jewish Messiah, who conquered death for all who believe in him. He dealt with the problem of Evil. No amount of good deeds can save us from our dilemma – only faith can do that.

This is an informed and historical faith, not a blind one.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

As C.S. Lewis famously said…

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

— Mark Esposito