A few years back, I picked up a copy of USA Today at a gas station in Pensacola, Florida. I thumbed through the sports section first, as I normally do, but then a short snip-it caught my eye on the front page. It stated that over the course of the last five or so years, the percentage of Americans that believed in God has dropped 10 percent. I sat for a moment and thought about how sad that was, and all the many reasons why people have turned away from God. Why do we continue to doubt God? The famous Methodist preacher Charles Allen wrote a book several years ago entitled Life More Abundant. The first chapter is entitled “Why I Believe in God.” Allen says that believing in God should be somewhat similar to the standard of guilt in a criminal case: innocent until proven guilty. Instead of trying to “prove” that God exists, why is it that we don’t just believe until we find evidence otherwise?
You say, “Well is a lack of evidence not enough?” and I say, “There is more than enough evidence for us to believe beyond a reasonable doubt.” Who can say that any of us comes into this world as an atheist? Coming to the conclusion that God does not exist is the systematic manifestation of human experiences, human reasoning, and arrogance, not simply an inherent thought that comes with being born into civilization. We doubt because we have gravitated away from God, not because he has gravitated away from us. We take the sum of our experiences and say, “Well God simply does not want to be a part of my life, or God doesn’t care for me, so therefore He must not exist.” We offer, “God has no interaction in society and He has not made Himself known to humankind, so therefore He cannot be real.”
Human self-sufficiency and pride is the overarching enemy of faith in God. Intellect and power, in our human perceptions, eliminates the need for God. We say, “I can do this on my own—I don’t need any help.” And when we begin to achieve and accumulate income, we ask, “Where was God in all of this? I did this myself.” I believe that pride is the most damaging of all sins to the Christian faith, because it elevates our capacity to be totally self-sufficient. We don’t feel the need to turn to God.
Ultimately, I believe that doubt in the existence of God stems from three main reasons: 1) because we have no conscious dealings and no interaction with God, 2) because the circumstances of life—evil and suffering—have led us to the conclusion that if there is a God, then he doesn’t care, and 3) because we have no signs that God exists. I would like to take each of these one at a time.
First, we begin to doubt that God exists because we have no conscious dealings or interaction with Him. “God hasn’t spoken to me,” we offer. But I believe that God has spoken to us, and He wishes greatly to be in constant dialogue with us as we walk through the trials and tribulations of life. Recently, I resurrected an old institution that has largely died out in the era of text messaging and email. I began writing hand-written letters to several of my friends. I have found tremendous value and joy in this exercise. The importance of letter writing is this: as a letter is read, it becomes a one-way mode of communication. In essence, one who reads a letter must submit his attention to the words of the author for a little while without a response. The words have more of a saturating effect in the lives of those who read it. Of course, we may respond by writing letters of our own, but only after we have had time to read and reflect on the letter in its entirety. I appreciate receiving letters, especially those that have been hand-written, because of the time and effort it takes to do it (unlike text messaging or email). Letter writing has always been a very compelling evidentiary source of information for historical researchers and enthusiasts. We learn much about the love of John Adams for his wife Abigail through his letters. We understand Jefferson’s thoughts on the separation of church and state through his letter to Danbury Baptist Church. We appreciate more greatly the beliefs of Ronald Reagan by studying his letters. “How does this relate to God?” you ask. Because God has written us the greatest love letter of all-time, the Bible. Consider the time it took for the Bible to manifest itself before it could be “sent” to us. The Bible has been written over thousands of years by many authors. God has spoken to us, and he has spoken to us loudly and resolutely. Not only has he spoken to us in tangible words, he has spoken to us by sending us a concrete example to this world of his divine nature and will through his son Jesus. John chapter one says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God speaks to us through his Word. One author cleverly noted, “Jesus is all that God wanted to say to us.” Many people believe that God stopped speaking directly to mankind after Jesus came. Indeed, it seems on the surface that the God of the Old Testament had more direct interaction with human beings than he does in today’s world. But I believe that God continues to speak to us, and that our lives are very important to Him. “How does he do this?” you might inquire. I believe that God speaks to us through people, through our experiences, through prayer, and at times, audibly. God uses pastors and other people to deliver to us his truth. He uses our experiences to draw us closer to him. He draws near to us when we pray. And at times, his words can be audibly heard. The question is, “Are our minds and hearts open to the messages that God is sending us? Are we fully aware that God intends to have constant communication in our lives?” No communication is effective unless the recipient is willing to receive the information. We cannot interact with God if we keep hanging up the phone on him and throwing his letters in the trash. We cannot hear him if we are not willing to engage him. In short, we drown out the voice of God in our life, and as we continue to listen to the words of the secular world, the word of God becomes more foreign to us. For those who may be doubting the existence of God, ask yourself this, “Have I listened to Him lately? Have I opened his letters? Have I attempted to communicate with Him?” We doubt God because we have refused to respond to his constant communication, not because God has failed to interact with us.
Secondly, we doubt God because of the circumstances of life. We look at all of the heartache, the hurt, the suffering, and the anguish of our lives and conclude that God simply could not exist, because if He did, we would have better lives. Nowhere in the Bible does God promise that life will be without tribulation. In fact, he warns us of the converse of this notion. He thoroughly warns us of the fact that there will be suffering and distress in life. Most of the stories of the Bible are stories of overcoming extreme pain, loss, unbelief, murder, envy, spite, anger, lust, hatred, death, and turmoil. If you think it’s bad, consider the lives of Job, David, Paul, and Jesus. None of their lives were absent of suffering and hardship, and in fact, they suffered more than most of us could ever fathom. Yet, they were able to endure, rejoice, and forgive through their trials and sufferings because their eyes were fixed on the wonderful nature of God. They understood firmly that suffering will come, that suffering is a part of life, but there is purpose in suffering. When we experience pain and suffering in our life, one of our first reactions is to say that God is punishing us for something we have done in our life. “Why did you allow this to happen to me?” we beg. Have we not considered that through this suffering that God is trying to teach us and prepare us for something that will one day comfort and benefit other people? We are so very focused on how suffering applies to our life that we fail to see how our suffering can and will positively impact those around us. This applies particularly when unexpected death occurs, or someone is stricken with a fatal disease. Do we even consider that God is using these experiences for our benefit and for the benefit of those around us? When suffering comes, lean on the words of Paul in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” When our house burns down, we ask, “Where is God?” But God has already sent the fire crew to rebuild us before we ever realize it. When we weep, God weeps with us, and he knows that suffering is for our good and will ultimately draw us nearer to him. In this, I do not mean to be trite; death and loss is a horrible thing. But what I am trying to say is that we should focus on the overall plan. Life is often like watching a movie. When one of the main characters gets killed, we have to wait to see how the movie plays out in their absence. God is constantly writing a good ending to our lives. The circumstances that befall us can be tragic, yet God in his infinite wisdom has a plan for all of us. He is there in the midst of that suffering, and he desperately wants to restore us and give us a life more abundant than we ever had before.
Lastly, we doubt because we fail to see the signs that God exists. Recently, I went to a church that I had never attended before. As I was leaving, I took a wrong turn and ended up on a road that seemed to be going nowhere. There were no signs to point me in the right direction, I just had to have faith that the roads would eventually lead to my destination. While I was traveling down that road, I began to notice all of the wonderful little displays of nature that were largely untouched—trees, rocks, ravines, creeks, valleys, hills, leaves, moss, soil, minerals, dirt, straw, and brush—and as the sun was beaming in the distance, I thought about God. I thought about how impossible it would be for the earth to simply form without the hand of the Creator. I thought about all the subtle details of nature that we fail to appreciate every day—that God put that creek there, a rock here, allowed trees to grow, and painted the pretty pictures of the earth for us to enjoy and revere, his handiwork to admire.
I think about love and emotion and feeling and I cannot but conclude that God created these things to help us to know that He exists. We may be able to scientifically explain how nature works, but no scientist has ever been able to explain love. God has given us nature and love and the complexities of the human body to point us to one immutable fact: that he created the world and all that is in it. How can we possibly deny this? How can we look at nature and the human body and unexplainable temperament of love and say to others that God does not exist?
God has made himself known to us. He has spoken to us. He has provided for us. There is really no cause for doubt that God exists. Instead of asking, "Does God exist?" shouldn't we wonder why we are doubting in the first place?
