Better-educated people than either of us have for millennia attempted to prove the existence of God using a wide variety of methods, and none of them have succeeded in attracting a consensus agreement among their educated peers. Currently, only a minority of philosophers in academia appear to be theists.
In terms of Christian faith, once you’ve had what might be called a “spiritual experience”, you
know that God exists. It’s no longer just a case of academic reasoning. In Christmas 1983, I was at a thing called “beach mission” run by a basically protestant outfit called Scripture Union. I was a new Christian, not having a wonderful time in several areas of my life, and feeling quite negative about the whole thing. I was also wondering if it wasn’t just a psychological prop.
We had a Bible Study every afternon around 3pm. While listening to the group leader as he talked, and half drifting off in the summer heat under a marquis, he said the words, “… man after my own heart …”. Precisely as he said this, I was hit with what my later Catholic psychiatrist called a “double whammy” (he called it that because he had experienced it himself, in a different context), something like a breath going through you in waves from head to foot. I got such a shock I nearly fell off the seat. I looked around to see what everyone else was making of it, and they weren’t taking the slightest bit of notice.
The reason of course was the message of encouragement was meant for me only. When I mentioned it to my pastor later, his reply was “God knew you needed encouragement. You’d been through a rought time”. Mind you, the infinite God knew where to find me, my frame of mind, and how to do it, without giving Himself away to another single human soul.
And I’m just a speck in the cosmos. This was particular brought home to me when I saw a photograph taken by Voyager, as it journeyed out of the solar system. In what looked like sunbeams, there was this tiny pea, hovering in space. That was earth, and on that insignificant pea had taken all the wars, all the triumphs, all the tragedies, all the human story in history. Yet even in that infinite solitude, God knew where to find one human being and give a message.
I had two more double whammies, both time in the Presbyterian Church I attended, both times highlighting specific words spoken by the pastor, and both times completely unexpected. Once again He knew exactly where to find me, and how to deliver two messages, without a single other person knowing about it.
When you’ve had those sorts of experiences, you know from experience that God exists.
In fact, the real miracle is that He hides Himself so well. He’s all through us, around us, reading our thoughts, hearing our words, watching our actions. In Christ’s words, “On the day of judgment, a man will account for every useless word.” He forgets nothing.
Hence the need for faith, since He hides himself so well.
However for the purely academic minded theorist who wants logical proof God exists, but doesn’t want to know God (silly, because the main business of life is to get used to the fact that God
knows us before its too late), I still think the proof is going to hinge on zero somehow.
