Questions - Existence of God

On this page we consider the issue of whether it is possible to prove God's existence in a way that convinces others of this reality - looking at ways that God may or may not be active in the world today. Questions like

• Why might God be obscured from us?
• What evidence is there for the existence of God?

Here you will find an extract from the respective chapter in 'The God of the Cruel World', some book recommendations and links to websites where people are attempting to provide answers to these types of questions.

Extract from 'God of The Cruel World'

Indeed, the very requirement that people exercise 'faith' seems to necessitate that believers are required to place their trust in something that is presently unverifiable. And of course, if we could verify God as a definite fact, there would be little need for faith – people would make their assessment based on solid evidence. So, returning to the question:

'Is it possible to prove God's existence?'

I would like to give a bold answer and say a resounding 'NO', because I do not believe it is possible for humans to prove God's existence. However, I would also like to say that whereas humans may not be able to prove God's existence, this does not mean that God is unverifiable. Should we rearrange the question and ask:

'Is it possible for God to prove his existence to us?'

I think the answer is a resounding 'YES'. God is quite capable of proving his existence to us if God wants to. Yet the Divine does not do this, which begs a different question altogether:

'Why might God not be revealed?'

And it is this question that I will attempt to address in the following pages. Of course, both sceptic and believer have stock responses to this question. The believer states that God has been revealed through creation but humanity fails to comprehend this. The sceptic reasons in the opposite direction that God cannot be revealed because God does not exist.

Now, although these two positions mark out each end of the faith spectrum, they unfortunately also polarise thought into one of two camps – people who believe in God and those who do not. With these positions identified, what I will do next is steer a 'middle course' between the two by considering a question that I have seldom heard discussed:

'Why might God be hidden from humanity?'

Interestingly, this approach addresses both sceptical concerns about the absence of evidence for God while also giving scope to the possibility held by believers that God exists within creation in the lives of his followers.

Extract from 'The God of the Cruel World' (Invisible God) © 2007 Bob Eckhard

Further Reading

Links

Explores some of the main arguments for the existence of God from a Christian perspective

Philosophy of Religion website outlining brief summaries for the main arguments for the existence of God- other menu offer arguments for agnosticism and atheism

Books

'The Question of God' by Michael Palmer provides an in-depth philosophical introduction to the six great arguments for the existence of God.