Scripture reading: Psalm 14
Does God Exist? Let’s Ask C. S. Lewis
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)
Is there a God? Can his existence be proven? And if he (she? it? they?) exists, what is he like? Debated for centuries, these questions tickle the ears, invigorate the mind, and delight the debating instinct in all of us. Who doesn’t enjoy the sheer intellectual stimulation that comes from arguing such matters with passionate intensity? But only a moment of rational reflection is needed to recognize the comedy involved in such activity. As C. S. Lewis put it in God in the Dock, “The picture of a fly sitting deciding what it is going to make of an elephant has comic elements about it.”
The danger of debating God’s existence is that it may camouflage the far more important question: What if he does? Maybe the explanation for the resurgence of atheism, agnosticism, and skepticism in our day is not the power of their arguments but rather the rebellion in our hearts! We much prefer a distant deity who doesn’t interfere with our lives.
We want, in fact, not so much a Father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven —a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all.” (The Problem of Pain)
The fact of the matter is that how we handle the “God Question” reveals more about us than it does about God! How we engage in this debate exposes the true nature of our self-deception and inward hypocrisy.
It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. “Look out!” we cry, “It’s alive.” And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back—I would have done so myself if I could—and proceed no further with Christianity. An “impersonal God”—well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads—better still.
A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God!”) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us? (Miracles)
In your own personal quest for God, make sure that your inquiry moves from questioning to quaking, from debate to devotion, from search to surrender, from “I wonder” to “I worship.”
Many an atheist is a believer without knowing it just as many a
believer is an atheist without knowing it. You can sincerely believe
there is no God and live as though there is. You can sincerely
believe there is a God and live as though there isn’t.
—Frederick Buechner
point to ponder • How much of popular atheism is really a wish projection?
prayer focus • For those searching for God to be able to move from
questioning to quaking, debate to devotion, search to surrender, “I wonder” to “I worship.”