- How can God let bad things happen?
- How can God exist without the least amount of proof?
Both of these points are excellent questions, and I will answer them in this blog, starting with the second one first.
Why doesn’t God show himself?
Well, I’m not about prove the existence or otherwise of God, of course, since I’ve never seen a babelfish and I’m beginning to suspect that they don’t really exist, sadly. What I can do is illustrate why proof is unnecessary, and how unreasonable it is to expect to find it.
The Bible says that Man is created in God’s image (don’t ask me where, it’s somewhere near the front, I think). This is an interesting premise that is often misunderstood. I think the majority of believers understand God as if He was made in Man’s image. The stereotypical view of God is as an old man wearing white robes, living in the clouds; observing, judging and occasionally physically affecting the lives of those here on Earth.
It is certainly understandable why we think of God in this way. As soon as one imagines a single, all-knowing, omnipotent deity, how else could one picture Him? All we are told is that He is unknowable, so all we can do is place Him in a context of things we do know.
So forget the standard view of God and think of Him in the abstract. What else are we told about Him? He is the creator of all things. Well, clearly, he must be well-travelled, having created all the stars and galaxies that we can see. And be assured that there is a ton of stuff we haven’t discovered yet, including the possibility of other universes.
He is also all-powerful. Think about that for a minute and you’ll realize that whatever incredible power you can imagine, He is far beyond it. Can He travel from galaxy to galaxy in a blink of an eye? Can He create a Big Bang on a whim? Can He gather the protoplasm and other organic material to create life? There is no way we can imagine a being that powerful, so we bring Him down to our intelligence level, or we just say forget it, it makes no sense.
Asking for proof of such infinite power is like asking an ant to prove the existence of global warming. The concept is just so far beyond it.
Now I’m a scientist by training, so I see the universe in terms of my observations and theories proposed by others. But I’m not one so easily blinded by theories that purport to be fact. It is doing the scientific community a disservice to claim that Evolution or the Big Bang is fact. Granted, they are excellent theories backed by observable data, but they can’t be proven beyond any doubt. After all, it used to be a fact that the world was flat and that the Sun revolved around the Earth. Our views of the universe are just perspectives based on our current understanding, and we should be prepared to be corrected every once and awhile.
So what observations do I see that convince me there is a God? Absolutely none. It is purely a belief, a faith that I hold. There will never be proof one way or the other so there’s no point looking for it, or firmly disbelieving just because there’s no proof. However, my perception of God changes as I ponder. Sometimes I amuse myself by imagining the whole universe is just an experiment by some kid in science class, a class of beings that are far in advance of us. Yes, all of what we call existence is in some test tube on a workbench somewhere in another dimension.
And who is this God person? Some average (amongst His or Her kind) student just trying to get a high B grade in chemistry. All data emanating from the experiment gives the student virtually all knowledge of the universe. What we consider all of time may only be a couple of months of study.
This may only be a fantastic thought experiment, but it does fulfill the description of God, albeit just as flawed as our traditional concept. My point is this: God isn't who you think He is, He can't possibly be!
In my next post, I’ll answer the first question proposed above., i.e. Why hast God forsaken us?
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