Despite the efforts of several missionaries, I have never become a Mormon,
Or a Jehovah’s Witness,
Or Hare Krishna.
As a rule, when a missionary comes to my door, I surprise them by welcoming them inside. They always have a speech ready to go to try to convince me to join their church (though I wonder how often they actually get to give it.) The speeches are full of reason for belief, logical arguments and “proof” that God, or their version of God is true.
Of course, they start to see through my welcoming demeanor when I open my Bible start asking them unanswerable questions. I have had discussions and debates with friends and strangers go on for hours, for one reason:
Neither of us can actually prove God. Neither of us can land a knockout blow.
And I have wondered for a long time why God left himself so darn unprovable. Why leave things so open ended? Why leave things vague and cloudy?
The answer may be simpler than all the arguments we have for God’s existence.
Would You Like to Fundamentally Change Your Worldview Today?
Three questions about the door to door missionaries:
How many people actually change their entire worldview based on a stranger’s unannounced visit to their home, or their tract that they’re passing out on the sidewalk?
And…
Jesus said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Do my heavenly brownie points get cancelled out if I welcome a stranger, and then try to destroy their proofs of the Almighty?
And most importantly…
How come Christians ridicule and mock the flawed reason and leaps of logic that other religions make, while they skate over our own leaps of logic and believe that strangers will easily be converted to mainstream Christianity with a tract or unannounced house call?
That last question is actually the important one. No matter what we want to believe, no matter how much evidence there is, or how much it demands a verdict, when it comes down to the barest essence of faith, faith is what we are left with because God cannot be unquestionably proven. And that’s good for apologists because it keeps them in business, arguing about the “proofs” for God.
Introverted God?
In the story of Elijah, he goes to a mountaintop to find God.
While Elijah is standing on the mountain, a hurricane wind comes through, but the Bible says that God was not in the wind. Next, a powerful earthquake strikes, but God is not in the earthquake. And then a fire consumes the countryside, but God is not in the fire either.
Finally, Elijah hears a “still small voice.” He may have had to cup his hand to his ear or lean down toward the ground to hear it.
That was God.
Not a hurricane, not an earthquake, not an inferno, none of the loud, noisy, destructive, infallible “proofs” were God.
God was a barely audible whisper.
It makes me think that maybe God’s actually an introvert. Sure, He sent fire down for Elijah once, but when He actually speaks, He’s so quiet, Elijah might have missed it if he wasn’t listening. That’s pretty comforting since my wife and I are introverts.
God is Not in Your Proof
When we try to prove God by arguing and using logic and blasting our opponents, we often unleash the verbal equivalent of hurricanes, earthquakes and fires. We can blow holes through beliefs, wound people, wreck a lot of stuff. It’s pretty hard to argue with a hurricane or an earthquake. You can deny them all you want, but they will destroy everything.
Yet God doesn’t act like a hurricane or an earthquake or a forest fire. When God appears as a fire or a cloud of smoke, that’s unusual. He wasn’t in any of those things with Elijah. And He isn’t any of those things to us. And when we unleash an earthquake on our enemies, God won’t be there either.
God has left himself unprovable for the same reason He does everything else. It’s how He wants it. And no amount of theological nukes we drop on our neighbors will change that.
We live in a culture that values loud talking and louder arguing. We “fight” for our faith. We blast our opponents. We “take back” what is “rightfully” ours. We launch armies to fight culture wars. But God didn’t command us to do any of these things. He called us to love, not to prove.
We end up talking louder than God himself because we forget that God is a still, small voice.
Tell me what you think. Do we waste our time by trying to prove God? What’s the closest thing you come to “proof” for God?
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You are right. God wants to be loved, not proven. He is plain about that. I think, though, that we all remember that first moment of clarity, that single time when we first understood, and that faith first took hold. It feels like proof, doesn’t it?
That’s right. We cannot prove anything. It is the Holy Spirit that does the proving and illuminating.
Thanks for reminding us that “giving a cup of cold water” in Jesus name is more than adequate for God to work. He doesn’t need my apologetic expertise unless He chooses to use it.
That’s right. I wonder if more is spoken by the cup of water than the sermon or proof…
Arguing with someone about God is pointless. Even if you win the argument, the other person is probably going to walk away convinced, not about God, but that you are a jerk.
I wasn’t argued into the kingdom. I was loved into the kingdom. God even had to provide the faith for me to believe in Him.
And sometimes, He uses a comment from a complete stranger to remind me of Who HE is. “I was loved into the Kingdom” has made a 38 yr old man cry, remembering His goodness. Thank you, ma’am. God bless you & your loved ones.
Good stuff Matt.
Faith is really a powerful “muscle”. It was that very thing that allowed Enoch to be “stolen” from earth. I bet the people there thought that aliens took him. Faith is not witnessed in the seen, but in He who is unseen. I don’t see God, I don’t need to see Him. And if I’m reading correctly I’m more blessed than those who did.
We would do well to play close attention, because if we don’t we may miss Him. You know who else missed him? The pharisees. And it was their “religion” that let them miss it. Do we do the same? :0
I don’t think God wants us to prove Him to anyone, He just wants us to introduce people to Him… to demonstrate His love to them. Some religions are more fanatical about it, “believe or die!”, but Jesus wants you to “come… and see.”
Great post.
You are exactly right. God cannot be “proven”, even though His handiwork is plain and clearly seen in all of creation.
But His saving revelation is made known only through His Word, and that has to come to people by faith, which is a gift of God. No one can be argued into it or convinced by logic.
Another good reminder to shut up and listen and let God speak. My dad worships logic and reason, so the natural assumption would be to try to approach him with logic and reasoning on a subject of faith. However, the Holy Spirit is the one who convinces people of God’s existence. All I can do is, if asked, be ready to explain the reasons that I believe.
I think God can be proven, but he can only be proven by himself.
This is what I know. When I reached the end of my road and shrieked my pain and anger to God, that ‘still small voice’ answered me with a love and compassion that was and still is ‘ the peace that passes all understanding’. Was it God? It was a Father, my Father, who answered by pain with perfect love. No matter what, I know that I am forgiven, I have value to the creator of the universe, and I have been given the gift of perfect love. I call that God.
Ever read John Locke? We can never understand things that are beyond our limit to understand. If we concern ourselves with things that are knowable and within our human limitations, we’ll get that much further in our grasp of what’s really going on.
In theory anyway…
Budding apologist here. I essentially agree. We can throw all the logic at a person that we have, but that’s not going to open their hearts to God. As best you’ll get a mental conversion – at best. Granted, reasoning can get rid of misconceptions.
I realized a long time ago that trying to prove God won’t win people over. Only agape love really can. I find it interesting that the Bible does not say God is logic, or that God is knowledge. It says that God is love, so if we are to demonstrate God to others, we must do so by demonstrating agape love. Experiencing that selfless love can be more powerful than any well-thought argument.
John 13:35 MSG
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” Seems pretty Clear!
Wow. Just found your blog and this is SO timely for me. My husband and I have been getting in little tiffs recently – about my “friends”.
I, too, invite in the Mormons and the JW that come to my door. My take is that if they can share, I can share, too. My husband believes that I won’t change them and they won’t change me – so it’s a waste of time. Maybe it is. And I don’t know that my motives are pure. Loved reading this post, though. Thanks.
I regret that I can no longer read “The Church of No People” because you post excellent and thoughtful material. But I cannot read the unenlargeable teeny tiny print on the black background. Sorry.
I agree with what many have said that it is the work of the Spirit that enables people to be convinced. I would also say that God taking on flesh and walking among us sure made a big splash with God proving Himself. It is a historical fact.
I don’t know, the fact that God exist is pretty clear when we are able to move by the Spirit to cast out demons, prophesy, heal the sick, as well as the things non-Christians can do like feed the poor, visit those in jail and take care of the widows.
We get to hung up on how to love people emotionally, when Jesus will do it if we are listening.
AMEN! One of your best post Matt! Throroughly enjoyed reading this!
Thank you.
Thanks for the words of wisdom. We got a lot of ‘Christian Vuvuzelas’ out there just blasting away.
*Annoying editor note
Check out the difference between ‘proven’ and ‘proved’ — it’s almost as bad as who vs. whom.
David said, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all.” Is this the same ‘whispering’ God as Elijah’s? Yes! But David had learned by his own experience, not by another person’s “proof.” God does prove Himself to us, by various means, and also Luke writes that Jesus showed Himself to be Who He is “by many infallible proofs.” But I very much agree with your point that we err when we take it upon ourselves to do that work of His.