Is There Any Proof for God?

It's interesting enough to note the reports of the famous atheist and intellectual Antony Flew becoming a theist. Flew has confirmed these reports and while he has not accepted the Christian view of God, he has come to believe on the basis of the complexity of DNA that there must be a divine creator. Others find other reasons for believing in the existence of God. A pragmatic basis for belief in God is that God, particularly the God of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures gives us a definite meaning for life. More than just meaning, the God of the Bible gives us hope. An atheist might argue, as Flew did for many years, that Christian faith gives people false hope. So, this might cause us to say that the pragmatic basis is insufficient for a solid faith. But there are other cases that can be made.

Another base for faith in experience. Millions of people throughout history attest to religious experience. The Bible gives several testimonies to direct human experience with the divine. There are two weaknesses that I see for the experiential base for faith. First, religious experience is not universal. Every man, woman and child cannot say that they have experienced the presence of God. Second, reported experiences of the divine are disparate. On the basis of religious experience alone, we would have to conclude that there are many different Gods. Maybe we should hold on to this possibility at this point. In popular forms of Hinduism there are many gods and goddesses. At this point in our conversation, we can't rule this possibility out.

A third foundation for faith is the cosmos. The universe in all its majesty, mystery and complexity raises questions concerning the big questions. For the ancient Greek philosophers the universe raised questions about metaphysics. Metaphysics is a field of philosophy that considers matters concerned with existence and ultimate significance.

Some scientists today wrestle with a theory of everything (toe, for short), and these kinds of big questions end up in metaphysics. Whether we consider the design of the universe, the human brain, the human body, or DNA, we arrive at levels of complexity that are difficult to explain from a non-religious standpoint. For example, where does intelligence come from?

If we are willing to concede that God is at least a possibility, then another big question is whether or not we can know God. If God is a reality, indeed the basis of reality, how can we know Him (or her, if we need to use gender terms to speak about this subject)? This is the topic for another post titled "The Human Problem."