Common 'objections' seen from a God perspective

(There are consistent views presented in the bible as to what God is like, how he makes himself known, and in whom is found the meaning and purpose of our life on this earth. The bible also provides a context for understanding the social and political state of our world as we currently observe it, as well as foreshadowing its predicted future and destiny.)

Basic objections to belief in God: many people conclude, on reflection, that the idea of the Christian God in the bible is not a reasonable belief and several issues seem to contribute to this conclusion. 

Some objections you may identify with:

‘An enemy has done this!’ Matthew 13:28 NLT
Cruelty and suffering, as witnessed and experienced in this world, do not seem to be consistent with a God of goodness, faithfulness and love having created all things and being in control as the bible claims. We are routinely confronted with harsh realities that are hard to reconcile with a God of benevolence and kindness. Yet we do see great diversity, ingenuity and creativity in this world, with a generous supply of elements harmonising together to sustain a wide variety of abundant and resilient life.

A reality in the bible’s message, not so widely acknowledged and accepted, is that the negative experiences we see and have are attributed to an enemy, known as the devil or Satan. He is consistently identified as the source of the harm that operates in this ‘fallen’ world. He sometimes hides and sometimes makes plain his purposes, which are to spoil God’s creative handiwork in whatever way he can. Unfortunately, our own human self-will and assertions of autonomy can put limits on how much God can restrain Satan’s corrupting influences.

Satan’s subtle, and sometimes not so subtle activities are directed towards discouraging our belief and confidence in God’s good-will towards us. While God does assure us of his ultimate and sovereign control in this world, he is presently constrained by his regard for human autonomy and free-will.  Jesus came to show us, through the example of his life and teaching, how we can live in victory and freedom, nevertheless. The influence of God’s ‘kingdom’ can be invited to become present in our life and circumstances when we choose to follow God’s ways rather than our own.

Thus, even in the face of challenging and difficult circumstances, God offers the comfort of his indwelling presence that helps to redeem and transform even pain and suffering into ultimate purposes for good if we can put our trust in him. By demonstrating for us what God’s ‘kingdom life’ can be like, Jesus consistently displayed an authority and passion for undoing all things considered to be the work of Satan in a person’s life. He addressed all manner of oppression, both physical and mental, and proclaimed the Father heart of God by demonstrating it through healings and releases ministered to people from all walks of life who were willing to receive them.

There are two main challenges to having faith in God in this present, fallen world. One is about maintaining hope and being ready for the coming of God’s long-term future plan, which is one that promises to finally banish all evil and suffering through the arrival of a ‘new heaven and a new earth’ where perfection is restored, where his presence will dwell among people and his purposes will prevail. The other is about maintaining our assurance of his unchanging love and goodwill towards us in this present life when we face painful and challenging experiences. Here our enemy conspires with our natural ways of thinking to cause us to either doubt and blame God (i.e., in hostility), or to consider it all as random chance (i.e., rejecting God in unbelief).

While some concepts here presented may not seem particularly palatable, they form a whole, a world view, that is consistently portrayed throughout the bible. They are not an invention drawn at random from obscure verses to resolve apparent anomalies. The purpose of this site is to direct attention to relevant passages so that awareness and understanding of its message may be clearly verified by readers for themselves.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: The problem of suffering: God has an enemy

Associated topics with related bible references:
Discovering God’s Heart
What the Bible says about Jesus
God’s good, acceptable and perfect will
Finding meaning and making sense of suffering
Why doesn't God 'do something'?

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

It is hard to understand what the bible says about this world being created by a loving God who is in control, yet with so much evil and suffering. However, these things come from an enemy, and because of God’s respect for free-will, they result in fall-out that God does not directly will or cause. Yet he continues outworking his plan towards ultimate victory, and meantime offers himself, if we will but receive him, as ‘a very present help in times of trouble’.

For many people it seems self-evident that if there does exist an all-powerful God who is good, that he would surely intervene to prevent pain, suffering, disease, wars, atrocities and random disasters that inflict themselves on innocent people.

The bible begins with a description of God creating a perfect world. The people in it were part of its harmonious working and all things were in alignment with his plan, design, vision and will. However, early in the history of humankind, it is recorded that our potential for autonomy was exploited by God’s enemy, Satan, who enticed us with a deceptive proposition - one that held the attraction, supposedly, of finding more ultimate fulfilment and destiny through self discovery rather than operating within the limits given by God.

We have been gifted with an inherent capacity for independence and self-direction but it was intended that such attributes be willingly channelled through a relationship of intimacy and mutual trust into the overarching plans and purposes of God. However, we became enticed, not to [literally] eat a piece of ‘forbidden fruit’, but to embrace the idea of becoming masters of our own destiny, making up our own minds about right and wrong and what we think is best for us. Instead of fully trusting the boundaries set by God as being also in our best interest, we sought to acquire the ‘knowledge of good and evil’ for ourselves. Unfortunately, we were not aware that ability to discern good inherently involved coming to know and experience evil as well.

Thus it was through the human will that evil gained its opportunity to enter this world, being at variance with the perfect will and purposes of God.

Our human self-will (i.e., what the bible refers to as ‘sin’) is not always an outright desire to do wrong, and we continue to encounter many good people around us. However, when self was asserted, deception and evil gained a foothold, and is described as having brought consequences - a less than perfect environment on the earth, and an alienation in the relationship between ourselves and God (and his good purposes that were planned for us).

Though these consequences are described as a ‘curse’, i.e., as though being a retribution dispensed by God, they came in consequence of we humans stepping out from under his protective oversight – and into the intrigues of an enemy intent on spoiling what God had created. This brought a flow-on effect for humanity known as the ‘fall’, putting distance between us and God, and resulting in our lives on earth becoming occasioned by harsh and difficult experiences that are exploited by Satan to undermine our confidence in God’s enduring goodness towards us.

From the beginning, however, God had a built-in contingency plan to redeem what had become lost to him so that his relentless desire to extend mercy, forgiveness and grace towards all people might prevail. The writings of the New Testament, about the coming of Jesus, explain that, in fact, God has ‘already done something’ to defeat Satan’s hold over this world by sending Jesus to pay, on our behalf, the (just) penalty for our sin and sinfulness. Through the suffering and death of his own innocent son, God has freed us from the inevitable and irreversible consequences we had faced.

What Jesus did has enabled God to set in place a timetable for his coming plan to finally free this world from all evil and suffering and provide for himself, and the people who are his, a ‘new heaven and a new earth’. This is a great hope which Jesus has encouraged us to hold on to in our hearts.

However, there are implications. If what God ushers in is to be perfect, then only what can be deemed perfect can take part in it. This means that there will need to be a complete separation of what is imperfect from all that is perfect, and of all evil from what is good. It will also bring about a change in Jesus’ role from being humanity’s Saviour to that of Judge, and a challenge for each one of us about whether we ourselves will be able to enter. Only those claiming their ‘justification’ through Jesus, rather than anything they hope to be able to argue for themselves, will be able to enter. (See Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast about this.)

Though Satan continues to wreak havoc on this earth, God has not hastened as quickly as we might like, to complete his plan to redeem and restore this world to being a place where he dwells. God knows that, unfortunately but inevitably, bringing evil and suffering to an end will also bring to a close all opportunity for being made right with him and he remains ever hopeful of having as many people as possible join him in his perfect realm. He therefore desires to keep the possibility open for as long as possible for people to hear and have opportunity to accept his offer and come into right relationship with him through Jesus. Because of the gift of our free will, the offer he makes in reaching out to us needs to be willingly received. There needs to be a heartfelt response made in faith if it is to bring about the intended good that he desires to bestow on us.

Above all, with a seeming delay in seeing the evil and suffering of this world coming to an end, we are encouraged to remember that the enemy’s rampaging remains constrained by limits imposed by God’s sovereign hand, and even in the present, where our suffering is offered to Him, it can be ‘redeemed’ and repurposed for good. So, we can be assured that his purposes are sure, and that where his timing seems contrary to what we might long for, it is regulated entirely by his innate kindness towards each of us.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: Why is evil allowed to continue and not been stopped?

Associated topics with related bible references:
The problem of suffering: God has an enemy
God’s good, acceptable and perfect will
Finding meaning and making sense of suffering
Is there a positive in God's apparent fixation with 'sin'?
Why doesn't God 'do something'?
God has a plan

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

Counter arguments often put forward to explain the objections and apparent contradictions about God seem contrived and nothing more than lame excuses.

Throughout the bible, God is described as being all powerful and good. He describes himself in this way and he describes his world, when it was made, as having been good. Though we live on a remarkable planet, we all see and have experiences that are far from what we would describe as good, and are far from what we would expect to see happening in a perfect world.

This anomaly raises doubts about God’s goodness, about his authorship, and about his power to be in control . In addition, considerations about there being some ‘greater good’ or purpose when bad things happen, do not always bring comfort or provide sufficient answers.

A basic explanation from the bible tends to be one of its more controversial and contested topics. However it remains essential for having a view of God and his goodness that is not inconsistent with obvious and distressing problems observed in this world.

Contained throughout the bible is a basic assertion that God has an enemy. He is the fallen angel, Satan, who became lifted up with pride about his own self importance and significance. Through this assertion of self-will, he came into deception and fell from being under God’s Absolute Sovereignty and Providence. Humankind are also described as having succumbed to Satan’s enticements, bringing them down into a similar fallen and separated state.

The existence and reality of Satan, and his activities, are consistently attributed in the bible to negative influences seen in this ‘fallen’ world of nature and people. Until the time that his influence is to be justly brought to an end forever, he continues to challenge God’s purposes for good with his own agenda which is to deprive and spoil. He attempts, in every way possible, to accuse and bring God into disrepute with humanity.

In addition, because of God’s special love for those ‘made in his image’ (us), Satan has also made himself the enemy of people. Some good news, though, that should not be allowed to become lost on us is that as mortals, and unlike Satan, there exists opportunity for us to be redeemed back into God’s grace and favour. God made it known from the very beginning that he was outworking a rescue plan for people through the sending of his own son to come and give his own life for the sake of humanity.

Jesus, while on earth, demonstrated that his entire motivation in all that he did and taught was to fulfil God’s plan to completely neutralise the legacy and work of our common enemy, Satan. Jesus outlined this perspective in one of his somewhat lesser known but important parables, ‘the wheat and the weeds’, which outlines God’s mindset for balancing the welfare of people with his plan to bring Satan’s influence to an end.

Although Jesus allowed himself to become subject to the extremity of human suffering, signs of the ‘Kingdom of God’ that he heralded and brought, were always in terms of bringing relief to human suffering, i.e., healing from disease and deformities, release from bondage, freedom from oppression and comfort for sadness. He consistently showed compassion towards problematic human conditions, attributing them to the work of God’s enemy which he consistently sought to negate.

In summary, God provides in the bible a message of both explanation and hope about the problems of this world. However he longs for a response to him in our hearts so that he may become a very present help to us, beginning right here and now in our current circumstances. By ‘opening the door’ and taking notice of what he reveals through his Word (the bible), he is able to impart even the faith that we need to be able to reach out to him and to receive from his abundance of all that he desires to offer.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: Faith provides access to a God dimension that is unseen

Associated topics with related bible references:
Seeing from God’s Perspective
How God reveals himself (and makes himself known)
Discovering God’s Heart
What the Bible says about Jesus
The problem of suffering: God has an enemy
God’s good, acceptable and perfect will
Finding meaning and making sense of suffering
God has a Dilemma
Jesus came to bring reconciliation
Nature and Role of ‘Repentance’
God offers ‘salvation’ - to life redeemed and transformed

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

This doesn’t sound like a God we can believe in or would want to revere or be in the company of, but rather one to whom we could only relate to out of fear.

An underlying aspect to the Old Testament writings is that they are describing an unfolding revelation of God, i.e., who he is and what he is like, through his dealings with humanity over a number of successive generations. There is a particular focus on his attempts at leading a chosen people, ancient Israel, into their destiny using a reward and punishment system. This all gives rise to events and descriptions about God, through various eras of human history, that in our day can make him sound harsh and oppressive.

One aspect to the controversial nature of some passages from the Old Testament is that they were written in the context of their time and shaped by the perceptions of God held by Israel’s current scribes. All were influenced by the stories of their forefathers and the nation’s beginnings as an institutionalised people emerging from almost 400 years of enforced subservience in Egypt as slaves. In addition, many events referred to in the Old Testament occurred in notoriously fierce and warlike times with descriptions influenced by the way contemporary scribes of Israel understood the world in which they lived and the revelations of God they had so far experienced.

In addition, Jewish scribes were writing in the context of the ‘Old Covenant’, occurring centuries before an emerging revelation of God’s grace became fully completed with the coming of Jesus who enabled the ushering in of a ‘New Covenant’. This means they were necessarily limited in their revelation of God and inclined to emphasise more of his fierceness and to frame their descriptions in harsher terms more common for their time. However, God himself has not changed and his plan to send his son into the world had been flagged right from the beginning of his dealings with humanity.(13)

During the era of the Old Testament, God’s intentions were to demonstrate to a world of pagan idol worshippers his unique identity as the unseen, one, true, creator God who has goodwill towards all people and is worthy to be known as a faithful keeper of promises. Visible evidence of his reality was intended to be seen in the form of favour and prosperity promised to come upon a particular people (the nation of Israel) when they faithfully followed him. God’s undertaking was clear and definite: that his protection, goodness and blessing would come upon a people who chose to remain obedient to his laws and principles of right living. This proposition, with its contingent promises, became known as the Old Covenant.

However, not inconsistently with the times, God’s laws also came with warnings about consequences or punishments that would follow for those who ignored or rejected his commands. Such consequences would provide further visible evidence of the reality and potency of this invisible God and were an additional motivator well understood among peoples of the day. They were sometimes in great fear of abandonment or retribution from their own ‘gods’, seeking appeasement through extremes that are recorded, in some cases, to include acts of self-mutilation(14) or child sacrifice(15), things not desired or pleasing to the ‘God of Israel’.

Despite coming with explicit warnings and penalties, God’s laws were designed to promote justice, compassion and right living among people and societies, sometimes making a beginning to at least curb the excesses of some well-entrenched practices of the day such as taking revenge or owning slaves, i.e., things that are today not condoned and are recognised as exploitative and oppressive.

Some of God’s ‘punishments’, such as being overrun by the armies of hostile enemies, came about when his people themselves, by ignoring or rejecting his laws, came out from under his ‘covering’ of protection and blessing. Such incidents occurred many times throughout Old Testament history, generally coming in consequence of people who, despite being warned by the prophets, could not maintain their motivation to live faithfully in obedience to God.

In response to the Old Testament circumstances outlined above, God is shown to have been pursuing two options. One was severe, seeking to discourage a proliferation of ungodly practices and heathen cultural influences(16) so as to preserve his people long enough for him to bring about, through them, his further option and primary purpose, which gradually became more overt – to initiate a ‘New Covenant’ that would come through his son, Jesus.

The purpose of God’s New Covenant was to bring hope that living in faithfulness towards Him would become possible through the motivational change of a renewed heart. In the end it was the human heart that, of itself, had proved so unable to be made right by merely becoming subject to a set of laws. The New Covenant brings forgiveness for our failures instead of condemnation (Jesus having paid the penalty for us) and sets us free to be made right with God and to receive all of his goodwill and purposes towards us.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: From 'severity' of the Old Testament / Covenant to God's 'grace' in the New
Is there a positive in God's apparent fixation with 'sin'?

Associated topics with related bible references:
Discovering God’s Heart
A God of Compassion, Mercy and Forgiveness

13. “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3: 15 NASB

14. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. 1 Kings 18: 26‑29 NIV

15. "They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind. Jeremiah 7:31 NASB

16.  The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Genesis 6: 5‑9 NIV

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

Many are of the opinion that if God exists and that his requirement is that people should believe in him and live by his ways and laws, that he easily could, and should, produce much more convincing evidence of His existence so as to erase all doubt. If we are supposed to believe in him and having faith is so important to him, what can be wrong in wanting some more convincing evidence of his existence?

This would seem to be a reasonable expectation, but the contested issue is about the existence of a ‘God’ who describes himself as existing in an unseen realm of the spirit that is about matters of the heart. His reality is therefore of a kind other than that of this material world which we know about with our five human senses.

Nevertheless, he has already provided evidence of himself. Initially it is through his handiwork in the creation that we can see. However, he recognises that there is a human difficulty being aware of him because of our ‘fallen’ human nature. In addition, therefore, he has also given us his word, through the various inspirations of the biblical authors, along with a culminating revelation in his son, Jesus, in visible, human form to whom we can more readily relate.

To gain knowledge by considering evidence, using reason and logic, is a concept that works well and has a consistent validity for coming to know and understand things about the world in which we live. However, without adding further detail, the bible tells of a God who spoke and by faith brought into being this world that had not existed. It would seem, therefore, that to reject our aptitude for faith in trying to determine whether we can believe in God or not, is to demand a burden of proof set by us without realising that this of itself negates the very process whereby we may come to know and relate to this unseen God.

Limiting what we choose to believe in to what can be proved to our intellectual satisfaction by reason and logic alone, rules out a knowing of things that are about an unseen dimension beyond what our human understanding can conceive. God well knows, from his perspective, that demanding further and ever more convincing ‘evidence’ (or ‘signs’) to solve all intellectual challenges, before being willing to engage with him, will defeat his purpose: a desire for winning back our hearts to be reconciled to him and come into right relationship with him.

From God’s point of view, then, if we are putting him on notice regarding questions that arise in our own reasoning, and expecting to have all doubt removed about his existence with tangible and concrete evidence (which he knows to be a self-defeating process), have we not then set God up to fail? The ‘lack of evidence’ can then seem to justify a rejection of him and his reality. If we reject his gift of faith, which he promises to impart through the receiving of his Word, then it is us who miss opportunity for knowing of himself, i.e., he who reaches out and longs to heap upon us of his goodness, help and love.

This perspective is put forward, not to deny the challenges and apparent contradictions to adopting a position of faith, but to show that reason alone cannot be relied upon to resolve issues about knowing God. To find faith in God needs also an engagement of the heart and an active responsiveness that can lead to a dimension of knowing that is more reassuring and fulfilling than that which comes through reliance on intellectual reasoning alone. Each of our most tentative steps towards belief in God can lead us along on that pathway of discovery towards a knowing that his promises are sure – based on his own words: you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.(17)

The power of believing is based on something sure: God has given his word. We ourselves know that when there is someone of integrity who is trustworthy and reliable, we will often agree to an arrangement or an undertaking with them, regarding it as an acceptable risk on the basis that they have given their word. God has given his word to us in the bible, and it is in him that we believe and have faith - it is not in the concepts of belief or faith in themselves.

On that basis, we need to be aware that the power is in believing all of the truth he has given. God’s word cannot stand true for us if we decide to pick and choose the parts that suit us while dismissing things that we perhaps don’t like, don’t understand, can’t make sense of, or find difficult to accept. This is not said to discourage anyone with some doubts from getting started on a journey of faith, but rather to encourage them not to be too quick to simply ‘dismiss’ things they may find themselves balking at from the bible. It is also important to avoid dismissing the whole because of some part, which may be a particular statements or passages that does not seem attractive or reasonable from a human point of view.

Coming to faith can happen by taking on board the parts of the bible that we do understand and putting them into practice, thereby continuing to seek him by choosing to exercise some trust in him and ‘proving’ for ourselves of his faithfulness in what he promises. ‘Believing’, in this sense, is something we can choose to do. It opens the possibility for greater understanding to come, over time, of deeper and more challenging concepts about God as we grow in our relationship with him.

It is worth noting that not everything about God will make sense to the natural mind. For some issues about his eternal realm, we may need him to ‘reveal’ something to us of these unseen realities. Sometimes further understanding comes suddenly, as in a flash of insight, about the meaning of passages we have been reflecting on or struggling with. This can be one of the ways that God reveals something of himself that is difficult to explain or understand in human terms.

Some concepts can ‘grow’ on us as our minds expand in capacity to absorb insights that have previously seemed quite unreasonable. Such revelations from God are often only made possible by having come to a present understanding of concepts that had previously been confusing and mystifying, so that we are able to grow into new ones. All these aspects to knowing God become possible simply by opening our hearts to him.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: God is not 'hiding' from those who seek for him
What happens when human reasoning challenges God?

17. Jeremiah 29:13 NASB

Associated topics with related bible references:
What God says about Himself
Discovering God’s Heart
How God reveals himself (and makes himself known)
God speaks a language of the heart
Nature and Role of ‘Repentance’
The need to believe
Demands for 'Evidence'
Benefits of Faith
Barriers to knowing God
Faith provides access to a God dimension that is unseen
Warnings on consequences of unbelief as not motivated by hate
Myth of neutrality about belief
How can we know?
How do we get faith?
God's invitations for an experiencial knowing

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

There is also the problem of the many other beliefs and philosophies of this world – many that are sincerely held and bring benefit to people, as well as a multitude of religions and gods derived from long held beliefs and traditions within a wide diversity of cultural expression. To teach from the bible that there is only one true God is seen to be promoting narrow mindedness and intolerance instead of valuing diversity and accepting differences.

For some hard-to-understand challenges about believing in God, it can be helpful to broaden our perspective to consider how things would be for God himself if he is indeed who he says he is (even hypothetically) rather than how things appear to us when we make ourselves the starting point.

An example of the above can be found in common objections to the Christian God being claimed to be the one and only true God. This view is a position clearly maintained throughout the bible but commonly lacks credibility with non-believers who see a myriad of alternative religions and cultures, all having a god or gods in whom they also believe. If there are so many, it is reasoned, considering one to be true and all others false seems arrogant and divisive. The fact of so many religions makes it seem obvious, from a position of non-belief, that they must all originate from human thought and imagination in some form.

Suppose it were true as the bible portrays, however, that a separation has occurred which has brought about an alienation between God and humanity who were destined to be together in a relationship of harmony and mutual regard. If there has indeed been a severing of our connection with God that our spirituality was intended to fulfil, then it would reasonably follow that a legacy of that separation may well manifest as a void in the human heart. It is readily apparent, even among non-believers, that something in the human spirit responds with awe and wonder at the complexity and beauty of nature and the vastness of the universe. There is also a drive within the human soul to find meaning and purpose in life, usually with regard to causes greater than ourselves.

From such a perspective, then, it would follow that having been cut adrift from our spiritual connection with an unseen God, and lacking either knowledge or acceptance of him, people would be led into many forms of meaning-making about their existence. What we observe is not inconsistent with such an expectation because we see people, whether primitive or advanced, continuing to both discover and invent things that inspire them. They may be ideas or objects, living or inanimate, of beauty, strength and grandeur that we see on the earth around us or in the skies above. Some have become objects of worship or have had god-like qualities attributed to them, such as seeing them to have some sovereign influence over things that happen in their lives. In more advanced civilisations, this drive for significance may be seen to have produced great discoveries, innovations or endeavours of engineering and science - or new ideas and philosophies - that people look to for inspiration and guidance.

Such a drive, without a knowledge of God or an awareness of why we experience it, could well explain what we in fact witness: that there are many and varied cultural expressions of religion, religious belief and philosophical thought that have developed among a diversity of peoples throughout human history and across the world. The occurrence of many religions and beliefs can therefore be consistent with having an understanding of God that helps lead to faith and does not automatically validate opinions expressing scepticism and non-belief.

A further point to note: it should not be assumed, as is often the case, that by definition the Christian view that there is only one God is dismissive and unaccepting of other people. Although much cruel and harsh mistreatment of people, as well as quite inhuman regimes and enterprises have been performed, supposedly ‘in the name of God’, they have often been based on concepts from the bible either overemphasized or taken out of context without regard to the whole of the message about the nature of God and his good will towards all people.

The message of the bible is indeed singular about the Person of God - this truth is the power of its message - but every aspect of his creativity has the hallmark of a great love of diversity. His unfolding vision for humanity is described as culminating in having a great host of people coming together to be his family, among whom he shall be pleased to dwell. They will be a great multitude from all nations, races and cultural backgrounds - all who will come are included and welcomed.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: Our tendency to put hope in things we find more visible and understandable
God is improbable beyond anything that we could humanly dream up

Associated topics with related bible references:
Reasonable grounds for God and faith?
What the bible says about God
What God says about Himself
Seeing from God’s Perspective
Discovering God’s Heart
God speaks a language of the heart
Nature and Role of ‘Repentance’
God offers ‘salvation’ - to life redeemed and transformed
Warnings on consequences of unbelief are not motivated by hate
Myth of neutrality about belief


Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

This situation reinforces a growing perception of the Christian faith as being largely irrelevant, with no valid contribution to make in secular society. However, church history and credibility for personally adopting a position of faith are not the same thing.

In short, no matter how hard it sounds, or how true and serious are allegations of human failings and corruption that can be (quite rightly) levelled at sections of the church, it will always be our own relationship with God, and the state of our own heart towards him, that will determine our ultimate well-being and destiny in eternity. The failings of other people towards us, no matter how reprehensible or even personally devastating, can serve as sufficient excuse for ourselves when the time comes that a merciful and gracious God must ultimately exercise judgment, i.e., he must judge (make a determination about) whether we have chosen or rejected, ignored or remained ignorant of the many ways he has attempted to reach out to us.

For victims of abuse: while aspects of the above statement may seem to convey harshness or condone injustice, it is intended to help in dealing with quite understandable responses that can nevertheless become barriers to receiving healing and restoration for oneself. Because sources of pain and betrayal are based on very real events and circumstances, they can produce very distressing and potent emotions that lead to attitudes very difficult to resolve. Nevertheless, one of their worst effects is to cause those who have suffered such damaging experiences to turn away from the One who most longs to bring comfort, healing and reassurances of his love. His desire is to restore them to his purpose, destiny and sense of inherent dignity and self worth, where they can enjoy peace of heart and mind and a renewed sense of well being.

For the disillusioned: something worthy of consideration is that we are in the hands of a truly awesome God who should rightly be ‘feared’ in a positive way, as when we see his handiwork displayed on a grand scale in nature or when its great forces are unleashed in wind, storm, fire or flood. From these things we catch a mere glimpse of his vastness, awesomeness and power, but rather than responding in fear, he would rather we came in humility, acknowledging that he rules over all and that we are entirely in his hands. He longs that we might willingly cast ourselves upon his grace and mercy, and trust ourselves into his hands because he is also totally awesome in his graciousness, mercy, love and forgiveness, as well as his expansive promises offered in his word and made available to us through faith.

Each of us needs to weigh carefully the scale of our smallness (though not our insignificance) in the great scheme of things and cast ourselves upon him who has mercy and graciousness beyond measure, who notes and stores every tear, hears every sigh and heartache, and through Jesus has suffered with us every human pain.

All these things about God need to be considered with regard to our attitude towards what the bible refers to as ‘the church’, a broad term referring to all religious denominations and other affiliated organisations as well as smaller groups of believers. Despite some very serious flaws and displays of failure and betrayal at times by its members in living up to God’s standards of truth and integrity, the church nevertheless remains a basic concept in which God has invested heavily of himself.

Despite the church’s imperfections (which he is constantly seeking to redress and restore) God has no contingent or alternative plan for humanity’s redemption and salvation. Rather, he continues to oversee a process of his church becoming ‘perfected’ into all that he desires for it to be. In fact, God’s love for the church and how he sees it, is described with metaphors in a number of bible passages where it is likened to a bride being prepared for her groom, representing his son, Jesus, or even as a physical body in integral relationship to its head, again likened to Jesus.(18) If this is how God relates to his church, in terms of great closeness and tenderness, we need to be careful about how much we dare to despise what he has chosen to love and invest in with so much of himself.

To hold failures of the church, or individual churches or a church member, as justification for holding back personally in indifference or antagonism from seeking God in our own lives, is a pathway we should be careful not to go down. What virtue can there be for a person to sacrifice their own well-being and eternal destiny for the sake of other individuals or institutions where they, not you, have betrayed their beliefs, whether through hypocrisy or, in the worst case scenario, through completely indefensible behaviour? Rather than abstaining from what we may see as an imperfect church, a challenge to average readers of this page who are of good faith and conscience, is to consider actually joining with your chosen body of believers to help contribute towards the church becoming a generally better presence in this world.

Related topics with further introductory discussion: God’s plan significantly invested in his church
How can we get the faith needed for knowing God?

18. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2: 19‑22 ESV

Associated topics with related bible references:
Reasonable grounds for God and faith?
Discovering God’s Heart
Jesus came to bring reconciliation
God speaks a language of the heart
Nature and Role of ‘Repentance’
God offers ‘salvation’ - to life redeemed and transformed
Warnings on consequences of unbelief as not motivated by hate
Myth of neutrality about belief
God's invitations for an experiencial knowing


Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

To people who say that they would need significantly more reassurances about the existence of God (if they were likely to believe in him) the idea of adopting beliefs on the basis of faith can seem irrational, and to fly in the face of reason and intelligence.

It seems that science has been gaining an increasingly wide appeal as the only reliable source of knowledge on which to base a world view acceptable for our times. It is seen to be soundly based on reason and logic with a validity taken to be self evident. This perspective motivates advances in the study of evolution and the cosmos that are considered to be leading us towards an ever more true and accurate understanding of our existence. Along with this trend has come an ever growing and legitimising of atheistic views that limit reality to what can be observed, measured and deduced about our material universe.

For many people, therefore, to believe in even the possibility of a God whose existence cannot be incontrovertibly proven tends nowadays to be seen as clinging to mythical ideas that are in defiance of established fact and represent an unreasonable denial of accepted reality. On the other hand, there are widely promoted views that the bible is full of inaccuracies and that the historical events it describes represent handed down mythology. Yet, these claims remain contested opinions that have not been ‘conclusively’ proven to be true. Although there are evidences and conjecture to support such views, they nevertheless include presumptions consistent with prevailing world views of unbelief.

For people who have come to accept and exercise faith in the promises of God, however, and have experienced his empowering and comforting presence in their lives, arguments against faith as being something unreasonable show a certain amount of spiritual naivety, not to mention an often misinformed misrepresentation of the beliefs being disparaged.

Yet dismissive views tend to be not so transparent about, or even aware, that science itself and many of the endeavours it invests in, reflect a confidence in itself and where it is heading which includes some conjecture. A key motivation for some of its significant and ongoing research projects comes from a perspective that, given enough time and with ongoing work, science will discover the origins of the universe and how life began apart from the idea of God - even though these questions remain persistently unanswered to date despite much concerted effort. This determined quest makes it hard not to consider that the level of confidence and expectation is not also without its measure of faith.

The above statement is not to discredit or disparage science, or the pursuit of science, which contributes significantly to our quality of life as well as our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. However if advocates of science and scientific dogma can at times so misunderstand and misrepresent faith (in ways that are readily apparent to an adherent and student of faith), it raises questions as to why scientific opinion about what we accept as reality should not also be subject to some scrutiny.

Issues raised in the above paragraphs suggest there is an inherent and universal capacity for faith residing within every person. Could it not be possible, perhaps, that this is an aptitude given to us as a gift for the express purpose of being able to relate to God who is beyond knowing through intellectual reasoning and logic alone? This would mean that faith is something that is needed, rather than something to be dispensed with, so that we may come to him whom to know needs an engagement of the heart and spirit within.

This site aims to make a case for seeing faith as not unreasonable, though it involves a different ‘knowing’ to that of the intellect. The bible expressly states that a knowledge of God does not come by human wisdom or reasoning of the natural mind alone. The idea of God can indeed seem to be unreasonable and ‘foolishness’; but we are assured that it is in the foolishness (of faith) that the ‘wisdom’ of God is found. It would seem that a ‘science versus faith’ debate has been there all along in the bible ready to speak in our time.

In his word, God’s proposition is clearly stated, ‘Those who seek me with their whole heart will surely find me.’(19) This is a hypothesis that can be trialled and tested. If a person does not do it, and continues to raise intellectual arguments against belief, how can they with authority say that God does not exist, or how will they stand when facing him, supposedly well armed with their argument of not having been provided with enough evidence?

Related topics with further introductory discussion: Basic aims and propositions of site

19. Jeremiah 29:13 NASB

Associated topics with related bible references:
Seeing from God’s Perspective
How God reveals himself (and makes himself known)
Discovering God’s Heart
Nature and Role of ‘Repentance’
The need to believe
Demands for 'Evidence'
Benefits of Faith
Barriers to knowing God
Faith provides access to a God dimension that is unseen
Warnings on consequences of unbelief as not motivated by hate
Myth of neutrality about belief
How can we know?
How do we get faith?
God's invitations for an experiencial knowing
God is not 'hiding' from those who seek for him

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

This question raises an issue that seems to show that belief in God, as an explanation for the existence of this material world, has an obvious flaw. The logic would seem to be self evident that if he is claimed to be the beginning of everything, it begs the question as to how, then, did God begin.

The bible’s opening statement asserts that the material universe we observe around us was conceived and brought into being by God. This resulted in the beginning of matter, that occupies space (where previously there had been nothing) and these two together marked the beginning of time. This means that God, as consistently described in the bible, is defined as something beyond these three dimensions. He is an eternal being, without beginning and end, and is without material substance, so cannot be seen and is not occupying space. He is present in us and through us but not of us.

If this is indeed his reality, then the question of, ‘How did God begin?’ does not have relevance. He is something beyond our human understanding and knowledge, though we relate to unseen concepts like love, good, evil, etc. Also, the invitations he extends toward us indicate that we can both experience him and relate to him personally through faith and belief.

Related topics with further introductory discussion:
God is Eternal - without beginning or end
Faith provides access to a God dimension that is unseen

Associated topics with related bible references:
Seeing from God’s Perspective (What is God Like?)
How God reveals himself (and makes himself known)
The need to believe
Benefits of Faith
Barriers to knowing God
God is improbable beyond human imagination
Paradoxical nature of God’s Truths
How can we know?
How do we get faith?
God's invitations for an experiencial knowing

Go to: Topics List:    this page     main navigation page

Next: Why doesn't God 'do something'?