Show Me The Evidence

It seems to me that when it comes to evidence for the existence of God, atheists have a tendency to look for a particular type of evidence – i.e. SCIENTIFIC evidence.

I am not sure whether this is the cause or the effect of the widely held view, in certain circles, that belief in God is somehow contradictory to scientific knowledge. Alexei Navalny hinted at this odd attitude in the quote (above) from his book, where he said, on beginning to believe in something beyond the physical, “That did not alter the fact that I am a big fan of science”, as if for some reason he might have to ease off on science if he was going to start having faith.

Let me make it perfectly clear, for those who may be in any doubt, that there is not, never has been, and never will be any contradiction or contention between Christian faith and science, and anyone who claims otherwise is being at best mischievous.

Note that I can only speak for Christian faith. I am not qualified, and nor have I any desire, to speak for other faiths. I will allow their adherents to speak for themselves.

I would suspect that the underlying cause of this idea that science and faith are at loggerheads is that, for many people, science is their belief system and, as with all belief systems, any alternative belief system which does not line up with your own belief system is seen as being at best false, and possibly even as a threat.

This is the case in Communist regimes, where any belief other than Communism is seen as being hostile to the state and must be eradicated. I wonder whether a similar attitude resides in the heart of some secularists who live in a democratic society, where there is supposed to be freedom of belief, but have dedicated a great deal of time and effort in trying to eradicate religion from the public square.

Is there any scientific evidence for the existence of God?

I would say that the answer is probably “no”, for if there were, scientists who are Christians would have been laying it out for the world to see long before now.

What sort of evidence is it that the atheist is looking for, anyway?

I suspect that he would want to see a formula which could be proven to work consistently, no matter who was conducting the experiment, in the same way that two cannon balls dropped from the top of the tower of Pisa will always hit the ground at the same time, no matter who drops them.

For example, if anyone prays over a sick person for healing using a set form of words, the sick person will be healed.

This is not going to happen, for the following reasons:

1. God has better things to do than submit to a scientific experiment conducted by one of His creatures. As far as He is concerned, He has already made His existence abundantly clear to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear and a mind that can understand, and no scientific experiment is necessary (cf. Romans 1:19-20).

2. God does not act in response to a formula. He acts in response to a heart of faith and humility. God will always hear the prayer of the righteous, but He reserves the right to answer that prayer in the way that He sees fit, just as a wise parent does not always give their child what the child wants, but what the child actually needs, which may be quite different.

So, if there is no hope of finding scientific evidence, then what are we to do?

At the heart of every civilised society there is an institution whose every decision is based on the presentation and examination of evidence. I am, of course, referring to a court of law.

My understanding is that there are six classes of evidence in a British court, namely:

• DIRECT evidence – which is the evidence of eye witnesses, who actually saw, heard, or otherwise experienced the event at the heart of the case under consideration.

• CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence – which is evidence inferred from circumstances relative to the event, such as a footprint in the flower bed matching a footprint in the room where the crime was committed matching a footprint in the suspect’s car.

• PRIMARY evidence – which is the presentation of relevant items, such as weapons used in an assault or documents that show that someone said, wrote, or knew something at a certain time.

• SECONDARY evidence – which is a representation of an item of primary evidence, such as a photograph, or a photocopy of a document, or a witness statement that confirms the contents of a document.

• FORENSIC evidence – which is the result of strictly controlled scientific tests carried out on pieces of evidence, such as a DNA test or a fingerprint test.

• EXPERT evidence – the purpose of which is to assist the judge and/or jury to understand the implications of certain evidence. For instance, a medical expert might explain what would be expected to happen if someone with a particular underlying health condition were exposed to certain chemicals.

We also need to consider what constitutes PROOF.

In a court of law, it is next to impossible to prove conclusively and with absolute certainty that someone is guilty of the crime or misdemeanour. That would be possible only if the judge and jury were present when the event took place. So there are levels of probability which are acceptable to the court:

• For criminal cases the threshold of proof is ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
• For civil cases the threshold is ‘on balance of probability’, which is much lower.

Is it possible, then, to provide evidence for the existence of God that proves the case ‘on balance of probability’ or ‘beyond reasonable doubt’?

1. Is there any DIRECT evidence? Of course there is. There are loads of it. Throughout the world today you will find millions of people who can tell you of their personal experience with God. Many have even written books about it. You’ll find some of them on the Back To Jerusalem website.

2. Is there any CIRCUMSTANTIAL evidence? Of course there is. There are loads of it. Look around you at the world and all that’s in it. Look at your own body, your own mind, your intelligence, your consciousness. Did all of this come into existence through random events, or by the outworking of the laws of physics? I would direct you again to what the apostle Paul said in Romans 1:19-20.

3. Is there any PRIMARY evidence? This is more difficult, but there certainly is one vital document – the Bible. This document tells the story of God’s dealings with the world, and primarily His dealings with man. It explains why we’re in the mess that we’re in, and it tells us how we can get out of that mess and begin to fix it. It tells us, as the apostle Peter put it, everything we need to know for life and godliness (1 Peter 1:3-4).

4. Is there any SECONDARY evidence? In a sense, if we’re reading a modern translation of the Bible rather than the original documents (which, of course, are no longer extant), then we’re dealing with secondary evidence. Another form of secondary evidence is archaeological which, although it does not directly demonstrate the reality of God, it does demonstrate the reliability of the Biblical record.

5. Is there any FORENSIC evidence? Not that I am aware of, but someone might be able to fill us in on that one.

6. Is there any EXPERT evidence? Of course there is. There are many theologians and historians and archaeologists, both Jewish and Christian, who are able, and very willing, to teach, to coach, to explain, to encourage, and generally to help anyone along the way to being taught by God and understanding His ways. There are even renowned scientists and mathematicians, such my esteemed fellow-countryman John Lennox.

So, in short, if you’re looking for scientific evidence for God, I’m afraid your search may come to nothing, but if you’re looking for evidence that would be welcomed in a court of law, then you’ll be blessed with an abundance of it – if your mind and heart are open wide enough to recognise it, of course.

I'll close with a couple of quotations from Jesus:

And the one from Paul that has been referred to already:

In Summary

I have endeavoured in this article to explain why I am not, never was, and never could be an atheist. In short, firstly, because the atheist position leaves all of the important questions of life unanswered whereas the Christian position provides compelling answers to them all; and, secondly, because my personal experience has convinced me, beyond all doubt, of the reality of the God of the Bible.

Each of us is on a journey which will lead us ultimately either to truth and life or falsehood and death. My hope and my prayer is that you, who are reading this, will find the way of truth and life, if you have not already done so, and that what I have written here may be of some assistance to you on your journey.