God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty (29 page)

By theoretically researching one of the latest scientific frontiers, the nature and limits of the process of building thoughts, God was to me fruit of the highest engineering complexity of thought, produced by a brain impassioned by life that would resist its chaos in the solitude of a tomb. It is probable that I arrived at the ultimate stage of atheism. Nevertheless, since my theory contemplated not only the construction of thought but also the training process of thinkers, I studied the minds of great men and women to see how they broke out of the prison of the routine and fanned their intelligence and what tools they used to produce their great ideas.

As a psychological atheist I decided to study a man called Jesus. I began with His biographies, called the
Gospels, in various versions. I expected to find an ordinary person without great intellect or emotion, produced by a group of Galileans who needed a hero to free them from the oppression of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor. But my detailed analysis left me perplexed, astonished, and fascinated because, clearly, I understood that no mind could concoct an individual with His personality characteristics. He didn’t fit into human imagination. Hundreds of the examples I investigated confirmed this thesis. I cite just two.

First: the psychological and sociological phenomena occurring at His Last Supper. He chose one of the worst classes of young men as His students or disciples to form an excellent breed of thinkers. It was a very risky choice. They had grave personality defects, such as the neurotic need for power and control over others and the social attitude of always being right. At the Last Supper, knowing that He would soon be dead, Jesus still needed to teach them important lessons about generosity, altruism, and social tolerance. Then, to my psychological, sociological, and psycho-pedagogical astonishment, He controlled His dramatic stress, opened the portals of His mind, got some water and a towel, and began to wash the feet of those young men who had given Him only headaches. With unique intelligence He bombarded their neurotic needs, causing them to re-edit the film of their unconsciousness and rewrite their histories.
Never has anyone so great made Himself so small in order to make the small great.

Second: when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, one would expect that He would close the circuit of His memory and
react instinctively, aggressively, succumbing to attacks of rage or fear. But to the perplexity of human science, He governed His intense frustration, gazed upon His traitor, and had the courage to say, “Friend, why are you here?”

In the first place, Jesus called Judas
friend,
which is notable, indicating that He was not afraid of being betrayed but feared losing a friend. In the second place, He asked a question—
a question is the beginning of wisdom in philosophy.
Jesus didn’t give a quick answer, but by His question made Judas internalize, question himself, and find his own answer. He wanted minds that think, not slaves. He solemnly showed that a person is more important than his error.
Never in history has a betrayed person treated the traitor with such dignity.

There is no historic precedent for the characteristics displayed in Jesus’ personality. Freud, one of the most brilliant minds of humanity, reacted completely differently. He banished Jung and Adler from the psychoanalytic family for contradicting his ideas.

I was so fascinated by Jesus’ intelligence that I wrote one thousand pages in five volumes about it. One of Christianity’s greatest errors was to study Jesus Christ only from the angle of spirituality and not the complex functions of His mind. World education would be different if it incorporated the tools that He used to train thinkers. I don’t defend any religion, but the science that has led many to atheism convinced me fourteen years ago that there is a God found behind the curtains of time and space.
³¹

S
UMMARY

The living proof of God’s existence is the continued testimony of His working in the lives of people around the world. Regardless of age,
ethnicity
, or even cultural context, the message of Jesus Christ continues to be the hope of the nations.

As Christians live out their faith amid the confusion, boredom, and fear of the twenty-first century, there has never been a better time to demonstrate the reality of God through His presence that empowers us to go through the toughest of times with the greatest of hope. The unbelieving world attempts to dismiss people’s positive testimonies as admissible evidence for the existence of God, yet they are quick to use the painful stories of others as proof God doesn’t exist. There are countless stories of those who went through painful experiences that would cause others to point a finger toward the sky and ask, “Where was God?” But, instead, these believers found great grace and comfort through God in the midst of their trying circumstances.

In May 2011, tornadoes rampaged through Alabama. In the wake of the crisis, hundreds of people descended on the state to provide food, water, and aid to the victims of these tragic events. I went to the home of an elderly couple who had survived a direct hit from a tornado while cowering in a closet. When they opened the closet door after the tornado had passed by, their entire house was gone. I actually stood in the very closet they had hid in and marveled at the sight of their home and their neighbor’s home being swept away in a moment. This precious couple looked at me with a smile and said, “When people ask us, ‘Where was God during those tornadoes?’ we say, ‘He was in that closet with us.’ ”

CONCLUSION
SEEKING GOD

There is enough light for those who desire only to see and enough darkness for those of a contrary disposition.

—B
LAISE
P
ASCAL
¹

God . . . is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

—H
EBREWS
11:6

GOD’S NOT DEAD.
WE HAVE LOOKED CLOSELY AT REAL evidence for His existence, at nine key proofs covered in
chapters 2
through
10
that present a solid foundation for believers of all ages and educational backgrounds. Any one of these proofs is enough to demonstrate that God exists.

The atheist and skeptic must tear down every single one of the proofs and then establish their own evidence that all of life and existence is not a product of intelligent planning and is therefore ultimately an accident. If any one of these points is left standing, then the case for unbelief fails. The burden of proof that God
doesn’t exist is enormous. Even Richard Dawkins, in a debate with the
archbishop of Canterbury
, said that on a scale of one to seven, he was a six in terms of his certainty that God did not exist.
²
This technically makes the world’s most famous atheist an
agnostic
, though he may obviously call himself whatever he’d like.

We have, however, been given enough evidence for God to keep us from languishing in perpetual uncertainty. Science is certainly giving us a clear look at the enormous order and expanse of the universe, causing the open-minded to acknowledge God.

My sincere hope is that you will go beyond believing merely that God exists to developing the relationship with Him that is available. Believing He exists is step one; believing He rewards those who diligently seek Him is step two.

W
HAT
S
HOULD
W
E
D
O
N
OW?

The Bible says we are to seek Him. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). The power of God is freely given to those who are humble enough to ask, desperate enough to seek, and bold enough to knock. He isn’t just a force to be analyzed or a formula to be worked; He is a Person to be known. Look closely for a moment at the message the great teacher of Christianity, the apostle Paul, gave at Athens,
Greece
, to a diverse, highly educated audience. Strong links exist between the needs of the ancient world and ours today. The way he boldly spoke in the face of a fairly hostile crowd reminds me of how we should speak in the twenty-first century.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of
heaven
and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” (Acts 17:24–32
NIV
)

The audience’s reactions reveal many of the same sentiments we face today in presenting the gospel while addressing the obstacles in people’s minds. Paul saw that the Greeks had an expression of every idea imaginable—religious, philosophical, and scientific. They entertained all new ideas and considered
them equally valid (Acts 17:22–23). Paul stepped up to the microphone (so to speak) and spoke out in the marketplace of ideas with clarity and conviction, unafraid to expose erroneous beliefs.

Paul specifically addressed the
Epicureans
and the
Stoics
, two notable schools of philosophical thought (Acts 17:18). The Epicurean ideal was “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” and the Stoics faced all of the ups and downs of life with unflappable emotions. Each group was diametrically opposed to the other’s belief system, yet they united in a common unbelief in a real God. What was Paul’s message to these groups and the numerous others just shopping in the market that day?

1. G
OD
M
ADE THE
W
ORLD

He started with presenting God as the Creator. This is the beginning of faith. As science today has confirmed a beginning of the universe, Paul spoke to a culture that believed in many gods and a variety of stories of how things came to be. He said to them simply, the one true God made the world. This belief is not a side issue but the foundational truth in coming to understand and know God.

2. G
OD
D
OESN
’
T
L
IVE IN
T
EMPLES
B
UILT BY
H
ANDS

Buildings are useful in terms of facilitating gatherings for worship and teaching, but the human heart is the real temple God desires to inhabit. Paul challenged the expressions of faith and corrected the mistaken views of God and worship. He exploded the myth that a person’s religious beliefs are off-limits for any critical evaluation. Atheists who rail that people of faith
hide from such cross-examination many times hold their own views above such scrutiny. This is the complete opposite of how the life of faith is depicted in Scripture.

3. G
OD
I
S THE
A
UTHOR OF
L
IFE

The answer to the mystery of the
origin of life
was not conceded to the domain of philosophers and scientists; Paul credited God as the
Author of life
. Science can tell us how systems and processes function, but it never will be able to tell us from where life comes. God as the Creator is the possessor of the patents and copyrights for life. By explaining that God is the Author of life, Paul was establishing the right of God to speak to the condition of our souls, to be trusted as the Source of all wisdom. Just as the manufacturer of a product gives the most dependable instructions for its proper use, the Creator of life is the most reliable expert on how life should be understood.

4. G
OD
I
S THE
C
REATOR OF
B
OTH
M
EN AND
N
ATIONS

Paul then ventures into the area of human origins and tells his listeners that God created humanity. He made us to be humans and animals to be animals. He created us in His image that we might have fellowship with Him. God, though infinitely higher than humans, created us with the capacity for real relationship with Him.

5. G
OD
D
ID
T
HIS
S
O
W
E
W
OULD
S
EEK
H
IM

Paul gives the secret away right there: all of life was designed so that humans would desire and seek after God. Think about yourself. Who do you let become your friend? Are there certain
types of people whom you like and don’t like? Could God have the same type of feelings? Could He reveal Himself to those He wants to and conceal Himself from others?

French philosopher and
mathematician
Blaise Pascal spoke directly to this: “He so regulates the
knowledge
of Himself that He has given signs of Himself, visible to those who seek Him, and not to those who seek Him not.”
³
That’s how we as humans function. Many may see us or know we exist, but that doesn’t mean we allow everyone to build a relationship with us. We reveal ourselves to those we trust. In essence, this idea and trait came from God Himself. The reward for diligently seeking God is to come to understand who He is and what He is like.