\u2018Prove to me that God exists\u2019, a bloke I was chatting to at a bar said to me. I was drinking a lime alcopop that I\u2019d been given on the house. It was disgusting, and my cheeks were cowering inwards by the second.<\/p>\n
Whilst my drink was uncommon and grotesque, his request was not. One of the major reasons people give for not believing in God is simply that \u2018there\u2019s no proof\u2019. Now, it will often be phrased as \u2018there\u2019s no evidence,\u2019 but what they really mean is proof \u2013 something concrete that would absolutely seal the deal, like God writing his name across the sky in stars.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s troublesome about that assertion, though.<\/p>\n
It may make you feel enlightened and robust to say \u2018I\u2019d believe if there was irrefutable proof\u2019, but the reality is that you wouldn\u2019t submit any other aspect of your life to that charge. Outside of pure mathematics, people don\u2019t talk about \u2018proof\u2019 in that strict sense. We look at the evidence and make a judgement on where that evidence leads<\/em>. Nobody owns evidence. We all have the same data to work with.<\/p>\n You will hear people say it. \u2018I only believe in what can be proven.\u2019 Fool of a Took! Nobody does – that\u2019s just a soundbyte. For starters, you can\u2019t even prove that the previous sentence is true!<\/p>\n I can\u2019t prove my wife loves me, or that I love her. I can put forward a good case, and I\u2019d be happy to show you the scrapbook that I\u2019ve collated for just such a purpose, but I can\u2019t prove it using science or logic. But if I\u2019d only acted on what could be proven irrevocably beyond doubt, I would never have plucked up the courage to ask her out, and we wouldn\u2019t now be happily married.<\/p>\n There\u2019s so much I can\u2019t prove. I can\u2019t prove to you that 50 Shades of Grey is the worst book ever written and that the author should be force-fed every copy a page at a time until she learns to never do it again and signs a binding contract to that end; but it is nevertheless true.<\/p>\n The point is this: If someone genuinely does live believing in only what can be proven, then they will end up desperately alone, because they will never know love. Even Sheldon Cooper <\/a>engages in relationship without concrete formulae. So maybe the idea of irrefutable proof is just a cop-out.<\/p>\n The sister statement, that tends to hang around with the idea of irrefutable proof, is the following: \u2018If there was a God, He would have proven it to us by now.\u2019 The technical response is the same as above, that nothing that really matters to you in life can be proven in that academic sense. Love, Hope, Beauty, Purpose, Forgiveness: These are the things that really count on a day-to-day basis, and we all know them to be true, even though we can\u2019t prove it.<\/p>\n But when it\u2019s said that God would have proven Himself by now, it\u2019s perfectly correct to assert that, actually, He has \u2013 to millions and millions and millions of people across the globe and throughout time. And maybe if you haven\u2019t met him yet, maybe that\u2019s because you\u2019re looking for equations instead of relationship.<\/p>\n Because God\u2019s chief aim is not to get you to merely or blindly believe in Him. \u2018Even the demons do that, and tremble\u2019, says the book of James<\/a>. Again, I believed my wife existed long before I started going out with her. But belief in itself doesn\u2019t bring love or warmth or delight. It was only by getting to know her and spending time with her that those things were possible. Same with God: He wants us to know <\/em>Him, not just know about Him. There\u2019s nothing to suggest that if God drew His name across the sky in stars, more people would be drawn into a loving relationship with Him.<\/p>\n The guy I was chatting to at the bar was, sadly, far too hammered on the limey alcopop freebies to care what I had to say. I\u2019ve got a few bottles in my kitchen still. I can\u2019t prove to you how disgusting it is as a drink, but if you wanted to come round and taste it for yourself, you\u2019d know I was telling the truth. And then you\u2019d vomit.<\/p>\n