I asked, “Let us suppose, sir, that after you have left this sorry vale, you actually found yourself in heaven, standing before the Throne. There, in all his glory, sat the Lord—not Lord Russell, sir: God.” Russell winced. “What would you think?”
“I would think I was dreaming.”
“But suppose you realized you were not? Suppose that there, before your very eyes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was God. What would you say?”
The pixie wrinkled his nose. “I probably would ask, ‘Sir, why did you not give me better evidence?'”[1]
No Evidence of God?
The word evidence is derived from the Latin root “vid” meaning “see”. I would define evidence as a visible sign of something that is absent or invisible. A thing could be either absent by circumstance, such as an event in a different time period, or invisible by nature, such as a physical law. To present evidence for something, is to present a visible thing effected by it. For example, a historical document may be evidence of a historical event, and the fact that objects fall when unsupported evidence of the law of gravity.
Atheists in public forum assert repeatedly that there is no evidence of God. But if I ask the thoughtful ones, “What would you accept as evidence of God?” Without exception, they would fall silent. I was surprised at first, but finally understood why they were unable or unwilling to answer the question. What they really mean by “no evidence” is that there is no phenomenon or personal experience which they would attribute to God. Upon reflection, however, they realize that they have no rational basis for either accepting or rejecting evidence. In other words, even if evidence is staring the person in the face, he wouldn’t recognize it. As Russell candidly put it, he would think he was dreaming.
Incarnation is Necessary Evidence
From a philosophical perspective, Aristotle posits that First Principle cannot be deduced from other principles, i.e., cause cannot be demonstrated from effect. Following this logic, David Hume famously argues that human experience (effect) cannot demonstrate the existence of God (cause). Justin Martyr, a 2nd century Christian philosopher, anticipated Hume. Justin used the same logic to show that revelation of God is not subject to human proof or approval. Every proof is more truthful and trustworthy than that which it proves. But nothing is more truthful and trustworthy than God. In other words, the only valid proof of God is God.
From a theological perspective, God has revealed Himself through His Son, to bring man to the knowledge of the Father and the Son. He accomplished this through the Incarnation. Nothing is more self-evident than God Incarnate, for self-evident is by definition clear to the vision without proof or reasoning. The speech of man is neither necessary nor sufficient to proclaim God, for the world itself cannot contain Him.
Incarnation is Sufficient Evidence
From an epistemological perspective, to identify the evidence of God, one must have a concrete notion of the latter. Christianity provides a concrete notion of God, as Creator of the world, Creator of mankind, Author of Moral Law, and Author of the Scriptures. A creator has sovereign authority over his creation. Therefore, if anyone possesses such fourfold authority, it can be reasonably accepted as evidence of his divinity.
Jesus has revealed and still reveals himself to man in ways that demonstrate his fourfold divine authority. Firstly, through works of miracles, He demonstrates authority and power over nature; Secondly, He discerns and reveals the secrets of the hearts of men, and prophesies the future of individuals and nations, demonstrating that He is the Creator, who has intimate knowledge of His creation, and the Sovereign of human history. Thirdly, through His profound moral teachings, men recognize Him as the Author of the moral law inscribed in their hearts. Fourthly, to the Jews who believed the Scriptures to be God’s revelation to their forefathers, He expounded the Scripture with authority, demonstrating that He is the author of the Scripture, which also testifies about Him.
If I may paraphrase Athanasius of Alexandria,[2] God condescended to think like man, that man might think like God. The doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus, as evidenced in the Gospels and Pauline Epistles, is a reflection of the gradual ascent of the human mind to grasp the nature of God and express the ineffable in human terms.
Worship and Evidence the Divine
Unlike the pagan gods who demanded worship and punished those who neglected the sacrifices, the Judeo-Christian God does not demand worship. On the contrary, worship is always a voluntary, one might say spontaneous, act, in the same way that thanksgiving is voluntary. Worship is offered by those who have had fellowship with Him and experienced His power and loving-kindness, and voluntarily choose to enter into a covenantal relationship with Him.
In the Old Testament, it was not until God did great wonders and delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt that they started to worship Him through the Levitical priesthood, which was instituted by Him as a part of a covenant with His people; In the New Testament, it was not until Jesus resurrected from the dead and assured His disciples of the hope of eternal life that they started to worship Him as Lord, the center of their worship is the Lord’s Supper, a new covenant instituted by Jesus.
Many devout Christians believe that, through genuine worship, they receive in themselves the imprint of God and are transformed into His likeness. Consequently, their way of life become consistent with their theological and moral teaching, each becoming a living evidence of God. The lives of people all around the world have been transformed for good through the teaching of Christianity. This unprecedented and unparalleled historical fact formed one the pillars of early Christian apologetics.
Let the Evidence Show
In our time, there is a strong aversion against Christianity in the West. The fact that many people today deny that Jesus resurrected from the dead, some even deny that He existed despite scholarly consensus that he did, is a very sad reflection on Christians. We have failed to manifest evidence of God in our lives, falling far short of the example Jesus Himself and the early disciples have set.
For many people, evidence is existential and experiential, not rational or philosophical. They would embrace any extraordinary (aesthetic) experience, and attribute it to a transcendent entity. Such an entity differs significantly from the Christian God, in that it lacks definite personal attributes, and does not form a covenantal relation with man. There is no responsibility nor transformation on the part of man. Ultimately, this type of experience devolves into nothing more than self-worship, which is not transcendent after all.
Notes:
1^. Leo Rosten, Bertrand Russell and God: A Memoir. The Saturday Review. February 23, 1974, pp. 25-26.
2^. Athanasius of Alexandria. On the Incarnation of the Word. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Accessed December 4, 2017. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/athanasius/incarnation.html. “He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God.”
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