A reader writes

A reader writes 2014-12-31T15:21:26-07:00

I have been discussing the existence of God with my brother, who is an atheist and I was wondering if you could help me. I asked him: What would God have to do in order for you to believe that He exists? His response is as follows:

“As far as what evidence could God produce that would convince me he exists, I can think of none. There is no way to separate anything God might do from some advanced technology. Reading minds, seeing the future, creating something from nothing, etc. are all potential things God could do that we could not. However, we have technology now that people a hundred years ago did not have and if they saw us using it, might they mistakenly think we were gods.”

This I believe is an argument forwarded by Issac Asimov, one of my brother’s favorite author. It seems to me to border on the irrational. Namely, if God who is omnipotent, could do nothing to prove His existence to my brother, then why does my brother believe I exist. I am infinitely less powerful than God, yet my brother believes I exists, because he’s talking to me. If this is the line of reasoning for not believing in a omnipotent God, it seems he must remain skeptical about all reality, because it could be a “conspiracy of aliens” with advanced technology.

Further, it seems less rational to believe in a conspiracy by advanced aliens, than in God. For, we have no evidence that this proposed technology exists, yet we have millennium of human to attest their experience of God, along with scholastics and theologian that have worked out rational arguments for His existence. Thus it seems less rational to believe in something that we have no evidence for then in God.

These are the arguments that I’ve been able to work out. Can you think of any or better ways to phrase them?

Also, as a prayer request, please pray that God grant my brother the gift of faith. Thank you.

As far as arguments go, yours makes good sense. Your brother’s position is, as is common, a case of intellect worship rather than intellect use. There’s a rather large flaw in the whole “How do we know an alien civilization didn’t create the whole universe, teeming with alien civilizations, including themselves” scenario.

The real problem here is the will, not insufficient information for the intellect. Prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit are the only things that can get through that barrier. May God our Father, by his Holy Spirit, go where you cannot and open your brother’s heart to see reason through Christ the Logos, who is Lord for ever and ever. Mother Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray that he drop his intellect worship and take up using the intellect instead. Father, hear my reader’s prayer through Christ our Lord! Amen!


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