Part 3 of "Is God Out There?": Can we even know?

This is part 3 in a 3-part series that analyzes three aspects of our culture's view of the presence of God. Part 1 covered Twitter, and how humans universally desire to heard, acknowledged, understood, and known deeply. Part 2 went beyond technology to discuss how music communicates about meaning and the presence of God. Part 3 provides a little more of an answer to the philosophical questions raised in the first 2 parts.



I was talking with a very sharp college student recently. We were discussing the nature of truth, and being a naturally inquisitive person he asked, "Can we even know 100% what truth is? I believe in Christianity, sure, but what makes Christianity more true than any other religion that claims to be the true path to human freedom or salvation?" My friend was much more tentative than me to hold on to truth. Instead, he opted for the most absurd conclusion of our postmodern era, "Well, Christianity is true for me and that's why it's true. But another religion may be true for someone else."


This sentiment is shared by many in our epoch. Furthermore, the sheer magnitude of the task of surveying all the world religions and worldviews leaves many people in a state of spiritual apathy; a "so what" attitude towards the deepest questions of human existence. Can we even know God? Is God even personal? How can we even know that He's there if he is there?

A caveat: a blog is no place to survey the dozens of excellent philosophical proofs for the existence of a personal God. But many proofs do exist. Let us not be intellectually lazy in our pursuits of the most important questions. What follows is a brief survey on the many proofs for the existence of a personal God.

Anselm's Ontological Argument (from wikipedia):

Anselm desired to have one short demonstration, presented in Proslogion, his
famous proof of the existence of God. It is referred to as the ontological
argument... Anselm defined his belief in the existence of God using the phrase
"that than which nothing greater can be conceived". He reasoned that, if "that
than which nothing greater can be conceived" existed only in the intellect, it
would not be "that than which nothing greater can be conceived", since it can be
thought to exist in reality, which is greater. It follows, according to Anselm,
that "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" must exist in
reality.

Moral Argument: this argument might have been made most famous (or popular) by C.S. Lewis in his first "book" in Mere Christianity and his lesser-read but equally good book The Abolition of Man. In this argument, if right and wrong objectively exist (and they do- every human has a sense of right and wrong even if we disagree where those lines are) and exist universally, then it follows that someone has set those moral and invisible laws in the will of humanity.

Cosmological Argument (from Wikipedia): there are many forms of this argument, and J.P. Moreland states it well in his book Scaling the Secular City (uses the Kalam Cosmological Argument). I'll list both arguments from wikipedia below because they are good.

The cosmological argument could be stated as follows:
Every finite and contingent being has a cause.
Nothing finite and contingent can cause itself.
A causal chain cannot be of infinite length.
Therefore, a First Cause (or something that is not an effect) must exist.

According to the argument, the existence of the Universe requires an
explanation, and the creation of the Universe by a First Cause, generally
assumed to be God, is that explanation.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument:
Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
The Universe began to exist.
Therefore, the Universe had a cause.

Many other proofs exist. And ultimately, the postmodern effects against truth are ridiculous. To say, "there is no over-arching meta-narrative" is ridiculous because this statement is attempting to be a meta-narrative. To say, "there is no absolute truth," is equally ridiculous because that statement is attempting to be absolute. Therefore, these philosophical argumentsfor the existence of God have to be reckoned with in our minds and souls. They should cause us to be moved deeply.

There is a God. He is out there. He is knowable. I rest my case. For now.