Yesterday I watched a video by a person who I’m friends with on Twitter. He happens to be a Christian and he made this video as a kind of critique on Scott Clifton’s stance on the divine hiddenness of God. What I aim to do here is not offering my own personal critique on the video or a rebuttal my goal here is to use it as an opening to address something, where I think me and some Christians or Theists in general will never see eye to eye.
I fully expect that the producer of this video will read my blog post, so one thing right of the bat: I can respect that. I can respect your stance, that this personal revelation of God (at least that’s how you see it; I of course wouldn’t attribute it to God) is evidence for you. For yourself the problem of Divine Hiddenness is fully solved with this revelation. I however didn’t have that revelation so it isn’t evidence for me at all. But I do have one question to you in general and to Theists and Atheists who will read this as well:
How unshakeable is unshakeable and how closed is this case truly for you?
Again, before you get mad I do accept that this revelation is evidence for you, very powerful evidence in fact. I do respect that. But at what point does outside evidence have a chance to put that revelation into question?
To my knowledge the producer’s views are in accordance with the scientific evidence etc. that we observe in our Universe. In that sense his beliefs do not go against things that we can demonstrate to be true. However there are people out there who have had a personal revelation from God that flat out goes against everything we can observe in the world, goes against every field of life science, goes against any and all reason.
My favorite example is of course the Creationist Ken Ham. He’s a perfect example of a person, whose faith whose revelation is blatantly absurd. This man believes that the Earth is 6000 years old that evolution is a lie as is the Big Bang and any and all evidence that contradict his absurdly narrow views on scripture.
Most Christians and Atheists agree that this man is irrational. But why? Well because the Earth and the Universe is demonstrably older than 6000 years. Yet his faith persists despite distant starlight, despite tree rings, despite the clearly transitional Creatures in the fossil record.
And he’s not the only one. I’ve heard it said from Theists whether directly or indirectly that they would still hold to their views even if their own eyes and senses tell them otherwise.
At that point such a Faith becomes self defeating to me. Because at that point you have to believe in a deity who is deceitful.
Imagine we had a time travelling machine and we could go back 2000 years to the day Jesus was crucified. We even saw him one day earlier eating with all of his disciples. We see him being beaten, we see him wearing a crown of thorns, we see him being crucified and we have a translator who translates Jesus words exactly as described in the Bible. But he isn’t taken down from the cross. We wait 2,3,4,7 days and he isn’t taken down by anybody.
Would you still believe?
On the other hand to the Atheists would you become a believer (not necessarily a worshipper) if you saw Jesus being raised and if you have certainty that it was God who raised him?
I know I would.
So that’s my question to believers and other Atheists: How persistent are you? What does it take?
Goodbye from yours truly,
Rene von Boenninghausen @Renevelation
Tarsier Renevelations 