Is God Dead?
W. Carl Ketcherside
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We live in a time which is designated by some as "the post-Christian age." Certain philosophers have declared that God is dead, and certain clergymen have rushed in to conduct a funeral service for the deceased. Many who are highly educated hesitate to speak of faith in a living God for fear they will be thought to be traitors to the intellectual cause. They are victims of a fright psychosis brought on by reading such sophisticated works as Religion Without Revelation, by Julian Huxley, who wrote:
"It will soon be as impossible for an intelligent, educated man or woman to believe in a god as it is now to believe that the earth is flat, that flies can be spontaneously generated, that disease is a
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Perhaps it will be thought a little presumptuous for one who cannot qualify as either a philosopher, theologian, or intellectual, to enter the arena of contemporary thought and assert a firm conviction that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. On the other hand, the testimony of one of the common people like myself, may well be heard, if for no other reason than that we constitute a majority. Abraham Lincoln declared, "God must have loved the common people because he made so many of them." Perhaps their recognition of this fact makes it easy for them to reciprocate his love.
I suspect that there is but one prime reason for believing in God and that all others are but facets of this one. However, we have been trained to require a multiplicity of proofs regardless of their connective relationship. Due to lack of space I will confine my own reasons to five which I shall refer to under the terms--purpose, power, plan, putative and personal. These are not in order of importance for in dealing with the infinite there is no such arrangement.
1. Purpose. We readily admit that no one can demonstrate that God is by use of syllogism or logic. God cannot be examined in the laboratory or under the microscope. He cannot be seen in the sky nor observed in space. Yet the evidence by which we judge ourselves and prove our own existence--a thing which has also been questioned by certain philosophers--is all about us. That which causes us to have faith in our own existence will lead to faith in the existence of God. Sir Isaac Newton declared, "The whole diversity of created things could have its origin only in the ideas and will of a necessarily Existing Being."
This is the equivalent of saying that a complex and inter-related universe could not be the product of chance but had to originate with will, and the will had to precede the creation and formulate it. If we can determine the ultimate in demonstration of mental power and show that the world of which we are a part could logically have no existence apart from it, we have by logic postulated the absolute necessity for a mind preceding creation and superior to it. This may be as far as we can go, but it is far enough, unless some wild theorist insists upon a logical demonstration of that which underlies all logic. In this event we need only to demand that he demonstrate by his accepted criteria his own existence, and refuse to reason with him until he does, on the ground that we may be seeking to convince one who does not exist.
We agree with W. H. Fitchett that, "The highest expression of mind is to take a number of unconscious, unrelated physical things, and set them in relations which make them the channel of a meaning of which they are unconscious, the servants of an intelligent purpose of which they know nothing." There are twenty-six letters in our alphabet. Each of these is a symbol of a sound. They are powerless to combine themselves in such a manner as to create a simple sentence. These letters appear on children's blocks and if I walk into a room and see the blocks so arranged in a line that a sentence is constructed I know that someone has arranged them. I know that the type in a printing shop did not fall into such chance sequence as to spell out the words of "A Psalm of Life." It is easy for me to credit the creativity of the genius of Longfellow. The poem was produced out of the purpose governing an intellect. By the same token I must acknowledge that the intricate complex, but synchronized universe, grew out of an intelligent purpose.
2. Power. There are two manifestations of power or force connected with our universe. One is the power by which it
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We accept by faith the atomic constituency of the material universe. "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God in such a manner that the things which we see are constructed from that which is in itself invisible." The atomic universe is a vast reservoir of energy. Energy when unconfined dissipates itself and becomes powerless or ineffective. This is true of steam which drives a piston through a cylinder but has no potency when not confined. The power or substance which confines energy must be greater than the energy confined. If the atomic universe is a mass of energy the power which has confined this to the atom must have existed prior to atomic formation and was greater than the combined power of the material universe. To put it in another fashion, the material universe is subject to universal power which is superior to all that constitutes the material. That which we refer to as "the law of atomic energy" or "the first and second law of thermodynamics" is but an application of this power in a sustaining or regulative degree, for laws indicate intelligent application of that to which they are related and which they govern.
3. Plan. A universe so constructed as the one of which we are part could never have originated except by application of intelligent design coupled with the necessary power to produce the design and start it operating in pre-determined harmony and synchronization. It was William Paley, who in 1794 published a memorable work entitled, "Evidence of Christianity," who first used a watch to illustrate creative design. It was his contention that anyone observing such a mechanism lying in the road would immediately conclude that it had an intelligent maker.
Modernistic thinkers who deny the personality of God refer to this as a remote "watchmaker relationship." But A. Cressy Morrison, in his book, "Seven Reasons Why A Scientist Believes in God," begins by relating the story of Paley, and offers "Our Unique World" as the first of his reasons for believing in God. Pointing out how the slightest variation in the planetary system would render life impossible, he cites case after case in point. He concludes the chapter by saying, "All these facts about the universe could not be the result of chance. The laws of mathematics unerringly prove that they are the design of a Supreme Intelligence." The expression "unerringly prove" is a strong one indeed.
There are other things to which Morrison does not refer that are as valid. One is the control of the affinity and unity of elementary material substances. For instance, water is essential to preservation of all life. It is composed of two elements combined in the ratio of two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen. An invisible manifestation of controlling power has caused these two elements to separate from all others and merge in this exact mathematical proportion. Hydrogen has a greater affinity for chlorine than for oxygen, yet this power prohibits this natural affinity and causes oxygen to combine with hydrogen in the only proportion in which the two will combine naturally. If two parts of hydrogen compounded with two parts of oxygen the result would be hydrogen peroxide and all life would terminate at once.
It will serve but little purpose to multiply such illustrations. One can look at his own body and observe such synchronization as will convince the careful student
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4. Putative. Perhaps I should tell you what I mean by this word. It is a transliteration of the Latin putatum, which literally means "to reckon, to think." It now refers to that which is commonly thought or deemed, that which is generally supposed or reputed to be so. There is nothing conclusive in the form of "proof" to be deduced from this as to the existence of God but our readers must remember that we are not necessarily attempting to prove this. Instead, we are merely giving a few of the many reasons for our own personal faith in God. That which influences and carries weight with us may not so affect another.
Man knows a universal need of God. So acute is this that it is often actually referred to as hunger and thirst. A means has been provided for every other need of the human personality. Man knows physical craving and the prairies become veritable seas of waving yellow grain. He knows thirst and copious streams of crystal clear water burst forth from hillsides to cascade into the valleys below. He knows desire for intimacy of companionship and marriage provides for sexual satisfaction. Is the deep need for relationship with a power outside and above ourselves the only want for which no provision is made? If so, from whence came this overwhelming anxiety for communion with the Eternal?
The recognition of and reverence for divine power is as comprehensive in time and space as the history and sweep of mankind. It is unlimited by social and intellectual differences. The aborigine looks up with the same innate longing as the sophisticate. Man deems there is a God because the demands of nature and reason cry out there must be a God. A world without a God is as incomplete as a world would be in which no food has been provided. It is so because it has to be so. Like gravity, one may not be able to prove it by observation, sight or study, but this in no wise affects the reality of it. We dare not assume that a thing is not real until man can prove it is real, for much of what we now know as reality could have had no prior existence until men discovered means of proof. It is not lack of reality but ignorance of man which postponed the discovery of criteria by which to measure that which existed all of the time that man was seeking to discover it.
5. Personal. This must be in the nature of individual testimony. I believe in God because of my personal experience with God. Centuries ago, when David was in a precarious position among his enemies, he wrote, "O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!" (Psalm 34:8). The Hebrew word for taste which is
After a great many years of trusting in Christianity as a system and an organization, and placing my hope in my own good intentions and motivations, I found myself with a sense of emptiness and frustration. We were proclaiming love for our enemies while often showing contempt for our brothers; we were delivering sermons on unity at the very time we were dividing from another; we
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I was thoroughly familiar with the words, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man open unto me, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him and he with me." These words had formed the basis of a little chorus I had taught boys and girls to sing. They had constituted the text of a sermon I had delivered scores of times with rather tremendous affect. I was accustomed to sitting down with my loved ones and eating in that precious intimacy of the table which seems to draw a family together, but I did not really experience that kind of closeness with Jesus. Yet the promise was there that if he was invited in the experience would be as close and friendly as sitting down and eating together.
I was haunted by the fact that, search my memory as I did, I could not recall a single time when I had actually flung wide the door of my life to ask Jesus to step inside. Always I had been going into something. I had gone into the church. I had gone into the work. I had gone into the foreign field. I had been so involved with going into things, and making plans for going into more things, that I had overlooked inviting Jesus to come into my own heart and life. True I had always assumed that he was there because I thought that my going was an invitation for his coming.
I walked to the little meetinghouse with its stark furnishings and the wintry cold seeping through the aged walls. In the gray gloom, oblivious of the chill, I kneeled on the bare floor for an hour and very quietly talked to God and asked Jesus to come in and share with me. I was not emotionally upset at all. In fact, I never recall having been more calm. I knew what I wanted and I knew where to go and get it. I felt exactly as if I were talking to a good friend who been waiting for years to see me and visit with me.
Almost at once a tremendous change took place in my whole attitude. The first test, and tangible proof, took place that same evening when I talked with the brethren. Some of the things which they did as a part of their tradition had secretly irritated and disturbed me. I could not understand why they appeared so trivial to them when they seemed so important to me. Now, all of a sudden, it came to me that I was listening to them without one trace of annoyment that they differed with me. They were my brothers. They were children of my Father. They were eagerly and earnestly trying to please him. For the first time I could project myself into their place. As each one spoke I realized why he acted and reacted as he did.
I found myself wanting to share with them the truths I had discovered without worry as to whether they would accept them that night. There was a tugging in my heart to help these. It seemed unimportant that I should argue them into seeing every matter as I did. My task was to help, to minister, to serve in their needs. I experienced the love of God actually shed abroad, or poured out, by the indwelling Spirit, and that Spirit became vital, valid and vigorous in my life. Later as I tried to recall what had happened there came to me words of Jesus when James and John wanted to destroy with fire a city of the Samaritans. "You know not what spirit you are of." It is possible for men to be close to Jesus and to walk with him and not know the spirit of which they are.
I would not exchange this sense of personal closeness with the Father and the Son for all the wealth or prestige this world can bestow. The utter freedom from loneliness, even in the crowd; the all-pervading feeling of harmony and fellowship with the divine--this is the most tremendous thing that can happen
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(This is the first issue of a series which will last throughout 1966 and which is entitled "Deep Roots." At the close of this year these will be bound in a 192 page book of that title. Because of its importance orders are now being received in advance, for a volume to be mailed out on March 1, 1967, at a pre-publication price of $2.49 per copy, payable on delivery. We urge you to reserve copies of this faith-building book for every one of your children and grandchildren. There will only be 2000 copies printed and there will be no second edition. Simply write to MISSION MESSENGER, 139 Signal Hill Drive, Saint Louis, Missouri 63121, and tell us how many copies you would like to have when they are ready).