Theistic proofs take many forms. Some focus in on our very
experiences. Take this example. If Christian beliefs enable the Christian to
live longer and more joyfully, does this fact say anything about the existence
of the Christian God? While the atheist will reject the idea that emotional, psychological,
and physical benefits have anything to do with truth, most will acknowledge
this relationship. Dag Hammarskjold, a late Secretary General of the UN,
observed:
·
God does not die in the day we cease to believe
in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be
illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of
which is beyond reason. (Markings)
According to the Deist Ben Franklin, we even need God for a
moral society:
·
If men are wicked with religion, what would they
be without it? (Os Guinness, The Journey,
119)
The benefits even extend to our most intimate relationships,
as former atheist, Patrick Glynn, reports:
- A 1978 study found that church attendance predicted marital satisfaction better than any other single variable. Couples in long-lasting marriages who were surveyed in another study listed religion as one of the most important “prescriptions” of a happy marriage. (God: The Evidence, 64)
For most Christians, such observations are as predictable as
night following day. We have long seen how the Lord and His wisdom salvage our
relationships. Glynn also relates religious belief to better physical and
emotional payoffs:
·
“Religious belief is one of the most consistent
correlates of overall mental health and happiness. Study after study has shown
a powerful relationship between religious belief and practice, on the one hand,
and healthy behaviors with regard to such problems as suicide, alcohol and drug
abuse, divorce, depression, even, perhaps surprisingly, levels of sexual
satisfaction in marriage, on the other” (Glynn, 61).
I can also attest to this. My life in Christ had freed me
from my self-delusions (John 8:31-32), enabling me to see, to accept myself, and
to satisfyingly navigate a reality of people and things.
In contrast to this, the atheist experience is admittedly
dismal, although it might commence with a sense of freedom from guilt and constraints.
Jean-Paul Sartre confessed that, “Atheism is a cruel, long-term business.”
Bertrand Russell described his atheistic religion in this manner:
·
The life of man is a long march through the
night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain… Brief and
powerless is mean’s life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls
pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent
matter rolls on its relentless way. (Why
I am not a Christian)
H.J. Blackham, a former director of the British Humanist
Association, wrote:
·
The most drastic objection to humanism is that
it is too bad to be true. The world is one vast tomb if humans are ephemeral
and human life itself is doomed to ultimate extinction… There is no end to
hiding from the ultimate end of life, which is death. But it does not avail. On
humanist assumptions, life leads to nothing, and every pretense that it does
not is a deceit. (Guinness, 106)
However, does any of this offer any objective evidence for
the existence of God? I would say so. The things that Christians choose tend to
bring objective benefits. This is even true of the animal world. They seem to
have been endowed with “wisdom.” Grazing animals tend to eat nutritious greens
and to reject the poisonous ones. They know to drink when they get thirsty, to
find shade when they get hot, and to rest when they get tired. They are able to
make positive adjustments to an objective reality that surrounds them, and they
derive benefits from this.
Delusion is strongly associated with costs and not benefits.
If we are deluded or simply mistaken about which roads to take to get to our destination,
our trip will be more costly. Why then, if Christians are deluded, do they
derive unmistakable benefits from their “delusion?” Instead, it would seem that
Christians are doing something right, even wise and in-touch with a reality that eludes others.
Is it possible to flourish through distorted thinking?
Atheists claim that a belief in God is a matter of gross self-delusion. They
have many pejorative phrases to describe faith in God: “imaginary friend,”
“big-daddy in the sky,” “complete
nonsense,” or “self-delusion.”
However, these charges do not seem to be consistent with the
reality of Christian lives and societies. Delusions put us out-of-touch with
reality, especially a “delusion” that lies at the foundation of our entire
lives. Instead of assisting us to constructively manage our jobs,
relationships, home, and even driving a car – and all of these endeavors
require accurate feedback – delusions about a God should interfere with any
prospect of a positive adjustment. Instead, we flourish, even in the midst of
hardships.
Why? Just consider riding your bicycle blindfolded. You
would soon crash incurring great costs. Closer to home, consider someone who
navigates life with rose colored glasses. He might think that all women
secretly love him, and this will give him a high, at least for the short run.
Consequently, he would not take “no” for an answer. I knew such a man who was
arrested repeatedly for harassment because of this cognitive distortion.
Cognitive distortions inevitably cost. Consider a woman who
was confident that she was performing better on the job than she really was.
Consequently, she saw no need for improvement and was eventually fired.
Or consider people who are deluded that they were treating
others caringly, when they really aren’t. Eventually, they lose their friends.
Generally speaking, distorted thinking costs. In All in the Playing, Shirley MacLaine
confidently explained her distorted faith:
·
I went on to express my feeling of total
responsibility and power for all events that occur in the world because the
world is happening only in my reality. And human beings feeling pain, terror,
depression, panic, and so forth, were really only aspects of pain, terror,
depression, panic, and so on, in me!
How would such distorted thinking affect her relationships?
Wikipedia concluded its posting on MacLaine this way:
·
In 2015, she sparked criticism for her comments
on Jews, Christians, and Stephen Hawking. In particular she claimed that
victims of the Nazi Holocaust were experiencing the results of their own karma,
and suggested that Hawking subconsciously caused himself to develop ALS as a
means to focus better on physics.
Understandably, her thinking created relational problems,
among other things. Why then do those who believe in a “heavenly Christian
sky-daddy” – an all-encompassing “delusion” – make positive adjustments, while
others do not?
Perhaps instead, Christians are onto something real. But
how? By a Book written two thousand years ago? How would following the Bible written
by “camel-drivers,” enable us to successfully navigate life? It would be like
expecting a buggy-whip to help us drive our Audi.
I hope that the next few chapters will demonstrate how the
wisdom and practice of our ancient Book has led to positive changes, even on a
global level.
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