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Writer's pictureBible Brian

Yes, God belongs in those gaps


Apostasy is a very real risk for intelligent Christians. This is not because there is any intellectual basis for rejecting Christianity, but because the world will tell you there is. If you want to be one of the "cool kids", you have to reject God. Otherwise, you're not really intelligent, you just believe the myths of the bronze age goat herders.


The contrast here is self-reliance. Intellectual opposition to God is based on the simple premise that "we know better". But the truth is, we don't. A popular question to ask is if you could quantify all possible knowledge in the universe, how much of it do you suppose you actually have? Any honest atheist will admit they would need 100% of it to even measure, much less explain, how little of it they actually have. Even if we could pool all the knowledge of the human race, we wouldn't have as much as 1%.


So is it not possible that God exists in those gaps? You can't logically say "there's no evidence", because that's a very omniscient claim by a very much not omniscient being. The best you can say is "I don't know any evidence". And most of the time, even that's not true. It's more along the lines of "I don't know any evidence I'm willing to accept". But is it possible the many Christians throughout the world know at least a little? Is it possible that a Christian might be able to fill in some of the gaps in your knowledge?


When it comes to simple evidence, the answer is going to be yes. On a daily basis, hundreds of people become Christians. Some of those people were atheists, many of whom claimed Christianity was a load of rubbish. Some of them are even risking their lives. You don't do that for some fairy story.


But there are some gaps no one can fill. Origins, for example. Of course, there are some very silly religions out there, like Evolution. But apart from God, no one really knows where the universe and all things within it came from. And this is where the atheist will start invoking the "God of the gaps" thing. They will claim when there are gaps in our knowledge, we just add God.


But actually, no. The argument is not now, nor has it ever been, "we don't know, therefore God". Rather, we argue from what we do know, and use that to suggest God belongs in what we don't. We do know the universe tends towards entropy, and so it's only logical that something created the order. We do know that only pre-existing life can create life, so it makes sense that a supernatural force created the first life. We do know that language only comes from a mind, and so the incredible language of DNA can only have been invented by an intelligent being.


Most importantly, we know that Jesus is a historical figure who really did live a miraculous life, really did die on a cross, and really did appear alive again, including, in some cases, to His enemies and detractors. Now, if a man can literally rise from the dead, He's probably worth listening to. You don't get that kind of power by being a bronze age goat herder. But you do get it from God.


No human being, nor group of human beings, nor even the entirety of the human race, knows everything. But one thing we do know is God Himself walked among us in human flesh. It is, therefore, entirely reasonable to trust Him with what we don't know. And with what we can't do. He defied death, whereas we are subject to it. After that, we go to be judged, and there are no gaps in His knowledge. He knows the sins you've forgotten about. How, then, will that judgement go down?


Since you haven't actually died yet, the outcome of that judgement has yet to be determined. If you persist in atheism, the simple answer is it won't go down very well at all. Your sins will haunt you forever from the lake of fire; the second death. But because God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, He made another way. The aforementioned Jesus died the aforementioned death on your behalf, facing the full wrath of God for sin though He had no sin of His own. Because He suffered your punishment, you may receive His reward. How? Through faith. Confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.

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