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Experience as Proof of God’s Existence
On the failure of argument and the role of gratitude
There are lots of arguments for God’s existence. As Alex O’Connor suggested in a discussion with Rainn Wilson, perhaps the most compelling argument for God’s existence is the sheer number of arguments for God’s existence. Yet at the same time, anyone who has found themselves in a position of doubt will know that a lot of these arguments are strangely empty. Arguments that attempt to infer something from what is disclosed to us feel somewhat like trying to throw a rope to someone across a river. Perhaps you can feel that with a good throw you can get near the opposite bank, but the rope is never quite long enough and always catches in the current and you have to pull it back and try again. You can get plenty of the way, but something else must enable you not just to infer across a gulf of knowledge, but to actually cross it yourself.
There is perhaps an analogy here with the variety of Christian views on scripture. If, like me, you were brought up in the evangelical church, you will have known a view of scripture that believes it to be inerrant, not just in practice but in proof. According to this view scripture can be historically vindicated against its apparent enemies (usually Bart Ehrman), it contains predictions of the future that it fulfils, is without…
