Professor Dawkins,
Gordo Suord 2020
I write as a person compelled in these times by seeing One made, with seeming impunity, to have become the most maligned, misunderstood, misrepresented and marginalised person in this world.
Yet, with your profile in this context, I appreciate that you and your writings show a candour and consistency in considering Atheism right through to its world view implications. I also have regard for your sense of wonder and optimism about the world that we find ourselves living in, as well as an impressive familiarity with the Christian bible, such that your assertions against the credibility of believing in God are not without some substance. Nevertheless, I find that many of your conclusions that lead to unbelief have either missed or misrepresented some of the bible’s overarching themes and positive messages that together, in my own journey, have led me to find in it a reasonable basis for having faith.
At times I have sensed in your perceptions shades of a man who asked Jesus for his views on God’s priorities for humanity. Because of his insights and responses, Jesus described him as ‘not far from the kingdom’ (Mark 12:34). I have long entertained an optimism that something similar may have application to yourself and other serious thinkers and readers: that the willingness to question might include an openness to engaging with God on a journey towards faith.
I have come to suspect that having faith is an inherent human attribute.
On reflection, I have come to suspect that having faith is an inherent human attribute which, if not arrived at in an informed and reasoned way, can leave people prone to deception. If unacknowledged, however, there can be a denial of the very presence and validity of faith, as reflected in your statement below which I understand is about beliefs from the Christian bible in particular.
Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. A lecture by Richard Dawkins extracted from The Nullifidian (Dec 94).
I would contend that this definition is a misrepresentation of faith as championed from the bible.
While this description may not be totally unrelated to the faith held by some individuals, I would contend that it is a misrepresentation of faith as championed from the bible. It portrays believing in God to be in defiance of reason and logic and dismissive of established science. Yet for me, in the statements below, I see an element of faith in the optimism expressed (although not without some foundation) for what scientific investigation still hopes to achieve.
The present lack of a definitely acceptable account of the origin of life should certainly not be taken as a stumbling block for the whole Darwinian world view. - Richard Dawkins In The Blind Watchmaker (1991), 166.
"Darwin gives courage to the rest of science that we shall end up understanding literally everything, springing from almost nothing - a thought extremely hard to comprehend and believe." - Richard Dawkins, Rowan Williams vs Richard Dawkins debate on Human Origins, held in Oxford on 23rd February 2012
As I understand it, despite enormous strides in scientific understanding and technological advancement, we have not yet arrived at an accepted theory of how the ‘Big Bang’ managed to occur, bringing about a vast universe of matter from virtually ‘nothing’; neither have we been able to discover how a self-replicating molecule of life may have spontaneously developed. The optimism reflected in the above quotes, therefore, only serves to reinforce my conviction that humanity has an innate ‘God-given’ capacity for faith which inspires much of human achievement.
The more important issue . . . would seem to be that of having a reliable focus and well considered basis for that faith.
The more important issue, then, rather than the validity of having faith, would seem to be that of having a reliable focus and well considered basis for that faith.
In my own journey of faith, I have come to realise that the difficulty with many objections to the idea of God come from a natural tendency to view issues primarily from our own human point of view. Our perspective tends to be oriented to our own experiences of life, and how they affect us. They are also perceived within the limits of what we can humanly discern with our five senses and the conclusions we reach by deduction and reason within the scope of our own human thinking. Therefore, I suggest that the rationality for dismissing faith is reinforced by a predisposition towards any suggestion of a God who is unseen and whose presence is not manifested in direct visible evidence.
However, the possibility of an alternative perspective began to impact my understanding and bring me to different conclusions about God with regard to many of the problematic objections and difficult questions that influence many people towards unbelief. There can be rational explanations (even if we don’t like them) when some of the apparent anomalies are considered from the standpoint of ‘what if’ God should indeed exist and happen to be who he says he is. From his perspective, some of the things we find difficult to accept or understand may be seen to have a very different meaning and significance for God as revealed in the bible.
A rationale for why faith can be considered an appropriate response not unmatched to the realities of life that we both see and experience in the world around us.
The outline below references some of the overarching themes consistently interwoven into a world view that is foundational to the many and varied passages that make up the Christian bible. They contribute to a rationale for why faith can be considered an appropriate response not unmatched to the realities of life that we both see and experience in the world around us. This overview is offered because many of the bible’s key insights are not always set out in one place in the form of a systematic theological argument. The scope of God is not easily grasped by any one individual and has therefore come to us progressively through contributions from a range of authors and revelations with varying emphases. Nevertheless, there is a consistency of principle and a similar preeminent acknowledgement of God in the many and varied eras and messages that come together in the bible.
I take it that the approach adopted here would concur with your own, quoted below, which I believe is accurate (though perhaps for different reasons) on taking a foundational view of the bible.
We pick and choose which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories. Such picking and choosing is a matter of personal decision, just as much, or as little, as the atheist's decision to follow this moral precept or that, was a personal decision without an absolute foundation. Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION (Bantam 2006), P275
Further elaboration, with additional references, can be found at: https://www.areasonablefaith.net/
Why the bible?
A basic reason to consider the bible as a basis for belief is because of what it says about itself:
Example: 1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV
And we also thank God constantly . . . that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
See also: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV, 2 Peter 1: 20-21 ESV, Romans 15:4 ESV
Jesus also relied upon the scriptures as a basis for his knowledge of God.
Example: Matthew 4:4 NIV
Jesus answered, “It is written [in the scriptures]: ‘[Humankind] shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
What the bible says about God
He is spirit, unseen, invisible
Example: 1 Timothy 6:16 GWT
He is the only one who cannot die. He lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honour and power belong to him forever!
He is eternal, without beginning, unending
Example: Psalm 90:2 NHEB
Before the mountains were brought forth, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God
He is merciful, compassionate, forgiving
Example: Joel 2:13 NLT
. . . Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.
What God says about himself
Creator of all (regardless of controversies about processes or time frames)
Example: Isaiah 44: 24-25 NHEB
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself; who foils the omens of the empty talkers, and makes fools of diviners; who turns sages back, and makes their knowledge foolish;"
Suggestion: to conceive of the Christian God is beyond what humans of themselves could conceive.
What God says about humankind as peak of his creation
Example: Psalm 8:4-6 NIV
What is humankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:
Evil, pain and suffering have entered this world because God has an enemy
History and motivation of Satan
Example: Isaiah 14:12-15 NIV
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, . . . You said in your heart, “ . . . I will raise my throne above the stars of God; . . . I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.
Satan’s effect on the earth and humanity – the fall
Example: Romans 8:20 NIV
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice,
Example: 1 John 5:19 NIV
We know that . . . the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
What we humans have found alluring is not a desire for evil, but the idea that we will find greater fulfilment in using our God ‘likeness’ to carve out our own destinies and work out for ourselves what to believe about right and wrong and what is best for us. This introduces a competing will (self-will) that brings disharmony into a world that had been made ‘good’ in every sense.
Atheism is not new: Satan continues to use every device and opportunity to get us either to blame God for the devastations he himself has unleashed on the world, or to deny God’s very existence.
Example: Psalm 53:1-3 NIV
The fool* says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, . . . there is no one who does good. God looks down from heaven . . . to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, [*we’ve been fooled]
Reason for many gods / many religions: Many people consider the religions of the world and ask: ‘Which God?’ But people lost to an unseen God find many different things to ‘worship’ in other humanly created icons and philosophies.
Example: Romans 1:20-25 NIV
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, . . . they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile [not leading to right conclusions] . . . They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.
God has a dilemma
Our perspective is limited:
‘I have described atonement, the central doctrine of Christianity, as vicious, sadomasochistic and repellent. . . If God wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them, without having himself tortured and executed in payment?’ Dawkins, R. The God Delusion. Bantam Press, 2006.
The ‘advice’ offered to God in this statement, unfortunately, has a simplistic understanding of both his Name and his Nature.
The Dilemma: If God is merciful and desires to forgive, and yet is to maintain the integrity of his perfect being and domain, how can he deliver justice to those who are wronged by ‘forgiving’ perpetrators?
God’s plan: from the beginning - to bring reconciliation
Example: Genesis 3:15 NLT
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Justice and mercy are met through Jesus:
Example: Romans 3:26 TPT
. . . There was only one possible way for God to give away his righteousness and still be true to both his justice AND his mercy—to offer up his own Son.
Example: Philippians 2:6-8 NIV
Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God . . . and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Problems in attempting to justify ourselves:
Example: Romans 10:2-4 NET
. . . Their zeal is not in line with the truth. For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.
Why doesn’t God ‘do something’ to stop evil and suffering
God’s plan is already being outworked - Jesus has secured the enemy’s ultimate defeat and for those who believe there is now no condemnation.
Example: John 3:17-19 NIV
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light . . .
God’s final plan – a new earth and new heaven:
Example: 2 Peter3: 13 NLT
But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
Significant implications for God’s final solution: it will bring a ‘separating’ process. We will discover that we do not have ability of ourselves to stand in the awesomeness of his presence without faith – e.g. as mentioned below to Moses..
Example: Exodus 33:18-20 NIV
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you . . . But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Lasting benefits and life fulfilment will not come from our own ideas and enterprises - good though they may be.
Example: Luke 18:8 NLT
“But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
If God is good, why is he still ‘allowing’ so much evil and suffering to continue happening in this world?
Example: 2 Peter 3:9 NIV
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to [have opportunity to] come to repentance.
To repent means to change your way of thinking so as to believe and receive. God desires that no one perish – ‘punishment’ was NOT his intention for people. However, our choices and lack of faith can put us beyond the reach of his grace and his plan to save.
How God reveals himself
Creation
Example: Psalm 19:1-3 NIV
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
His Spirit
Example: 1 Corinthians 2:12 NIV
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
His Word (See ‘Why the bible?’ above)
Discernment is needed on issues of apparent contradiction between God as presented in the Old Testament (OT) books of the bible, compared to the messages of the New Testament (NT) writings. A basic guide is that in all writings He is the same God, but the word ‘testament’ means covenant or agreement and God’s Old Covenant was upgraded to the presently applying New Covenant with the coming of Jesus. Jesus was the enabling of God’s plan, which was for us to become reconciled in our relationship with Him on the basis of his grace, received by faith, rather than in law keeping. This is not just a rationalisation; differences between the two ‘covenants’ are clearly articulated, in both the NT book of Hebrews, for Jewish readers, and the NT book of Romans for those from non-Jewish backgrounds.
Old Testament law with promise
Example: Exodus 19:5 NIV
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant [of laws], then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
New Testament and receiving grace through faith
Example: Jeremiah 31:33-34 ESV
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people . . . for they shall all know me, . . . For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
God speaks to the heart with a language of the heart:
Example: 1 Corinthians 2:11 ESV
So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except [by] the Spirit of God.
Example: 1 Samuel 16:7 NLT
The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
Why we need to ‘believe’ and have faith
God is invisible, unseen:
Example: John 5:37 NASB
And the Father who sent Me [Jesus], . . . You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
Example: Hebrews 11:6 ISV
. . . for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.
He is a God who himself works by faith:
Example: Psalm 33: 6-9 NIV
The LORD merely spoke, and [by faith] the heavens were created . . . For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
Why is there not more ‘evidence’?
The ‘natural’ mind considers spiritual realities to be foolishness – it cannot know or perceive them
Example: 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 NIV
These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. . . . no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, . . . The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Problems of requiring ever more evidence:
Example: Matthew 16:1-4 NASB
The [religious leaders] came up, and testing Jesus, . . . asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied . . . , "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, . . .' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign;”
Luke 16: 19-31 GNT
. . . 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets [from the bible], they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.”
God’s invitations
Example: Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB
But [if] . . . you will seek the LORD your God, . . . you will find Him - if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
Example: Matthew 7:8 NIV
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Example: Matthew 5:8 NIV
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Testing the Hypothesis: Choosing to respond and engage with our heart towards God is like ‘testing the hypothesis’ - a recognised method for reliable knowing.
Example: Jeremiah 29:13 ESV
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Example: Psalm 34:8 NLT
Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
A Challenge: how can we assert with authority that God is real or not real if we have not tested the hypothesis he has assured us will lead to finding him - and have instead made counter-productive demands for ‘evidence’ of our own choosing?
How can we get faith? Believing in an unseen God may not seem logical or even humanly possible to our mind with its natural way of thinking and knowing. But God himself imparts the faith we need.
Faith ‘comes by hearing’:
Example: Romans 10:17 NKJB
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. [given in the bible].
Faith is the key to accessing the reality of an unseen, eternal God: Faith brings a ‘knowing’ of the heart. There will never be enough evidence if we are seeking to be convinced intellectually before being willing to believe. Faith grows out of the reality of a relationship with God that develops through believing. (See above: ‘Why is there not more evidence?’)
Example: 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
A paradoxical understanding of faith : The paradox of knowing the reality of an unseen God: it is not ‘seeing is believing’ but ‘Believing is seeing’. God has chosen the ‘foolish’ (who by believing receive the light and life of God) to confound the ‘wise’.
Example: 1 Corinthians 1:27 DRB
But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong.
Example: Matthew 6:33 GWT
But first, be concerned about [God’s] kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you.
Desirability and benefits of faith
Example: Philippians 4:7 GNT
And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.
Example: Galatians 5:22‑23 NASB
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Example: Galatians 6:8 NIV
. . . whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Appeal from the heart of God
Example: Romans 10:9-10 NIV
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Example: John 20: 29 ISV
Jesus told [Thomas], "Is it because you've seen me that you have believed? How blessed are those who have never seen me and yet have believed!"
Example: 2 Timothy 1:7 KJB
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Matthew 11: 28‑30 NIV
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
To conclude:
With due respect, Professor Dawkins, I find that the bold statements against faith and the arguments against belief do not convincingly dismiss for me the great messages of hope found in the Christian bible. I therefore continue to wish that others may also come to find for themselves the reality of these truths. Admittedly, my acceptance of them remains a matter of faith and I would be the first to concede that in some cases the bible’s perspectives are not without troublesome aspects. Nor are explanations complete in every detail and there will continue to be questions we find puzzling. But when issues are viewed from a perspective of how God might see them, especially with his longings towards humanity, I find a response of faith to be not inappropriate. Such believing is not inconsistent with the biblical assertion that because human reason and logic cannot readily relate to a God who is unseen, there will always be a need for active faith in coming to know him and to experience his reality.
I therefore remain convinced that having faith is not only reasonable, but is also desirable, for beginning to access some of the unlimited resources and potential available to us through that unseen reality who is God. If he is both real and personal (and I experience him to be), then our earthly existence is given great significance. There are signs of him all about us (and also of his enemy) as well as longings within our hearts that are meant to find fulfilment in him - not in beliefs generated by doubt and scepticism. He longs that we would open our hearts to him where he brings peace, rather than the struggles that our minds have with his truth. It is our own thinking that limits perspective and renders us oblivious to the untapped potential for good that is available through him and made immediately accessible if we will but choose to ‘believe’ (rather than waiting to be ‘convinced’).
To begin to find him, and his promised benefits, does not require abandonment of all reason, but a considered step of faith, by believing, towards a life unimagined which I thoroughly commend to all.
Gordo Suord 2020
For further resources and exploration of similar topics: https://www.areasonablefaith.net/