Proofs for God I?

Wednesday, April 22, 2009. We are discussing the relation between science and faith. So far we have tried to summarize the basic focus of science and the basic goal of faith. Then, we have talked about the large success of sciences and we discussed the image of the cook and the meal. Today, we would like to talk about evidence for faith. Is it possible to proof God? In more detail: Science has nice tools to confirm its claims. The tools of science are “proofs” (mathematics) and “experiment” (natural science, social sciences). The historical sciences know “evidence” (indications, signs) as basic tools. All sciences use arguments and logic to come to conclusions from observations. Often, the interpretation of observations is difficult. Then, there is a process called “heuristics” - the teaching about the process of gaining knowledge about something.

What is the relation of faith to the confirmation processes of science? Do we have a process for faith, such that we can confirm its claims? Science claims to be independent of personal belief. The results should be accessible to everyone! In principle, every human should be able to verify the results of some scientist. Practically this is usually impossible, since you need a lot of training to do science and it might take years or decades to verify some results. But in principle the scientific arguments are set up in a way such that everyone can verify them. So how is this for faith? Can everyone verify God?

The answer of faith as communicated by Jesus and the bible has some similarities to science and some crucial differences. First: faith is for everyone as well. Ever human is called to faith by Jesus. God wants us all, without any exception! The invitation to come and get to know God is given to all of us, to every human on this planet. Second: is faith accessible to all? Yes, in principle it is. All people can go and pray to God. Everyone can read the bible, everyone can go and see, can try to understand. But here we come to some differences. Faith is not something you could do without getting involved personally. Faith is concerned about a relation. It is not some abstract truth we are talking about. When Jesus says: “believe in God and believe in me”, then this is not something we could gain without getting involved. Believing is a process which starts with personal decisions. I have to make the decision that I want to get to know God. I need to say to him: “God, here I am, I would like to meet you. I would like to know more about you, show me who you are!” Abstract faith is not possible, faith needs to be personal! [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

... more texts