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Someone we’ll call “T” desperately wants help. She says:

Over the course of my life I have struggled with believing in the existence of God…. I struggle with questions like, “If creation demands a creator, and everything is created by God, who created God? How has he always existed?” I also struggle with miracles that have happened in the Bible (e.g., the big fish and the Red Sea parting)…. I have a Christian boyfriend, and I want so much to believe but I just … can’t get over the fact that the things the Bible teaches are impossible. What can I do? I desperately want help. I feel like I can’t talk to anyone.

A RESPONSE.

Thanks for reaching out! I’m so sorry you feel you can’t talk to anyone about your questions and doubts, but that’s one reason we’re here at Room For Doubt. We want to listen and help you however we can.

You clearly have tough questions about Christianity and an intriguing motivation—to hang on to a Christian boyfriend! While some may criticize your motivation, I believe it’s okay and even valuable. In an interesting case study of 32 prominent atheists who converted to Christianity, 72% included a positive encounter with a Christian as a “major turning point” in their opinion of Christianity. One former atheist, a Frenchman named Guillaume Bignon actually fell for a Christian woman while on vacation in the Caribbean and then tried to disprove her faith. Instead, he converted to Christianity and became a notable defender of Christianity. (BTW, he later broke up with her and married someone else.) Bignon was initially motivated through his romantic attraction to a Christian, but he found much more—and something even better. [1] Perhaps your current romantic relationship will have the same result.

An Uncreated Creator?

(1) One issue you raise is with the existence of God and how God can somehow be an uncreated Creator. “Who created God?” While this is a popular question, it’s not the big problem many think. The bottom line is this: something (or someone) must serve as an ultimate “stopping point.” For Christians, it’s God. But accepting the God of Scripture is not a blind leap or a mere wish-fulfillment. A comprehensive and cogent case can be made for God’s existence—scientifically, philosophically, historically, etc. You don’t have to by-pass your brain to believe in the God presented in the Bible. (Did you know that the “Society of Christian Philosophers” is perhaps the largest subgroup of professional philosophers in the world?)

I would suggest visiting my “Home Tour” that discusses many of these considerations. I’d also recommend my article, “Help! I Don’t Want to Waste My Life on Something False.”

Everyone Has a Stopping Point

Here’s the important point: Everyone has a “stopping point.” For example, without God, how do you explain the existence of the physical universe? You could say that (1) it is eternal or (2) it created itself (whether through a Big Bang from nothing or through multiple universes that somehow just “pop into existence for no reason at all.” Hardly anyone now believes option #1. And those who hold to option #2 must accept an ultimate “stopping point” (or ultimate “starting point”) that is not “scientific”—because it cannot be empirically confirmed or falsified, even in principle—and is arguable not even “rational”—because it denies what we know about causality. [2]

Christianity ultimately claims that “God did it”; an atheistic position claims that “the universe did it.” Given everything that must be accounted for (e.g., the existence of the universe and life itself, the conscious sense of self and human freedom, the desire to love and be loved, the drive for personal meaning, the dread of death), which stopping point seems more intellectually, psychologically, emotionally, existentially, and spiritually satisfying?

Here’s my advice: Don’t just question Christianity; question the options just as critically. Compare the alternatives. If not God, then what? (On this point, see my published article, “Where Will We Go Without God?”)

Miracles Impossible?

(2) You also have problems with miracles in the Bible and perceive them as “impossible.” Of course, the huge variable here is whether a God exists who could perform miracles. If God does not exist, then many of these “miraculous” Bible events are just fabulous but false stories. But if a God exists who created the universe in the first place, miracles are definitely not impossible; they become probable in light of God’s expressed love for humanity and His saving work throughout history.

Several additional points might help. First, science cannot say that miracles are “impossible.” Science can only describe what occurs; it cannot legitimately prescribe what can, or what cannot, occur.

Second, biblical miracles do not violate the basic principle of causality. Miracles are ultimately caused by an acting person (God), instead of a mere natural process.

Third, very strong evidence can be provided for miracles in the Bible. The biggest one is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Even the Bible says that if that’s false, then the whole Christian thing is false (1 Cor. 15:14, 17). (For more on this, see these articles:

My advice? Seriously search for the evidence for the most important miracles in Scripture, like the person of Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. Perhaps you, like so many others, will conclude that the evidence supports the Christian claims, not only about Jesus, but about the Bible as a whole.

You might discover, not only that a miracle-working God exists, but that he dearly loves you (and he would likely love for you to stick with a strong Christian believer).

~ Dr. Rich Knopp

FOOTNOTES:

  1. Guillaume Bignon, Confessions of a French Atheist: How God Hijacked My Quest to Disprove the Christian Faith. For an interview with Bignon, see “Guillaume Bignon: A French Atheist’s Surprising Conversion.”
  2. Alex Rosenberg claims, ““Why is there a universe at all? No reason at all. Why is there a multiverse in which universes pop into existence for no reason at all? No reason at all!” (Rosenberg, The Atheist’s Guide to Reality, Kindle, pp. 38-39; emphasis added).  Stephen Hawking claims, “Bodies such as stars or black holes cannot just appear out of nothing. But a whole universe can…. Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.” (The Grand Design, 180; emphasis added).
  3. Featured image by asaf on Unsplash.

Rich Knopp

Executive Director of Room For Doubt and presenter for Room For Doubt at churches, conferences, conventions, camps, campus ministries, and colleges. Rich provides and manages content on the R4D website and app. His personal webpage can be accessed at www.richknopp.com.