The Odd Delusion?

lt was the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates who said that the unexamined life isn't worth living. Eating and drinking, falling in love, enjoying friendships and earning money may all bring their pleasures, but surely we need to give some thought to why exactly we're here, and what it's all for. Don't we??

The message of a modern day-sage, Richard Dawkins, is that of all of life's questions, Christianity is certainly not worth examining. Disproved by science, and a mere residue of primitive superstitions with a brutal God at the heart of them, the Christian faith has no helpful contribution to make to our world, nor to the questions of our existence. Our world needs to ‘grow up’, and embrace a world without God as humanity aspires to real progress. The church may have some use for weddings and funerals, but as for a place to find any truth about this riddle we call life – forget it.

Dawkins’ real dispute with the God of the Bible is this: as we look at our world of infinite complexity we would have to conclude that if it is a product of design rather than chance, then its creator is even more complex than the world he has made. After all, anything which can create or design something must be at least as complex as the thing it can design or create. And such a God can never exist. Dawkins is sure of that. This God is just too unlikely.

What we should be saying in reply is, but why ever not? If we are alive as products of creation and not chance, and there is a God, why should he conform to what we think he must be like? Why is it so impossible for there to exist a God infinitely greater than our comprehension? Must he be a God we can understand? Isn’t that the ultimate in arrogance, to say that if we can’t understand him, then we must reject him as a myth?

This God does exist, according to the Bible. Yes, he does have infinite power and purity; no, he’s not like us, and we will exhaust our thinking just trying to figure out even something of what he’s like. And no, he’s not a God we can close our eyes to, or play games with. But make no mistake, he’s a God who calls us to discover him, as the God of truth, love and welcome. Jesus Christ came to reveal him, and tells us that if we seek him with all of our hearts, we will find him.

Gunnersbury Baptist Church is a place where people are doing just that. We actually believe that an unexamined faith isn’t worth having! We would love you to come and explore with us, as we investigate the Bible’s claims about the God revealed to us in Jesus. Faith in Christ is no odd delusion, but as Jesus Himself said, it is life in all of its fullness.