Divine Hiddenness, Divine Silence

I.                   What are we to make of the Divine Hiddenness?

a.       One of the most important and widely discussed objections to belief in God

b.      One of the most important sources of doubt and spiritual distress for religious believers.

II.                The Problem of Divine Hiddenness

a.       Starts with the supposition that God exists.

b.      It gains traction because one concept of God is the concept of a being that we ought to encounter- tangibly and vividly, it would seem at some point in our lives.

c.       God would want to have a relationship with us as God is perfectly rational, perfectly wise, who loves like a perfect parent.

d.      The theistic religions agreed that it is bad for us to spend our lives without a relationship with God.

                                                              i.      We expect an encounter with God, at least either of the following case;

1.      Our evidence should be conclusive;

2.      Experience of God’s love and presence should be widely available.

                                                            ii.      When I say that we don’t encounter God often in palpable ways:

1.      Our evidence is inconclusive;

2.      Religious experience—of the interesting and unambiguous sort—is rare.

                                                          iii.      Three reasons why God is Hidden;

1.      We identify some mistake in our reasoning thus far;

a.       Suppose that God exists—that is, suppose there is a perfectly powerful, perfectly wise being who loves us like a perfect parent.

b.      God is mostly hidden from people: our evidence is inconclusive; religious experience of the interesting and unambiguous sot is rare.

c.       There is no good reason for God to remain hidden.

d.      If God is mostly hidden and there is no good reason for God to remain hidden, then one of the following is true:

                                                                                                                                      i.      God exists but, like a negligent father, does not love us enough to make himself known.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      God exists but, like an inept lover, lacks the wisdom to appreciate the importance or proper way of revealing himself to us.

                                                                                                                                  iii.      God exists but is too weak to reveal himself in the ways that he should in order to secure his relational goals.

e.       Premises (a)-(b) are inconsistent

f.       Therefore: God does not exist.

2.      We find some believable, good reason why God might remain hidden; or

3.      We concede that there is no God.

III.             Dealing with the problem

a.       Lettered premises and inferences signaled with “therefore’s”[above] gives us a pretty systematic way of addressing the problem.

b.      Reasons for thinking the premises (b) and (c) might be false. Why? Thoughts about premise (b).

                                                              i.      Conclusive evidence?

1.      A reading from St. Paul to the Roman on 18-21 states that there is no reasonable Non-belief:

2.      Non-belief is due to sin.

3.      Non-belief is kind of self-deception

4.      Being an atheist is sort of like being an alcoholic in denial: you want badly not to see the truth that you suppress it and convince yourself that things are how you want them to be.

                                                            ii.      Good Reason?

1.      Maybe God does have a good reason for remaining hidden. But whay?

a.       He does it for our sake.

                                                                                                                                      i.      God could be justified in permitting suffering of innocents only if the innocents themselves benefit.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      A perfectly loving being wouldn’t make me suffer for the benefit of someone else.

                                                                                                                                  iii.      God allows some people to suffer for the benefits of others.

b.      Other response is the denial of the above mentioned.

                                                                                                                                      i.      God has reasons but his reason are his own and have nothing directly to do with benefiting us.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      Which is why we often can’t see any benefits to us in God’s hiddenness.

c.       Some suggestions of benefit from divine hiddenness:

                                                                                                                                      i.      Hiddenness is necessary for preserving the freedom and integrity of our own responses to God.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      God’s Hiddenness is good for our souls.

                                                          iii.      The Personality of God?

1.      Divine Hiddenness is not something that God does to produce some great good for us, but rather as something that God engages in for his own reason, independently of our good.

2.      Rhetorical questions about the Hiddenness of God like “what’s his problem? Doesn’t he love me?” is a flawed objections that which they depend on a particular interpretation of behavior of the complainant.

a.       Interpreting silence requires a lot of information about what sort of person you’re dealing with.

b.      Person’s cultural background, about what sorts of social norms he or she is likely to recognize and respect, etc.

3.      Divine silence would indicate a lack of concern for rational creatures if we had good reason to think that God had provided no way for us to find him or to experience him.

IV.             Conclusion

a.       Divine silence serves the good that comes of the most perfect and beautiful person in the universe expressing himself in the way that he sees fit.

b.      God has provided ways of finding and experiencing his presence despite his silence.

c.       His silence provides opportunities for us to grow in maturity or in our ability to relate to others.