A Hidden God?

Why in modern times have there been no clear and unambiguous signs of The Greatest Love’s presence in our Universe? I believe They are capable of delivering such signs. Signs that could be so awe-inspiring that they would cause humanity to coalesce our various sets of beliefs into one. General signs that could convert the masses at once or even personal signs that could convert but a few individuals at a time. Yet instead there remains largely silence. Why?

This question of divine hiddenness has attracted the attention of philosophers and theologians for centuries. It along with the problem of evil are perhaps the two strongest arguments against theism but I believe divine hiddenness separates itself as the most problematic argument for believers. The idea that there is an all-loving god that wants to have a personal relationship with all of us but, for some reason, chooses not to do so can bring distress and uncertainty.

In his 1993 book Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason, John L. Schellenberg presented a deductive argument against the existence of God. He later clarified this argument in his 2015 book The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy’s New Challenge to Belief in God. The books and Schellenberg’s arguments are often cited as the primary argument against the existence of God from the perspective of divine hiddenness and so it is instructive to present his argument here. From his 2015 book:

• P1: If a perfectly loving God exists, then there exists a God who is always open to a personal relationship with any finite person.
• P2: If there exists a God who is always open to a personal relationship with any finite person, then no finite person is ever nonresistantly in a state of nonbelief in relation to the proposition that God exists.
• C1: If a perfectly loving God exists, then no finite person is ever nonresistantly in a state of nonbelief in relation to the proposition that God exists (from P1 and P2).
• P3: Some finite persons are or have been nonresistantly in a state of nonbelief in relation to the proposition that God exists.
• C2: No perfectly loving God exists (from C1 and P3).
• P4: If no perfectly loving God exists, then God does not exist.
• C3: God does not exist (from C2 and P4)

The conclusions (C1 thru C3) naturally follow from the premises (P1 thru P4). So in order to refute the argument one or more of the premises need to be shown to be false. But P1, described by Schellenberg as the “main premise”, raises concerns for me. The first point is that “perfectly loving” is not well-defined but leaving that aside for a future post is the phrase “then there exists a God who …”. Mr. Schellenberg is declaring what God must be. But God does not take directions from us. In this blog I have hypothesized much about what I believe my god to be but never have I gone as far as stating what I know my god to be. The distinction is important.

We cannot know the nature of a Divine being unless we have such knowledge that comes from the Divine Themselves. Either by direct revelation or indirect revelation passed down through the ages thru sacred scripture. And even then neither of those two sources may result in the threshold of knowledge being passed for a given individual. Myself included. I only believe that the messages and visions sent to me via direct revelation were from my god. I do not know it to be certain.

So when Mr. Schellenberg says that a perfectly loving God is always open to a personal relationship with any person, I must ask from what source does he derive such a premise regarding the nature of Divine love? I can agree that there are types of love shared between human persons that typically mean both parties are open to a personal relationship. And certainly there are verses from sacred scripture, as there is text in this blog, that compares Divine love to say maternal love, but this is solely because it is the closest example of a powerful, unconditional love that we can understand. To say that maternal love is equivalent to Divine love would be far from accurate.

Divine love requires tragic choices to be made in furtherance of The Divine Plan. Life and death choices that The Greatest Love alone is responsible for. What would the pain of say, a human mother be, if they had a personal relationship with a god who took their child away from them? I fear it would be beyond traumatizing. I believe we are not equipped to have such a close personal relationship with a being that can intentionally cause us so much pain. And so premise P1 from Mr. Schellenberg’s argument I believe is flawed.

There is nothing in the human experience that equips us for wielding Divine love. A human parent would sacrifice their own life in order to save that of their child. What would then happen if those same human parents needed to sacrifice the lives of their children in order that a never-ending “plan” be advanced and it is this plan that is of primary import? What would be their emotional state after just one such occurrence? Now consider what it is like for The Greatest Love. They need to take such actions not just once, but thousands of times a day, every day and Their love for each of those lives taken is infinite. It is an existence which we as humans cannot possibly comprehend. And They must do this because They are much more than just some sort of cosmic parent which Mr. Schellenberg presupposes. They are also The Creator, The Executor of The Divine Plan, and The Wellspring of all Love. Self-sacrifice is not an option to the holder of such titles, all of which impact Their relationships with us. All such titles must be accounted for when composing the premises for any deductive proofs regarding Their existence or lack thereof.

I believe The Greatest Love is guided by The Divine Plan and this plan cannot be achieved by Them revealing Themselves to us. Instead we must discover The Greatest Love ourselves. We must learn what love is. We must progress our love to the highest of levels through our actions. This, I believe, is the journey of discovery that is The Divine Plan.

We cannot expect The Greatest Love to make Themselves known and perform all manner of supernatural miracles to eliminate the pain and suffering in the World. What if such pain and suffering is critical to the progression of our love and The Divine Plan as discussed in a previous post? What then? Abandon The Plan? Allow such great successes as humanity’s medical research, a testimony to humankind’s compassion, to wither away and die as the answers to all such inquiries are spoon fed to us by The Greatest Love? No. This would take us down a dystopian path with the cart leading the horse. The Greatest Love does not serve us. Their goal is not to ensure our well-being. That is our role. The goal of The Greatest Love is the execution of The Divine Plan which will bring us closer to Them.

Nor is it at all clear that the revealing of the One god benefits either that god or us. Love cannot be dictated. It must be experienced, learned, and embraced. By not revealing Themselves They have allowed each one of us, as individuals, to discover love’s mysteries on our own terms. The result? A wide collection of different faith traditions and opinions on everything from the meaning of life, to our role in the Universe. And there is beauty in such diversity. Of course all the loving religions must learn to see the love in each other. To acknowledge each other’s beauty and to see it as the starting point for dialog.

I believe the World needs all the great religions, exploring love in all its different dimensions in order to gain a more complete understanding of The Greatest Love. The Divine is bigger than any one religious tradition and the loss of but one loving religion makes us all lesser off. A god making Themselves clearly visible to the World would risk the elimination of many such religions as Their deluge of revelation becomes the focus of the worshipping masses.

And even before we go there, even before we examine what revealing Themselves unto us would mean, there is danger in the belief itself. The belief that The Divine will reveal Themselves to us at some point in the future and bring with Them some form of utopian paradise. When people believe that their god will bring the heavens down to the Earth what is the incentive for those same people to try to raise the Earth up to the heavens?

But is there not any benefit to having a loving god reveal Themselves unto us? For example dictating morality to us directly? Yes. There is but it comes with a price. A god that dictates morality precludes us from from having to learn it for ourselves. A process that takes time and forces us to progress our love in the process. It may have been necessary during or moral infancy from millennia past to dictate scripture, laws, or commandments, but today we are no longer infants on questions of morality. We have progressed our love by codifying the lessons from generations past into the secular charters and constitutions of today. And today we must acknowledge love as the foundation on which to build a moral framework. Not a god or a religion but instead love.

It will not be easy. Love is complex and rarely provides simple prescriptions to the many ethical dilemmas and ancient biases that confront us. For example a church that has prohibited women from entering the priesthood. An act of misogyny that has persisted for nearly two millennia. How easy would it be for that church to tear down their biased wall of patriarchy and transcend such doctrine in favor of an equality for all? Will that church ever do so? Will they ever see?

I pray they will. But I cannot know. However what I do believe is that love must progress. The One god dictates this and They will move the heavens and the Earth to ensure it happens. The result, I believe, is that any place of worship that cannot confront their biases and prejudices, their aberrations of love, will inevitably decline. It will take much, much time for them to completely fade away. Greatness is not so easily dismantled and they will have time to see the aberrations in their doctrine and make adjustments. But if they cannot or they will not, then as surely as the society around them progresses, they will be left behind.

It has to be this way.

Those that can not adapt in time to the changes brought about by love’s progression will inevitably perish from this Earth. So it was with the dinosaurs millions of years ago, so it must be with any institution of today.

Love must prevail.

So I pray the churches will tear down their walls. And I pray that in time other leaders in mosques, synagogues, and temples will be able to see and tear down their own walls. Walls which block out love. And once those houses of worship have torn down their walls they will look outside and be able to see their neighbor’s house of worship. They will then see that the similarities that are shared between them are far greater than the differences that divide them. This is what I pray for.

Now the details of their beliefs will differ but The Greatest Love does not judge such differences. Instead They are most concerned that all the great houses of loving worship can unite around actions that reveal their love. Because if love is central to a religion’s dogma, then it’s doctrine must reflect that centrality. When that happens a house founded on love opens itself up to a World of friendships, and their god(s).

When discussing the great religions of the World The Greatest Love does not pick sides. They rejoice in all the infinite diversity that is humanity. In all the loving beliefs and religious doctrine that comprise our spiritual identities. Revealing Themselves to all of humanity may unite our various beliefs but for what purpose and at what cost? Uniting the World through one set of beliefs is not Their goal, growing our love is. And the more of humanity that acts with love in their hearts, the more the world will change for the better.

That may sound simplistic, perhaps even naïve. But the complexity lies in the nature of love. It quickly becomes the most complex of conditions. People acting solely with love in their heart will invest mountains of treasure to find the cure to a medical ailment, while at the same time mobilizing armies to fight in a just war against tyranny. It is in this vast spectrum of complex actions that love, over the long march of history will succeed.

That success will be measured in many ways. From human rights and freedoms, to peace, prosperity, and well-being, love will advance forward. It will not always be a steady advance. At times we will step backwards. But love and its allies will persevere. The reason, I believe, is that there is at our core a quintessentially human yearning to foster love not just amongst our family and friends but in our places of worship, in our communities, in our nations and in our World. Justice, equal rights, fundamental freedoms: the yearning for all of these will never subside. They are love and they are embraced by the Creator in whose image we were made. Love becomes the common thread that binds all of us together. And all loving religions as well as many secular institutions, and each of us, have a role to play in recognizing such love above all else in the World.

Finally it must be remembered that although The Greatest Love may be hidden for many They can often be felt. They are felt in the warmth of a partner’s embrace, the gentle sighs of a sleeping child, the comforting words of a friend, or the majestic glow of a breathtaking sunset. These moments are ones of love. And it is in these feelings that The Greatest Love is found. Love quickly becomes the greatest gift that They have ever bestowed on humanity.

Not our beliefs or sacred texts. Not free will. Not life itself.

Love.

Love was much more than an evolutionary imperative. It predates such physical processes since before the beginning of time. It has, in fact, existed within the Divine for eternity. And it is through that love that The Greatest Love is revealed.