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Is God Dead?
Having previously presented considerable and substantial evidence suggesting that the existence of God is more likely than not, it could be further said that if a person believes they have encountered God through some particular experience, then, all things considered, they should suppose that they have indeed encountered God. Such is the underlying premise that gives structure to what are known as arguments for the existence of God from religious experience. The argument itself is based on the existence of God being the best explanation for various phenomena collectively termed “religious experience.”
Religious experiences are personal encounters with God that often occur through events such as terminal lucidity and Near-Death Experiences, both of which have been extensively discussed in past articles, along with other phenomena perceived in and through miraculous healings, dreams, visions, a sense of divine presence, and overwhelming awe. Physiologically, many religious experiences are sensory experiences perceived through the five senses, which are generally considered quite reliable. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to maintain that because sensory experiences are considered excellent grounds for beliefs about the physical world, religious experiences are valid grounds for religious beliefs.
Even so, the big question is this: “Can these experiences be true, or are they made-up tales of experiences that never happened?” After all, some claims seem absurd, while others border on theatrical. Philosopher Richard Swinburne can be of help here, pointing out two guiding principles when evaluating claims of religious experience. First, the principle of credulity holds that unless there is good evidence to the contrary, if a person claims a particular experience, then we should believe that they did experience what they claimed. Or, as already stated, “If I believe I have encountered God through some particular experience, then, all things considered, I should suppose that I have indeed encountered God.”
Swinburne’s second principle in determining the truthfulness of a religious experience claim is the principle of testimony, which holds that testimony is generally reliable. That is, people typically do not give false testimony, nor are they often deceived by what they experienced. At any rate, that does not ensure that all religious experience claims are truthful. In fact, I am quite certain that some, if not many, religious experience claims are pure fabrications. After all, the eighteenth- century skeptic David Hume once said, “It is nothing strange that men should lie in all ages.” While I do not believe that is the general rule, I agree with Hume regarding a minority of cases. While Swinburne’s two principles may seem somewhat weak and optimistic, they do not stand alone.
The argument that God makes Himself known to certain individuals at certain times through religious experiences is substantially reinforced by the sheer number of religious experience claims from all peoples, at all times, from all over the world. For example, there are approximately 25 million documented Near-Death Experience claims of encounters with the Divine alone. Surely, they are not all false, or even most of them false. While acknowledging that some claims of religious experiences are false, the credibility of at least some of these experiences is further enhanced by their observed transformative power. Generally, transformative experiences leave lasting impressions on the experiencer, often bringing about rapid, significant, and enduring changes to their worldview. These worldview changes are most striking when occurring in those who strongly profess atheism. Francis Collins is just one case.
Francis Collins, MD, PhD, former Director of The Human Genome Project, was absolutely convinced that atheism was true until one day a dying patient challenged his disbelief. Unable to formulate a coherent response, Collins embarked on a quest to prove atheism true. Although the evidence for God began to convince him that his atheism might very well be false, it was not until he had a religious experience that brought him to conversion. Collins writes of the experience that occurred during a hiking trip in the Cascades of rounding a corner only to find a frozen waterfall hundreds of feet high. Utterly overwhelmed, Collins said, “I knew the search was over,” and he “surrendered to Jesus Christ.” The once ardent atheist who had described Christianity as an “outmoded superstition” now found his worldview radically and permanently transformed by his religious experience.
Francis Collins is no isolated case. Blues musician and hardened atheist Jonny Lang had a religious experience he neither saw coming nor welcomed. Lang described his encounter with God as being “just like [the] wind that went right through my chest, and it stopped me in the hallway. It was unbelievable. . . . I just felt something welling up. Just burning in me, it was like I was throwing up, and the name ‘Jesus’ just came out of my mouth.” Lang started shaking all over. “I knew it was Jesus immediately from the moment I started shaking. It was like he just came up and introduced himself to me. I was just in shock. I thought I totally despised you, and you just did this to me. It’s been a process ever since.”
There are thousands and thousands of stories just like these; stories of radical worldview transformations in direct response to religious experiences. Actually, research indicates that twenty percent of the population has had a religious experience. That is about 51 million adult Americans. But what if only half are true claims? What if only one percent is true? What if only ten of the 51 million religious experience claims are true? All it really takes is one to be true. And if you asked these ten people, “Is God dead? What do you think they would say? What would you say?
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at dr.kerley@ isGoddead.com.
