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Don’t Be So Certain…

Jon Arnold | July 20, 2008

This is really an addendum to my last post. In the book I read, Casper the Atheist consistently repeats what has become the mantra of post-modern thought – being certain of anything outside that which is provable by the scientific method is arrogant, ignorant, and offensive. Here’s how he put it:

“Certainty is boring. Certainty is closed off. Certainty is against new information. Certainty is a kind of orthodoxy, really, and it was those kinds of ‘certainty’ moments – when I would hear a pastor or others in a church declare themselves absolutely certain of heaven, God’s existence, truth – that I would get a little riled. Because being absolutely certain about something you cannot prove is simply dogma, and dogmatism is the death of ideas, and I like ideas.”

And here is Jim’s response (an attitude that helped his relationship with Casper greatly:

“There is a difference between certainty, and confidence or hope. As followers of Jesus, we put our faith in a set of beliefs that we choose to think of as real. We cannot prove any of them – that is why it is called faith. What bothers non-believers is when we assert that we “know” something, when they know that none of us can know anything until we die. I am very comfortable asserting my faith and my hope and my confidence that Jesus is God, but I will not say that I know He is God in the way I say I know there is gravity. I hope the story I have bet my life on is true, but neither Casper nor I will know for sure until both of us are dead. Atheists are very surprised when they hear me say this and wonder why more Christians can’t admit these things. They are not offended in the least by my faith, hope, or confidence. I feel no need to try to prove that I’m right and they’re wrong. All any of us really has is our own story. If we have had a real encounter with the living God, then they will simply have to deal with it in whatever way they choose.”

This is a truly great way to gain favor with atheists, agnostics, and anyone else. But I am left conflicted.

For one thing, Casper is hypocritical when it comes to certainty – in one section of the book, he states emphatically that he and Jim would most likely not be able to be friends if he had held a certain political opinion – something Casper was very “certain” of. He is also very certain of the scientific method, even though it was created by human minds (smarter minds than mine, but still human). He is also very certain there is no God, and believes anyone who feels otherwise is most definitely wrong, and proves it with the opposite postulate – “you can’t prove there IS a God.” Casper has great amounts of certainty in his belief set, but will not allow Christians the same certainty.

On the other hand, I agree that Christianity is based on faith, and that what we have faith in, by definition, is not scientifically provable. No matter how much “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” we amass, there is still a leap called faith. Hebrews says without this faith, it is impossible to please God – to come to God you must first BELIEVE He exists.

Now in case you think me a fundamentalist holdout disguising my true intentions with post-modern sounding language, I want to say first that I don’t believe that God allows Himself to be constrained by the scientific method, and is therefore unprovable by that method. So I agree that I can’t prove God in the same way I prove gravity. And I don’t believe any of us is completely correct in our theology or interpretation or even our concept of who God is.

But I am also leaning toward strongly disagreeing with the concept of faith as a bet that will only be a surety once we are dead. That kind of answer may curry favor with those who are certain there is no God, but it also opens up a whole host issues. If we are only making an educated guess at and eternal outcome, even if we are confident of it, there is no compelling reason to commit our entire lives to the concept. If, at best, I can only be reasonably confident, not certain, we should hedge our bets. I learned this in poker – you don’t bet your whole stack if you can’t guarantee you have the best hand. If you are only confident, based on the actions of the other player, but there is still a hand showing that can beat yours, you will still lose sometimes.

And we certainly can’t argue for exclusivity – Jesus cant be the only way to God, because we cant really be certain he is who he says he is. we have to allow for other ways. Other messiahs.

And that’s what the Caspers of the world need most – a Jesus that can be relegated to your own personal messiah. That Jesus requires no response. He works for you, not for me. and you can’t prove he is God, so I don’t have to deal with him.

Now I pose a series of questions I won’t answer for now. Maybe I’ll take a stab tonight or tomorrow. Or never. My head hurts: