Stories On Faith: Can We Prove Faith? Exploring the Intersection of Religion, Science, and Miracles
When Life Tumbles In
In 1927 the wife of Scottish preacher Arthur Gossip
died suddenly. When he returned to the pulpit he preached a sermon titled “When
Life Tumbles In, What Then?”
In that sermon Gossip compared life to watching a plane pass through the sky during wartime. There you are, lying on your back watching a plane fly gracefully across a brilliant sunlit blue sky when all of a sudden it is blown apart by gunfire and falls to earth a tumbling, tangled mess of metal. Only on this occasion the gunfire was the tragically unexpected death of his beloved wife.
Gossip went on to explain that he didn’t understand this
life, but what he did know was that during this darkest period of his life he
needed his faith more than ever. “You people in the sunshine may believe the
faith, but we in the shadow must believe it. We have nothing else.” Without his
faith there was no hope.
Source: Reported in Hans, God on the Witness Stand (Baker 1987). Hans sourced the sermon from Arthur Gossip,
Faith: A Guess or a Choice?
Christian writer Tim Stafford tells of an unusual approach
to teaching about religious truth adopted by a pastor he knows. You might
expect this, for the pastor, Stephey Bilynskyj, holds a PhD in Philosophy from
Notre Dame University!
Whenever he runs a confirmation class the pastor takes a jar
full of beans with him. He then gets the students to guess how many beans are
in the jar, and writes down their guesses on a notepad. Pastor Bilynskyi then
asks the class members to list their favourite songs, writing them down
alongside the bean estimates.
Pastor Bilynskyi then returns to the bean guesses, revealing
the actual number and then whose guess was closest to being right. After
congratulations have been offered attention is then refocussed on the song
list. “And which one of these is closest to being right?” Pastor Bilynskyi
asks. Invariably the students argue that when it comes to “favourite songs”
there is no right answer. It’s purely subjective, a matter of taste. It’s at
that point that Pastor Bilynskyi asks “When you decide what to believe in terms
of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like
choosing your favourite song?”
Always, Bilynskyj says, he gets the same answer: Choosing
one’s faith is more like choosing a favourite song. Bilynskyi disagrees, and
though he still confirms those who hold this view, does his best to try to
argue them out of it!
Source: Christianity Today, September 14, 1992
Even When God is Silent
The Holocaust is one of the most terribly traumatic episodes of
modern history, yet it has also yielded some astounding stories of bravery and
faith.
In France a Jewish family were hidden by some concerned
French nationals in the basement of their house. The Jewish family waited and
waited for their deliverance. At the end of the war these words were found
scribbled on the wall of that basement:
“I believe in the sun even when it does not shine.
I believe in love even when it is not given.
I believe in God even when he is silent.”
Source: reported in Hans, God on the Witness Stand
(Baker, 1987)
Contact: Faith, Science, and the Unknown
The 1997 film Contact, based on the novel
of the same name by Carl Sagan, starring Jodie Foster, tells the story of
astronomer Ellie Arroway’s search for extraterrestrial life. It is more however
than a movie about aliens. It raises profound questions about life, faith and
science.
Ellie’s parents both died while she way very young, and she
is left with a keen sense of aloneness and a drive to discover some sense of
meaning and purpose to life and existence. Her chosen path to truth is science.
She refuses to accept anything on the basis of faith. Only that which can be
scientifically demonstrated can be intellectually embraced.
The other central character in the movie is Palmer Joss, a
spiritual adviser to the president. Ellie and Joss find themselves attracted to
each other, but their relationship forces them both to explore the place of
faith and reason in their lives. Ellie challenges Joss to proven that God
exists.
Ockham’s razor demands that the simplest explanation is the
best. On this basis she asks “So what’s more likely? That a mysterious,
all-powerful God created the universe, and then decided not to leave a single
evidence of his existence? Or that He simply doesn’t exist at all, and that we
created Him, so that we wouldn’t have to feel so small and lonely?”
Joss responds by asking Ellie if she loved her father. She
affirms that she loved him deeply. Joss then turns Ellie’s demand back on her.
“Prove it”. Joss explains that although he may not be able to scientifically
prove God’s existence, he once had a deeply moving experience where he felt
overwhelmed by the presence of God. It’s on this basis that he believes. Ellie
however can’t accept this. If it cannot be proven it cannot be true.
Then one day, as Ellie is listening for signals from
outer-space contact is made. Aliens from deep in space have returned radio
signals to earth and then send details for the construction of what seems to be
a time machine.
After one person has died when the first machine explodes,
Ellie is chosen to travel in the second. When Joss asks her whether she is
willing to die for this she replies: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been
searching for something, some reason why we’re here. What are we doing here?
Who are we? If this is a chance to find out even just a little part of that
answer… I don’t know, I think it’s worth a human life. Don’t you?”
So Ellie finds herself sitting in a small metallic sphere
suspended from massive circular arms. The arms start rotating furiously,
reaching a point where the sphere is dropped. This time the machine doesn’t
explode, the sphere simply falls to earth. Nothing has happened…
Or at least that’s how it appears to inside observers.
Ellie’s experience within the capsule is extraordinary. She finds herself
hurtling down a “wormhole”, a doorway through space, until she emerges on a
beautiful beach. A figure walks across the sand toward her. It’s her father…in
fact an alien life form coming to her in the guise of her father so that she
will feel comfortable.
Finally, Ellie has overcome her sense of cosmic aloneness,
perhaps found some of the answers she is looking for. In some poignant lines
the alien says: “You’re an interesting species, an interesting mix. You’re
capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares. You feel so
lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the
only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.”
After 18 hours Ellie has to return. When she does, she finds
herself confronted by the same skepticism towards her experience that she
showed to Joss when he spoke of his experience of God. From the viewpoint of
everyone observing from outside the capsule nothing happened.
Surely Ockham’s razor demands the simplest explanation –
that nothing did happen other than Ellie being fooled? Surely, they can’t be
expected to accept Ellie’s story on the basis of nothing but faith?
Ellie’s confronted with a terrible dilemma. Can she now
embrace her experience on the basis of nothing but faith? It seems her answer
is “yes”. She says “I had an experience I can’t prove, I can’t even explain it,
but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that
it was real. I was part of something wonderful, something that changed me
forever; a vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny, and
insignificant, and how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we
belong to something that is greater than ourselves.
That we are not, that none of us are alone. I wish I could
share that. I wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel that awe,
and humility, and the hope, but… that continues to be my wish.”
Lessons from and Their Applications
1. The Limits of Empirical Proof and the Role of Faith
Lesson: Not everything that is real can be
scientifically proven. Just as Ellie initially rejects faith but later finds
herself in a position where she must rely on personal experience, the movie
suggests that truth can exist beyond empirical validation.
Application: In life, we often encounter
experiences—love, intuition, spiritual beliefs—that cannot be measured or fully
explained, yet they shape who we are. Learning to balance reason with faith can
lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world.
2. The Search for Meaning Is a Universal Journey
Lesson: Ellie’s quest for extraterrestrial
life is, at its core, a search for connection and meaning, much like Joss’s
spiritual journey. Both science and faith are ways humans seek to understand
their place in the universe.
Application: Whether through science,
philosophy, religion, or personal experiences, we all seek answers to
fundamental questions about existence. Recognizing this shared pursuit can
foster greater empathy and open-mindedness towards different worldviews.
3. Human Connection Is What Makes the Universe Bearable
Lesson: The alien’s message to Ellie
underscores the idea that despite our vast universe, the most profound source
of meaning is our relationships with others.
Application: In moments of isolation or
existential questioning, it is often our connections—family, friends, and
shared humanity—that bring us the greatest sense of purpose. Prioritizing
relationships can help us navigate life's uncertainties with a sense of belonging
and hope.
Can We Believe in Miracles?
Is it possible to believe in miracles? The famous
philosopher David Hume didn’t think so. He believed that miracles were so
improbable that it was impossible to believe in them.
To believe a miracle had occurred would require the
testimony of people of such great learning that they could not possibly be
deceived, of such good character that they could not possibly be deceitful, of
such high reputation that the loss of face if they were found to be deceitful
would be overwhelming, and with the miracle performed publicly in a celebrated
part of the world that detection of fraud would be uncovered.
In Hume’s view these criteria could never be satisfied. Hume
even admits that he knew of miracles in France which “were immediately proved
upon the spot before judges of unquestionable integrity, attested by witnesses
of credit and distinction, in a learned age, and on the most eminent theater
that is now in the world.”
This would seem to meet his criteria, but still he rejects
the miracles on the grounds of “the absolute impossibility or miraculous nature
of the events which they relate.”
Source: Adapted from C. Brown, History and Faith
(IVP, 1987). The Hume quotes are taken from Brown, citing Hume, Enquiries
Concerning Human Understanding.