God Issues Today: "Greetings from Row 23"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist) and Mansfield, Texas.

I am writing today's essay while sitting on an airplane waiting for takeoff. I thought I was flying on one airline, only to discover last night that I was flying on another. By the time I printed my boarding pass, I was in the "back of the bus," as they say. Boarding the aircraft was quite amusing, watching my fellow travelers do precisely what I have done so many times.

You may know the scenario-you've gotten a seat on the aisle or window, leaving the dreaded middle seat vacant. You put your coat, books, laptop and the rest of your worldly possessions on it, hoping to discourage latecomers like me from wedging themselves next to you. Then you look down at your lap, a book in your hands, anything which will keep you from making eye contact with the stragglers, hoping they'll take the hint. Thus I am writing from the very last row on the airplane. But there is no one in the middle seat, so I'm happy.

Relationship is less significant in some areas of life than others. On a commuter flight, you may not care about forming a lifelong friendship with the stranger seat belted next to you. In a family, relationship is everything. Houses come and go, schools are entered and graduations completed, but souls are eternal.

So it is with the reality of God. We are responding to the "new atheists," as personified by Christopher Hitchens, my debate partner a week ago at the Christian Book Expo. I have argued that faith is a relationship; like all relationships, it requires a commitment which transcends the evidence and becomes self-validating. If you waited for absolute proof before getting married or taking a job or choosing a school, you would never make your decision. You examine the evidence and then step beyond it into relationship. So it is with our experience of God.

In response, atheists want to know why we must have this conversation. If God is real, why do we wonder about his existence? You don't need assurance that your computer exists, or the chair in which you are sitting while reading this essay. Why must we debate God's existence?

In reply, I would ask what more God can do to demonstrate his existence to us. He created the universe and our part of it. He stepped into his creation on numerous occasions. He sent his angels to men and women. He revealed himself in dreams and visions, and continues to do so today. He then entered the human race, folding omnipotence down into a fetus and becoming a man like us. He proved his divinity by rising from the grave and returning to heaven. He gave us a book which records these events in remarkable and trustworthy detail.

What more would we like him to do? He could appear to you as you read these words, just as he appeared in the flesh 20 centuries ago. But many did not believe in his divinity even when they saw his miracles and knew about his resurrection. In the same way, you could dismiss your experience as a hallucination or dream, believing that your senses were deceiving you. The only way you could be absolutely certain that God exists would be to stand in his presence on Judgment Day. One day you will.

What if it were today? We'll continue in the morning (assuming there will be one, of course).

Note: Many of you have asked where you can view a video of Saturday's debate. Christian Book Expo officials tell us that it will be posted on "Tangle" (formerly GodTube) in the next few days. I am grateful for your interest.