What Biblical Defenses are there to Divine Hiddenness?

Some quick points up front and then lots more below. Pascal's argument is a classic response in explaining the hiddenness of God.

1. In the Bible, God hides himself in response to peoples' rejection of the revelation of Him that they have received, whether general revelation (Romans 1) or special revelation (the Pharisees who rejected Christ and quenched the Spirit). God does not unjustly hide Himself.

2. There are times in a believer's life (David in the Psalms or Job) where God feels distant or hidden even though He is near. It is a common theme in Scripture.

3. God may save those who have never heard of Christ, and yet seek God in whatever way they are able. God won't judge people by a list of doctrines men have compiled... God knows every person's story and their heart and He is all good and all wise.

Pascal’s Approach - God has given exactly the right amount of evidence

Pascal’s approach to the concept of God’s hiddenness is my favorite. In “Christianity for Modern Pagans” Peter Kreeft examines Pascal’s work. One argument Pascal makes is that God gives exactly enough light for the righteous to find Him and for the wicked to reject Him.

"He gives exactly the right amount of light. If He gave less, even the righteous would be unable to find Him, and their will would be thwarted. If He gave more, even the wicked would find Him, against their will. Thus He respects and fulfills the will of all.

If He gave more light, the righteous would not learn humility, for they would know too much. If He gave less light, the wicked would not be responsible for their wickedness, for they would know too little."

God appears in different ways

God does not always appear the same way - and I think Lewis brilliantly captures this throughout the Narnia stories. In Narnia, Aslan appears at critical times in history to act directly and preserve those who are faithful. Yet for hundreds of years there is silence. But Lewis portrays Aslan's presence with different characters in different ways.

1. Shasta in The Horse and His Boy - the cat by the tombs and the lion walking beside him on the lonely journey over the mountains
2. Lucy in Prince Caspian - appearing to those who are faithful even when others cannot see
3. The Silver Chair - they must obey God's commands even when they cannot see - that is the great test
4. The Last Battle - evil is being done in the name of Aslan - but it's not really Aslan at all - just a donkey with a lion skin atop it

A few thoughts on judgment

1. None of us know anyone's eternal destiny. God alone is judge. God knows every person's heart---He knows every hurt they've suffered and every sin they've committed. He does not judge as a human judges. His judgment will be just and right and good and true. The proof of this is in Jesus, who showed us that God loves us on the cross.

2. Christians disagree about the nature of judgment on those who ultimately reject God. The images that we have of people being tortured in the afterlife are pagan----they are not to be found anywhere in Scripture. Well known evangelical Christians, such as John Stott, have believed that unbelievers will cease to exist after the judgment if they ultimately reject God.

Some thoughts to keep in mind

• God is still working directly today - in the lives of His followers by His Spirit. In fact, perhaps more directly than before Christ since He lives in us.
• Jesus makes it clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that the roots of unbelief go so deep that even if a man should rise from the dead, that will not heal it (Luke 16:19-31). Miracles cannot heal unbelief - they cannot make us believe that God exists and rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Think about it - if God made Himself obvious by doing miracles people could just say it was aliens - or that you had some secret technology - or that you were a super hero or some kind of demigod. People could believe whatever they wanted to in order to avoid the real God.
• the Exodus was a very, very unique event in the history of the world and in the Bible. If we look at Scripture, God generally intervenes in the most miraculous fashion when He is doing a new thing - establishing a covenant with His chosen people or establishing the New Covenant in Christ. So it is not uncommon for there to be long periods when God does not intervene as directly - like the 400 silent years before Jesus came.
• God is not a tame God (as Lewis points out) - He does not perform magic tricks so that we will believe in Him. People who perform experiments by praying, showing that it does not come true and then encouraging unbelief misunderstand the nature of prayer and of God entirely. Prayer is not a way to get our wish list - it is a way to worship the living God and to be made more like Jesus as we are filled with the Spirit of Christ.

Fun questions to mull over

1. If God revealed Himself to the world right now - and He really is a holy and all powerful God - what do you think would actually happen? Do you think the nations of the earth would accept His authority? What would happen? Maybe God is being patient with people to give them a chance to repent?

2. What would God have to do to prove to you that He exists? Do you think once would be enough?

3. If God revealed Himself to you in an undeniable way would you feel that you had a choice to love Him or would you feel forced by His mere existence to obey even if you did not desire to do so? Maybe God is giving you a chance to choose Him freely?

4. Why do you think that if God exists He would choose to make Himself obvious? Do you think there might be good reasons to not make Himself obvious?

5. Have you ever had any experiences that led you to believe that God might exists?

6. Do you think that God could choose to reveal Himself to those who seek Him while hiding Himself from those whose hearts are not sincere towards Him? Jesus said that the pure of heart will see God.

7. If God Himself came to earth and lived among us would you consider that sufficient reason to believe?

8. What makes you say that God is not obvious? What if all of creation, right now, is testifying to His glory? What if He came to earth in the form of a man and shared His teachings with us?