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Here are two photographs of a mountain called Braeriach, in the first it can be clearly be seen but in the second it is obscured by low lying cloud covering it like a blanket. Yet the cloud, because it hugs the ground, gives an indication of the contours of the mountain below it. Therefore there is a sense that you can see the mountain even though, strictly, you can’t. Just because we cannot see God physically does not mean there is not evidence of God’s existence. A sceptic looking towards Braeriach when the second picture was taken might disbelieve in its existence but in reality they would be extremely foolish to then fly a plane through the cloud saying because “I cannot see it therefore it cannot exist.” There are many today who claim not to have a faith, but for many it seems to be a lack of decision as to what they really believe in rather than a definite belief in the non-existence of God. There is a lot of practical atheism these days even amongst those who claim to be Christians. Even so that does not mean there is no evidence for God’s existence. One of the claims from Christianity’s detractors is that Jesus never claimed to be God. This arises in part because the Jews in Jesus’ day feared breaking the third commandment about taking the Lord’s name in vain so they used language that alluded to God rather than refer to Him by name. Hence, Matthew refers to the Kingdom of Heaven whilst the Gentile Luke refers to the Kingdom of God in similar passages. Yet Jesus claimed to forgive sin which was immediately objected to by the religious authorities because only God can forgive sin. Because of this we often fail to recognise Jesus’ claims to be God because we do not see what is being alluded to. A bit like the cloud that is covering Braeriach.

David Rose, 2015.