My Invisible Friend

Sometimes you really have to read something to believe it.

This would be one of those cases. It’s what appears to be an honest expression of frustration at the writer’s inability to shake the belief of Christians he encounters. Blogger Gary asks, “How Do You Convince Someone That His Invisible Friend Does Not Exist?” Sounds like he’s tried and failed, and is thoroughly stumped.

I guess the first thing that crosses my mind is Why would anyone want to convince others Jesus does not exist?

A Perceived Relationship

Gary writes:

“The fact is that the overwhelming majority of Christians believe, not because of the historical evidence, but because of their perceived relationship with a man who died 2,000 years ago; a man whom they believe was the creator of the universe. A man whose spirit (ghost), they believe, lives inside their bodies, giving them life direction every waking moment of their day.

Madness. Complete and utter madness. But a madness (delusion) that has been given the stamp of rationality by western culture for the last 1,700 years.

Until you can convince your Christian interlocuter [sic] to test the existence of this ghost who allegedly lives inside of them, you are never, ever going to convince him or her of the falsity of their beliefs with historical evidence. This blog, with almost 4,000 posts over more than ten years, is evidence of that. Evidence, hard objective evidence, will change very few minds when it comes to matters of ‘faith’.”

Gary makes no argument that the Christians of his experience are dangerous or harmful to society in some way. Perhaps that’s what he believes — I can’t tell you without going down a 4,000-post internet rabbit hole that I’d rather not — but in this post at least he simply starts from the assumption that the “delusion” that Christ is indwelling believers is in urgent need of somebody rational to come along and dispel it for no reason more substantial than that it exists. Apparently he’s tried. I wonder why he feels that’s so important.

On a Mission

Now, I understand why my co-writer IC goes on philosophy websites and engages with atheists. That makes perfect sense to me. First, he believes with all his heart that they are on their way to hell, and he’d love to do his bit to remedy that if possible. Second, he really wants to understand why they believe as they do. His efforts at defending the Christian faith to people who don’t yet understand it come from a place of love and goodwill. I don’t think it’s taking it too far to say he’s thinking like his Savior in that respect, who is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”.

But Gary? I just don’t understand the motivation. Suppose Christianity is indeed a delusion and a crutch, or even, as Gary puts it, “utter madness”. Who goes around kicking the crutches of disabled people who are doing them no harm? My dear old mom’s memory is not what it used to be. Sometimes she remembers things differently than they actually happened, or gets people’s names wrong. I don’t try to correct her anymore, because doing so does more harm than good. She can’t retain the right names or details for more than a few minutes anyway, so why stress her? Likewise, unless you have hard evidence that the Christian faith is somehow dangerous to the individual who possesses it or to society in general, why would you try to shake it? I definitely recall the Lord saying something about that sort of person.

Hard Objective Evidence

Still, let’s assume in the face of the available indications that Gary too is coming from a place of goodwill. He’s certainly dedicated. 4,000 posts over ten years is a lot of effort. We have to applaud his persistence. I’d love to see this “hard objective evidence” he refers to that the indwelling Spirit of God is a delusion.

Believing that Jesus Christ exists and dwells in one’s heart is about as unfalsifiable a proposition as can be imagined, especially because that conviction so often goes hand-in-hand with changes of character and lifestyle most people consider positive, and that the word of God predicts. The fruit of the Spirit, it says, is love, joy, peace and many other good things. Who wouldn’t want a little more patience or self-control? I have seen these transformations repeatedly. If they are the product of a delusion, they are no less useful both to believers and to those closest to them. Studies have shown we may even live longer because of it. There are solid reasons western culture has given the Christian faith “the stamp of rationality” for so long.

What, you prefer eastern culture?

Science has nothing to say about whether Christ indwells believers, and can have nothing to say about it, since true science deals with things you can pick up with Vernier calipers, measure with a thermometer or quantify in some other objective manner. You can’t do that with the Spirit of God, I assure you. I suspect the “evidence” Gary refers to is not quite as hard as he thinks it is. Furthermore, I cannot imagine how a Christian interlocutor might be able to “test the existence of this ghost who allegedly lives inside of them”, as Gary puts it. It’s an intriguing concept, but necessarily subjective.

The Overwhelming Majority

I’m also intrigued by Gary’s impression that “the overwhelming majority of Christians believe, not because of the historical evidence, but because of their perceived relationship with a man who died 2,000 years ago”. When I finally came to live out my faith consistently, the appeal of being indwelt — let alone controlled — by the Spirit of Christ was not remotely a factor. I certainly wasn’t looking for a friend, though I found one later on. I was looking for a way of living that worked better than the one I had at the time. I never invited Jesus into my heart, as some Christians do. I had spent some time weighing the available evidence and had drawn conclusions for myself about the historicity of Jesus. I had also explored and evaluated other belief options. Sometime after that, I acknowledged Jesus as Lord and gave obedience a try. Most Christians I know did something similar.

Furthermore, my subjective impression that Jesus Christ is at work in my heart is no help to me in maintaining my Christian faith. I believe he is there because the Bible teaches it, not because I feel this way or that. There have been times when I felt what I thought might be the Lord’s leading and responded to it. Equally, there have been many times when I simply obeyed the word of God because I am convinced it’s true, despite feeling nothing at all.

Frankly, the words “invisible friend” make me cringe, even if they contain an element of truth, probably because they are so dismissive. Numerous invisible things are real; gravity, magnetic fields, sound, heat, oxygen and radio waves among them. We believe in them not because we can see them but because we can see their effects in the world around us.

So too with genuine faith.