Refuting the argument from Divine Hiddenness

Many atheists have attempted to argue against God's existence by turning to what they call "Divine Hiddenness"
Atheist Austin Dacey stated in a debate: "If this world were the creation of a supreme being who seeks a loving relationship with us, we would expect that He ensure everyone believes in Him (or at least everyone who's capable of reciprocating this love relationship). One would expect Him to provide evidence that would convince all such people. In fact, what we find is that there is no such evidence that is persuasive to all such people. Countless billions have lived and died without ever believing in God. And they cannot be blamed for their lack of belief since many deliberately and ernestly sought, but could not find satisfactory reasons to believe."
The logic is that if God exists, He would make himself known through ways that are repeatable to natural science (as an example). They say, since we do not see such properties, one is justified in concluding that God is altogether not there. I will attempt to expose the hidden assumptions and lack of validity behind such an argument.

In a deductive format this argument looks like:
1. If God exists we would expect to see a universe that looks like X
2. We do not see a universe that looks like X
3. Therefore, God does not exist.


1. There is convincing evidence for God's existence


The absence of evidence for God would count against Him only if one expects to see more evidence than what already exists. So if the atheist were to submit that there is not enough evidence for God's existence, I would simply disagree. I believe that there are very good reasons to believe in God (allow me to list some of the arguments)

1. There exists a contingent Universe (Argument from contingency)
2. The Universe emerged out of nothing (Kalam Cosmological Argument)
3. The precise fine-tuning of the Universe for intelligent life (Teleological Argument)
4. The existence of objective Moral values and duties (Moral Argument)
5. The Ressurection and radical claims of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Prophetic and Archaeological)
6. The personal experience of God through the Holy Spirit

Each of these sound and airtight logical evidences give very good grounds for God's existence. One then has no reason to require more evidence from God. From this list we see proofs for the existence of a Necessary, Timeless, Spaceless, Immaterial, Incredibly Powerful, Unbelievably Intelligent, Moral, and Personal God that has revealed Himself through Jesus of Nazareth and His Word, that is the Holy Bible.

Not only is there exterior evidence for God's existence, but also interior evidence that is found from an intimate and self-authenticating witness of the Holy Spirit. Anyone with an open mind and an open heart should come to knowledge and saving/love relationship with God.


2. One has no way of knowing if God's giving more evidence results in more people loving Him

God's primary reason for creating us is to draw His creation into a saving/love relationship with Himself, not just to make His existence known to us. If that were all He wanted, then of course He could make booming voices from Heaven or write letters across the sky to show that He exists. But there is no reason to believe that such actions would actually bring people into a saving/love relationship with Himself (it may even have an opposite effect). God is not obligated to give a clearer revelation of Himself if He knew that wasn't an effective way of revealing Himself and His nature to His creation. What the atheist would have to prove is that a clearer revelation from God would mean that more people, not just believe in His existence, but actually come into a loving relationship with Him. And that is just sheer speculation.


3. This type of argument is extremely presumptuous

Firstly, I don't believe that we are in a very good position to be dictating the type of universe that "we think" God should create. Who are we to talk back to God and critique his way of creation. What this person is saying is, "The way that God created the universe does not fit my standards, so He must not exist". I don't even need to go into detail about how sophomoric the logic is in this assertion. Secondly, the argument that this person is submitting is invalid. If God created a universe without order and consistent laws, then there would be no way to study the universe! Just think, how could we learn about creation if the universe is in chaos? If there is no structure in which we are able to build observations on, and God was performing random miracles all over the place, how would we even be able to distinguish what is God's divine miracle? The very fact that there is order, structure, and law in the universe points to a divine Creator who desires us to search for Him through the pathways of this order. God is actually the best explanation of why there is order in the universe at all. After all, chaos doesn't turn itself into order, without intelligent guidance. To deny this truth would be to deny a always-varified and never-falsified empirical observation. Where ever there is design, there is a designer. God is actually the most logical explanation for such obvious design that we see in virtually every aspect of creation.


4. God's miracles wouldn't be miracles if they occured frequently


Think about it... What if God were to do a miracle every single day? Every single morning, you walk outside and see writing across the sky written by a magical floating hand. There is absolutely no doubt that, at first, this miracle would catch peoples' attention. Such an act would be of monumental proportions! But after a while, the "miracle" wouldn't be a miracle anymore. The very fact that miracles rarely happen is why they are miracles! Firstly, if they happened frequently, they wouldn't be special. By definition, a miracle is a very very rare occurrence. Secondly, we would be less able to spot a miracle if they happened frequently. If miracles were happening on a consistent basis, then how would we distinguish what they are? The reason why miracles are so rare is so that we have the ability to spot them, and when we do spot them, we know they are from God because they are unexplainable without the supernatural. There are evidences of this description in Point 1.



5. The Bible says that someone's denial is an emotional issue, not an intellectual issue.

Psalm 14:1 "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'"

For a detailed final refutation of the argument from Divine Hiddenness, I will refer you to an article done by thinkinghristian.net which demonstrates that this argument submitted by the atheist serves as evidence for the Christian God.

This is not my argument, therefore I cannot take the credit: http://www.thinkingchristian.net/2011/02/a-divine-hiddenness-argument-for-christianity/