Friends: The Bible presents a book of loving faith while mankind searches for Godly scientific proof. I’m saying relationship beats evidence. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1022

June 16, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Proof or Faith?

By Bob Walters

“The heavens declare the glory of God…” – Psalms 19:1

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” – Psalms 14:1

Well, which is it?  Let’s go with the “God is real” line of thinking, because that is the only sure avenue of truth. I spent a big chunk of my life not really caring whether God was real or important or optional or a population-wide figment of imagination.

And, I wasn’t really interested, one way or the other, in “proof.” “Proof” is a very human appetite, but it can also be a philosophical trap. Things we can’t prove – love and beauty come to mind – enrich life but cannot be studied or created in a laboratory.

Then, once faith came into my life – meaning, when I came to appreciate the person and reality of Jesus – “proof” took a back seat to relationship. I realized in a big way it was more important to know God, Jesus, the Spirit, the Bible, and the communion of the saints – i.e., the church – than to define it, prove it, or to simply know “about” Christianity. I can’t explain how it happened, but reason achieved a new dimension in faith.

Granted, I’ve learned a lot about Christ, and I love sharing what I know.  But the life I live in Christ isn’t about proving God; it is about knowing reality can be trusted because God is already real.  My faith or lack of faith has – and never has had – any bearing on the heavens declaring the glory of God. Or His existence, or His truth.

God is there, and here, whether we like it – or understand it – or not.

Space aliens are a hot topic these days because of the government’s recent, massive public data dumps on nearly 80 years of UFO and UAP (Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena) lore. But I don’t interpret that as the point of Psalms 19, saying the heavens declare the glory of God because God is a space alien.

The creation, rhythms, and infinity of the heavens declare the glory of God. The fact that infinity goes in both directions – to the largest things and to the smallest things – tells us God is indeed operating in a realm we cannot comprehend. I’m not depending on alien life forms to either prove or disprove God.  Jesus has already done that.

I have a lifelong friend, a Catholic, who spends his Sunday mornings debating / discussing / studying with his atheist son about the merits (on his side) and seeming impossibility (his son’s side) of God’s reality, Christ’s truth, the Spirit’s indwelling, and the Bible and Church’s authority. My friend is a Mensa caliber genius, and his son is a highly placed attorney whom I would never call a fool.  But I pray for them both.

I’ve just finished reading Jeremiah J. Johnston’s book, published this spring, The Jesus Discoveries. In only 180 pages it is a fascinating look at 10 archeological evidences of Jesus’s life on earth, including updated studies on the Shroud of Turin and several proofs of New Testament historical and cultural facts. Johnston’s website, ChristianThinkers.com, is well worth investigating. It has interesting, thoughtful grist for Christian intellectual life.

I’ve attempted reading classics like William Lane Craig’s A Reasonable Response, Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict, and John Polkinghorne’s Faith in the Living God. All present intellectually deep, masterful apologetics, but I lost interest because they each presented copious evidence for ringings of faith I already possessed.

To me it is ironic, if that is the right word, that the Bible is so clear about the necessity and efficacy of faith when so much of educated humanity demands and accepts only proof. That is a worldly bug, not a feature. It is how Satan convinces us to deny the obvious truth of the heavens, and to doubt the obvious hope and peace of a divine savior.

I am quite used to doubting myself; my comfort is in knowing I needn’t doubt God.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) spends no time trying to prove he loves his wife, nor seeking inviolable evidence she loves him.  Faith in love is its own proof. God is with us.