He is opinionated, eloquent, and knowledgeable, has an active imagination and great taste in toilet humor. He is very handsy with his friends, and flirtatiously trolls strangers. When he does this in my presence, I turn my face to the floor to hide my bashfulness. I can’t buy a coffee with the guy without engaging in some kind of forced small talk with a cashier I usually treat like a robot.
We argue philosophically about the existence of God because he is an atheist. However, he is probably a 3.1 out of 7 on the Dawkins scale of non-belief. At this moment he will only admit to “believing in one God” with the threat of imminent death. It would be miraculous for him to be persuaded to believe in "the father, the almighty, maker of heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible.”
I rank him low on the atheist scale because he won’t say that “nothing created everything,” like insane Stephen Hawking, who strikes me as a 7. Instead he will say that “a cause--beyond the realm of understanding--did something." He won’t concede philosophically that this is the concept of God, and prefers to use the comfort term 'cause.' For him, the word 'God' comes with too much historical baggage. He can almost "agree" with me on the concept, but lacks the conviction to say it the word.
"Why?" I asked him, as a friend, hypothesizing that there is a personal reason. “You’re almost there. What is stopping you from admitting it?” Though unintended, he took it as an ad hominem, and by my own standards I lost the debate. But by asking that question, the debate between friends became a conversation between friends. As such, I was suddenly playing therapist, and he did not oblige. It would have done some him some good to be confronted with these criticisms. There is a reason I think deeply and prayerfully about the people I care about: they can’t see themselves suffer.
As flirtatious as he is, he can also catch me off guard as caustic. Our philosophical differences seem to lurk at the corner of every conversation, waiting to pounce like a predator. I cannot remember the context for which I informed him that the word Gospel means ‘Good News’, but he responded by saying that I believe something with absolutely no evidence to back it up.
I informed him that that is not faith, but superstition. He then asked me what the difference is.....and I froze up. I thought about how smart Bishop Robert Barron is for using big words like intrafaith and extrafaith and confused myself. This could have been a slam dunk, a touch down, a goal...but I choked and dropped the ball instead.
It's not like I could have convinced him if I'd answered his question; convincing someone this stubborn takes time. (Though he is nearly there!) In the very least I could have answered the question, and wouldn't have felt stupid for answering it the way I did: "I can show you a video of someone who explains it better than me..." Yuck. So much regret in that answer.
Here is how I should have answered:
Faith is the bridge between philosophy and theology. God's existence cannot be proven epistemologically, but ontologically. We can't see God or hear God, but we can reason God's existence with other evidence...like the existence of everything, and the fact of reality that something doesn't come from nothing.
Philosophically, we can arrive at the bridge of faith, where we understand and agree with the logic for God's existence. Once we arrive at the bridge, we can decide whether or not to cross it, and which bridge to cross, though there is only one correct answer.
My friend knows there is a bridge, but doesn’t believe that there is another side. He recognizes its existence, but turns his back on it. He prefers to stay on this side, where it is safer. Where he can use his senses to experience what is real and what is not. He knows what he can see, and what he has seen has not convinced him that there is any value in crossing to the other side. To him, there might not even be another side.
Philosophy can only take us to God. It is faith in the evidence of the Good News that guides us over the bridge to meet him in person.
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