Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

experience. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

The proof of God's existence from the person of Christ relies heavily on the authenticity of the Bible and other writings about Christ, and also on verification of the statements that the Bible and other sources make. If it is assumed, for the moment, that the Bible gives a faithful account of the life and teaching of Christ then there is evidence that requires consideration and verification. The following are normally given as evidence for Christ indicating that God exists (and indeed that Christ is God or part of God):

Jesus said there was a God.

Jesus claimed to be God.

Jesus acted with the authority of God. Jesus performed miracles that are humanly impossible — including coming back from the dead.

None of these are really substantial proofs of God's existence. For instance, Jesus may simply have been deluded into believing himself to be God and acting with God's authority. His miracles may indeed have been super-human, but there is at least as much evidence to suggest that others have performed equally miraculous acts without either claiming to be God or to have been given their power from God.

The second argument that Christianity presents as evidence of God’s existence is the individual's personal experience. Such experience can take many forms. It may, for instance, be a feeling that there is a plan behind one's life, that guidance has been given from an external

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