argument from scripture

Scripture Argument

Argument from Scripture: God's existence cannot be proven by the presence of the concept of God within the text of the Holy Scriptures

Does God exist? Some would argue that this is the most fundamental question posed by any religion. However, even this assertion is somewhat problematic, since this assumption of God as a unified, theologically cohesive being that intervenes, but sometimes does not intervene in worldly affairs is itself problematic and a cultural construction of the major Western traditions of religious thought. There are those who would appeal to scripture for a proof of God's existence, such as the Catholic theologian and saint Anselm, who said that because scripture and the human mind could conceive of a 'something greater' existing, therefore it must exist. In other words, because the higher ideal of God was recorded in the Bible, filtered through the less perfect collective consciousness of the human animal, some higher being must be manifest, and must be true.

But this premise quite simply, is unsound.

Assailants of this [Anselm's] argument should remember that all minds are not cast in one mould, and it is easy to understand how some can feel the force of arguments that are not felt by others." (Kent, 2004) In other words, many faith traditions of the world, as well as many nonbelievers disagree with the Bible. The existence of the word of God, as recoded within a specific set of texts and cultural constraints does not prove the existence of that being.

The premises of the existence of God in scripture thus presuppose because God is spoken of as such, such a higher power exists and all such contradictions that are manifest are simply indications and proofs of the lower state of human mentalities, in relation to the divine. The contrary or skeptical philosopher would have to note that fundamentally, the argument of God from scripture is tautological, assuming because God can do no wrong, and God wrote scripture, and scripture records God's existence, then God must exist.

The nonbeliever must reaffirm the Bible contains many contradictions within its structure that points to the hand of a redactor, or textual assembler, rather than reflecting its status as the work of a pure hand of God. The notion that God protects the Bible from being in error, and that errors appear because of the limits of the human mind to appreciate the multifaceted truths present in the text, that must be interpreted to be fully understood is a powerful notion, but ultimately begins with the l presumption that God does in fact exist.

In other words, although a Christian might give the plausible objection and say that the contradictory tales of Jesus' birth within the synaptic gospels are really revelations of different facets of Christ's origins, rather than historical contradictions, this itself is not proof, textually, one way or another of the existence of a divine being, merely one plausible interpretation of many possible interpretations.