Brief Answer:
Biblical Christianity stands out as the only belief system with unparalleled evidential support, asserting God is deeply invested in love and purpose in our lives.
If you hold a different view, what evidence supports your different understanding of God?
Detailed Answer:
My Experience
People, who think God is not seeking an active relationship with them, are really missing out from the benefits because God is seeking as much investment and activity as we open up to fit into our lives.
Picture God as a loving parent, waiting in the living room, enthusiastic for when you come to spend time with him. Sadly, most spend their life walking past God, not slowing to even acknowledge him, only stopping to ask for the car keys, or when needing money for a movie. A good description of God’s response when we do want to turn from our other concerns and to relationship with him is given in the Prodigal Son parable. While many focus on the son, the response of the father is most revealing.
I have experienced this personal God in a number of incredible one-time events, ongoing journeys, and difficult to describe interactions, as have countless others. Unfortunately, these truly amazing examples in my life are by nature personal, and so will not necessarily mean so much to another person. I would encourage you to genuinely invest time and effort seeking God (read the book of John in the Bible, and let God know you are seeking and count on him for the finding). And you have these promises given by the Bible to support your search: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you . . .” (Jeremiah 29:13-14, Deuteronomy 4:29, I Chronicles 28:9) While speaking to Israel in these passages, the principle applies to everyone.
Was I really seeking with all my heart, when I had amazing times with God, I don’t know, probably not most of the times. Though, there were times I recognized clearly there was nothing, not relationships, not career, not health, nothing more important than my relationship with a God, who I knew was always knocking on my door, and I sought that connection and received it.
And there were some periods when I was seeking and felt I was not receiving the interaction and answers I expected and felt I deserved. I have been humbled enough by this time to realize there are inaccurate assumptions, sin, stubbornness and surely other issues on my side of the relationship bringing self-imposed blinders or barriers to the interaction and relationship with God.
Why Do You Believe That?
Ask the person who claims God is distant, “Why do you believe that?” What evidence can you provide to support your belief in a deist, or distant God?
a. Do you have evidence such a God exists. And your reasons or evidence must be separate from and greater than that for the biblical God because the impersonal God you are claiming is very different from the biblical God, both in description, and in supportive evidence.
b. If a person believes in God, but feels God became distant for some reason, maybe they are experiencing pain or confusion, see answer to the question: Why does God seem hidden?
And recognize, the Bible understands your feelings in this, this is a common struggle and has numerous accounts given of key figures going through the same thing, proclaiming the same “distant” feelings, yet still in a relationship with a God who in fact is near.
c. If a person thinks God differs between the Old and New Testament times and now, God doesn’t change in character, but does change in how he unfolds his plan based on history.
Think about it. The Old Testament times involved mostly illiterate people, living in a culture very different from our own. The most productive way to reach people will likely differ over time. If you do a study of miracles in the Bible, they are clustered around certain individuals, who had to bring new revelation (new information revealed), and the miracles served as a marker to demonstrate this is from God, and so is a trustworthy source.
Since that time, we have been given the event of the resurrection, and also God’s Word. While I think miracles occur, and there is significant documentation (you can check Miracles by Craig Keener, as well as FAQ or blogs on Miraculous Misunderstandings), as well as solid examples in the life of this geeky science guy, who checks everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if the need for prophets and the miracles to validate them is less than it was before we were given the Bible and the resurrection. Although the need and occurrence of miracles is higher in some places where the environment is especially challenging to hearing God’s Word, according to people I know and trust working in such locations.
A source that is trustworthy, the Bible (and if one doesn’t feel the Bible is trustworthy, there are answers for that skepticism), makes it clear God is all about an active relationship, and gets involved.
I liked something my cousin, Pastor Jim Baker, wrote: “One answer that covers a lot of things is ‘when it comes to the Bible there are three options: take it, leave it, change it.’ For Christianity, it is ‘take it.’ So, when someone begins to give their own views of God as [some person claiming God stays distant] has done, when the Bible clearly paints a different picture, they are taking the ‘change it’ option.”
God was very active from the creation of the world, to the sending of his Son, to coming and making his home in people according to John 14. God is the one Jesus taught us to direct our prayers to in the Lord’s prayer, he is the one who plans our salvation according to Ephesians 1, he is the one working all things together for our good according to Romans 8, as well as the one focussing on, loving, and working constantly with people who were in all kinds of different states of relationship with him.
If the person believes the Bible, then can they show biblically God is not active, because it seems clear the Bible indicates an active Father?
If the person thinks the Bible is in error, they need to have better reasons than all the evidence supporting that God is behind the Bible. And in that case, it may be a good time for healthy humility to consider maybe the person is the one who either is misunderstanding something, or has some blockage in their own life.
What if it is not happening for you yet?
Are you sure? Have you honestly considered all the times throughout your life, and cannot see any time of God’s personal involvement in your life? Just asking if maybe you have overlooked some instances because some people do not seem to recognize times where God clearly was acting.
Is there something creating a distance between you and God, maybe something you need to repent (turn away from) for? The Bible notes one of the properties of sin is creating a separation or distance between people and God.
Are you mad at God, arrogantly assuming you are right and God is wrong about something, or more closed off than others?
I don’t ask or assume any of these things as judging you. If I am judging you then I am judging me. I ask because I have my struggles closing off from God and having bad results for all these reasons. I ask the hard questions because there are great things, truly great and fulfilling aspects of life I don’t want anyone to miss out on because they think God is distant.
If emotions make this topic challenging, then logic is a good way to go:
1. We have very good evidence God went through unfathomable purpose in the extreme fine-tuning of all aspects of the universe for our lives, allowing even for free will choice to love and trust in a relationship, or not.
Would you invest so much into the life of someone you love, and then become distant? Maybe if the person became really bad or dangerous, but the biblical God’s love is unconditional, so God’s love would not be susceptible to change. Some parents may choose to abandon their family, but those people typically don’t invest much sacrifice of themselves into their family to begin with.
2. And then, in the most personal action of all, God put on the nature of humanity, and demonstrated exactly how much we are worth to him (something’s value is determined by what one is willing to pay, and Jesus paid a cost greater than we ever will, on the cross). Think of someone you love the most: Would you love enough to sacrifice as Jesus did to save them? If you did, would you then become distant, detached, disinterested? That does not make sense.
3. We have evidence supporting 1 and 2 above. It goes against reason to assume God is now distant.
For the too sensitive people out there, this is not a shot at you, this writer, of course, has blind spots and emotional barriers in areas too, which put separation between me and God, making him feel distant or untrustworthy. Time, self-reflection, difficult change, and continuous flow of evidence led to restoration of relationship and perceived closeness with God, but it is not easy, just a natural part of the journey.
Further, even though I recognize God is close, and have amazing personal experiences, it does not mean I am closer to God, better in any way, or have any reason why God seems closer to me as God’s love for you is the exact same and unchanging. Therefore, maybe there is some emotional or willful blockage, or maybe it is just as simple as you not recognizing the personal experiences you do have with God. I don’t know, but cannot wait for you to experience the relationship more fully – you have a lot of good feeling and experience waiting for you if you have not felt it yet.
I’ll use an example of a friend, so I don’t have to embarrass or put myself on the spot with things I have struggled with. A friend, who was on the latest of failed long-term partner relationships, asked why God wasn’t answering his prayer as all he wanted was a good “God-fearing woman”. Kind of a funny phrase to use, like he just watched an old Western, but instead of dwelling on that, I said maybe you need to check yourself and see if you’d be the right one for such a woman.
He hesitantly asked what I meant, so I asked why would a “God-fearing woman” be a good match for you? Your most important thing in life is not God, your biggest fear is being single, which is why you only go to church and talk about God when single, and entirely ignore both statistics, which display that living together before being married reduces the likelihood of the relationship working out, and place God very distant in importance compared to having it your way in relationships. Blunt, but I really think it was pertinent, and I care about what is best for my friends. He denied some of it, and I just encouraged him to back up his claims, or consider what I said and try something different.
If you are unaccustomed to having thick skin in life, and are bothered with me pointing tough stuff out to a friend, here is an unrelated story to show I definitely get my mistakes highlighted. Within a year, I had lost my job, house, car, and even dog. At that time, while walking with a close friend into his house, I joked about his lawn saying, “How does it feel to be the house bringing down all your neighbors’ property value?” He paused only a second then said, “At least I have a lawn.” I didn’t even pause a full second before busting out in laughter. That was perfect. He added, “I almost couldn’t say it because it was so cruel, but it’s you, and it was too good not to say.” Thicker skin leads to more laughs in life, and humility can lead to real answers to the “God is distant” issue you may be facing.
