Is God Dead?

Thin Places
“Forrest, were you scared in Vietnam?” Jenny asked. “Yes. Well, I-I don't know.
Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out... and then it was nice. It
was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou. There was always a million sparkles
on the water... like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies
one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where
heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful.” What Forrest Gump was describing were
“thin places”—places where some unseen reality was feeding his very soul; some higher power.
Perhaps, even the God of Christianity. So close
.
I have previously mentioned the modern-day philosopher Charles Taylor asks the
question: “Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500, while in the year
2000, disbelief is commonplace? So, what changed? Actually, a lot of things changed. But these
things that have changed, as they relate to religion and belief in God, can be grouped into three
broad categories: The first category is the natural world, where in the year 1500, the natural
world was seen as a grand and constant testimony to the design and purpose of God. Looking
into the cosmos in the year 1500, there was no question who made the moon and stars, and who
constantly kept the planets in perfect orbital motion. However, the scientific revolution
beginning in the 17th century eventually gave people a scientific theory about how the moon and
the stars came into being without the help of God.

The second category is that society itself was understood to exist only as being grounded,
or anchored, in something higher than just the actions of man. God, it seemed, was tightly
interwoven into every aspect of society. Man, on his own, it was thought, could not have
organized themselves into productive societies, and there were no questions about it, God’s hand
actively held society together. Modern man, on the other hand, considers society anchored and
grounded in his own brilliance and industry, and that man alone is the master of his destiny. That
mindset became especially entrenched as a result of the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th
century.

The third category of things that have changed since 1500 that impacted belief in God is
that people, then, recognized that they lived in an enchanted world: a beautiful world where the
soul is fed. These three lived categories, working together, pointed people living in the year 1500
inescapably toward God. But the most significant of these three changes is that most all people
today perceive themselves as living in a disenchanted world; untouched by spirits and
demons—moral forces existing in the metaphysical realm.

The ancient Celts spoke of “thin places.” These serene places are described by author
Tracy Balzer as places where the “line between the spirit world and the physical world are
“tissue-paper thin.” These ancient Celts later converted to Christianity, and the reality of thin
places followed along; only now they realize it was the God of Christianity who was “as near as
one’s breath.” But here is an interesting thing, this soul food has been freely given since time out
of mind. It is there not just for Christians, but for all people through common grace. That is
because, once again, human beings are dualistic creatures—creatures of both a material body, an
immaterial mind, or soul. Christians hold that God gently feeds His children's souls as He
whispers their names. Some listen, and some ignore. But everyone who has experienced a thin
place knows what I am talking about. This is the enchanted world that the modern world has
grown deaf to, mostly by choice. But ironically, most all people still recognize “thin places.”
They seek them out. They chase hard after them. Their soul hungers for them. Just as the body
hungers for food, so too the soul longs for thin places: a soul forever longing to go home.
Once again, the Darwinist has little to say. After all, thin places have nothing to do with
“survival of the fittest.” If God is dead, or if He never existed, then what is the evolutionary
benefit of thin places? It is no different than Mozart’s piano sonatas, they are beautiful to the soul
but are of absolutely zero survival functionality. What benefit are they to a soulless man? None!
But, if God does exist, and if God is alive, then thin places truly do feed the souls of men, and it
is God who is feeding us. Either way, whatever one believes, human beings have an undeniable
spiritual constitution, and that spirit hungers.

Even still, you ask: what is the point? Why do we humans have these gifts? In 1961, John
F. Kennedy, in his address before the Massachusetts Statehouse, famously said, “to those whom
much is given, much is required.” It just so happens that the phrase did not originate with
Kennedy, rather this age-old saying originated from the pen of an ancient physician who once
wrote those very words (Luke 12:48). So, what is this requirement? What is this expectation
placed upon mankind, and Who is doing the requiring? Join us next week as we investigate the
reason the human mind has the capacity to think of a maximally great Being that cannot be
directly seen or heard. Until then, is God dead? What say you?

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief
preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika
church of Christ and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.