Opus 2016-101: New Terms: God of the Gaps

I listen to a podcast on philosophy by William Lane Craig.  He occasionally refers to something called “the God of the gaps”.  It is a term used by naturalist scientists and philosophers to describe Christian faith.  They claim that when Christians find areas that science has not explained, the gap in knowledge is filled by faith instead of reason.

It is a pejorative term.  Pagans say it is a substitute for thinking.  They feel it is a defense mechanism that Christians have so they don’t have to think and look reality in the eye.

Not so.  Christians see “the gaps” as a reason to think.  It encourages us to think.  It does not say we cannot know and the answer is magic.  It says there is an answer and we are to keep seeking it.  It is the Judeo-Christian concept of an immutable God and the belief that the universe is by design that gives us a reason to expect to find answers and keep looking.  If life, intelligence and the cosmos were chance then it could go out of existence at any moment.  What comes by chance can un-chance.  If you reject the creator God then what is the point of learning about science?  If all is a string of coincidences then the string could end at any time.  Just because you have a long run of guessing the winning number at the roulette wheel doesn’t mean that the next spin will be a win.  In fact, the odds are against the run continuing. 

Recently I have come across a meme in science.  I have read it in science fiction and heard it expressed in pod-casts.  There is a growing belief that we are approaching the place where we cannot learn any more.  Out knowledge is so advanced that it is beginning to require more than we humans can grasp.  Some of the “gap” can be made up by computers with blazing speed and awesome memory but that doesn’t take us beyond the barrier.

Fortunately, as a Christian, I already know that such a limit exists.  It doesn’t bother me because the infinite nature of God still invites me to explore, speculate and expand my understanding.  I may never understand infinity but I can enjoy the journey to try.

Yes, God is in the gaps but He is also in the non-gaps. 

homo unius libri