One lesson we learned in that class that I’ll never forget is to let go of the “God of the Gaps.” It appears the syllabus recommends this text. I’ll try to summarize. Throughout history, everyone from superstitious pagans to religious leaders have looked at natural phenomena which they could not explain, and decided that it was God at work. There’s evidence to suggest that mis-attributing random events as supernatural is adaptive. Given this predilection, religious leaders have found it effective to use unexplained natural phenomena to “prove” God exists. Who else causes the sun to rise and set?…

“Proving” the existence of God is a fool’s errand. Actually, nothing can be proven or disproven. The best we can do is observe and report phenomena, and compare our findings with that of others. But God is, by definition, supernatural. What that means is that individual’s experience with the “phenomena” of God at work can only be described to others. No one can show anyone else God at work. God only exists and moves in the realm of that which is beyond measurement or observation by others.