Perhaps God is inviting us into something deeper than intellectual assent.…Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15). A child does not demand a technical explanation before trusting a loving father. A child trusts because he knows the father’s character.

While the influence of the so-called new atheists, led by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchins, has waned in recent years, the fog of their critiques against Christianity has not altogether disappeared. Comedian Ricky Gervais has leveled one of the most compelling arguments against Christianity. He argues that if you destroyed all holy books and all science books, “in a thousand years’ time [the holy books] wouldn’t come back just as [they were].” “Whereas if we took every since book, and every fact, and destroyed them all, in a thousand years they’d all be back, because all the same tests would [produce] the same result. they’d all be back.” In other words, the science books would return exactly as they were because experiments would return the same results while the religious texts would not.

Gervais argues that if God were real, he could have easily proven himself by including verifiable scientific knowledge in scripture such as =2. In his view, the “myths” of the Bible are far from persuasive. His point is simple: science is superior to faith because it relies on testability and repeatable evidence, while religion rests on ancient testimony and tradition.

It’s an important critique. Why didn’t God include scientific formulas to prove his existence?

Others set a different bar. The agnostic Alex O’Connor has said that, for him, conversion would require an unmistakable, personal supernatural experience that could not be explained away. Many skeptics probably resonate more with O’Connor than Gervais. Their doubt is personal. They are waiting for an encounter with God that feels undeniable.

But what if both critiques misunderstand the purpose of Scripture? What if God’s goal is not to overwhelm us with irrefutable proof, but to invite us into trust? Scripture suggests that God’s aim is not intellectual coercion but relational trust. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The Bible presents God not as a theorem to be solved but as a Person to be known.

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