On Monday, Dr. Rice Broocks, author of “God’s Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty,” spoke to Belmont University about his life, his book and the existence of God.
“Christians are, standing on the solid ground of reason … we come to God through reason, through evidence,” said Broocks. “Even if we understand how the mechanism works, it does not mean the agency was not necessary or was non-existent.”.
He described his mindset clearly with an analogy.
“If you’re looking for Steve Jobs, you won’t find him by breaking down the iPhone. So God is not the creation, he is the intelligent mind behind creation. A person must know what they’re looking for — a particle, or a wave, or a law. Those are all the consequences of the fruit of a creator. Once people know what they’re looking for, they’ll be able to reinterpret that it’s right in front of them,” Broocks said.
Broocks addressed college students who were going through tragedy or who felt far from God.
“You know, the Bible says he is not very far from any of us. Sometimes…our feelings will mislead us into thinking because of what we’ve done or experienced, that God is so far away. But he’s not, and if you turn to him, instead of turning away from him, he’s right there.”
He spoke of a girl he met and the conversation they had has stuck with him all these years. The girl wats a witnessed her parents’ murder. She explained to him how in light of such an event she felt the need for God’s comfort in her life was greater than her desire to be angry with him for taking her parents away.
“Even when bad things happen, you need God,” Broocks said. “Atheism doesn’t take away pain, it just takes away the hope.”
Throughout his speech, Broocks identified and fleshed out answers to four important questions from his book.
Why is there something rather than nothing and why is there a universe at all? Where did life come from? Why are we moral? Who can we trust to fix us?
Broocks provided free books for all students who attended, urging them to try to read at least one chapter.
“My prayer for you is simply this: Don’t dismiss the evidence for God as either nonexistent or just emotion.”
This article was written by Jacqueline Skokna.