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Summary Of Divine Hiddenness And Human Reason By J. L Shellenberg

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J.L. Schellenberg’s Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason discusses the argument that God does not, in fact, exist. Schellenberg summarizes his beliefs in God’s nonexistence in five key ideas. The main ideas summarized are “If there is a God, he is perfectly loving, If a perfectly loving God exists, reasonable nonbelief does not occur but reasonable nonbelief does occur. Therefore, no perfectly loving God exists. Therefore, there is no God” (Lacy 121). While this argument does have sound points that seem sensible, many people believe in God and one could argue that God is not perfectly loving. One may believe that God is not perfectly loving because he does not seek out creatures of his own creation, they must seek out him. The action of seeking out towards God requires true faith and this would not be possible if God were to show his existence. …show more content…

One objection to Schellenberg’s belief is that creation implies a purpose for creation, and one could say that God’s purpose for creating us is to love us, and due to this, God is in fact loving. One could also object to premise four stating that reasonable nonbelief in God does exist. If there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that God exists, it would not be reasonable for someone to not believe in God, causing premise four to be incorrect. The biggest argument for the inexistence of God is the lack of evidence. It is difficult to obtain agreeable evidence that is sufficient. It is mentioned that Schellenberg is a non-resistant seeker and does not practice prayer. This can pose a problem as in order to have a close and loving relationship with God, that can exhibit sufficient proof, one must pray as it is the only way to truly know God. If Schellenberg has not experienced this, how could he know if God

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