Objections to This God

What are the strongest objections to a personal, self-revealing God of Israel, and how do we respond?

The arguments of this stage move past a bare first cause to something far bolder — a God who is one, who is personal, and who has spoken in the history of a particular people. Each of those steps invites its own objection, and the strong ones deserve to be met head-on rather than hurried past.

These are not the objections to God's existence — those are weighed in Objections to God back at the first stage. Here the challenges are aimed at which God: whether picking one tradition is arrogant, whether the God of Israel is even good, whether the texts can be trusted, and whether a personal God is anything more than a comforting projection.

As before, each objection is stated in its most forceful form before any reply is given. The aim is not to win but to show that the path to the God of Israel is reasonable with the difficulties in full view.

Expand a section below to sit with each objection and its response.