God of the Gaps?

My father was a Zen Buddhist Unitarian sheet metal worker with a liking for John's Gospel.  Consequently we didn't agree about very much.  But we found a Buddhist (possibly Zen) saying about God which we both thought just about captured it.  It went something like this:

God does not exist.  God does not not exist.  God does not both exist and not exist.  God does not neither exist nor not exist.

I'm afraid I can't remember where we found it but we both agreed it was the best way we'd found to describe God directly. 

One of the criticisms of the Christian faith has been that God is now only a 'God of the gaps'.  The argument is that as science advances and more is explained the need for God diminishes and so the Christian faith is superseded on all fronts.

The flaw in this argument is of course that Christianity and science are not trying to explain the same things.  Indeed the people who most agree with the atheists seem to be Christian fundamentalists who have set themselves the task of demonstrating their reading of Scripture trumps the findings of science.

Are the gaps getting wider?  There are plenty of places in the modern universe for God.  For example, dark matter, dark energy and the quantum vacuum.  Certainly this should give the atheists pause (how do we know God is not concealed in dark matter - we know very little about it).  However, it is not a place I'm prepared to consider because science moves on and dark matter may not even be thought to exist in a few years.

There is another problem in the distinction between creator and created.  If they are real, dark matter and dark energy are part of the universe and so part of creation.  God is creator of the heavens and the earth and heavens seems to include things spiritual as well as material.  God is not a part of any of this.  We are looking in the wrong place. 

However, modern cosmology at present allows places to locate God if God needs a location.  But we must beware any location we identify is likely to make of God an idol.  Whilst this means modern cosmology is more accommodating to God than the old Newtonian universe, it is probably best to think of God as not being a part of the universe at all.

Comments

[albert]

In my post at my blog, I wrongly accuse you as dishonest. I sincerely apologize. http://atheistbibleforum.blogspot.com/2010/04/god-of-gaps.html

[Chris Sissons]

Thank you for your comment. Your sins are forgiven.

It would have been good if you could have told me about your comments through trackback or something. I am about to comment on your post.