Consider this scenario: You’re in a kitchen, and on the counter are all the ingredients for a cake. You leave the kitchen and come back three hours later. The ingredients are gone, but in their place, you see a fully baked and frosted cake. The oven is slightly warm, and bowls with traces of batter and frosting are in the sink. You would logically infer that in your absence, someone used the ingredients to bake the cake. The proof for that conclusion is based on our logical experience of reality. How sensible would it be, then, for someone else to accuse you of inventing a cake baker to explain the finished cake? Yet this is the type of argument atheists often use against theists. Atheists point to how ancient cultures sometimes created “gods” when they couldn’t explain phenomena–e.g., cultures that couldn’t explain where thunder came from might believe it expressed their god’s anger. Atheists accuse Christian theists of similar reasoning—concocting God to explain the universe. This is called the “God of the gaps” objection to theism. Atheists claim that theists, unable to explain the origin of the universe with “science,” explain it with an ad hoc appeal to God.
Perhaps the most popularized contemporary iteration of this argument came from Bobby Henderson in his 2005 open letter to the Kansas school board. The board considered allowing Intelligent Design as part of the school science curriculum. In protest, Henderson wrote a satirical piece in which he posited that belief in God was similar to belief in a “flying spaghetti monster.” This caustic satire was widely circulated on social media.
How should Christians respond to this “God of the gaps” claim?
Rebuttals to the God of the Gaps Argument
God as the Best Explanation for Natural and Biological Data
The “God of the gaps” claim assumes Christians lack evidence for God. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a plethora of facts exist that are best explained by God. The case for God is cumulative. (Lord’s Library has offered resources that present this cumulative case, including the cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments for God). In other words, you can’t see God under a microscope (and if we could, He wouldn’t, by definition, be God).
Rather, renowned theists, such as geophysicist and professor Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, point to natural and biological data in the universe and conclude that God is the best explanation. Far from concocting God out of thin air to fill in gaps of knowledge, theists logically infer a Creator based on a preponderance of facts.
Atheism of the Gaps
Also, in presenting the God of the gaps claim, some argue that atheists are guilty of the very lapse in reasoning that they’re accusing theists of; unable to explain the origin of the universe and unwilling to accept the evidence that points to a Creator, they instead claim that science will one day discover the answer. But is it logical to reject current evidence simply because it favors a belief that one doesn’t want to accept? “Future scientific discoveries” is not evidence; it’s blind faith in science (or scientism).
Scientific Advances Consistently Confirm Theism
And speaking of science, over the years, science has confirmed theism rather than refuted it. For example, Alexander Friedman and Georges Lemaitre posited an expanding universe, which was later verified by Edwin Hubble (1929). This overturned the previous idea that the universe was past eternal. This is important because it suggests a beginning to the universe. With that discovery, science logically coincided with a key premise of the philosophical Kalam Cosmological argument.
Another example is the ability to measure the constants in nature (e.g.,gravity, electron charge, proton mass, etc.). Advances in science that made those measurements possible further supported a theistic worldview. Those measurements revealed the near impossibility that chance could explain the existence of specific conditions that support a life-permitting universe. A Creator and Sustainer is the best explanation.
Resources to Learn More about God of the Gaps Argument
Lord’s Library has gathered some resources about the God of the Gaps argument:
Abusing the God of the Gaps Fallacy by Inspiring Philosophy
Michael Jones, Christian apologist and founder of Inspiring Philosophy, rebuts the “God of the Gaps” (GOTG) argument by showing how atheists reject the arguments for God’s existence because of its philosophical grounding.
What is the ‘God of the Gaps’ Argument? by Got Questions
The editors of Got Questions address the GOTG argument by contrasting the gaps in naturalism with the consistent scientific confirmation of a theistic worldview. This brief article also touches on some plausible Biblical reasons to explain why atheists deny the data that point to a Creator.
God of the Gaps by Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason
Stand to Reason is an apologetics ministry whose mission is to train “Christians to think more clearly about their faith and to make an even-handed, incisive, yet gracious defense for classical Christianity and classical Christian values in the public square.” Its founder, Greg Koukl, teaches Christian apologetics at Biola University and fields Biblical and theological questions on his call-in show. In this brief article, Koukl deftly refutes the GOTG argument.
Rejecting Theistic Evolution =/= Embracing a God of the Gaps by Stephen Meyer on Crossway
In this short video (2 ½ min, with accompanying transcript), Dr. Meyer explains the logical deficiency in the GOTG claim.
Who Really Commits the ‘God of the Gaps’ Fallacy from Crossway
(Adapted from Chapter 6 of Norm Geisler and Frank Turek’s I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist) – CrossExamined.org is a ministry focused on the many Christian youths who leave Christianity after attending college. This brief but effective article provides several clear refutations of the GOTG argument.
Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” God will hold people responsible for denying the truth. The believer’s commission is to “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 3). That means tearing down barriers, including the God of the Gaps argument.
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