The God Files: Why A Noted Evangelical Theologian No Longer Believes in God

I approach this writing with some hesitation. A departure from a faith structure to a non-God position is not easy or to be taken lightly. But to utilize reason to seek out truth is greatly rewarding and when it has to do with the ultimate questions of life and transition from a “spiritually oriented belief” system to a rationally derived thought structure it is akin to a conversion event.

While pursuing my doctorate in theology my professors were among the most influential theologians of the twentieth century: Karl Barth, Oscar Cullman, Bo Reicke, Karl Jaspers, Ernst Jenni and Emil Brunner. During my studies I discovered how utterly indispensable reason and evidences are to any theological or philosophical consideration; for that matter in regard to any human consideration. To accept any “truth claim” there must be “sufficiency of evidence”; i.e. one should not accept any such claim unless confronted by compelling evidence [either obvious or reasoned] and be convinced thereby that the claim is in accord with reality.

These essays, a result of my own personal search for truth, are meant to be independent of one another permitting the reader, a book club or discussion group to select a particular essay whose subject matter may be of immediate interest. I hope you will continue your own search for truth and then have the courage to follow that truth wherever it leads you.