The statement, “He is not far from each one of us,” is highly relevant for contemporary philosophy of religion. It also provides an apt illustration for the biblical approach of apologetics and evangelism, which in turn exposes the misguided method of today’s Christians.

Unbelievers in both academic and non-academic circles have voiced the objection that the evidence for God and Christianity are unclear or unconvincing. They claim that if there is a God, if he really wants people to believe in him, and if he will punish people for not believing in him, then should he not provide clearer and better evidence than what we have so far witnessed? Should not the existence of God and the truth of Christianity be less ambiguous?

This is called the problem of “divine hiddenness.” The typical approach taken by Christian theologians and philosophers is to first admit that God hides himself from us, and having agreed to this, they then provide arguments as to why God is justified in hiding himself, even though he wants people to believe in him. Many of those who attempt to answer the problem of divine hiddenness never challenge the assumption that God is hidden.

However, this is an anti-biblical approach, since the Bible itself denies that God is hidden at all. Instead, it says that “He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27) and that “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them” (Romans 1:19).

Christians who attempt to answer “divine hiddenness” by first agreeing that God is hidden have adopted non-Christian assumptions and principles without argument. Why scramble to defend God for doing something when the Bible says that he has done the opposite?

Why be so hasty to defend God’s alleged hiddenness when the Bible says that he has made himself plain and evident to all? Why admit that God is hard to find when the Bible says that he is not far from each of us?

Many of those who claim to be Christians are too quick to think like non-Christians, and in doing so, even when they think they are defending the biblical faith, in reality they have denied it from the start. If even Christians think that God is hidden when the Bible asserts the opposite, how will non-Christians ever be confronted with a biblical approach to apologetics and evangelism?

Presuppositional Confrontations, p. 49 (PDF)