Divine love and nonbelief › When someone is willing, but cannot believe

Imagine a person who would welcome a relationship with a loving God. She has no wish to escape divine scrutiny. She would be glad to discover that prayer addresses someone real. Yet she remains unable to believe. Trying harder to want a belief does not make it appear.

That situation raises a question about God as well as about the seeker. If a perfectly loving creator exists, why would a person capable of relationship with that creator be unable to begin one? J. L. Schellenberg develops this challenge in Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. The book, first published in 1993, argues that reasonable nonbelief counts against the existence of God. The force of the argument depends on the connection between divine love and the availability of personal relationship. Schellenberg's account of the book.

The question does not require a demand for a spectacular sign. A person might have ample reason to believe that someone exists without seeing a public demonstration. Nor does it require that every doubter feel distressed. The central issue is whether a capable person who is not resisting relationship can lack the belief needed for it. That makes the argument more specific than a complaint that religious life sometimes feels difficult.