Atheist: Why Does God Hide Himself!

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
19 April 2024

Atheists often insist that if God really wanted to save people, he would make his presence incontrovertibly obvious to everyone, beyond any possibility of doubt or denial. Since he doesn’t do that, as they claim, he either doesn’t exist or enjoys punishing people for “not noticing him” by casting them into hell.

How can we answer these objections?

1. Because God is love, he does not force himself on people by overpowering their free will.

Love has value only when it is freely offered, freely chosen and received, and freely reciprocated. God has chosen to reveal himself to the humble who sincerely seek him. He remains hidden to the prideful who prefer themselves to God, not because God deliberately hides himself, as if he were playing some kind of deadly game, but because the prideful close their eyes to his love, goodness, truth, and beauty. Humility and prayer immediately open a doorway to God, whereas pride slams it shut in God’s face.

One could argue that if God revealed himself to every individual in a way that would override their ability to reject him, he would be coercing them into belief. That’s not love but slavery.

2. Jesus’ death on the cross is the most effective means of getting man’s attention.

The crucified Christ startles and shocks us into reflecting on the reality of man’s fallen condition. It unveils the ugly, destructive nature of sin and provides the highest sign of God’s redeeming and all-encompassing compassion and love.

If Christ were to appear to every single person individually, then suffer death on the cross for all those individuals, would they all believe? No. Some would still reject him. That’s the terrible reality of pride, free will, and the inequity of sin.

Having said that, Christ did die on the cross for every single person! He suffered and died for each particular sin you and I have committed or will commit throughout our lives.

His passion and death in expiation of sin occurred historically but also transcends history. By virtue of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, all men are redeemed—past, present, and future. Unfortunately, some people deliberately reject Christ’s saving passion and death. In doing so, they reject God’s offer of salvation and thus, unless they repent and turn to Christ, will spend eternity without God.

3. Anyone who sets aside pride and sincerely seeks God in humility will find him.

As our Lord said, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt 7:7-8).

God desires to reveal himself and he has done so in countless ways, for he “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). The first instance of his revelation to man is the very creation of the physical universe itself.

4. How do we “find” God?

God does not always answer every prayer, but he always answers a sincere prayer for the gift of faith. If you want to “find” God, humble yourself before him, submit to him, and ask him to reveal himself to you through faith. He will respond. It’s guaranteed.

5. What’s the next step?

Make Christ the Lord of your life and diligently pursue and live the truth. Doing that, of course, entails membership in the Catholic Church founded by Christ, whose teaching communicates the fullness of divinely revealed truth and whose sacraments confer everlasting life.