Why is God invisible?

 

I’m a Christian, and I follow God, whom I can’t see or hear in any physical sense. To a lot of people this seems foolish. So why is God physically invisible and inaudible? I think the answer is that He made us with freedom of choice which is a fantastic gift. He didn’t make us to be slavish puppets who would be forced to serve him.

Idol worship

People love to have something visible to idolise or worship. In ancient times this was literal – they worshipped idols, - and in some places today idols are still worshipped. Today our idols are different. We have pop idols and sports idols. An acquaintance of ours says he isn’t interested in coming to church on a Sunday because he polishes and maintains his (very special) car at the weekend. Thus it’s an idol for him.

Invisibility

If God were visible we’d be forced to believe in him, because the evidence of his existence would be too strong to contradict. Because he is invisible we have to make a choice as to whether we will believe in him and whether we will submit to him or not. Unfortunately many people in western society can’t be bothered to make that choice and remain in the ‘don’t know’ or ‘don’t care’ camp. That will be no defence though – it’s a poor position to take once you’ve been challenged to think about it.

For guidance

One thing that God has given us to help us in our decision here is the Bible, a best selling but yet neglected book, in which there are both stories and advice to point us in the right direction.

Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of the Hebrews in the Exodus from Egypt. God said to Joshua

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1.7, 8)

Later on Joshua challenged all the Hebrews with the same choice:

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24.14)

When Jesus had risen from the dead, one of his followers, Thomas found this fact very hard to believe. He’s been known ever since as ‘Doubting Thomas’. Jesus came to him and showed him his wounded hands and side. He then said “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In the 19^th Century a hymnwriter named Walter Smith caught the thought of invisibility well, in what became a very popular hymn:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Finally, a challenge from the Bible :

Sitting on the fence about whether to believe in or follow God isn’t an option. Once you’ve been challenged to think about it it’s important to make a decision. Saint Paul knew this when he challenged the citizens of Corinth to make up their minds:

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6.2)

Why am I a Bible-believing Christian?

I come from a Christian family, and can trace our family’s Christianity back for many generations. Back in the early 19^th Century my great(x3) grandmother Pamela Ann Woods Prior was praying daily that “Not one will be missing from the family on the Coming Day of Great Glory around the throne of God”. 

Wow! Quite a prayer! 

But am I a Christian just because I come from a long line of Christians? I became a Christian when I was 11 years old. It was a conscious decision. You could say I was ‘born again’ (a phrase that Jesus used when he was talking to Nicodemus). 'Born again' has become something of a journalistic catchphrase, but actually it is a very good description of what happened. As I was talking to Jesus and committing my life to him I genuinely felt that a new life was beginning for me.   I was at the time attending weekly a boy’s bible-class called Crusaders.   (See footnote)

However, in adulthood I thought it through again. Was I a Christian simply because I had been indoctrinated by my family and by Crusaders? Or was there more to it than that? I’m sure there was more to it. I didn’t simply accept everything my parents wanted for me. You can read in my blog in ‘Grandpa’s story’ how and why I decided against going into the family business and became a schoolteacher instead. But I did accept and follow the Christian faith which they had. A major part of my re-think was based on the Bible, which I had been reading daily (and still do) since childhood. Christianity could only be true if the Bible is true. Is it? I have written about the bible and whether it is true elsewhere.   (See footnotes)

Here are some more detailed thoughts about why I believe the Bible, and whether the Bible is inspired by God.

It claims to be inspired: (This may seem like begging the question, but we need to start by asking what claims it makes for itself)

Moses claimed that the 10 Commandments and the moral law were given to him by God and should be followed by the Hebrews

The Old testament prophets often said “Thus says the Lord” , and their words were quotted in the Bible.

Jesus referred to himself as the ‘Son of Man’ , thus telling his listeners (Jews who knew their Bible well) that he was the one referred to in Daniel 7.13 who is given everlasting dominion and glory.

He also quoted from the Bible many times, for example when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and when he was teaching the people. Often he said “It is written...”

The apostles, who first spread Christianity, also assumed that their words had authority. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, saying “All scripture is inspired by God…” (2 Timothy 3.16)

The apostle Peter took the same view. 2 Peter 1.20-21. “no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

In 2 Peter 3.16 he accords the same authority to Paul's writings: 

"Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him.... His

letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which 

ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other scriptures

to their own destruction. "

 

 So all this is a challenge, either to faith or 

to  unbelief.  

 The Bible is still to this day a best-seller – maybe the biggest 

bestseller there is, yet in Britain there are many households who 

don’t even have a bible, let alone read one! (Though intriguingly I 

read recently that sales of  Bibles rose in 2025 by 135%!) 

There are plenty of people who think the Bible is simply a book, 

liable to inaccuracy as much as any other history book. And 

probably simply reading it with that attitude will not do much for 

you. But if you really want to know God (He who created you, no 

less!) and read the Bible believing that God speaks with authority 

through it, you will find it, as I have done, to be inspired, just as it 

claims to be.

 

Back to my original question: Why am I a 

Christian?  

It's  to do with relationship. We all experience love in our lives - love

by a child for their parents, by parents for their child, love for a pet, 

love between partners, and so on. Now 

   if it delights the one who created us to love us, and 

   if He shows us how to develop this relationship by inspiring 

writers to tell us about it in a compilation of writings which we now 

call the Bible, and

   if He tells us that this love relationship will continue even after we 

die 

 .....then who would choose NOT to respond to ths? 

 

Belief 

Belief is basic to a relationship with God, and the Bible comments 

on it. One of the earliest believers was Abraham, and the Bible tells

us that "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as 

righteousness."   (i.e. like the rest of us Abraham wasn't good 

enough to receive God's favour, but God graciously blessed him

because he believed.    See footnote) 

When Jesus rose from the dead. 'Doubting Thomas' intially refused 

to believe it had happened, until he met the risen Jesus. Jesus said 

to him "Because you have seen, you have believed. Blessed are 

those who have not seen, yet have believed."  (see footnote).

 

Disbelief

Many people in the western world put belief on one side,  saying 

"I'm not religious".  This is a careless cop-out for those who can't be 

bothered to investigate, or who fear that the challenge of belief

might upset their daily life.  Or they think wrongly that belief 

automatically means that they'll have to go to church.

But what if I'm right? The Bible says that there will one day be a

judgement day for everyone!  What a feeble defence it will be if all 

you can say in your defence is "I wasn't religious".  (See footnote re

Judgement Day)

 

Footnotes

The story of Nicodemus is in the Bible in John's gospel  chapter 3 

 You can read more about Crusaders in the middle of my blog entitled Grandpa’s story,   August 25^th 2023

 I wrote about the Bible and whether it is true in my blog in December 2019

Abraham's story is in the Bible in Genesis 12 to 25, and the quotation is from Genesis 15.6 

The story of Doubting Thomas is in John's gospel chapter 20. See 20.29 for the quotation.  

Judgement Day is described in the Bible in Revelation 20, from verse 11 onwards