Knowing a God Who is Worthy of Worship

Recently I attended a talk by philosopher Paul Moser about his latest book, The Evidence for God: Religious Knowledge Reexamined. In this book he argues that traditional philosophical arguments for God’s existence (ontological, cosmological, teleological) fail to justify belief in a God who is worthy of worship. He contends that we acquire adequate reasons to believe in such a God by means of an ongoing experience of interacting personally with God as God discloses himself to us and we submit our wills to his transforming love. Moser says we can know God only as participants and not as mere spectators.

Friendly Fighting in Marriage

After years of research based on observing married couples in his “Love Lab,” University of Washington professor of psychology John M. Gottman claims to be able to predict with 91% accuracy whether a couple will divorce. He has also discovered that the marriages most likely to succeed are based on a deep friendship characterized by mutual respect and enjoyment of each other’s company. Gottman says friendship minimizes adversarial feelings and enables couples to quarrel without destructive results. He says since “most marital arguments cannot be resolved,” married couples should work to deepen their friendship rather than to win their arguments.