God of the Gaps

• what is the god of the gaps theory?

  As scientific knowledge of the world increases, there is less and less scope for 'God' to be used as an

  explanation for what we do not understand. 'God' then retreats further and further into the gaps in our

  knowledge. When science knows all there is to know, there will be no place for God at all.
• What are some examples of this theory?

  - lightning, hail and thunder used to be thought to be the result of supernatural beings expressing their displeasure with humanity whereas it is now known that these are common meteorological phenomena

  - it was believed that God moved the planets in their orbits whereas we now know that planetary behaviour is governed by gravity
• How does this link to the Parable of the Gardener?

  The parable said that even though there was no evidence for the gardener, the believer kept on trying to find a way to provide evidence for their existence. With the God of the gaps, Christians try to use God for knowledge they don't know without sufficient proof
• Why does his existence fail as a scientific hypothesis?

  If God is part of the scientific explanation for the world, we should be able to detect God by scientific means - but we cannot