“The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating” is a saying in English which probably dates back to the 14th century.

But what do we actually mean by proof? Here are two definitions: “a fact or piece of information that shows that something exists or is true” (Cambridge Dictionary) and “evidence or argument establishing a fact or the truth of a statement” (Oxford Languages).

How dependent are we on having PROOF in our everyday lives? How important is it to us? I guess that truth is very important to us but perhaps not so much the actual proof. We actually take most things on trust, perhaps depending on evidence and experience, or on what we or others have discovered or observed and proved in the past. A lot of what we learn in school (at least in history, science, geography and maths, if not in all subjects) is based on trust and what has been proved by others, handed down and accepted over the years. We don’t have time or the ability to check it all out and prove it all for ourselves! As long as there are specialists, in the past and present, to check everything out, we usually accept information which is presented as facts as having already been proved to be true – at least until it is “proved” otherwise!

Perhaps one general exception for many people, to accepting information as being true without first proving it for ourselves, is whether there is a God. Whereas we don’t demand proof for most things we take for granted or base our lives on, most of us struggle to believe in the existence of God without having proof. But what sort of proof are we looking for? If proof is based on evidence, there is plenty around us that suggests there is a God who created everything, as well as evidence that there can’t be a God – at least, not a loving God who is in control!

I recently read a biography of Alan Turing by Jack Copeland. Turing was a brilliant innovator and theorist, one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians of modern times, father of the modern computer and legendary code-breaker during WW2. Now, I had always thought of mathematics, which is perhaps the basis of all science and, arguably, even the world, as provable fact, a sure foundation for understanding how the world operates. 1 + 5 = 6. How often have you been asked to do a simple mathematical sum like that on a website to prove you are human?!

I read in Turing’s biography that the mathematician, Hilbert, thought “there must be a single supreme systematic procedure for settling truth or falsehood in mathematics….. [This is] required in order to place the whole of mathematics ‘on a concrete foundation on which everyone can agree.'” Jack Copeland continues: “Mathematicians had tended to think not only that everything true could be proved but also that everything that matters ought to be proved, because only rigorous proof by transparent and obvious rules brings certainty.” YES! Everything that matters ought to be proved! That appeals to my basic scientific mind.

The idea of needing to find the proof certainly underpinned much of my earlier life. During my ‘teens, in my exploration of philosophy and search for the truth about whether God existed, I was looking for certainty, for proofs. It’s hard to live with uncertainty. Failing to find such proofs, I became an atheist – until an unexplained but almost tangible and overwhelming sense of the presence of God in a church in Barbados shook that certainty. To be honest, I hadn’t actually managed to “prove” that God didn’t exist either!

So I was very surprised to read in Turing’s biography that Gödel, another mathematician, discovered that “more is true in mathematics than can be proved“. What an extraordinary statement – or belief! Turing (and other mathematicians) came to agree with this statement. If this is true of mathematics, then, surely, it must be universally true, including taking the leap of faith and accepting that God does exist.

However, when we are faced with all the evil, pain and suffering in the world, one of the biggest stumbling blocks to believing in God is the belief, expressed by so many Christians, that “God does exist and is in control“. If that is the case, then he must at best be fickle, but at worst, actually evil to allow all the suffering in the world. But, as I wrote in an earlier blog, I don’t believe that God, although the creator of the world, is actually in control of all that humans do to each other and the world – he chose to give up that control when he created humans in his image (see “God is not in control”).

So we must learn to live with uncertainty and not expect every truth to be provable. It’s okay to accept that God exists without first proving his existence. Try actually eating the pudding!