One of the goals of Apologetics is to deal with the objections that people have regarding the existence of God. For the last several weeks, we have been listing some of these objections and the arguments that address them. Here is how Norm Geisler addresses the issue of God being a projection of our imagination:
A Projection of Imagination. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872) argued that humans made God in their image. God is only a projection of what we think of ourselves. Ideas of God come from our ideas of human beings. Hence, God is only a projection of these ideas. He does not exist beyond them.
This kind of argument makes a serious error: Who can know that God is “nothing but” a projection without “more than” knowledge? The essence of his argument can be stated this way:
1. God exists in human consciousness.
2. But humans cannot go beyond their own consciousness.
3. Therefore, God does not exist beyond our consciousness.
The problem with this argument is the second premise. Simply because we cannot go beyond our consciousness does not mean nothing exists beyond our consciousness. I cannot go beyond my mind, but I know there are other minds beyond mine with whom I converse. If we cannot go beyond our consciousness, then Feuerbach could not make the statement that no God is there. How does he know there is no God out there, unless his knowledge can go beyond his consciousness? To make “nothing-but” statements (such as, “God is nothing but a projection of our imagination”) implies “more-than” knowledge.
Simply because we do not go beyond our own consciousness does not mean that our consciousness is not aware of things that are beyond us. We cannot get outside of ourselves, but we can reach outside of ourselves. This is precisely what knowledge does. Consciousness is not simply consciousness of itself. We are also conscious of others. When we read a book we are not simply conscious of our own ideas; we are conscious of another mind who wrote the words from which we got those ideas. Consciousness does reach beyond itself. That is what the senses and mind enable us to do.
Geisler, N. L. (1999). In Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics (p. 293). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.