When You Pray and Hear Nothing: Does God Exist?

Unbelievable?

Premier Unbelievable?

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2026

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why isn’t God more obvious? In this episode of Premier Unbelievable, host John Nelson is joined by Dan Paterson (Questioning Christianity) and Joe Schmid (agnostic philosopher; Princeton doctoral researcher and youtuber at Majesty of Reason) to tackle the argument from divine hiddenness. If a perfectly loving God exists, why are there sincere seekers who still can’t believe, and why does God sometimes feel silent in suffering? They unpack J.L. Schellenberg’s formulation, debate deductive vs evidential versions, and explore whether cultural demographics, religious diversity, and tragedy point towards naturalism or theism. Dan argues Christianity has ancient resources for hiddenness; Joe presses the evidential weight of silence. Listen for Pascal, conscience, and the cross, and share where you land in the comments. SOCIAL LINKS Twitter: https://twitter.com/unbelievablefe Facebook: / https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable Instagram: / https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable Tik Tok: / https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable 👉 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes—absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com 🎉📢 • Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://pod.link/267142101 • More shows, free eBook & newsletter: https://premierunbelievable.com • For live events: http://www.unbelievable.live • For online learning: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/training • Support us in the USA: http://www.premierinsight.org/unbelievableshow • Support us in the rest of the world: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/donate

Transcript

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0:00.0	My dad died when I was nine years old and it broke something in me.
0:05.0	I spent lots of times homeless, causing even bigger rifts in the family.
0:10.0	I was out of control.
0:12.0	Green Pastures is a Christian charity providing homes and support for people facing homelessness across the UK.
0:20.0	As soon as I walked in that place,
0:21.6	I knew there was something different about it.
0:23.6	Through Green Pastures,
0:25.6	Andy found a home,
0:26.6	freedom from addiction,
0:28.6	and a new beginning in faith.
0:30.6	It's the best thing I've ever done.
0:31.6	It released me from that 23 years of addiction
0:35.6	and now I'm senior support worker here at Green Pastures Derby.
0:39.8	Find out more at greenpastures.com.
0:46.6	Hi, it's Gavin.
0:47.8	I'm Phil.
0:48.6	I don't know about you, but it can sometimes feel like we're living in a bad news world.
0:52.2	Wars, scandals, crisis after crisis. But if you're ready
0:55.8	to change the soundtrack and hear what God is really doing, we have a brand new podcast just for you.
1:00.9	We're travelling the UK, seeing people come to faith, churches grow and new life break out.
1:05.9	With real stories, fresh research and inspiring leaders, we are ready to give you a front row seat to God on the
1:11.8	move. Good News People is a new podcast from Premier and the Evangelical Alliance. So listen now on Apple
	...

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