Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Eh? No, I'd argue I'm pretty easy to find to someone who's "all-knowing", and I've never tried to make myself hard to find to an all-knowing being in my life.
Don't fret, you're already found. While the clock is ticking all have time to find Him, hard as it is in this life. All find themselves in His embrace when the clock runs out.
you don't really want an answer just an argument............but I'll give it a try...........WHY DOES A smart businessperson invest where a reasonable return can be expected? Why would a good father pay for one kid to go to college but not the another? Why would a good mother loan money to one child and not the other? Why would a good parent disown a child? Why not feed tigers and wolves so they wont kill the weaker animals?
Don't fret, you're already found. While the clock is ticking all have time to find Him, hard as it is in this life. All find themselves in His embrace when the clock runs out.
Well then I shall spend the rest of my life looking for him then! Sounds like a good way to spend the one life I have, looking for something that is invisible, inaudible, intangible, unsmellable, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluescityleon
Why would a good father pay for one kid to go to college but not the another?
Maybe with this analogy you are implying that one kid wants to go to college and the other doesn't? Interesting. And I would certainly let my son choose between college and no college... unless, of course, him not going to college necessarily meant he would be burning and suffering for all eternity. If it did, I'd be sure to let him know it instead of having someone else jot it down and expect him to just believe (kind of a farfetched thing to believe just because someone says so, wouldn't you agree?). You see, I wouldn't want my son to suffer in any way or be separated from me for all eternity. That's because I actually love my son and am willing to show it with my actions and not just say it with my words...
Every time someone asks this, Christians will give you these complicated, hackneyed answers about why God simply just can't send down a nice piece of evidence to us that isn't two thousand years old. It's almost sad how pathetic and desperate many of these painfully obvious man-made justifications are.
As a writer, it sort of reminds me of the process one must go through to find a way for a character you like to do something that is cool, but completely illogical and unbelievable.
Many of the reasons you guys come up with are pretty flimsy.
"God can't do that! If we see him we'll die!"
"Well, he already revealed himself to our great great great great great great great grandfather's great great great great great grandfather's ancestors, what more could you ask?"
"God does reveal himself! You just have to look carefully at things. He is the beauty in the sunset, that warm feeling you get when you eat a good dinner, that sensation that follows the emptying of your bladder. God is love!"
"God is not a magician and does not have to reveal himself to us pitiful puny humans!"
"You have to be a Christian to see him," or "God will purposely hide himself from unbelievers."
I guess anything mired in a convoluted theology will spawn even more convoluted and confusing justifications for whatever logical gaps may be present in it.
And I guess being a Christian for all of your life, and just passively accepting the fact that Christianity has some things to believe in, sort of softens you for whatever bullsh*t explanation you may encounter. Because you're so used to it.
God hides him/herself from anyone who doesn't look within.
"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation... the kingdom (experience) of God is within you." -Luke 17:20 (& common sense)
God is love (or as Aristotle taught: attraction).
Love is hoping & striving for what's best through trial & error (active faith).
The suffering that goes unanswered, is because we are not answering the call.
Every time someone asks this, Christians will give you these complicated, hackneyed answers about why God simply just can't send down a nice piece of evidence to us that isn't two thousand years old. It's almost sad how pathetic and desperate many of these painfully obvious man-made justifications are.
Thanks for sharing your opinions. Let's go back to the reason I and some others gave, that God is in some sense fire and the human soul is in a similar sense kindling. Why do you disbelieve this? Why would this reason be complicated, hackneyed, pathetic, desperate and/or man-made?
As to a 2000 year old piece of evidence, surely you'd agree that the primary goal to aim for in this or any discussion/debate is truth, and evidence should be judged on whether or not it's true, not on how old it is?
Ehh, rationalize it all you want. There's no excuse for not doing all you can to save your child from eternal pain and suffering. This includes making sure they know of a way to prevent it.
According to some Christians, God's presence couldn't be anymore obvious.....but to you, and some others, you have to "look within". Which at least implies the transparent nature of him.
When atheists/agnostics ask this question, I'd assume most of us are questioning why he is transparent in the first place? Why do we have to play these games just to know that he exists?
Why is the well-being of our eternal lives based on whether or not we play the "follow the clues and see if God exists!" game whenit would make much more sense for God to only judge us on how morally we've lived....not whether or not we were able to beat him at hide and seek?
Before anyone says that his presence is obvious and we are being willfully blind, the simple fact is that the very existence of a large number of people who claim to have no perception of God goes against your argument. God knows we are visual creatures; he also knows that we are very mendacious. Lastly, God is omnipotent.
It does not follow that there's no way for him to give definitive proof of his existence to us.
Christians do like to keep parroting this! I don't see a lot of 'love' displayed by this god in the OT.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you ask such a question ..........
He is the beauty in the sunset, that warm feeling you get when you eat a good dinner, that sensation that follows the emptying of your bladder. God is love!"
