Here is a line of reasoning that Christians will frequently use to try to rationalize the complete lack of evidence for God’s existence. In the book "The Case for Faith," the author Lee Stroble interviews Peter Kreeft, Ph.D. Dr. Kreeft says the following:
"Scripture describes God as a hidden God. You have to make the effort of faith to find him. There are clues you can follow. And if that weren’t so, if there was something more or less than clues, it’s difficult for me to understand how we could really be free to make a choice about him."
Clues? Hidden? According to the Bible God incarnated himself. He created an entire human body named Jesus. That is not a "clue" — that is a huge, obvious piece of evidence. It is very hard to "hide" a 170-pound human being who is running around performing miracles on every street corner. Then you collect the stories of those miracles and publish them in a book. Where is the hiding in that?
There are examples of God’s desire for publicity throughout the Bible. The best known is God’s parting of the Red Sea in the book of Exodus, chapter 14:
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
That is impressive, and it is utterly obvious. Thousands of Israelites witnessed this event. There are many other events that are equally obvious: manna from heaven, the Ten Commandments carved onto stone tablets, the Passover massacre and so on. All of it is described in the Bible, which God wrote so that billions of people can read about these events and experience them vicariously today.
It is pretty hard to hide something that you do in front of thousands of people and then describe and publish in billions of books. Clearly God is not a hidden God.
But there is an even more impressive sign that we often forget. If God exists and God wrote the Bible, then rainbows are actually proof that God exists. God is not hiding at all. If you read Genesis 9:12-13 you will find this:
And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth…"
What could be more obvious than that? God left a sign for all future generations, according to the Bible. Clearly God does not want to hide.
There are also plenty of cases in the New Testament. For example, Matthew, Chapter 17:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
These are not exactly the actions of a God in hiding. Apparently the free wills of Peter, James and John were not that important to God. And again it is published in the Bible so that billions of other people can read about it.
Or take this passage from the book of Matthew, Chapter 3:
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Again, not exactly a hidden God.
Or this passage from the book of Luke, Chapter 2:
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
The free will of the shepherds was certainly tarnished a bit here.
In 1 Corinthians 15:6
Good point and nice job looking up your information. Not many people can fight agents this if they read it.
Because it is a FICTIONAL book and I hate walls of text!
Bacon be with you.
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are we psychologically analyzing God now?
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It’s obviously not before recorded history if it is in the bible. The bible is a record of what happened.
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You sure do have a lot of questions today =/
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Entirely too long of a rant to read. Try to focus next time
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I read that book. They are both lacking in reason (I almost typed "idiots"). Especially Lee Stroble.
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wow, thats too much to read.
but i have a question for you… if God showed up and/or talked to a mass of people, would you even believe it was God?
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I don’t question God. He knows every word that will come out of your mouth a year from now. He sees the big picture. Questioning the way he does things, or why he allows certain things suggests to me that your pride interferes with your relationship with him. In other words, you think you know BETTER than God does. That would make you god, no?
Where were you when he laid the foundations of the earth? When he built the mountains and the mighty rivers? He knew you and loved you before he formed you in the womb. Now stop second guessing him before he zaps you with a lightning bolt. Kidding. Have a little faith will ya? That’s all he wants from you.
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Pngwn, many of these tales did come prior to written history. They were passed down orally from generation to generation until written down. (This is how the Bible scholars explain the different creation accounts in Genesis.) This is not exactly new knowledge. So, nice attempt at being clever, but, in the end, fail.
Caveat, the asker is not second guessing God; he’s second guessing the author of the book that makes that argument. It can be second guessed because evidence to the contrary can be readily and easily accessed using, supposedly, God’s own book.
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Good point and nice job looking up your information. Not many people can fight agents this if they read it.
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It is not strange at all. I like your post. Free will has been used to explain so many things. Somehow it seems to apply when we do wrong. We have free will to do what God wants us to do also.
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OK! Name me one time that god was actualy seen. God did make a statement once that to look on god would bring instant death. So, why didn’t the Jews think Moses was actually god. Moses was the one that opened the sea. Moses was the one that went up the mt and brought the stone plates down. Also Moses found the Manna and the water springs out of the rock. Manily because those things never happened. It is a book you know. The bible has many falsehoods in it. The sun does not revolve around the earth, it’s the other way. The earth is not the center of the universe. It is off center a number of universes. If one word of the bible is wrong, isn’t the whole thing held in suspect. Obviously it has taken millions of years for the earth to be prepared for the liveing things. Not 6 days. I believe not of it, as I put a rule on myself that I will not trust any god that has testicals. Testicals on a god are the most useless things in the universe and beyond. I won’t believe untill I hear a voice behind me saying "Bend over sucker"
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If you already know what christian’s will do why ask anything like that on R&S. I will not waste my time with a seared heart, for you have been called and you did not answer, and the more you reject the more your heart becomes seared to the ways of the Lord.
God is not strange, but the ones who reject His teachings and try to fit them into their thinking and reason are the strange one. But, because of your unbelief your eyes have been blinded. So, you will not see nor know until your seared heart is changed and only you can change it.
FREE DOG SOUL– he did not state he wasn’t challenging or second guessing God. To me he stated why did God do all this and it seemed strange to him. He should have stated he did not believe this and ask us what we thought.
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