One more question for Christians.....?

Question

If God doesn't want us to go to hell, why doesn't he make it really clear that he exists? And no dirty cop-outs like "He already has!" or "Read the Bible!", because I'm being serious.

If God put a billboard on the moon saying "I exist and the Bible is true", who wouldn't believe? This wouldn't be infringing on free will - it would be simply verifying that the Bible is true and then letting us decide what to do with that information.

According to the Bible, God loves us. He doesn't want us to go to hell, yet he can't make us believe because that would interfere with free will. Can't he give us a better reason to believe than a book that's lain dormant for thousands of years? Is that really so much to ask? Or is it that he needs us to believe without any kind of proof or recent evidence? And, if so, isn't he putting His needs above our own?

LeBizzle, when Jim Jones raised people from the dead, some people still doubted. It turns out they were right.

That said, if I saw a miracle, I like to believe I wouldn't be so stubborn as to not believe it. However, I've yet to see any miracles, so I guess I'll never know.... :(

And if a "baby being born" and "a sunset" are the best evidence of the Christian god that I'm going to get, then I guess they better make room in hell for me, 'cause that's not good enough.

Quiet Warrior, if I like a guy, I tell him. Then he tells me if he likes me or if he wants to be friends. I've invariably been THANKED for my candor - the guys who do like me don't have to worry about rejection, and the guys who want to be friends are relieved to get it all in the open rather than be uncomfortable for months.

God providing evidence of his existence would not strip me of my free will. To say otherwise is.... well... it's dumb. Can I say that on Yahoo! Answers?

Troll, I already live my life that way. Yet since I don't acknowledge the Christian God, I'm still (supposedly) going to hell. I'd like to know why it's so important to believe in him without any evidence.

Jennifer, I'm not "demanding a parlor trick". It's simple. God says I must believe or go to hell for eternity. If he truly loves me, I want to know why he doesn't show himself to me. I've never met Bill Gates, either, but if my eternal salvation depended on it, I'd make a point to damn well camp outside his house until I caught a glimpse of him. I don't have that luxury with God...and I'd like to know why he won't do that.

sister steph, where's the contradiction? I take potshots and I give them. Is that a problem? I don't see any hypocrisy evident.

movedby, I respect your answer (and love your avatar) but I reject a God who would send me to hell rather than show himself to me. I understand that He wants faith, and that's fine - as far as it goes. But for me to live a good life and be a good person but refuse to believe in fairy tales without proof or evidence and then be sent to hell to be tormented for eternity.... well, that's too harsh. He's placing HIS need for faith and affection above my own safety. That's cruel and dictatorial - at best.

Answer 1

As a christian i asked for definitive proof. i was tired of blind faith, i saw the damage it causes. as an atheist now i would go back to believing if jesus would appear in my bedroom and sit with me and talk with me. as god he could do that to everyone on the planet at the same time every year and we would have NO reason to believe it was a trick. if he mysteriously appeared, let's say, on Dec. 25th every year. we would still have the OPTION to disbelieve, hence free will would not be taken away, we just wouldn't. Anyway, by orchestrating the fall of man in the garden god shows that he does want us to burn in hell.

Answer 2

It's true that it's not God's will that any should perish, but we still stand condemned before Him. But you give a condemned human race too much credit, we don't have any natural inclination towards God. It's not a matter of "making us believe if we don't want to". No one would believe anyway except for His intervention -- that's why it's called salvation. The world is really, really lost, and I think the Bible makes that pretty clear.

Let me make one more observation. "According to the Bible, God loves us". Who is us? His own, yes, not the entire world, otherwise we would have had, as you said, a billboard on the moon. But our "free will" is the problem, not the solution! I know this twists things around for your scenario, but I think it also answers your question -- He put His needs above our own in the form of a Son he sent to redeem us from the destruction we might otherwise be bound for.

Answer 3

The book that is "lain dormant" happens to show prophecies that are being completed. God had to do miracles in the past, because the bible did not exist, and therefore his believers had miracles. When the bible is complete, and we are in the "last of the days", it is not longer necessary to do miracles like he did before. We have the bible, which is God's word. He commands us to read it daily, so some of us do, and those who do, will normally understand that god is real. By the way hell does not exist, I mean the hell you are thinking of anyways. There is no place where people burn forever. There will be obvious signs soon enough, but when those appear, it will be too late to go back.

Answer 4

The truth is that miracles or signs have never been enough proof for man. The bible contains many examples of clear cut signs from God that he exists but people still chose not to believe. What makes him believe that today's people are so different that a true sign would make them believe.
You must admit that if all of the sudden God but a message to us on the moon that he exists.... the first response of most people (even believers) would be that this was a conspiracy of some kind. After all people often say seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing.
As a side note there are christian churches that do believe in a continuation of God's miracles, prophets and communication in these days.

Answer 5

Even if he put a sign on the moon, there would be many that would not believe. Many of God's own people did not believe that Jesus was the son of God, even with all the miracles he performed.

It takes faith and studying the bible. Building up appreciation for all the he has done for us. Look at creation alone. He could have made everything black and white...He could have made us all look alike, no variety in landscape, no animals or variety in animals. Food could all taste the same. We could be like robots, no freewill or able to use our minds. The miracle of birth.

He has given us the bible with prophecy written 1000's of years ahead of time that have come true. The whole theme of the bible is God's Kingdom and what it will do for mankind. He sent his only begotten son to die for us. He is very concerned with the earth and humans and has the solution to all their problems.

I believe Bill Gates exists and I've never seen him, talked to him, but I've seen his work. I see it everyday when I use "windows" All I have is other peoples words as proof that he created it. I don't question his existence. Everything has a maker, whether we have seen the maker or not.

Answer 6

A book that's lain dormant? That's not even remotely true. That book has been compiled and recompiled and studied and argued over for thousands of years; never has it lain dormant. I'm afraid the "cop outs" are going to be your best answers, although there are also the recorded occurences of modern miracles, but most people don't believe in them. The answer is, whatever happens, even if there were a sign on the moon, it would not be enough, because people will always doubt it, no matter what. They'll chalk it up to conspiracy, mass histeria, or any other number reasonable explanations.

Take the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima; thousands of people of many faiths and no faith gathered there to see a miracle or to report on the lack thereof, and yet all these people saw something. Even people miles away saw the sun dance in the sky, but most people say there 'must' be an explanation, and so the reasonable folk chalk it up to strange weather and/or mass hysteria.

Answer 7

I would read Romans 1 and Luke 19. Paul pretty much spells out that man has (by his godlessness and wickedness) suppressed the truth of God's existence which is present in creation. Also, God has written His law on every person's heart (see Romans 2). God even sent His only begotten Son and the World rejected Him.

The problem is not that God has been vague, but man has suppressed the truth. The problem with your example of a billboard on the moon is that, like Gideon in the book of Judges, we would still ask for more concrete proof in the existence of God in order to believe. I take it that you don't have kids? I have seen this in the behavior of kids that out of pride and selfishness, they do not believe their parents, when their parents are correct. They will go to the extreme in order not to believe their parents. Why?

I do not believe in Free Will, so I am not going to argue with you on Free Will.

Answer 8

How do you know if someone loves you?
Do you demand them to act a certain way?
Do you demand that they jump when you say jump?
Or do you want someone that loves you to come to you out of love or being force to?
The Bible is far from being dorminate it is living word of G-d.
You have to decide to accept it or reject it.

To thebest b: The trinity is not Biblical in the literal since of the word. It was first use to explain to the Greeks the idea of G-d the father, Messiah, Holy Spirit. What happen after few hundreds of more man putting their spin on it. It became doctrine.

Nothing in the New Testament denys Jesus as the Messiah what you are doing is the typical poor reading of the word that Satan did to Jesus for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.



Talk to others who believe and listen to their witness of how G-d has help them in life.

In the end you have to decide.
John 21
24This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Answer 9

I was reading an article online that said:

"I once heard a debate with the late skeptic, Dr. Gordon Stein. He said that if there is a God, he should do a miracle so that anyone but a fool would believe. Such argumentation only shows the extent to which atheists are oblivious to the resilience of their own presuppositions. If Stein had actually seen a miracle, his own biases would likely have caused him to say that while he couldn't explain the event which had just happened, some day he would be able to explain it via naturalistic principles. The Bible on the other hand, is uncanny in its description of human tendencies. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the record indicated that while many believed, some still doubted. My conclusion is that people, who don't want to believe, won't be persuaded by appearances of the miraculous."

Answer 10

i really appreciate your question. the only problem with it is that it is the wrong question to ask. i saw in a previous question you posted that you were brought up in faith but that now you think you believed because that was how you were taught. Do you really believe that? I think you have been shown ample evidence for God's existance but you have chosen to reject him. It doesn't matter what he does to "prove" Himself real to you...you would still reject Him...as would many other unbelievers. His word tells us that even when Christ comes back many will still turn their backs on Him even when He comes back in glory. So I think your question should be "Why do some reject Him and some do not?"

Answer 11

Have you ever known a really spoiled child, you know the little brats who expect to get everything with no effort and if they don't get what they want they throw a fit until mommy and daddy give in so as not to hear them?

That is an easy way to deal with children. It is much easier to give in than to deal with the fit and teach them the truth....which is in life you have to work for anything you want. It might be a pain and time con summing but if I don't want to be litter ally doing everything for my children all their lives I have to teach them to do for themselves. Honestly, don't those spoiled little brats get on most people nerves? I know I am annoyed with those lazy parents who raise spoiled lazy children.
Why would God want to have a bunch of spoiled children. Look at all God has for us and all He really asks is that we seek Him He does the rest. Once you seek Him and accept Christ as your Savior you receive the Holy Spirit and He does the rest for you. I mean the Holy Spirit helps you living as a Christian it is not that difficult. But, why should God do it all for you? It just seems like a "Can't you just do it all for me??" attitude.
If you want evidence you have to put some true effort into it, and not effort into trying to disprove the existence of God.