Why Atheists need prove of God?

Question

God wants a relationship built on trust, not proof!

Yet even if God provided proof that was satisfactory to everyone, faith and trust would still be required to follow God. The atheist's question would merely change from "Why doesn't God prove his existence?" to "Why doesn't God explain why he did this and not that?" Atheists themselves would become theists, but not all of them would become Christians: one can believe God exists without believing he's worthy of worship, or that Christ's death atoned for our sins.

God wants us to trust him, not just believe he exists. If our every demand for proof and explanation were satisfied, we'd only trust and follow God to the extent that he proved himself to us. We would be relying on the external evidence and our own judgment of it, not actually trusting God. For us to actively trust God, we have to continue in our belief even when what we believe in isn't proven. And why is trust so important? Because it requires a deeper relationship with the one trusted. Anyone will believe a stranger's statement if he immediately produces proof to back it up, but believing a person without having proof requires the believer to have a positive opinion of the person (at least that they deserve the benefit of the doubt) and to take a certain amount of risk. If the risk is large, the believer is dependent on the person. If the trust turns out to be justified, the believer has a higher opinion of the person and a stronger relationship with them.

Another way of seeing it is this: Suppose a married man attends a weeklong, out-of-state conference. His wife can choose to trust that he won't have an affair while at the conference, or she can demand proof of his faithfulness by insisting he call her every hour and give a detailed account of his doings, making him wear a beeper so that she can call him at random, hiring someone to spy on him, etc. Yet if she demands proof, the husband will most likely respond with "What, don't you trust me?" He will be offended because his wife's asking for proof indicates that she doesn't trust him - and since she knows his character, her distrust says that his character is lacking. On the other hand, if she trusts him, it says that she really believes he will be faithful - much more so than if she simply stated she trusted him, yet never spent a night apart from him. It's much the same with God

God wants us to trust him, because that requires both believing that he is trustworthy and acting on that belief. That's not to say that God requires us to have blind faith - he wants us to love him with all of our mind, and he will give us reason to believe if we ask him - but that God wants our relationship with him to be built on trust as much as possible .

John

Correction: Proof, not prove***

Answer 1

"God wants a relationship built on trust, not proof!"
Atheists want a relationship built on proof, not trust. Therein lies the problem.

Answer 2

You can't have a trusting relationship with something that you don't know for sure or believe exists. That requires proof. Duh.

Do you have a trusting relationship with the tooth fairy? Would it make it any easier to do so if you at least believed he existed? If you wanted me have faith in either one, first you'd have to prove to me that they exist .

This does not equate God to the tooth fairy as you might think. It simply says that you can not have a faith or trust in something unless and until you you know that it is real. Someone else's word that it is real is not sufficient when you see no indication of it for yourself. Would you try to drive your car on an invisible bridge over the Grand Canyon just because someone else told you it was actually there? That is simple common sense, not some evil heresy.

John, you already know exactly how you feel about this question and what you think is the only acceptable kind of answer. I would highly recommend that you put this question to a vote by others to see what others think rather than choose the best answer yourself. Most of the answers given here disagree with your point of view, so waiting for the one answer that best mirrors what you think can only make it appear that all you want from this is to find someone who will validate your own sentiments and make you feel good about yourself. That's a pretty shallow award if you ask me. Why not listen and learn something from others, if only to hear what they think? Put it to a vote.

Answer 3

No, "God" does not want trust. "God" is imaginary. You can make any claims you want about your imaginary God, but these are claims that come from your mind, and the minds of other delusional people like yourself, and there is no evidence to support that these claims are actually true.

If what you were saying is true, you have to acknowledge that God has seemingly decided that he wants us to trust him despite giving no verifiable evidence of his nature. If you think the Bible is sufficient, then I pity your critical thinking skills. If anything, the Bible is proof that the Hebrews living 3000 years ago were paranoid and superstitious and sadistic. Why would anyone in their right might think that Jehovah is a just and moral being? His love is more like the love of an abusive father. He demands worship, and demands following of this laws, but does not follow his own laws, and mass murders many innocent people because a few people piss him off. This is not a god that I would worship even if he were real.

Fortunately, there is not a drop of evidence that Jehovah is real. For example, in the 10 commandments, he promised to punish four generations of children for the iniquities of the parents. Do you see him doing that today? If your God was real, for some crazy reason he decided to withdraw from the world long ago, and leave behind only an old incoherent book that still manages to make people like yourself delusional.

If you want me to take your arguments seriously, forget proof. Start with just one bit of verifiable empirical evidence, and then give a rational theory why that evidence is best explained by the supernatural and not the natural. Can you even do that?

Answer 4

You're WRONG about Atheists, John.

I can only speak for myself but I do not believe in TheInvisibleSkyPixie or any other thingies you call gods simply because of the lack of evidence.
IF the The Pixie gave me proof of being there'd be no need for further dialog - his job will have been done.
As far as I'm concerned Faith in the Pixie is no worse or better than a delusion which is easily treated by healthy doses of REALITY.

Now, if you're gullible enough to believe in all that InvisiblePixie stuff WITHOUT PROOF, I have a bridge for sale.

Answer 5

I have no reason to believe that the concept of God is anything more than something created my man to bring order to his life and to try and explain what he couldn't understand. Over the millenia that concept has evolved into the doctrine we now associate with the predominant religions of the world.
The simplest distinction I can see between theists and atheists is theist see God as being self evident, primarily based on their upbringing. Atheist on the other hand don't assume that there is a God.

Answer 6

The proof of God is all around us, you, your self is the number one proof. How do you thank you became, you can't thank, Random selection, be real, do you know how complex we are unique. The atheist's do not want to believe, even when its staring them in the face. God stood in nothing, and created every thing, starting first with the Angles, and then the heavens, and earth, night and day, all the waters, air,then the animal, fishes, birds and finally man and woman. Come on now, random selection???? Rocks and some one cell something, be real, it jest couldn't happen. Would you thank it could randomly cause every thing to reproduce itself????

Answer 7

John, I don't think atheists will ever get the picture....It amazes me that they are so quick to imply that God does not exists, yet I bet many of them had great great grandparents that at one time lived...Most likely their dead now...Hmmm but hark they have Family Pictures to Prove that they were once alive and well.
When Christ walked this Earth, He had His disciples and millions of people followed Him. Now some of these Disciples were instructed to go forth and to share the Gospel. Hence the Book of Matthew, Mark, Luke and even John....Of course all they had to go on thousands of years ago was to write what they heard and saw...With the pen in hand they began the Scrolls, and eventually the Holy Bible was written. It is OUR Map to the Direction that mankind should take. It gives the Commandments to allow people to follow, God is a very Patient God, but one day HE will come and to ALL who had denied Him, and Mocked His followers will stand in Judgment......I personally would have NOTHING with out my Lord and Savior...Yes for me, I do believe that a Savior was Born and Died for my sins, for it is Written.
For those who feel they can condemn the Bible is to Condemn God, for HE IS THE WORD......AS far as John goes, I think He is one of the few who will be allowed into the Kingdom of God...By the way, Thank You to ALL the Atheist who Judge him and persecute John, because GREAT will be his reward in Heaven......A week ago a bridge in Minnesota collapsed and several people were killed, people are killed in war and this world has become so Violent that no one is Safe....But for those who call themselves Christians, we have the Holy Spirit leading and guiding each of us and we Love Him for being there for us.
Is it better to Judge or to Love one another?
What would you choose?
Jesus tells us to Love our enemies, so Big Hugs go out to each of you, may the Lord open your eyes and heart to the truth...
Thank You John for trying to Help them see the Light, the Lord would be PLeased in deed....

Answer 8

Sorry, I can't trust God until I know he's there! I NEED proof or else we will keep asking the same question until we get a semi decent answer.

Answer 9

There is no trust with something that does not exist. I don't care what in hell you think your god wants, your god does not exist.

I need proof of a god the way I need proof of aliens, fairies, and mermaids. Give me real actual proof instead of your bible nonsense.

Answer 10

What is it exactly that you want from people? You want people to believe or trust your god? Take a look at the world around you, do you trust god because I sure don't.

Answer 11

every human person that i know and trust, i have evidence that they exist, or at the very least i know how to find it. why is god exempt from this? is he really shy? i've read the bible, i "searched my heart". nope, no god there. your hypothetical is a bit silly, we already live in a world where not all theists are christians.