Why doesn't God prove his existence?

Question

I typically see two responses to the above question...

1) God does prove himself all the time.

2) God does not want to prove himself because that would leave no room for faith.

Can any reconcile these two answers? Could they both be true? How so?

Answer 1

He doesn't exist.

The first answer is usually a form of the "I can't imagine how this all happened, therefore God exists" argument. They basically claim that human awe or human ignorance is enough to justify a belief in God.

The second is usually their "Telling us he exists takes away our freewill" argument. Of course, this argument can easily be taken apart by recognizing that believing in the existence of God is a separate belief than believing that God is worth following or obeying. You can point out to them that Satan, according to their myth, was given direct evidence that God exists but still had the freewill to follow or not follow him. In fact, if God doesn't convince me that he exists, then I can't really choose to follow him. By not convincing us of his existence, which should be simple for a god to do, he takes away our freewill with regards to following him.

Each of those arguments have issues individually, before you even get to the issue of whether they could both be true.

Answer 2

nicely, in case you define the universe as (a pantheistic) God, why difficulty including the extra be conscious? Neither Einstein nor his discoveries gave any evidence of any god. Your be conscious video games do not create any evidence the two. basically because of the fact count and power could be interchanged does not make any god genuine. For 1000's of years, human beings have suggested that their gods have been in the back of what they did not understand -- existence, lightning, stars, earthquakes, the muse of existence, the international or the universe, etc. Positing a god to supposedly answer a question solves not something. It basically provides an unwarranted point of complexity and prevents you from asking extra questions. "It grow to be, of course, a lie what you study my non secular convictions, a lie that's being systematically repeated. i don't think in a private God and that i've got in no way denied this yet have expressed it needless to say. If some thing is in me which would be suggested as non secular then it is the unbounded admiration for the form of the international so a ways as our technology can exhibit it." — Albert Einstein, 1954, Albert Einstein: The Human edge

Answer 3

It's interesting that most people look to the present for evidence, I guess this is reasonable when looking for "signs" of god in life. However, the bible makes many claims of actions preformed by god, these actions were in the physical world, had physical repercussions and should have left physical evidence. For example, from Joseph to Moses was a period of 200 to 400 years and both of them impacted Egyptian society; there should be some record or indication of this. Granted the Egyptians may not have recorded the actual exodus or covered it up, but there would still be indications of a growing slave population, slave towns, and probably a record of the 7 years of feast followed by 7 years of famine.

Answer 4

Faith leads to trust and when you trust someone you have a bond with that someone. To know God exist would be easy for people to take him for granted as we do everything else. But let's say you're jumping out of an airplane for the first time and you're doing it attached to an instructor. The relationship between you and that instructor is a lot stronger then if this was your 5 th or 6th jump.

We think God isn't doing anything for us because we take life for granted, but if we open our eyes and we see all the problems other people are having and recognize how we have peace in our mind and not in a mental hospital, or we are not laid up in bed like so many other people believers recognize this is from God's mercy and love.

Answer 5

If we can accept it, part of the all-the-time proof that God exists is that about every 500 to 1000 yrs a being without formal education, a universal educator, appears who says he is from God and has brought teachings that will help humanity. Without any aid at all each one proceeds to have an impact of scope and duration on humanity unlike any others. As long as folks stick to the pure teachings/meanings of these universal educators, humanity is helped and progresses. Even after encrustations are added by folks with agendas, progress continues, although fallout from the encrustations has a negative effect as well. Are all these universal educators who tell the same story deluded with visions of grandeur? Why do they all tell virtually the same story? Do they have something important to impart? How are they connected?

The part about faith requires both intellectual humility and openness as well as detachment from one's love of one's own ideas and understandings and of the surrounding society, a willingness to step into unchartered territory not governed completely by the senses.

Answer 6

1) God does prove himself all the time. - If this were true god wouldn't need to "prove himself" since he would already be known to exist (the statement assumes that god already exists without any proof and then proves himself - circular reasoning)
2)Whether or not god proves himself would have no bearing on faith, since people can chose to have faith or not to have faith aside from that.
What is there to reconcile? Neither statement makes sense.

Answer 7

He is God. He doesn't have to prove it. Think about it... if you were God and you knew all things throughout all time, would you care what one creature thought or didn't think of you in one tiny speck of time?

If you believe, good for you, but God does not require our faith, our belief, or our praise, because he is God. It is we who feel the need to have faith for our own satisfaction. We need to praise Him for our own sakes.

Remember, too, that God gifted mankind with free will. To coerce people to reform their lives or change their beliefs by revealing God's true nature would be taking away the gift. God allows all people to make up their own minds on the matter of His existence without interference or bias. Think about it: could you still choose to disbelieve if God proved to you His existence? I mean, can you choose to believe the earth is square? I don't think so. And would it mean as much to believe if it was certain?

Answer 8

Jesus Saves is correct. God has reveled himself to us through his creation.

Roman 1: 18-25

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie.

God's truth is absolute. That's why you can't reconcile those answers. To do so would be to say truth is relative. Go to God's word for the truth.

Answer 9

Some day we we will see Him face to face. In the meantime we are to see Him with the eyes of our understanding. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened." Ephesians 1:18. If we cannot see the invisible by the things that are made, (Romans 1:20) then we are like the beasts that perish. "Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish." Pslam 49:20.

Do you like the idea of God looking at you as though you were no more discerning than the beasts that perish? I don't! :)

Answer 10

For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.....even His eternal power and Godhead : so that they are without excuse. Romans 1 : 20

Answer 11

No, I can't reconcile those two answers, because they are not mine!

I really don't care what anyone believes or don't believe. I only worry about what I believe.

Can you prove to me that any emotion really exists? NO?

Then how can I prove to you what I feel in my heart is true?