If God's existence can't be proven, why would God hold someone responsible for not believing?

Question

It doesn't make sense to ask someone to believe something without proof, then punish them for not believing it. Shouldn't we then believe any unprovable thing that anyone tells us just in case?

Answer 1

He wouldn't.
That God's holding anyone responsible is just an assumption.

Answer 2

The Bible and His son Jesus Christ is the proof. The Bible was written over a long time span and in different regions when there was no such thing as the internet or the telephone by different people. There is no way that they could have written about the same things and made such sense of it if the words were not given to them by God. And the prophecy in the Old Testament and fullfillment in the New Testament of the virgin birth of Jesus and the death and resurrection of Jesus is more proof to me that God is real. In the Bible it says "Blessed are those who believe yet have not seen." I believe and therefore live a blessed life. Thank you Jesus.

Answer 3

Those born in the "wrong" geographic areas will not believe "correctly", and according to the teachings of Christianity, will be doomed. If this were true, it would have to be the workings of a very unfair god. There are many who died before Jesus did, and many who were born in places where it is highly unlikely that the Church will ever venture. Will these wretched ones then perish because of their birthplace and timing?

It is time to expose the bloodthirsty god of the Bible and divorce ourselves from that wrathful, hateful, jealous, vengeful, murderous, lying, deceitful, merciless, biased being, who is really a usurper. Darkness is the misfit who has deceived the whole world, and much of Its deception has been performed in the Bible.

Jesus is now confronting the Anti-Christ Energy by dismantling the lies, exposing the distortions, and presenting the Truth. The lies will dissolve, as will the kingdom of Darkness.

http://www.xeeatwelve.com/articles/is_bible_devils_tool.html

http://www.karenlyster.com/genesis.html

Answer 4

A young religious scholar was once challenged to prove the very existence of God in front of an audience of kings who happened to be atheist. The scholar set an appointment and the entire town came to witness the anticipated event. (this story is true by the way and I can give details of the names if requested).
So the big night came and everyone was waiting for the scholar who lived in a different town across the sea altogether. They waited and waited. And waited. The king was boastful and had concluded that the scholar was too embarassed to show up becausee he could not prove the existence of God. When everyone was finally getting ready to leave, of course the young scholar shows up.

He apologizes for keeping everyone waiting so late and begins to beg the king to listen to his story and why he was late. The king allows him to proceed.

He tells him that he was on his way, on time and everything. There was only one boat that was leaving the dock that would take him across the sea to the town of the king and as he approached the boat was leaving. The scholar was distressed and did not know what to do. He sat by the dock and thought over and over of any alternatives. He finally stood up to see some wood logs floating in the middle of the sea. He prayed hard that these wood logs would some how float to him so that he could make a boat or use it to float across the large sea. The wood logs suddenly began to come together from the different areas of the sea and before his eyes, the were forming a boat! After the wooden logs finally formed a well created boat, the boat sailed to him and he stepped on. The current was going against the direction of his destination but the boat sailed straight through the current and landed immediately in front of the lking's property. He got off, ran through the forest and that's how he arrived at the king's palace to tell the story that he was telling. . .

NOBODY could believe this story. How could a boat come together by itself, then know exactly where to drop this scholar off without any direction, and against the current?

These questions were asked of him. Then he asked, if you don't believe a little boat can come together like this, that only someone can make a boat and direct it themselves to sail across a sea, then how can you imagine the world, the entire universe coming together, against all odds in a much greater scale!!!
God's existence is everywhere.

If you see an intricate watch in the middle of a deserted, thick forest of trees, you don't have to see the watchmaker to know that he/she exists.

God's existence is everywhere. I hope you can open your mind, and hearts to this reality. And logic is more than welcome to this realization.

Peace!

Answer 5

I've tried to tackle huge topics in a single post and usually don't succeeded well. Sometimes I raise more questions than I answer because space is limited here.

There are a myriad of arguments for or against God. There's no direct evidence for a creator God but it's a well-known fact that men create gods. To me, it's necessary to define what you mean by "God" to begin with. For most of us, that means a God defined by a religion.

And that's where the problems start . . . at least for the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). For the remainder of this post, any mention of "religion" means "Abrahamic religion" for short.

Religions are born into enmity because they try to lay claim to God. This insistence on exclusivity sets up religions for contention unless or until they convert the entire world – thereby eliminating the "competition". This is why, I believe, these religions all await the end-time when God will finally do the eliminating for them.

It's a forgone conclusion that no single religion (much less, denomination!) will win the world on its own. After all, they've had between 1,400 and 3,500 years (Islam and Judaism, respectively) to do so and haven't made any real progress. Christianity, with over 2 billion adherents, leads the pack but Islam, at 1.3 billion, is coming on strong (again). Despite being many centuries older than Christianity or Islam, Judaism has only 14 million adherents. If ANY religion truly is THE right one, I don't believe the competition would have survived this long.

Given all this . . . how are we supposed to decide which religion, if any, is right? The first one? The biggest one? The most sophisticated one? The most realistic one? The competition reduces our choice to a roll of the dice. And why would we go to hell for choosing the wrong one? It's ridiculous. Can God really be so sadistic? And if so, why would you worship him?

No . . .

NO religion can be valid if God exists AND is good. Any entity who could create the universe, would not be so petty as to set up his "intelligent" beings for condemnation. Why would the Creator give us free choice, only to confuse the choice of Creator? I say that if God exists, ALL religions are heretical. If God is good, we wouldn't be killing each other in His name. In the paraphrased words of Stephen Roberts:

"I contend that we are both anti-religion. I just believe in one fewer religion than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible religions, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Oh yes . . . and forget about "Original Sin". It's the biggest lie in the Bible and the foundation of other lies. I am no more accountable for Eve than I am for Hillary Clinton or for you.

I believe God could, or might, exist; but I'm certain that NO religion is valid.
.

Answer 6

Well the theory's people speak of are not proven either so then why belive in them. God is proven, but not through hard evidence, through love, kindness, through everyhting on this earth that is made and also miracles. If you find it sooo easy to belive in all the numbers and science then how come you cannot believe in God. It's much more simple if you really think about it. Both things are based on faith, but truly God is the only real answer.

Answer 7

The fact is that there either is proof or not. If you punish someone for not believing in such evidence means that they were either ignorant or chose to reject the evidence making them morally responsible for their actions. If such proof does not exist, there is no need for punishment.

God is a being of justice. It is impossible for him to punish you for something that has no basis in truth. It is not part of his nature.

What do you consider proof? Seeing? Scientists cannot single out an electron to view its physicial properties but there is consistent evidence suporting its existence. The same idea applies with the existence of God. Although one may not see him, His existence is supported by evidence. For example, where did matter first come from? For every occurence, there is a cause. Thus, the first cause would have to be God. Eternal causation makes no sense because how do you get to the present without a beginning? You cannot. If I told you my iPod Touch randomly formed over trillions of years, would you believe me? Of course not. How much more complex is life? The complexity of human life is undeniable evidence of a Designer.

Answer 8

Why not approach a religious idea like you would any other idea: through experimentation. The whole point of denying the existence of anything other than yourself is that it will ultimately lead you to the realization that you are the who actually doesn't exist, and that is what it means to be 'born again'. The loss of your identity in the wholeness of the universe, the solving of the golden ratio and the inevitible desire to allow the ratio to continue on ad infinitum.

The apocolypse will always be just around the corner because it is that secret suicide we all desire, because we are never meant to stay stagnant wearing one illusionary mask that we call our identity.

Answer 9

You know, I keep seeing these "proof' questions about God's existence (which are just , just - laughable), but I'd hate to think that I was in for an eternity of burning alive where my body mass was never decreased by the flames, and all because I thought I was some "genius" who touted quantum physics but couldn't make the serious attempt to understand something as calm and easy a thing as .....faith.

Answer 10

You can't see air, but it's there.
A lot of spiritual books give more
insight on spirituality.
"The Celestine Prophecy",
and Depak Chopra
is one of the best because he can
explain the unseen scientifically.
Understanding the Universe, and energy,
and vibrations, and mind control, to
predictions, to faith, etc. you begin to
understand how the power of God comes
into the picture.
Anyway, to answer your question, no, I don't
believe God would punish you, but I do think
he would hold you responsible for not allowing
yourself to find your own proof that he
does exist.
:~)

Answer 11

Let's put it this way - if God's existence could be proven, you wouldn't need faith to believe in Him - then you really wouldn't have a choice as to whether or not to believe in Him - and so by proving His existence, He took away your free will so now you are forced to love Him because you have no other choice....

....and love given under duress is really not love at all. God wants us free to love, honor, obey, worship and serve Him.....and free to follow our own selfish wills and desires.

It's the same kind of freedom you'd want for your own children, so if you think about it - it makes sense.