There’s a recent article on ExChristian.net by Astreja entitled “So What?“. The post regards common remarks by believers toward atheists such as:
“You just want to sin!“, or “You wouldn’t believe even if God suddenly appeared!“.
XPDan
The referenced post is fairly short and definitely worth the read, but there was a comment made by XPDan that I really want to draw attention to. Dan is an ex-pastor who was a Christian for over 40 years but eventually left the faith like so many of us. He often comments at the ExChristian.net site and his remarks are routinely thought provoking.
With Dan’s permission, I am posting his comment below because he raises a damn good question. I’ve had similar thoughts but I love the way that he puts it:
How would we know if God came down to earth and revealed Himself to us?? The Bible proclaims that no one has ever seen God. Moses supposedly got mooned by God (Exodus says that Moses saw God’s hindquarters), but no man shall see God and live, proclaims the surrounding contextual verses.
So when God decided to “reveal” Himself to mankind, he sent another “Man”! We’ve had lots and lots of these “sons of God” proclaim to be sent from God. Are we supposed to believe all of them? No! So logic tells us that we can’t accept any of them.
I asked my preacher friend the other day a question that gave him pause; I don’t think he had ever thought of it. I asked him why, if God was omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, without beginning or ending, and desperate to get man’s attention, so that man could be saved – why doesn’t he reveal himself NOW, in a way that is unmistakable? Why not use today’s technology? Technology that can send internet messages around the world simultaneously. Why not take control of all the computer monitors and TV screens and simply “REVEAL” Himself? Why leave mankind with such shoddy evidence, i.e., disputed, ancient texts that are full of mistakes, contradictions, forgeries, and un-original platitudes. This is the best that the Creator of the Universe can provide, as His only (perfect, according to some) means for reaching humans with this most infinitely, important message? Really?
My good, Christian friend just looked at me for a second and said – “That’s a good question.”
Thanks Dan, it is. For those of us who have truly sought answers, the silence from the God of the Bible is quite deafening.
