06 Jun '09 14:13>
I did not keep up on the original "Why does god hide" thread, and with 150 posts in it I'm not going to go back and read them all. So we'll start a new thread. I apologize if this approach has already been covered.
Within this thread we will assume that there is a god (of some sort) who hides from his creation, or who does not want his existence and attributes to be factually known.
What motives might a god have for that behavior?
The traditional answer is that he wants us to have "faith" in his existence, or that he wants us to "desire" him, or some such thing. But what if this is wrong? What if god hides because he wants us to doubt his existence. What if god hides because he wants us to think for ourselves about the big problems in life instead of just giving us all the answers. In this scenario, god granted us reason, not so that we could shut it off and exercise faith, but so that we could actively question everything that was going on around us, up to, and including, god's own existence.
In this scenario, the blind faith of a true believer would be abhorrent to god. It would gratify him much more to have people exercise their capacity for reason by doubting his existence and by doubting the proclamations of the world's various self-appointed holy men. Maybe doubt is what god wants. Maybe god finds creeds, orthodoxy and religious zealotry to be distasteful in the extreme. Maybe god wants us to grow up and think for ourselves instead of running to him, like children, every time we have a problem. Maybe.
Within this thread we will assume that there is a god (of some sort) who hides from his creation, or who does not want his existence and attributes to be factually known.
What motives might a god have for that behavior?
The traditional answer is that he wants us to have "faith" in his existence, or that he wants us to "desire" him, or some such thing. But what if this is wrong? What if god hides because he wants us to doubt his existence. What if god hides because he wants us to think for ourselves about the big problems in life instead of just giving us all the answers. In this scenario, god granted us reason, not so that we could shut it off and exercise faith, but so that we could actively question everything that was going on around us, up to, and including, god's own existence.
In this scenario, the blind faith of a true believer would be abhorrent to god. It would gratify him much more to have people exercise their capacity for reason by doubting his existence and by doubting the proclamations of the world's various self-appointed holy men. Maybe doubt is what god wants. Maybe god finds creeds, orthodoxy and religious zealotry to be distasteful in the extreme. Maybe god wants us to grow up and think for ourselves instead of running to him, like children, every time we have a problem. Maybe.