That was my question! When I was an atheist that was my argument. Then one day I met someone who cared to share this; He said "if God did that then we would be following God out of fear and realize we really had no choice. " We would be slaves in other words, God wants people that follow him out of love. It seems that choice is most important to God as far as we are concerned.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thank you for taking the time to post this but I don't see how mocking something can be taken as argument. On that issue I am not interested in arguments becuse arguments have winners and losers and very often it is not about who is right, but who has the loudest voice and able to verbally beat down his/her opponent. If you want to have a discussion lets start with this: What is there about the message of Jesus Christ that so offends you? There are more Buddists in the world than Christians. There are more Muslims in the world than Christians. I don't see you going after them. What's the deal?
Vance, I appreciate your taking the time to answer questions I've raised throughout this thread. I have to admit that I don't get this statement that you've written. How is "living your life" different or separate from "carry out your actions"? The two are completely intertwined. My actions are part of how I live my life.
Even in Jesus's time there were groups that thought that the return of Jesus Christ was eminent so they sat around on a hill and waited for it to happen. There have been a couple of religions groups in the last Century that did the same thing and then had to rewrite their message to account for their failure. I could include names but we don't really have to go there. These people were certain that Jesus was going to return on such and such a date---they were wrong. Then you get the other side of the coin where believers are so tied up in religious dogma that they forget to prepare for the return of Jesus Christ and forget the love Jesus showed us and expected we should share. Then they lose their piety and become bored with God.
Why would I fear a compassionate God who demonstrates his presence? That makes little sense to me. If I like others here believe he heals the sick and makes pastors do cartwheels, surely that is no different at all. Both would be manifestations in the physical world. Both would prove a God. If God is so cool that we love and worship Him, why would we fear him? Does Cadilactaste and her family fear God because he supposedly healed their son? No. They seem to be in awe. I'm not following that line of argument at all.
]I'm not sure what you mean by that first bit Vance, but if a compassionate and loving God clearly revealed himself to me through a specific and undeniable action, what would I have to fear? Why would I not worship such a God? If I were to pray for peace in the Middle East tonigh, and tomorrow morning, completely out of the blue, IS and Hamas etc etc all declared peace on the West and on other faiths and chose a democratic way of life, that's a God I'd worship for good reason. Why would I fear such a God? Of course you can be something different. Just look in the mirror, once an atheist and now a staunch believer.
