Scientific Skepticism

In conversations with both Christians and non Christians I have often been asked, "If God is so all powerful and wants us to believe in Him, why doesn't He just come down now and perform miracles for us?"
"No one can know God's will" and "He wants us to have faith in Him" have both been rejected as inadequate responses.

So in general musings I have developed a new theory to answer this question: God is intelligent.

WIth the number of street magicians and hoaxes and general allusion that has been debased by science and general skepticism, would anyone really believe the miracles that didn't already believe in God? How many people would truly believe that a man had been raised from the dead (perhaps Jesus' most famous act in the Bible) rather than believe that the whole event was some elaborate set up or hoax? Very few.

So He had to come down in a time when his miracles would seem real and believable to the people. 2000 years ago science was in its infancy and superstition still played a large role in everyday life. A comet may have been seen as an attacking demon or such. To these people Jesus' miracles were truly miracles which got the religion started. As the religion grew and as science and skepticism grew with it, it came down more and more to faith (which is what Jesus said God wanted all along). So why come down and perform miracles when they would be ridiculed and picked apart and in every conceivable way disbelieved.
So my new theory to answer this question is that God is smart.

quote:

---

So in general musings I have developed a new theory to answer this question: God is intelligent.

---

Strange things occurring and people see omens of events to come? Ridiculous, not really, we commonly associate normal occurrences to predictable reactions . . . sailors look to the sky to perceive stromy weather or we note sudden quiet (lack of natural animal activity) & perceive unseen danger. Just as we have learned or understand the dynamics better doesn't make the miraculous any the less, just our experience of it is lessened.

http://www.captaincynic.com/thread/66334/me_myself_and_god.htm#66335

I finished this comment then going onto here and I think, I could have used that here?

quote:

---

Funny thing is we chose not to follow "GOD's Way" then we cry out about GOD's failure . . . as ridiculous it seems to be, in truth following it may lead to the peace which we should seek?

---

The Miracles performed to set apart (highlight) those acts which lead to the good or best mindset of GOD's Way. Like a child, we were given (trainning) understanding but how the child uses those lessons as he/she matures establishes the individual nature of being.

decius KGB never said that he was fooling us, he just said that back then people were less skeptical and would actually accept that miracles were miraculous rather than derren brown holding things up with strings and using slight of hand.. i see you point that surely if he is all powerful god he could quite easily suspend our disbelief and be seen as a true power.

quote:

---

. . i see your point that surely if he is all powerful god he could quite easily suspend our disbelief and be seen as a true power.

---

Perhaps then that is not the point? Jesus stated that those whom believed on Him would be saved, besides being a translation, it imay not represent to us that which it did to those whom heard His teachings? Yet, if we were to agree that using this forum is an important aspect of our life then would we not be more religious (pun) about accessing it? Therefore belief holds a greater meaning than saying 'I believe in the existence of atoms'

thats true, it all leads back to the question of free will. presumably god could come down and do something to make us all see that he exists and that following him is right, but he decided to give us free will to choose between his way and ours. isnt it strange how every little thing appears to hang on the question of free will, it explains away all manner of slight inconsitenies etc in religion.

'You are not the doer'

"No one can know God's will."

Hmm, seems some TV Preachers never heard of that one!

quote:

---

No one can know God's will."

Hmm, seems some TV Preachers never heard of that one!

---

haha

Yes they have. They use God to any means they wish. The difference is they have no integrity; if something is true; it should always be true and evidence should be provided and the flaws of their argument. If not its most probably fraud.

True knowledge takes a lot of work; something dreamed up one day has about a 1 in 100000 chance of being right without care thought; this itself is probably an underestimate LOL

what is defined as knowing GOD's Will?
To know the perfectly GOD's Will or the imperfect of reality to understand that which human need to comprehend of HIS Will?

Edit : wow that was strange? Don't know how that happened but it is replaced for now.

God came once to people and lowered his level to normal human...!!
and sacrificed his only son to show himself to us in a convincing way.
after all this people say we dont no God!
the one who said why dont he come again and do more miracles for us to beleive in him. thats not convinding actually. when he came to us he did many ones. remember when he got the man (sorry i dont no his name in english) from the grave after death. is there anyone on earth having the ability and authority to get a soul back to the body?!!
so he was God for sure and only this miracle was enough for everyone to believe in him. what do u want more than this?!!
even when he died after crossfiction, the earth as whole was shaken and people felt so frightened coz it was like great earthquake and the sun disappeared in day time!! that was because of all nature was sad for its creator

If there is a god per-say, what does s/he have to do to prove themselves, were not a small number of savage bloody empires anymore, we've growen to belief all and eveything we want, god has lost its point when we strive to know everything and everything and controll are world and enviroment to are own liking. Sure we're not doing a good job, but isnt it our right to kill the planet if we want to, or waste a day or part of everyday just on an emotional attachement to something we have no proof of?