If God truly loved humans...why not reveal himself ? So that they could make an informed decision ?

by smiddy 117 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  PSacramento

  Tec,

  Indeed, God didn't shun us, we shunned God ( and continue to do so) and sometimes we forget that.

  While they never saw God in the "face to face" sense, they knew his word and lived it but even they thought that they didn't need God, that they could "be God" without God.

  God sents us many signs and worked through US and of course because of that, the message wasn't always clear, I mean, look what he was working with right?

  Finally he sent his son in the only way WE could RELATE and in made a statement that we could understand.

  And yet...

  DId God not realise how hard it would be to reach us?

  Of course but it isn't up to God, God has done and is doing "God's part", the rest is up to us.

  Yes I know that many would like for God to take the reigns and do it all himself and save us the work of fixing the mess we make and continue to make but guess what?

  God is not going to do that at least no yet.

  And if I were somepeople I wouldn't be "praying" for him to do it either, at least not yet.
• 

  The_Present_Truth

  Heaven,

  if God had just set the matter straight back in the Garden of Eden, and brought mankind back to perfection

  ... then we wouldn't be here. The Earth would have filled up long, long ago and God would have had to stop procreation of humans.

  My dad (COBOE currently), give a talk that I can't remember the title of the outline. But in it, he discusses the Creation vs. Evolution topic. It's a good outline. Lots of scientific discussion which I always enjoyed. In their though, he had gathered numbers on the total population ever to have lived in Earth's history and divided it into the total number of "above water" acreage on the face of the Earth. I want to say that the average acreage per person came out to 2.5 acres - don't hold me to that. But you get the point. To date, there'd be plenty of room for all. Surely God had a plan for this scenario in the beginning? Could he not expand the surface area of the Earth? Grow the Earth as it were? I mean he made it to begin with so why not? (Keeping in line with Scripture.)

  I'm going to be away for the next couple days so I'll check back in when I get back.

  The_Present_Truth
• 

  Joey Jo-Jo

  How exactly to you shun GOD? PS your not making any sence.
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  smiddy

  Those that defend God still fall back on the writings of 2000 odd years ago and the beleif you have to have faith.I see a problem with those looking back 2000 years ,with the knowledge we have today, and applying it to the writers of that day....As for having faith?..,well we can see where that can lead you, up the garden path!!!.That`s why the majority of us are here....2000 years of no direct communication with God,and what do we find according to the Britanica Book Of The Year for the year 1999 ? .World wide christians, 1billion 974 million 181 thousand,....included in this is, 1 Billion 044 million 236 thousand Roman Catholics..... Non christians 4 Billion,004 million,220 thousand.....included in this 1,billion,155 million,109 thousand Muslims for a total population the of 5 billion 979 million 3 thousand in 1998 .I`m no rocket scientist but it begs the question, in this day and age. "If God Truly loved Humans...Why not reveal himself ? So that they can make an informed decision?"

  smiddy
• 

  designs

  What! and make it easy for you Sinners ........

  Remember when the COs use to play the 'I'm thinking of a word' game and your spirituality was judged on the answer, its kinda like that
• 

  PSacramento

  How exactly to you shun GOD? PS your not making any sence.

  Ask any atheist.
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  The_Present_Truth

  Anymore I don't think Atheists really shun God. I think if God presented himsef to the majority of them they'd likely worship him. Some wouldn't the same way that some angels haven't, and Satan hasn't even though they likely have seen God. Atheists simply aren't "believers". They're "thinkers".
• 

  dgp

  Interesting thread.

  I may only add that, when I first came here looking for answers, one of the many books I read made reference to Celsus, the pagan philosopher who was an enemy of early Christianity. He raised a similar question: if Jesus actually came back from the dead after three days, why not appear before Pilates, Herod, et cetera, so everyone found it easy to believe?

  At that time, the Second Century, most of mankind hadn't even heard about Jesus or the Bible. So they hadn't shunned God, and a fair God would be the first to recognize that.

  If we believe the Watchtower, then not only YHWH failed in not revealing himself through the nations. We have to believe that the Lord preferred to have the Bible written over the centuries, in different languages. Then some manuscripts were altered, some disappeared. Some other books of the way he would reveal himself to the nations were written after he had died (and supposedly resurrected). A group of men made the decision of what books would be accepted in the Canon. Let's say, because my argument doesn't need to deny it (even if I don't believe it), that God indeed led those men to pick the right books and put them into the Canon. All right. Then, more than 1800 years go by before Russell "discovers" the key to the Bible, which until then (and so far) THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Christians hasn't been able to figure out, maybe because Satan gets a free pass to messing with their minds. After such discovery, Jehovah God wants the witnesses to preach door to door, which mechanism has yielded seven million members, give or take a few, after more than one hundred years.

  Is it me, or does this sound like a God who is trying very hard to make it very difficult for us to finally get the point that he did come back from the dead, et cetera? Why couldn't he just appear among the clouds?

  Why is it that his will needs interpreting? And, how come his will and messages were written in different languages, which are obscure to most of those "the Word" is supposed to be very interested in saving.

  It's curious that Catholics claim that the Virgin Mary has appeared several times to several people (think Mexico City, Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje), yet they don't claim that JESUS is in the habit of revealing himself to the faithful?

  So, yes, if God truly loved humans, why not reveal himself?
• 

  tyu

  bohm: I'm sorry you took offense to my statement. I am not dehimanizing you at all and I wouldn't be writing to you if your opinion didn't matter and you weren't worth my time. We all, at times, are not intellectually honest with ourselves. I guess I was just recalling the Scripture of the rich man and poor Lazarus. The rich man lamenting his eternal damnation and asking Abraham to send his brothers a sign so that they might not end up in the same place of torment, to which Abraham responds negatively, adding that they would not believe even if someone should rise from the dead. God has sent us Jesus and we still want additional signs; that wasn't enough.

  Regarding the Islam vs. Christianity comparision, I really don't see how we can compare the two. Christians are willing to be martyred for their faith; Muslims are willing to die in the process of killing others, yes, in the name of Allah, but there's a world of difference there.

  BTW, from what I've read Muhammed was buried in his house, which is considered the second holiest site for Muslims. I have not seen any claim that he had risen from the dead.

  Check out this as far as scientifically authenticated Christian miracles: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2640063/posts
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  Joey Jo-Jo

  The_Present_Truth good point

  PS: Atheists dont shun God, they just dont believe in him, if HE appearead then they could shun HIM if they wish. I

  ts not like the OT and NT makes things perfectly clear, are we talking about the blood thirst Jehovah of the OT or the loving Jehovah who gave his only begotten son of the NT? I could go on and on and on but I think I made my point, the more you learn about the issues about the bible the more you need blind faith to believe in it.