Personal relationships with deities

[robvalue]

I just watched this recent Matt Dillahunty video, and it's awesome as usual

He talks about many interesting things, but focuses on "relationships with God". He presents the argument from divine hiddenness, aka the argument from crickets or "I'm right here, yo!". If God made us specifically to have a relationship with us, then spends the whole time hiding from us, then he is the one creating the barrier. I'd be quite happy to have a civilised relationship with God. I'd be very interested to talk to him. I'm totally ready for it. If however I have to be ready to kiss his ass and prostate myself just to earn his presence, then he is looking for mindless servants, not companions. I know what a relationship is, and one party forever hiding and refusing to communicate is not it. If he made me with a brain and then doesn't want to talk to me because I use that brain to the best of my ability, he has only himself to blame.

I would hope theists take the time to listen to him. He used to be a devout Christian and was studying to become a minister. This guy really tried to have a relationship with God. For people eager to shout "No he didn't!", that's the No True Scotsman fallacy, falls foul of the very subject of the video, and also comes under magical thinking (claiming to know information you can't possibly have access to).

http://youtu.be/TRB0TDq8tWE