Most personally convincing reasons you don't believe.

[Drich]

Yet for all that, Drich, there are many who can tell you that for all their "faith", god failed them at every turn.

Actually what failed was the 'faith' they placed in the version of god they created and fostered.
Which clearly does not exist.
Again, I've used this example many times in this thread already, but in the parable of the wise and foolish builders The wise man builds his house, his 'faith'/belief on the truth of Christ (Christ's teachings and sayings and the over all picture Christ gives of God) Then God sends the winds and rains/The trials of life to test what the man believes. If What he believes is based on what Christ taught the man's 'house/faith' stands.

If however the man builds his faith on some religious non biblically based version of God, God will send the winds and rain to test that faith, just the same. As you pointed out that faith will indeed fail!

This is why I say for most of you, your atheism is an answer or at least a partial answer to your prayer for 'proof' of God. If one want 'proof of God' the first thing that must be done is to test and have your version fail, so as to have the opportunity to build an accurate picture of Him. Once you have a biblical picture of God, it gets tested and from that testing 'proof' will be found.

Yes, I know we could get on about personal accountability, but in the end, when someone of faith is told that all they have to do is ASK, as you put it, and they do just that and still god fails them, the light bulb comes on and they realize that it was all just made up by man. We could go round and round about everything that's been discussed before but it really gets us nowhere.

Again, that might happen with your version of God, but the biblical examples are vastly different.

We are told to Ask Seek and Knock=A/S/K first so that we may build an accurate picture via asking, in seeking (in scripture and in church) we vet or verify said picture and it is in this knocking that proof is found. Because what or how does God reveal Himself? Through our trials. God takes us in through a trial past the point where we are beyond the Help of anyone or anything, often times past the point of even hope (depending on how hard your heart is) So that when you get delivered from those circumstances you will know or even see that it was the hand of God who saved you. That is what knocking is. It is to continue to seek and Ask God despite what good or bad that is happening around you. It is to simply endure.

So then the question will arise how do you know what you find is not just some confirmation/delusion born out of misery and pain? My experience told me it was not generated by me because what I found was vastly different than what I had ever imagined, and it was only through continued bible study that I matched up the God I found with the version of God spelled out in the bible.

At the end of the day, the reasons for why people don't personally believe are just that... their reasons.And they have a right to their non-beliefs just as much as believers have a right to their beliefs. And that's really the bottom line here. I think the point of this thread was to get people talking about what led to their mindsets as far as believing in a deity goes. It wasn't an invite for people to be preached to or for people to be challenged on why they don't believe.

Which I why I personally don't care to try and "sell" God to them. My 'job' here is to provide clarity about Him and answer question of those who ask.
What I'm doing here in this thread is a bit of a failure analysis. In that I am analyzing the various reasons and explaining why their 'reasons' brought them failure for their efforts. It's the 'clarity' part of my mission statement.

I don't believe in any god or gods. I stated why pages and pages ago. That's good enough for me since god had failed time and time again to present himself in front of me.

Again what if the failure was yours?
Think about it. Do you truly expect any MAN of sufficient rank or title to "present himself before you for your approval?" Does the POTUS after his swearing in hop on Air force 1 to your city and state to "present himself" before the great and powerful Nymphadora?!?!

No???

Then why would you expect the creator of Everything show up at your door like a birthday clown performing 'magic tricks' and or grant your wishes till you conditionally believe if and only if you always get your way or what you want?

Does it say that in the bible anywhere?

Or is this just your example/Your version of who you think God truly is?

Just for the sake of Argument let's say their is a God that is accurately described by the bible. Now let's say he (going against his nature as described by the bible) grants all your wishes, shows up at your house like a birthday clown and does everything you want your way, and you believe...

Now, who is it you believe in? Your f-ed up version of God that you control and that serves you, or the God of the bible?

Which is why God does not support/answer petitions of those who seek to serve a God of their own making, or in your case endorse a picture of God that serves them.

This benefits no one. Which is why God sends the wind and the rain to destroy your picture of God. Which gives you opportunity to rebuild an accurate picture of him. One that He can FULLY Support.

Both when I was a child and grew into an adult. If I have to conjure up some sort of image of him because he fails to "show himself", as it were, then in my opinion, he's not real.

Your right! what you conjured was not real. and you know this because God would not support it in any way shape or form.
I think the biggest disservice the 'church' has ever bestowed upon us was the idea that God is our personal version of a loving father. This ultimately puts people on the wrong end/the wrong structure to weather the coming storms.

I've extended the invitation to him to join me for lunch (I'll pay) to answer some questions, time and time again.

What if... you right now could not identify God if he did indeed take you up on your offer? After all, your whole life you admitted to have created many pictures of Him. What if none of those pictures show up to your lunch? What if someone else showed up? How would you know if God ever took you up on that offer or not?

Meaning what if someone who would not play your games showed up (Tell me what number I'm think of, or tell me how many fingers am I holding behind my back, what are the winning lottery numbers this week etc...) What if He sent a messenger instead to put you back on the proper track, so that you could take Him up on His offer to have a literal direct 24/7 access to Him? Does this mean God did not answer your prayer because He would not conform to who you demand Him to be??

He's not ever taken me up on that offer. Therefore, the magical sky daddy is just some made up entity, created by man so that they have something to follow. That's it. That's all there is to it. If you think differently (and you do), that is entirely your right to do so. But without some sort of physical evidence, I cannot applaud your efforts to try and change any minds here.

Most of you have a picture of God who 'owes you.' who somehow in indebted to you kinda like a dead beat dad who owes Child support. But, here's the thing... You are not a Child of God. At least not yet. God will not come to you. We are to go to Him in humility. If we can not do this then we can asked to be humbled so we can Go. Or we can ask God to give us the strength to asked to be humbled.

But, if are demanding God see you on your terms, know He will see you to Hell first.

Again we are not in the position of power nor authority here. We need to view this as someone approaching a being with great power and authority, not your buddy who owes you a lunch.