(August 7, 2012 at 3:21 am)CliveStaples Wrote: That's not necessarily true. Perhaps God has a kind of authority that does not require divulging certain kinds of truths--just as there are state secrets which the government is not required to divulge. Or perhaps God has a particular relationship to humans that justifies withholding the truth--just as a parent is not required to divulge, say, details of their sex lives to their children. If you're going to argue that God had an obligation to divulge the truth, you're going to need to show it.
This is nothing more than a poorly disguised 'mysterious ways' excuse.
Let's consider the biblical cure for leprosy. I don't remember the passages verbatim, but it had something to do with bird blood and chanting. God could have given the proper cure and better yet educate his chosen people as to the germ theory of disease. Not only did he not divulge the truth, no obligation to do so in your opinion, he batantly lied which resulted in immeasurable suffering until humans figured it out for themselves. If you believe the Bible to be the inspired or actual word of God you are left with having to invoke the 'mysterious ways' argument in an attempt to justify despicable behavior.
