OK Christians. your chance. Convince me of God.

[TaraJo]

I gotta believe, I gotta kiss his ass and I gotta follow a few hundred rules many of which don't make sense with zero evidence that he actually exists. I don't buy it.

Neither do I nor any other bible believing Christians. For Christ scarfice has freed us from the law or the "Few Hundred rules" as our only means to finding salvation.

Then you might want to tell that to all the Christian haters who are using Leviticus to condemn homosexuals.

So, does anyone want to explain why that second metaphor seems more comparable to Christian God?

In reality it doesn't it just seem more accurate to fit your understanding of God and Christianity.

Them you explain how you see my hypothetical sibling as being different from your hypothetical deity.

So, you're saying God is an almighty narcissist? Love me or I hate you? It sure seems that way because if you don't accept his love, you get tortured for eternity.

If you do not want to be with God for eternity praising and worshiping Him wouldn't being forced into doing that for all eternity be a kin to eternal torture? As it is now you get to choose to either be with God or seperated from Him.

I'm not saying I don't want to; I'm saying I'm not going to waste my very limited time on earth worshiping a god that doesn't even exist and I'm looking for evidence that any worship I do would court towards something.

The big problem there is still pretty much the same, though: if god actually wanted someone to love him, he might do something, anything, to show that he even actually exists.

Why do you believe He doesn't?
He makes a very specific set of promises to those who ask seek and knock for Him.

I haven't heard of that promise; where did you hear about it? Did you get those promises from the same book that says the earth is no more than 6,000 years old and has been used to defend the idea that the earth is flat? Please, tell me, what credibly source gives you promises from the almighty?

So, again, let's use a little metaphor here, shall we? Let's say my parents had another baby, before I was born, this one that I don't know about and one whose existence isn't in any historical record like family picture albums, or medical records, right? Let's say further that this child leaves and I never see him or her for 30 years, right? Would I be expected to love a brother/sister who, as far as I know doesn't even exist?

But would you purposly ignore or even hate her just because she never sought you out?

Based on that alone, no. If she claimed to be all powerful, I might be pissed at her for having a world that's this fucked up, but that's beside the point and I'd be even more pissed if she was planning on torturing me for eternity if I didn't believe in her after she gave me no evidence that she exists.

However, the fact remains, I don't so much hate god as I don't believe god exists. How can I hate something I don't think exists? That would be like hating Santa or the Easter Bunny.

Maybe you can, in a "you're my sibling so I have to love you way" or "I love all people way" but on a personal level, no, you can't.

God does not expect this. He tells us that all we have to do is have the faith of a mustard seed and He will move heaven and earth for us. It is from this working together that true love is built. just like it would be with your unknown sister. IF you had the smallest amount of faith in the story of your long lost sister and sought her out your meeting would be just the start of a bond that would not easily be broken.

And that turns into a very 'blame the victim' form of circular logic. We sincerely pray to god and when nothing happens, if we realize god did nothing, there was no response because we lack faith. That's a pretty big flaw, right there if you ask me: the only way I can realize god fucked up is if I lack faith, in which case god isn't going to respond anyway.

But you don't reject this sibling, either. I mean, fuck, all it would take is a picture of an older brother or meeting my big sister or something like that and, yeah, I'll be on board.

Then simply ask God for the Picture He promises in Luke 11. Then activly seek it out and don't quit till you get what you have been asking and seeking after.

Sorry, your holy book has already been demonstrably false way too many times for me to trust it as evidence. I want something that will hold up in a lab; something that can withstand criticism.

And that's the point: God has given me just as much evidence that he exists as said hypothetical sibling: none! So why should I believe in one any more than I do the other?

What have you asked for? I remember you telling God that He should seek

I'm open on what evidence god can use with me. It still shouldn't be very difficult for an all powerful being. I mean, if god is all knowing, he knows exactly what evidence would convince me of his existence and if he's all powerful, whatever it takes to convince me would be easily within his power. The fact that no sign has been given leads me to believe one of the following:

1) God doesn't know what it would take to convince me of his existence. In this case, god is not all knowing (or all powerful, since an all powerful being would be able to know everything)

2) God lacks the power to convince myself of his existence; and since I'm being pretty open ended with what types of proof I'll accept, that's a pretty weak deity out there

3) God doesn't care whether I believe in him or not. Or, also likely, god wants me to be an atheist. At best, god cares so little for my worship that he's unwilling to lift a finger to reveal himself to me (and, again, if this being is supposed to be all powerful, that's not going to take much effort). Either way, it's all the same for me.