(April 11, 2013 at 12:43 pm)Undeceived Wrote: The belief He responds to requires a state of mind: a repentant one. You are only going to look for God if you want Him to exist. If you believe you are self-righteous, you are not giving God the chance to forgive you. You remain filled with sin and in fear of His judgment. You do not want Him to reveal Himself, because the God you know will judge you. So God will withhold from revealing Himself through revelation for two reasons: 1) He respects your desire; and 2) He wishes to give you time to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Revelation requires the entering of the Holy Spirit into your mind (which is why we say He gives you faith). The Holy Spirit can only enter if you are pure. If not, His holiness will destroy you. Therefore it is impossible to know God unless you recognize you are a hopelessly sinful person and want to change.But to whom would we desire to repent, and why would we recognize the authority of "sin", if we did not already believe in god? He revealed himself plenty in the OT, why did he disappear before cameras (and significant scientific knowledge) came about?
John Adams Wrote:The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.