Did They Not Pray Hard Enough

[Tonus]

Because not everyone wants what God wants for them.

And god doesn't know which is which unless they ask?

Yes. Why? because the primary ingredient in what God wants for you contains a large dose of humility. Not the kind that is forced onto people, but the kind that willing A/S/K for it.

Asking for something doesn't necessarily connote humility. Why does god need for a person to humble himself before he reveals himself? Does he have self-esteem issues?

Because God did not give an absolute or difinitive version of Christianity. It is all based on the indivisual and what he can comperhend. Because we are all different our expressions of faith will look different.

So belief in god is the key? The interpretation of the book is secondary?

The same God that established Christianity established Judaism. Judaism is a religion with absolute absolutes, and a very strict structure with no room for interpertation. So why wasn't christianity constructed the same way? Look at how Jesus railed against the Jewish leadership of the day, how he pointed out over and over that thier worship was extreamly mechanical and did not include any effort in up holding the spirit of the law.

Does this mean that god got it wrong the first time around, and Christianity is the version of worship that he got right after a few centuries of trial and error?

Hence the reason for so many different expressions of Christianity. Now no one man or group of men has the power to dictate what is and is not worship. We simply do the absolute best that we can.

Do you feel that any denomination that organizes itself into a church with leaders in specific roles is doing it wrong? What you describe sounds a bit like many churches which lead through a hierarchy.

The last few responses just seemed to reinforce the point I was making about how a person who doesn't find god is apparently not trying hard enough or taking the right steps, even though there is no attempt to explain what the steps might be or how they are taken. It doesn't really help a person who would want to understand why god never reveals himself, or why he cannot be found.