Christian "purpose" and "meaning" in life.

[Tonus]

First of all, I told you he does communicate with me. Why do you say it's the most useless form of communication ever devised? He managed to communicate it to approximately 1/3 of the world's population today. You can't hear him if you keep your brain closed though.

If the best that god can do is a 33% success rate, then he's doing it wrong.

Second, I would venture that it's much, much lower than that, seeing as how so many Christian denominations exist specifically because they differ on how to interpret god's message. And many of them are quick to point out that most "self-professed" Christians are no such thing. If you are going to point to the large number of Christians and any sort of support for a point you are making, I hope you aren't going to play the "No True Christian" card any other time, as that would be quite hypocritical.

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No it doesn't, not believing is rejecting period and that rejection comes through self interest, self interest is the first sin committed. Disobeying God whether you recognize Him or not is sin through self interest. To obey is to sacrifice what one desires for doing God's will. It's God's desire that everyone be saved and those who are not save is because they make a decision that they desire, that desire is out side God's desire.

But we can see desires as being on different levels. Immediate and temporary (a bowl of ice cream) and long term (building a retirement nest egg). To decide not to serve god if you know he exists is to reject the immediate desires that god condemns (which have a potential for a bit of enjoyment at the cost of other problems later) in favor of the long term goal of salvation (which has as its prize the greatest reward possible). In that sense, I can also admit that this would count as a sacrifice.

When I believed in god I walked the straight and narrow with very little effort because the idea of seeing the world returned to the glory that god had intended was so much better than seeing the current world continue that it wasn't a difficult choice. But it was definitely driven by self-interest. Having come to the conclusion that god wasn't there and this world was all I would have, self-interest dictated that it was not worth the time and effort to chase after something that was not there.

Salvation is a sacrifice, as Paul said, one must die to self and receive Christ as the Lord of their life, one switches Lords, from self to Christ. Could it be those who walked away from Christianity were not interested in a new Lord but keep the old one.

I accept your point about salvation requiring sacrifice (see above). I think it's a very small price to pay for what is offered, but I think it's fair to call it a sacrifice.

Logic what does logical proof have to do with the spiritual, the spiritual abounds in logic just not the logical proof you demand, and I find it very illogical to demand proof from God.

The Bible makes it pretty clear that god was never shy about interacting with people and proving himself through clear and unambiguous action. Sometimes it was by talking directly to people, or sending a heavenly messenger. Sometimes it was something as spectacular as parting the waters of a sea. Other times it was more sublime yet still impressive, such as walking on the surface of the sea. The Bible tells us that god acted in ways that people could easily witness and confirm with one another. It also tells us that in a future time he will do it again, and there will be no doubt that it's him.

But in the meantime he will disappear and make no impression at all, except on an individual level and in ways that can only be interpreted by the individual in question. He is so subtle in this that many people apparently miss the clues entirely, and those that do might misinterpret them. And that's not counting demons appearing as 'angels of light' to mislead people. To me it lacks consistency, and the decades I spent as a believer do nothing to change that. That I was as sincere as I was for as long as I was and literally saw nothing of god makes a very deep impression on me as a thinking person.