(September 6, 2014 at 1:17 am)StealthySkeptic Wrote: Apologies if that seemed blunt, but I don't understand why a deity who actually cares about his creations (as in, non-deistic), would operate the way you claim he does (not getting it right with one prophet, but instead having to send one every thousand years), but would not instead make his existence as obvious as the light of the Sun. (Don't try to appeal to "mysterious ways" or "free will" with me- mysterious reasons for somebody doing something for me equals no reason at all). Just because the Sun exists beyond a doubt and no sane person would claim otherwise does not mean that we have no free will.
Basically, I try to keep my thinking consistent, and since I am a skeptic don't allow for metaphors to get in the way when I investigate a scientific claim and proof for such, I take the same approach to everything in life, including religion.
It's a fascinating question, although I think you're a little quick to dismiss 'mysterious' and 'free will' as starting points.
If talking about Science as a model, there are things in Science that we don't currently know, and indeed may never, if they turn out to be too complex to understand. This doesn't mean that we should reject Science in totality. We just try to find out what we don't know, but accept our current limitations of knowledge. That's how I see my Christianity. It's uncertain, short on knowledge, constantly in need of revision and at least partly wrong. But I think bits of it are probably right, and so it makes sense to keep going.
Clearly God could make His presence clear beyond doubt. And have a legion of angels briefed to zap our backsides if we so much as think of taking a pencil home from work. But I'm not sure that's the best thing.
Would anyone actually want to be married to a Stepford Wife/Husband programmed to 'love' us? It's the humanity, with all its flaws and the distinct possibility of “No” that makes a relationship meaningful. 'Failure plus trying to do better' > 'Programmed obedience' possibly in God's eyes, and I think I begin to get that.
