Proving The Resurrection By the Minimal Facts Approach

[Randy Carson]

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Are you actually saying on the one hand that God needs to reveal himself or you won't believe but on the other hand if he does reveal himself he's violating your free will?

Dude. You were the one to say that. Don't put words in my mouth.

I'm asking, if god revealing himself would be a violation of free will, why did he do that in the past?

First, let's be clear that you and others are ROUTINELY clamoring for God to prove that He exists in some dramatically undeniable fashion and whooping like wild Injuns that His failure to do so PROVES that He doesn't exist (conveniently forgetting that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).

Second, you seem to be saying that IF God were to reveal Himself in some dramatically undeniable fashion, this would be a violation of our free will.

That sort of covers all the bases, doesn't it? You have an argument either way.

However, my position (if anyone should be interested) is that God HAS revealed Himself dramatically to some people AND they still had free will and the ability to choose how they would respond. Moses could have seen the burning bush, and run the other way. Mary could have said, "No." God covenanted Himself with the people of Israel, and this covenant was renewed periodically. In one famous passage, Joshua even challenges the people:

Joshua 24
14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

So the people chose freely to serve the Lord God and Him alone.