Christians believe that they live in a universe in which God exists. But the thing is, they don't act like that. And I kind of wonder why. They do pray to God, yes. And they do talk to God, on occasion, so they say. And they preach the gospel, and convert others, or approve of them being converted.
But if God was actually real, you'd expect to see other things too.
You'd expect to see Christians praying to God for actual miracles, and receiving them. But you don't. I've been asking about this in a recent thread, and have yet to receive a satisfactory answer. You see Christians addressing God in the blandest and most carefully-tailored prayers. God, please give me wisdom, or insight, or determination. God, please give me faith. God, please strengthen me in my time of trouble. God, please help my sister who is facing cancer; grant the doctors the wisdom and clarity to heal her. There is something deeply weird about this. Where is the "God, please cure my sister of cancer immediately," or "God, my tooth is hurting. Please could you make the root vanish?" Or "God, my poor, innocent baby died. Please, bring her back to life."
More than that: while Christians I've spoken to in the past have assured me that God is not a jinni, a genie, a lab rat, a magical hat or a wishing machine, you would expect to see some statistical data showing up. Lots of it, actually. Consider. People all over the world are praying to their gods. But if the Christians are right, only one of these gods is listening and responding. And that means that the effects of this should be statistically observable. To put it simply, it should be apparent that Christians are luckier than non-Christians, because they have the edge of praying to a God who listens and responds. Not all the time, of course. Sometimes God answers prayers yes, sometimes no, sometimes later. But compared to the non-Christians (who, presumably, either don't get any answers at all, or else never even pray) it should be quite easy to observe effects on a macro level. But it's not. Christians, whether on an individual basis, or as populations, are no luckier than anyone else. Which is strange, if they are right about the Christian God exist.
You'd expect to see Christians asking God things, as well as asking Him for things. Almost all Christians claim they talk to God, and many claim that He replies - actually speaks to them in an audible voice. Isn't it strange God never, ever says anything that the person didn't know already? To forestall the obvious response, I'm not talking about asking God what the millionth digit of pi is, or to help you in an exam, or trying to trick or trap God. But Christians have a line to the Infinite Intelligence. Seriously, aren't there any questions they'd like to ask Him? "God, how can I persuade my son to stop doing drugs?" "God, can you tell me what the answer to the Euthyphro Dilemma is?" "God, there's this Bible verse nobody seems to be able to understand. Can you tell us what You meant in it?"
The incuriosity is quite amazing.
Another thing. Christians believe that a heaven and a hell exists, and hope that they are going to go to heaven. But they don't act like this. They are sad when loved ones die. They cry at funerals. Why? Their loved ones have gone to heaven. They should be happy for them. Yes, they will miss them, but in terms of infinity they will see them almost at once again.
Also, they believe others are going to hell. Except...do they? Do they seriously, actually believe this? If so, they are acting in a very strange way. They don't seem to care in the slightest. We live in a world, according to Christians, where some people (a few) will soon depart to a place of unimaginable bliss, and others to a place of appalling horror...and Christians don't seem to care, or to do anything about it. They just carry on with their lives.
Maybe it's because the Christian God doesn't exist. That is the view of the majority of people on this planet, and the supermajority of people who have ever lived, that the Christians are incorrect in thinking that their God exists.
If so, that would explain why God never answers prayers with miracles, and why God never answers questions. And it would explain why Christians never ask for them. They've learned not to. They've learned that there are some kinds of prayers God just answers, and while God may speak to you about being strong or being loving, He never tells you anything you didn't already know. And perhaps they've also learned not to think too hard about this, or have learned to come up with rationalisations for it.
But if God was actually real, you'd expect to see other things too.
You'd expect to see Christians praying to God for actual miracles, and receiving them. But you don't. I've been asking about this in a recent thread, and have yet to receive a satisfactory answer. You see Christians addressing God in the blandest and most carefully-tailored prayers. God, please give me wisdom, or insight, or determination. God, please give me faith. God, please strengthen me in my time of trouble. God, please help my sister who is facing cancer; grant the doctors the wisdom and clarity to heal her. There is something deeply weird about this. Where is the "God, please cure my sister of cancer immediately," or "God, my tooth is hurting. Please could you make the root vanish?" Or "God, my poor, innocent baby died. Please, bring her back to life."
More than that: while Christians I've spoken to in the past have assured me that God is not a jinni, a genie, a lab rat, a magical hat or a wishing machine, you would expect to see some statistical data showing up. Lots of it, actually. Consider. People all over the world are praying to their gods. But if the Christians are right, only one of these gods is listening and responding. And that means that the effects of this should be statistically observable. To put it simply, it should be apparent that Christians are luckier than non-Christians, because they have the edge of praying to a God who listens and responds. Not all the time, of course. Sometimes God answers prayers yes, sometimes no, sometimes later. But compared to the non-Christians (who, presumably, either don't get any answers at all, or else never even pray) it should be quite easy to observe effects on a macro level. But it's not. Christians, whether on an individual basis, or as populations, are no luckier than anyone else. Which is strange, if they are right about the Christian God exist.
You'd expect to see Christians asking God things, as well as asking Him for things. Almost all Christians claim they talk to God, and many claim that He replies - actually speaks to them in an audible voice. Isn't it strange God never, ever says anything that the person didn't know already? To forestall the obvious response, I'm not talking about asking God what the millionth digit of pi is, or to help you in an exam, or trying to trick or trap God. But Christians have a line to the Infinite Intelligence. Seriously, aren't there any questions they'd like to ask Him? "God, how can I persuade my son to stop doing drugs?" "God, can you tell me what the answer to the Euthyphro Dilemma is?" "God, there's this Bible verse nobody seems to be able to understand. Can you tell us what You meant in it?"
The incuriosity is quite amazing.
Another thing. Christians believe that a heaven and a hell exists, and hope that they are going to go to heaven. But they don't act like this. They are sad when loved ones die. They cry at funerals. Why? Their loved ones have gone to heaven. They should be happy for them. Yes, they will miss them, but in terms of infinity they will see them almost at once again.
Also, they believe others are going to hell. Except...do they? Do they seriously, actually believe this? If so, they are acting in a very strange way. They don't seem to care in the slightest. We live in a world, according to Christians, where some people (a few) will soon depart to a place of unimaginable bliss, and others to a place of appalling horror...and Christians don't seem to care, or to do anything about it. They just carry on with their lives.
Maybe it's because the Christian God doesn't exist. That is the view of the majority of people on this planet, and the supermajority of people who have ever lived, that the Christians are incorrect in thinking that their God exists.
If so, that would explain why God never answers prayers with miracles, and why God never answers questions. And it would explain why Christians never ask for them. They've learned not to. They've learned that there are some kinds of prayers God just answers, and while God may speak to you about being strong or being loving, He never tells you anything you didn't already know. And perhaps they've also learned not to think too hard about this, or have learned to come up with rationalisations for it.
