Doesn't it seem kind of silly?

[bling]

I don't know about you, but I find that sending out random people to deliver a message that God loves them and wants a relationship with them is silly, cowardly, and ridiculous. Especially when this God is the all-powerful being of the universe who can deliver billions of messages in an instant. It seems more sensible for Him to do it himself.

These people are not “random” and it is not “them” going forth but Christ living in and through them.

Again, God is not trying to get you to acknowledge His existence, but is trying to get you to humbly accept His help.

What would it take for you to humbly accept pure charity from a person that had to sacrifice much to provide you with that totally undeserved charity?

So what you are telling me is that the following people did not have faith or the opportunity to believe in God's existence, because they were miraculously notified of God's existence:
Paul
Peter
All the people Jesus healed
Mary
Joseph
Mark
Matthew
Luke
....you get the idea

All of these people believed God existed before Jesus or God came to them.

Jesus/God is helping them take the next step in their spiritual growth.

If you want a better example you could use the Jews that left Egypt, but remember I said “the opportunity to believe in God’s existence”. God did tons of miracles before these Jews and Egyptians that would make it impossible to believe there was no God, so the “loss” of the opportunity to believe in the existence of God. If you go back and see how those Jews fared with that knowledge you will see they fared poorly. Believing is a humbling experience, so the Jews needed other ways to be humbled which they did get. The humility is need for them the correctly accept God’s charity as charity.

Why can't I hear that he loves me directly from him? Is he too scared or shy or something?

Why do you have a burning need for God to Love you?

If you do not have a burning need for God’s Love, would you humbly accept that Love, since you do not have to be humble and accept charity from God?

If God made a special trip to your house knocked on your door and told you: “I really Love you with a totally unselfish Love” would that automatically cause you to Love God, or would it take something else?

 

[oi_antz]

Doesn't it seem kind of silly that the most powerful, most intelligent, and most loving entity in all of the universe relies on mankind to relay his message for Him? The Bible being God's most important and life-changing message to you & me...delivered by some random people that we have never even met before? This is one of my biggest concerns that keeps me in perpetual doubt and suspicion. Would anyone care to explain why he chooses to deliver his message in such an inefficient and silly way?

Here's the problem in a much simpler way:
God → authors of the Bible → me

↑​

Why the heck is this here?​

God, why are you filtering your message through the untrustworthy, deceptive, and fallible hands of mankind? I don't want someone else to tell me how much you love me. Please be more polite by simply telling it to me directly. I don't go about telling my mother how much I love her by sending other people to go do it for me. I would rather say it right to her face.

I think you just can't ignore those people, but God is allowing you to ignore Him. I do hope this helps.

 

[mmksparbud]

He did it your way first--with Adam and Eve. They preferred to listen to another, causing a separation between God and man, for sin can not live in the presence of God. He then spoke to man without the benefit of them being able to see Him--but still, He was rejected. The separation between Him and us is sin--He set up a temporary way of us obtaining forgiveness through sacrifices, pointing to the time He would send His own Son down to us to help us see Him more clearly--He, too was rejected. He gets as close to us as He can without His perfection killing us. For now, He has to use us to show us who He is. The time comes, soon, when we will all be reunited as it was in the beginning. Till then, this is the best that can be done. Work with it, or reject it--your choice.

 

[Emmy]

Dear alexiscurious. The Bible was written by God-inspired men and women, and we can talk to God or Jesus, any time we want to. A good example is:
" Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: the first and great Commandment is:
Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." In verse 40: Jesus points out this great truth: " on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." ( straightforward and to the point) In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " ask and you shall receive," we ask God for Love and Joy, then thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour: all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends. We keep asking and receiving, then share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. ( straightforward and easy to understand)
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," give up all selfish wishes and wants, and start loving and caring.
God will see our loving efforts, and God will approve and bless us, to Love God
with all our beings, and love our neighbour as we love ourselves. ( again straightforward and easy to understand.) We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and carry on Loving and Caring.
The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY. That all seems straightforward and easy to remember, nothing silly about it. I say this with love, alexiscurious.
Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ. P.S. Love covers a multitude of sins.

 

[drich0150]

Doesn't it seem kind of silly that the most powerful, most intelligent, and most loving entity in all of the universe relies on mankind to relay his message for Him? The Bible being God's most important and life-changing message to you & me...delivered by some random people that we have never even met before? This is one of my biggest concerns that keeps me in perpetual doubt and suspicion. Would anyone care to explain why he chooses to deliver his message in such an inefficient and silly way?

Here's the problem in a much simpler way:
God → authors of the Bible → me

↑​

Why the heck is this here?​

God, why are you filtering your message through the untrustworthy, deceptive, and fallible hands of mankind? I don't want someone else to tell me how much you love me. Please be more polite by simply telling it to me directly. I don't go about telling my mother how much I love her by sending other people to go do it for me. I would rather say it right to her face.

The short answer is because you as you are are not worthy of an audience with God. That said once we attone for our sins, the Holy Spirit (God) had a direct relationship with us, but before this happens we were given a mustard seeds worth of faith and told to plant it in (let's use the word religion for the lack of a better term.' 'religion.' Once we do God deems us worthy for a more direct line of communication.

 

[alexiscurious]

The short answer is because you as you are not worthy of an audience with God. That said once we attone for our sins, the Holy Spirit (God) had a direct relationship with us, but before this happens we were given a mustard seeds worth of faith and told to plant it in (let's use the word religion for the lack of a better term.' 'religion.' Once we do God deems us worthy for a more direct line of communication.

I'm not worthy of an audience with God. How convenient...

 

[Sketcher]

Doesn't it seem kind of silly that the most powerful, most intelligent, and most loving entity in all of the universe relies on mankind to relay his message for Him? The Bible being God's most important and life-changing message to you & me...delivered by some random people that we have never even met before? This is one of my biggest concerns that keeps me in perpetual doubt and suspicion. Would anyone care to explain why he chooses to deliver his message in such an inefficient and silly way?

Here's the problem in a much simpler way:
God → authors of the Bible → me

↑​

Why the heck is this here?​

God, why are you filtering your message through the untrustworthy, deceptive, and fallible hands of mankind? I don't want someone else to tell me how much you love me. Please be more polite by simply telling it to me directly. I don't go about telling my mother how much I love her by sending other people to go do it for me. I would rather say it right to her face.

The trouble is, when God did that at Mt. Sinai, it didn't work very well. Not that God is a bad communicator, but the people of Israel were wicked and foolish. They heard some of God's commands, they saw evidence of his presence with their own eyes, and they started worshiping a golden calf a few days later - in direct contradiction to the orders they directly heard from God. If people (sheeple) are going to be that way, what's the point of overusing direct revelation?

 

[drich0150]

I'm not worthy of an audience with God. How convenient...

Nuupe. Not as is.

Just like your probably not worthy with an audience with the President, Queen, or any world Leader at the moment. One has to be preped or coached before he can approach our own human leaders, what in your mind would make you think God would be less than say the governer of your state?

 

[hedrick]

I can’t tell you why. All I can say is that it hangs together. God chose Israel out of all nations to bring his message. The prophets said that the purpose of Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles, giving us an image of a future where all mankind would come to Jerusalem to worship.

Jesus chose a small number of disciples, and turned over his mission to them and to us as his Church.

Jesus taught by stories, that seemed designed to get people to react to them individually, but left lots of questions open.

Jesus refused to call on divine power, but submitted to death.

People have speculated on the reasons. You’re probably heard the speculation. Perhaps being more direct wouldn’t let us develop as he wanted. Perhaps the open theists are right and God isn’t omnipotent. Or perhaps we won’t know why until we meet him face to face.

But one way or the other, I think giving us a divinely authored theology textbook would have been inconsistent with being the God that we see in Jesus. Why reveal himself through the experiences of Israel, Jesus, and the Church, and then bypass all of that by sending us a textbook? I believe he is committed to showing himself through Israel, Jesus' ministry, and the Church, including allowing his followers to tell and record that work.