If you had God's powers, how would you communicate with people?

[BigV]

Would you
(a) rely on ancient texts, written by unknown/anonymous sources, or
(b) find other ways to reach out to people?

 

[InterestedAtheist]

(answer changed, after consideration)
I would approach the civilised centres of the Ancient World. The Chinese and Roman empires might be the best bets, given that they had the resources to best disseminate My message. Why God chose instead to keep his message centred on a pre-civilised bunch of desert tribes for centuries before abruptly blossoming into a fractured and confused worldwide religion, is something of a mystery.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Would you
(a) rely on ancient texts, written by unknown/anonymous sources, or
(b) find other ways to reach out to people?

God has God's powers. Why should he communicate with people? Does he owe us something? Who are we?

 

[InterestedAtheist]

God has God's powers. Why should he communicate with people? Does he owe us something? Who are we?

From the Christian story, as told in the Bible and elaborated on in Christian culture, God does want to communicate with people. He sent prophets, He saved His people from slavery in Egypt, He spoke in person to selected people, He answers prayers, He sent His only son to preach His holy word, and He inspired the Bible.

 

[thomas_t]

Would you
(a) rely on ancient texts, written by unknown/anonymous sources, or
(b) find other ways to reach out to people?

(c) use (b) in order to get (a) done in a good way. This is what I suppose. I don't have God's powers, though.

 

[MrsFoundit]

With my Spirit, to the people's individual spirits.
I would not force anyone to hear me, so some would and some would not.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

(c) use (b) in order to get (a) done in a good way. This is what I suppose. I don't have God's powers, though.

Good idea. So why didn't He do that?

 

[Larniavc]

Would you
(a) rely on ancient texts, written by unknown/anonymous sources, or
(b) find other ways to reach out to people?

I would send messages by toast based paradolia.

 

[Larniavc]

With my Spirit, to the peoples individual spirits.
I would not force anyone to hear me, so some would and some would not.

Would you force a child not run into burning building to save his stuffed toy?

 

[MrsFoundit]

Would you force a child not run into burning building to save his stuffed toy?

The OP, to which my comments apply is not based on this restricted specific.
You also appear to be confusing protection and force.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

The OP, to which my comments apply is not based on this restricted specific.
You also appear to be confusing protection and force.

But you can see his point, can't you? Sometimes to protect people we have to act in ways which seem to be against their self interests, but are in fact for their greater good. This is a tangled and thorny issue, and nobody would pretend it's easy to work out. But surely there are some cases where we can say that it would be better to tell someone the truth rather than let them continue in ignorance of danger.

 

[BigV]

With my Spirit, to the peoples individual spirits.
I would not force anyone to hear me, so some would and some would not.

But how would you convince people that they have a spirit?

 

[thomas_t]

Good idea. So why didn't He do that?

what do you mean? He did do it this way, in my opinion.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

what do you mean? He did do it this way, in my opinion.

Well, it's true that by now the vast majority of the human race know about the Christian religion. But this is a comparatively recent development. For many centuries, the knowledge of Christianity was unknown to many. And even today, at what might well be called the best time in history for Christianity, less than a third of the world's population is Christian, and that fraction of humanity is fragmented and divided into thousands of different sects, often bitterly opposed to each other.

So if you say that God should have used His amazing powers to make sure that Christianity spread to everyone, the question is - why didn't He?

 

[MrsFoundit]

But you can see his point, can't you?

No, not as it is presented in the post.

Sometimes to protect people we have to act in ways which seem to be against their self interests, but are in fact for their greater good. This is a tangled and thorny issue, and nobody would pretend it's easy to work out. But surely there are some cases where we can say that it would be better to tell someone the truth rather than let them continue in ignorance of danger.

Yes, this is true, and it is about protection, and informing people so they can choose in awareness, not ignorance. Not informing people, or misleading people, is a kind of force.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

No, not as it is presented in the post.



Yes, this is true, and it is about protection, and informing people so they can choose in awareness, not ignorance. Not informing people, or misleading people, is a kind of force.

You say that you would not force anyone to hear you. But that's a strange thing to speak of "forcing" someone to do. Not forcing someone to follow you, yes. Not forcing someone to do something against their will, absolutely. But how on earth can you refrain from forcing someone to know that you exist? I honestly don't know what you mean.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

Not informing people, or misleading people, is a kind of force.

Good. So we're agreed that if God is real and the Christian religion is in any way accurate, God would be acting wrongly by not informing the world of the truth.
So the question is: why was the world not informed of the truth?
I have no problem with that. I don't think the God is real, so the fact that most people don't believe in Him is exactly what I would expect to happen. But for a Christian, it is a conundrum.

 

[MrsFoundit]

But how would you convince people that they have a spirit?

If a person chose not to know about me, they would not know, or they would believe the spirit was something else.

I could leave some basis from which those who did seek to understand me could realise they have a spirit.

There would therefore be dispute about it among people, as there would also be about other things, as a result of my allowing choice about knowing me.

 

[MrsFoundit]

You say that you would not force anyone to hear you. But that's a strange thing to speak of "forcing" someone to do. Not forcing someone to follow you, yes. Not forcing someone to do something against their will, absolutely. But how on earth can you refrain from forcing someone to know that you exist? I honestly don't know what you mean.

If it is against someones will to know I exist, to force them to to know I exist, is to force someone to do something against their will. To know is a verb.

 

[Mark Quayle]

(c) use (b) in order to get (a) done in a good way. This is what I suppose. I don't have God's powers, though.

"I don't have God's powers, though."

Agreed. You don't have God's powers. Nor God's purposes.