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Why does God not just show himself?

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KCDAD

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So how do you know God is real? Here is the real mystery revealed. The way we know anything is real is because we admit that it is. Then we act upon that belief. I look at a lake and wonder if it is frozen... I can believe it is or isn't ... but until I act on that belief, my belief is meaningless. So I step out on it... does it hold me? I was right. Am I cold and wet? I was wrong. What we believe is irrelevent except to influence how we act... what counts is how we act. (Even if I think the lake is not frozen, if I walk out across it and don't get wet... does it matter what I believed?)
 
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Zeena

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I was a strong believer for many years, and during that time...I felt there was ' evidence ' of God's existance
everywhere ! When you ' believe ', it causes you to
interpret things according to your belief !
No, when you believe God gives you a witness by His Holy Spirit! He reveals truth in deeper and deeper ways so that you may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of your own, which leads to death, but the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!!!

Isaiah 30:21
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
 
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MikeMcK

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God does provide living proof, or He would not have invited you to meet with Him. Rev 3:20 When He knocks at your door of your heart, let Him in, and He will talk with you.

Actually, you need to read that passage again. Jesus is speaking to the church at Laodicea, not to the unsaved.

God would love you meet you. He just doesn't want you to die from the shock.

That's a bit like saying, "The judge would love to meet you, Mr. Dilinger".
 
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Jonathon

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I beleive that god shows himself all the time, he is there but you just have to beleive and you will see him with your heart, god himself does not force himself onto you or anyone else, we all have our own free choice which was gaven to us by him but it is up to us to decide to choose to listen to him. Even when you don't see something, doesn't mean its not there, but even when it is there it is you choice but you see or not.
 
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Godslilgurlalways

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God shows himself all the time it might not be in the way that that some may want it to be and if he came and show hiself again for the third time I think it would be.If you really beleive in him his spirit will be with you and will experience his presnece being around you.If he came there would still be those who don't believe. When he came the first time, 98% didn't believe in him, that it was him, maybe like 60/70 or something but not in the 90s or 80s.
 
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To Ymeg...

If you're still reading this thread, I would say your answer is : Nobody knows !

In my opinion...
I would'nt think God would expect Jesus to be sufficient proof to mankind through thousands of years because very few people actually saw his miracles. Now we only have stories from too long ago. That wasn't Jesus's main purpose anyway.
The idea that God has already shown Himself through Old Testiment miracles, Jesus or right up to modern day miracles doesn't really prove He exists because in each instance there is too much room for doubt.
Us ' going into shock ' if we saw Him...ah c'mon..
you Christian are limiting what the Creator-Of-The-Entire-Universe can do ! Certainly God could find a way
( Hologram ? =) And God...who can read our every thought can certainly put the knowledge of His existance ever so gently in our minds so that we would have NO doubt !
The thought that if God were to prove His existence would cause us to become ' Zombie Followers ',doesn't make sense to me. He knows our every thought. He can separate the sheep from the goats
( motivation ). God is going to be with the people in the Millenium, isn't He ? Yet there is supposed to be ' Free Will/Choice there ( some don't end up on His side ).
Then there is the idea that even if God were to prove Himself, many would'nt follow Him, so why bother. Well Yes many still wouldn't ( like Satan hasn't ) but..
millions upon millions who are ' sitting on the fence ' WOULD !
And the idea that we should believe in Him FIRST
and THEN he'll prove Himself to you...is just not how God made us psychologically. Really people..can you think of anything that you positively BELIEVE in, that
can't be proven by someone ? Now I'm talking BELIEVE,
not feeling that it's likely, or very very possible or your pretty darn sure...but positively feel 100 % sure and therefore BELIEVE and yet it can't be proven by anybody ? In all honesty, it's not in our nature to think that way.
If God created us physically and psycologicaly..WHY
would He expect Belief Before Proof ? That's not how He made us. This idea just fuels the Atheist's feeling that
religion is a psycological crutch.
BUT...just one more thing Ymeg..
Just because these people were unable to ( in my opinion ) give you a logical answer ( they certainly tried ) DOESN'T mean there isn't one. And it doesn't mean that God doesn't exist. It simply means
( to me ) that these people ( and others ) don't know the answer to why God doesn't show Himself.
the answer.
 
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YourChild

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I am a very devoted atheist; burning bibles, killing kittens, eating children's souls etc, and I have always wanted to know why your god does not just come out and say believe in me? Doing this he could get well over 98-99% of the population to change their beliefs. Not doing so would seem to be holding in the holy spirit which is a sin right?

God does not show Himself fully (in the physical sense) to man because if you saw God you would literally die! His glory is so great that man would not be able to live.

Out of His infinite wisdom, He has chosen not to directly pop out of the sky and say "here I am believe in me." God is mighty and powerful, but He will not step all over you because He has given you free will...the will to serve Him or not. you really have only 2 choices...you can serve God or you can serve the devil. if you chose not to serve God, then you are serving the devil. you may not think you are but the fact that the person choses not to obey God is actually putting himself in the hands of the devil.. thats the sole purpose of the devil...to pull you away from God ...its a deception of the devil and the nonbeliever is oblivious to it...you can only see the truth if you allow yourself to see the deception by accepting Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior. He will set you free and only then will you see things clearly.

by the way, come to my website and hear this audio i have on my page. i think it will help you sort things out. www.myspace.com/yourchild
 
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visionary

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God does not show Himself fully (in the physical sense) to man because if you saw God you would literally die! His glory is so great that man would not be able to live. ....
This subject of literally dying in the presence of God is not often discussed, nor acknowledge, though there is lots of examples in the Bible to indicate that this is a very important aspect in facing God.
 
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Zeena

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Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

That first resurrection is when we are slain with Christ from the foundations and born again, anew in Him! :)

That second death is when people meet thier maker :o
 
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visionary

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God encouraged such thinking ...

Numbers 4:15
And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
The children of God got that impression that day otherwise they would not have said..

Deuteronomy 18:16
According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
It is true..
Psalm 68:2
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
 
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YourChild

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So you're saying that The_ Creator_of_ the_ Entire_ Universe can't work that out ?
Does that REALLY make sense to you ?


Yes marsha He has worked that out for us, by giving us revelation of Himself and His Wills for our lives...which is all in the Bible. and if you ever got down on your knees and asked Jesus to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior, and confessed your sins to Him and asked for forgiveness (if you truly mean it), you will see that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction into your heart and you will find yourself broken and bursting out in tears uncontrollably. After this you will begin to see the many works that God will do in your life. you will see evidence of His work and you might even get to feel His holy presence. 1/2 second of God's holy presence will take away all doubts of His existence...it is absolutely a supernatural phenomena...pure pure true holiness..no words can express it.

there is a difference between observing and exploring...which one are you doing marsha? you cant really afford to observe without exploring. your time can be up anytime..you dont know what lies ahead tomorrow, or even in the next hr. that horrifying pit of hell is absolutely horrendous...to be in that place for 23 minutes is enough to make you insane, but to be there for a eternity...:sigh:
 
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KCDAD

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This subject of literally dying in the presence of God is not often discussed, nor acknowledge, though there is lots of examples in the Bible to indicate that this is a very important aspect in facing God.
But Moses looked at God... at his back side (whatever that means)
 
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Well I guess the question of ' why God won't show Himself to us ( physically )' is unknown, because surely we must all agree that He is capable of working
that out ( so that we don't die ) if He wishes to.

To YourChild : Thank you for your post. I know I sound like someone who has never done what you suggested,
but I have. And yes...it was beyond wonderful and I
feel that I had a close relationship with God for many years. But in the past few years, many questions have come up that have caused me to look again at things I
had originally just accepted, in my desire to know and love God. Christianity would say I have ' fallen away '
or maybe refer to the Sower of the Seed parable.
I WANT to be able to believe in God wholeheartedly
again. Absolutely EVERYTHING about the relationship with God is positive and good ( though difficult at times ). But..I can't commit intellectual suicide.
When you consider how our minds work..the psycology
of human beings...and start looking through that filter at everything about God and the Christian ' walk ', I believe
if you're REALLY honest with yourself you'll be able to see how ALL of this COULD BE a psycological illusion.
There is NO material concrete proof ! Oh yes there is miracles and blessings...but it all can be totally random.
( Did you hear about the study done about patients in the hospitals ? Hundreds were prayed for by their churches, family and loved ones, and hundreds were not. There was no statistical advantage to the 'prayed for' ones. ) And yes there is guidance, direction, love and growth, but you surely know ( though you don't want to, and neither do I..) that this CAN all come from our own selves ( though we don't FEEL that it could...).
That's one of the reasons why people of other religions are so convinced that THEY are right.
Well anyway, I hope I can go back to God, on my face, begging for forgiveness, with my heart... and my mind !
 
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YourChild

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Well I guess the question of ' why God won't show Himself to us ( physically )' is unknown, because surely we must all agree that He is capable of working
that out ( so that we don't die ) if He wishes to.

To YourChild : Thank you for your post. I know I sound like someone who has never done what you suggested,
but I have. And yes...it was beyond wonderful and I
feel that I had a close relationship with God for many years. But in the past few years, many questions have come up that have caused me to look again at things I
had originally just accepted, in my desire to know and love God. Christianity would say I have ' fallen away '
or maybe refer to the Sower of the Seed parable.
I WANT to be able to believe in God wholeheartedly
again. Absolutely EVERYTHING about the relationship with God is positive and good ( though difficult at times ). But..I can't commit intellectual suicide.
When you consider how our minds work..the psycology
of human beings...and start looking through that filter at everything about God and the Christian ' walk ', I believe
if you're REALLY honest with yourself you'll be able to see how ALL of this COULD BE a psycological illusion.
There is NO material concrete proof ! Oh yes there is miracles and blessings...but it all can be totally random.
( Did you hear about the study done about patients in the hospitals ? Hundreds were prayed for by their churches, family and loved ones, and hundreds were not. There was no statistical advantage to the 'prayed for' ones. ) And yes there is guidance, direction, love and growth, but you surely know ( though you don't want to, and neither do I..) that this CAN all come from our own selves ( though we don't FEEL that it could...).
That's one of the reasons why people of other religions are so convinced that THEY are right.
Well anyway, I hope I can go back to God, on my face, begging for forgiveness, with my heart... and my mind !

I'm afraid you have let your guard down to the point where you allowed the enemy to poison your mind. many times in our walk with God, situations comes up and it makes us wonder..for instance, why is this and this and that and this? but if we were careful to look closely and let go of our "so called intellectual", and just be patient and let God answer our questions, our curiosity will soon be answered. I know there are many questions that arises as a Christian but you should know that the human mind is a battle field. ITs the place where the devil pour thoughts in our mind, in an attempt to raise doubts in our hearts, with nothing more than attempting to make us doubt God.

Some people that get prayed for gets healed. Some just dont. Miracles happen to some...miracles do not happen to others. that really has nothing to do with God's existence. He will heal whoever He wants. sometimes the patient does not believe that God can heal him/her. Sometimes the person praying for healing could be living in sin. bottom line is, the amount of people being healed as a function of the people praying for them, has nothing to do with His existence.

have you ever seen someone get delivered from demons before? picture 50 people in a room...ages 16-28 all come from different backgrounds...some are students..some are college graduates..etc...all 50 people are praying and calling on the Holy Spirit. the worship leaders comes over and places their hands on these 50 people, praying over them, with the purpose of casting out demons in Jesus' Name. Suddenly, some of these 50 individuals starts to react abnormally....some are puking...others are letting out a loud long scream...while a few are on the floor physically fighting against the worship leader that is praying over them...at the same time, these individuals are talking in demonic voices with their eyes closed and still physically fighting against the restraint....

this isnt something planned or acted out..its exactly what is stated in the Bible..that children of God has the authority to cast out demons in Jesus' Name.

This is just one testimony. there are many other hardcore testimonies out there..

you have let the little things like, "couldnt God work it out, and not let human die if they saw Him?" take precedence over the bigger evidence such as, creation..our existence..our testimonies...etc...im terribly afraid for you...you know why?

hell appears to have different levels of torment..some areas are worse than others. however, the worst part of hell, the center of it...where the most tormenting place of all hell...you know what kind of people are at the center? they are evangelists, missionaries, pastors etc. It is also the place where all backsliders go...people who once knew the Word of God but walked away from Him. How terrifying it is to abandon what is most precious to all mankind!
 
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YourChild

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oh by the way, the Bible mentions giants that were living in the promised land. these giants were fought off by Israelies, one of them being David..these giants are humongous! but you may wonder, are there actual skeletons of these giants? are there proofs, as the claim made in the Bible?

Well to your surprise, there is...infact there are plenty. the only problem is, these giant skeletons are constantly being swept under the carpet whenever archeologists find them.

But here are some pictures for you to see yourself. Take a look at this link

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=78101820
 
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YourChild..I respectfully disagree.
' Your guard ' can cause you not to consider falsehood
but also not to consider truth. I know the feeling of
' The truth is all on my side '. I used to feel that way too. People of other religions think that way and it is hard for them to change their way of thinking.
The expression " allowing the enemy to poison your mind " is frequently used in opposing positions. AnAtheist could say the same to you.
When you say " Be patient and soon enough God
will answer your questions ", is not how it always works. What often happens is either 1) You find the answer to your question in the Bible 2) You find something that sort of sounds like the answer you were looking for, and you're tired of looking so you just accept that 3) You never really find the answer, it's been so long you've forgotten the question, but whatever it was..you decide it probably wasn't important anyway . And all the variations in between.
I may be wrong..but I always thought that Satan
DIDN'T actually have access to our minds, I thought only God did. I know Satan can supposedly influence
us greatly...perhaps that's what you meant.
Ya know..there's no sense in me going on.
It's apparent that we disagree on too much.
But thank you most sincerely, YourChild, for your time,
effort and good heart ! =)
 
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