An argument from divine hiddenness

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Playing a little Devil’s Advocate- A simple argument from divine hiddenness:
  1. If the Christian God existed, He would reasonably reveal Himself to all honest seekers.
  2. The Christian God has not revealed Himself to all honest seekers.
    C. Therefore (through modus tollens), the Christian God does not exist.
Justification:
  1. God, first off, can reasonably be interpreted in the Bible as saying that God answers honest seekers (Matthew 7:7). Furthermore, if God wants to ensure that as many people go to heaven as possible, then it seems reasonable to assume that He will reveal Himself to those seeking Him. If He doesn’t, then they plausibly have greater chance of turning away and by extension, being condemned after temporal death.
  2. Frankly, I cannot personally support this (insert atheist/agnostic testimony here).
    C. Follows from 1&2.
Have fun. Comments and critiques appreciated.
 
Here’s hoping our holy book is the right one! if not then the argument is sound
 
I see a problem with point 2 (in post 1) because there is a long history of revelation in many cultures and languages ever since time immemorial. I’m also reminded of a comment by Kant towards the end of the Critique of Pure Reason that too much revelation (or insufficient hiddenness) would be rather overwhelming for people (and thus people would not really have much of a context for freely choosing to practice virtue). I’m also reminded of the notion of apophatic theology (somewhat similar to divine hiddenness) in Eastern Orthodox theology.
 
Like I said, I am no atheist, so I cannot actually provide a factual account. Here is what I imagine one might say, though.
  1. While there may be a long history of revelations in many cultures across time, this is not equivalent to every single honest seeker throughout history has had God revealed to them.
  2. This isn’t really about over-revelation though, merely adequate revelation. The only instance of this point standing is when the skeptic has such a high demand for proof that nothing short of seeing God directly would change his mind (or something in that ballpark).
  3. I’ll have to look into your point on EO Theology.
 
what of the argument that all revelation never really happened. What if revelation is a mere attempt of a culture to create an existential story.
 
I disagree with your first premise. In fact, the reverse is true. Our God is a “Deus Absconditus”- a Hidden God, who dwells in inaccessible light.

If we can see, perceive or understand, it is not God, since God is totally transcendent. “If you comprehend, it is not God”, as St. Augustine said. Or “The name that can be named is not the eternal name”, as Lao Tzu said. Or “He who has seen the Buddha, has never seen Buddha.”

Anything that can be comprehended or perceived by a human mind is less than that human mind- but God is infinitely more.

The fact that we do not see God, is proof that He “exists.” The existence of the Invisible and Imperceptable is proved by the fact of its unseen-ness and unperceivedness.
 
ccmnxc said:
Playing a little Devil’s Advocate- A simple argument from divine hiddenness:
  1. If the Christian God existed, He would reasonably reveal Himself to all honest seekers.
  2. The Christian God has not revealed Himself to all honest seekers.
    C. Therefore (through modus tollens), the Christian God does not exist.
Justification:
  1. God, first off, can reasonably be interpreted in the Bible as saying that God answers honest seekers (Matthew 7:7). Furthermore, if God wants to ensure that as many people go to heaven as possible, then it seems reasonable to assume that He will reveal Himself to those seeking Him. If He doesn’t, then they plausibly have greater chance of turning away and by extension, being condemned after temporal death.
  2. Frankly, I cannot personally support this (insert atheist/agnostic testimony here).
    C. Follows from 1&2.
Have fun. Comments and critiques appreciated.
Click to expand...
Agreed - but then - who decides what “reasonably reveal” consists of and on what timetable? Also - What exactly constitutes “honestly seeks”?

There are so many ways in which even an honest person can get off track, or misunderstand, or resist God’s revelation to them that I find it difficult to accept the assertion that God has not reasonably revealed himself to the honest seeker.

I would find it easier to accept that - even though we seek to be honest in our search - we can have difficulty getting out of our own way so that we CAN recognize God’s revealing Himself to us.
At least that has been my experience.

Even an honest person can - and we often do - carry around agendas that interfere with our ability to see things simply, truthfully and with the spirit of Christ.

Just some thoughts…

Peace
James
 
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