Why does God choose to remain hidden?

[norain]

That may be the case, but it isn’t a good argument. Why should what is ordinary procede from what is extraordinary? It is ordinary, mundane, meaningless and exactly the same as everything else; there is no need to speak of what is extraordinary because there is a perfectly ordinary explanation.

I looked back at what you said before:

“because what isn’t doesn’t make sense”

If something does not make sense, then it is impossible. If it is impossible, then it never happens.

On the other hand:

If something happened, regardless of how impossible it may seem, then it must make sense, since it happened.

Both statements are testament to the remarkable consistency of nature. Rather than dismiss all that as mundane, I’d be more inclined to think of it as the undeniable signature of that which governs everything.

Think about these “mundane” things:

the birth of a child
the unwinding and mixing of nucleotide pairs that leads to biodiversity and evolution
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Calculus
Quantum Theory
Relativity
Ethics
Philosophy
Human consciousness and self-awareness
the simple fact that we are able to contemplate these things!

Is all that mundane to you? It certainly isn’t for me.

 

[tonyrey]

Another thing I used to wonder about myself. Probably the last thing I sincerely asked of God was to show me a miracle, an honest miracle to show me his presence.

I did my own readings and came to the realization (not my original idea, Einstein himself is quoted to have said it) that everything is indeed a miracle, even within the framework of formal proofs. To me that was simply amazing. God hidden in plain sight!

I’m so convinced of that now that I also believe that if I cannot find God in the everyday things, I will never find him.

He **is **in the everyday things.

Be still, and know.

The fact of existence is the greatest miracle of all!

 

[luc1221]

I believe he remains hidden because he doesn’t exist. There is no evidence to show that he does exist. We have a 2000 year old story about a man that lived and somewhere along the line became god even though he never said it himself. I god did exist, why not show himself to us. A good leader always makes clear what he wants and directs his people accordingly. The bible is clearly full of human stories and myth re-told and re-told. Why does god remain hidden, because he doesn’t exist.

 

[luc1221]

Another thing I used to wonder about myself. Probably the last thing I sincerely asked of God was to show me a miracle, an honest miracle to show me his presence.

I did my own readings and came to the realization (not my original idea, Einstein himself is quoted to have said it) that everything is indeed a miracle, even within the framework of formal proofs. To me that was simply amazing. God hidden in plain sight!

I’m so convinced of that now that I also believe that if I cannot find God in the everyday things, I will never find him.

He **is **in the everyday things.

Be still, and know.

I am sorry but this seems like you convinced yourself of something. You asked god to give you a miracle and he didn’t - but instead you read something by a scientist - Einstein (who was an Atheist) referring to the wonder of the laws of the universe and you attribute them all to god. Weren’t you first asking if god exists? You can’t prove god exists by saying god exists… Not trying to say you didn’t experience something, but the very fact that you say god is hidden in plain sight shows he is hidden, and thus the discussion of the thread - Why the need to be hidden???

 

[hu324b]

I don’t know the reasons why but I trust in God there is a purpose to it.

If we knew it would be just a set of rules to follow but would not reveal our true nature - God wants to know our hearts and minds - the only way to do that is to allow us to choose.

Some people think all they have to do is follow the rules - everyone is a sinner and sin is the same in the end - disobedience to God - we are all guilty of it - so we all will go before the Lord as sinners - Jesus was clear - he will search you heart and you will be judged on it.

If you want to be perfect remove all negative feelings from you heart and master your tongue which is the cause of most of our sins.

Some people don’t even realize their sin when - they hate and look down on other people - especially the poor and think they are so perfect themselves.

 

[fhansen]

Hi everyone,
Here’s a question that has puzzled me for a long time, it came up again recently as I was on a site where members are generally pretty antagonistic to the faith/God: one person posted, saying that since God hadn’t manifested himself in a powerful, convincing, for-everyone-to-behold kind of way in 2000 years, that was proof of his inexistence.

We gather from reading the book of Genesis that Adam enjoyed a pretty intimate relationship with God, that he could possibly see him with his natural eyes, the very least we can say is that it was not possible for Adam to doubt God’s existence, YET it was possible for Adam to know God existed beyond a shadow of a doubt (so being an atheist was not an option for him) AND disobey God’s commands. Therefore we can conclude that knowing for a fact (with undeniable,compelling proof) that God exists doesn’t nullify free-will. Seeing the Beatific Vision would, however, but this isn’t what this thread is about. So, is the fact that God remains hidden simply the consequence of the Fall and has, in fact, nothing to do with keeping our free-will intact?

A wise person once said, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.” God’s already inside us- we have the option to listen to and heed His voice or distance ourselves from it, but we already know right from wrong in any case because of it. Now the question is, with the Master “gone away” invisible for all practical purposes, do we go along with His wisdom, with the order of the universe, with the truth; do we heed His voice, which is still accessible even as it’s been muted to some degree by the Fall, or do we continue to *prefer *ourselves to Him, as the Catechism teaches that Adam did. Do we do the right thing while we play god, or not. With Him here in all His glory we would act differently. He wants us to choose right without the benefit of complete sight. Adam had enough knowledge to make the right choice. We’re here now to learn why his choice was wrong.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Hi everyone,
Here’s a question that has puzzled me for a long time, it came up again recently as I was on a site where members are generally pretty antagonistic to the faith/God: one person posted, saying that since God hadn’t manifested himself in a powerful, convincing, for-everyone-to-behold kind of way in 2000 years, that was proof of his inexistence.

This is not a very convincing proof of God’s non-existence.

God manifests himself to many different people in many different ways.

Down through history billions of Christians have felt the presence of Christ in their lives. If that presence was not felt, why would they bother to pray?

Clearly God does not have to come right up to you and shake your hand for you to believe he exists.

God presents himself through Jesus Christ every day in the sacrifice of the Mass.

The atheist can mock the Mass, but he can’t say Catholics have not felt the presence of Jesus Christ at Mass.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

I am sorry but this seems like you convinced yourself of something. You asked god to give you a miracle and he didn’t - but instead you read something by a scientist - Einstein (who was an Atheist)

. It’sbut he did believe in a Deity true he did not believe in a personal God,

Get your facts straight. Einstein was not an atheist, and he despised atheism as fanatical. It’s true he did not believe in a personal God, but he did believe in a Deity.

“The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who—in their grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium of the masses’—cannot hear the music of the spheres.” Albert Einstein

 

[Charlemagne_III]

I am sorry but this seems like you convinced yourself of something. You asked god to give you a miracle and he didn’t - but instead you read something by a scientist - Einstein (who was an Atheist)

Let’s get our facts straight, shall we?

Einstein was not an atheist and didn’t think much of atheism. He didn’t believe in a personal God, but he did believe in God.

“The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who—in their grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium of the masses’—cannot hear the music of the spheres.” Albert Einstein

 

[Charlemagne_III]

I am sorry but this seems like you convinced yourself of something. You asked god to give you a miracle and he didn’t - but instead you read something by a scientist - Einstein (who was an Atheist)

Einstein was not an atheist. He was a Deist.

“The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who—in their grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium of the masses’—cannot hear the music of the spheres.”
Albert Einstein

 

[openmind77]

Hi everyone,
Here’s a question that has puzzled me for a long time, it came up again recently as I was on a site where members are generally pretty antagonistic to the faith/God: one person posted, saying that since God hadn’t manifested himself in a powerful, convincing, for-everyone-to-behold kind of way in 2000 years, that was proof of his inexistence.

We gather from reading the book of Genesis that Adam enjoyed a pretty intimate relationship with God, that he could possibly see him with his natural eyes, the very least we can say is that it was not possible for Adam to doubt God’s existence, YET it was possible for Adam to know God existed beyond a shadow of a doubt (so being an atheist was not an option for him) AND disobey God’s commands. Therefore we can conclude that knowing for a fact (with undeniable,compelling proof) that God exists doesn’t nullify free-will. Seeing the Beatific Vision would, however, but this isn’t what this thread is about. So, is the fact that God remains hidden simply the consequence of the Fall and has, in fact, nothing to do with keeping our free-will intact?

God has had to remain hidden so far, because his visible presence will take away human free will. Just as when a teacher is in the classroom, the students have to behave. If God was visible to all, nobody would misbehave - human free will would be totally compromised.

But the time is coming soon when the Gods will openly walk the earth. This will happen in a couple years when the Christ will return, reveal himself and stay with us for a thousand years.