"I don't think " is a matter of opinion. The God of the Bible intervened in human conditions every chance he got. then "disappeared" when man grew smarter. either it's a coincidence or ignorance on man's part to not accept the possibility they were led astray.

pondering the 'if god existed, would the world be a much different world' question makes about as much sense as answering the question with 'but god does exist.' now, pondering if the world would be a much different world 'IF RELIGIOUS DOGMA' did NOT exist' on the other hand? now there's something worth not only talking about but working toward.

I concur, but anyone can imagine a biblical oriented world. It's quite fascinating to ponder such worlds.

i suppose, but i've fewer years left for pondering than you do so i spend my time pondering what actually might be. like, what if the fish are biting? should i throw the kayak in the truck and hit the brazos? what if i cruised down baha, would the waves be perfect like two winters ago and i missed out on some great surfin'? just hate hearing, 'hey old dude, you shoulda been here last week.'

<--------HEY WAKE UP.

If I do your will cease to exist. You're apart of my dream. :-)

I thought the thread was about 'opinions',

I also think if God truly intervened 'every chance he got' we would have no will of our own but would be his puppets and he the puppetteer


I also dont think God disappeared when man grew smarter, I think another 'option' (besides coincidence or ignorance to accept being led astray)is that man just started to think of himself more as his own God as he got smarter, in essence, closing his ears and mind to God more and more often,,,

I was looking more so, the reason why i believe he would be there is because the Bible says....

The basis of the topic is this world would be more Biblical if some kind of deity existed. you're going of human conditions and applying it to am omniscient deity. what I'm trying to bring up in this thread and what you so gracefully doing, is man using their own irrational mind to make rationality off something they are brought up to believe and "as a parent" you wouldn't have left your child alone to guess if you will be there or not. Funny you apply that parenting cicumstances in light of a God, but considering the flip of it is probably incomprehensible, because "God can do no wrong ".



This right here shows human ignorance to think that man has grown arrogant of accepting God. Let's use supposed facts in your world view:

Fact (going by Bible):

God created man and even then governed everything he did.
God killed millions to help his chose people or because the world was evil.
God talked to man, so to say man cannot hear God in your world view is false ( i hear inane opinions that we wouldn't be able to comprehend God "awesome" voice).
ETC

Why would a God move further away from it's creation, because its creation is getting smarter. Do you really even conclude that is rational?

ahh, here we are with the standards

ignorant, rational,,,etc,,,

perhaps it is equally 'ignorant' to think that God is obligated to accept man

Where does one infer that God has moved further away because people are no longer listening to him?

If my children decide they are grown enough to live on their own, will their going to college where they are no longer under my tutelage constitute me , as a parent, 'moving further away' from them?

I am in the same place I was, the same place they know how to reach ME

God is as well, some have forgotten or dont care to know how to reach him,, so they blame HIM for their feelings of disconnect

Oh my gosh i want to bang my head on my keyboard, lol.
this is something i seriously came to realize being an atheist:

"People will mold God to their own liking and have to come to their conclusions on your own."

The God of the Bible was ALWAYS there from book cover to book end. Just like the Gods of Greece, Rome, Aztec etc and then human observations occurred and they "disappeared". The problem with you, is you're making so many excuses, that not once are you even considering the possibility, only "God don't owe you nothing, meh" retort.



Really, are you even considering this? God is never there from birth to death, tell any child who father wasn't there and they would say "**** him", unless of course he was dead. The problem with people who have faith, is faith in a conclusion without evidence, but you believe so inherently that you refuse to believe otherwise and that's what scares people. You thinking of absolutism is no different the people of Islam who believe what they do now will grant them virgins in the afterlife and regard it a truism. I respect theists, but the ones like Colbert who can make light of what they believe in, without making excuses for it's errors, but you're fine to believe what you want.

Listening to a theist sometimes is like listening to a used car sales man make every excuse to sell you some BS.

No longer listening to him?

According to the Bible God was speaking to people from the clouds back in those days.

I've never heard anyone speak to me from a cloud, or a burning bush, or any other object. In fact, I've never even heard people speaking to me with megaphones pretending to be God.

So I agree with the OP, it's crystal clear by these stories that no one stopped listening to this fabled God, but rather this fabled God never speaks to people from clouds or burning bushes anymore.

You can't blame people for not listening when there is no supreme entity speaking to them.

I have never heard the "voice of God" in my life as it has been described in these ancient fables as actually speaking to people in audible languages from clouds, etc.




That's a totally incorrect analogy.

To model the biblical situation it would need to be the parent who abandons the children, never speaks to them anymore, never answers their questions or anything.

It would be the parent who started playing "Hide and Seek", not the children.

To suggest otherwise is to perpetuate false religious "propaganda".

The FACT is that no God audibly speaks to anyone from clouds today. That's the bottom line. So it would be this God who abandoned his children, not the other way around.

Show me a cloud or a burning bush that talks.

Otherwise, your claims that people aren't listening are false.

There is simply nothing to listen to other than the baloney that religious people spew. And that most certainly doesn't equate to the "voice of God".

This^ And to answer you question earlier i was talking about if the Abrahamic God existed, since that's what most people believe in Today.

lol

,,likewise


listening to an atheist sometimes is like listening to a child whine about not getting things the way they wanted them,,,,

or like listening to a teen who thinks they know everything and their parents make no sense (according to the teens vast knowledge)....



lol

Show me a cloud or a burning bush that talks.

Otherwise, your claims that people aren't listening are false.

There is simply nothing to listen to other than the baloney that religious people spew. And that most certainly doesn't equate to the "voice of God".






thats a BROAD interpretation of true and false there friend..lol


explain to me first the relevance of what means of communication is being used to my opinion about people no longer listening or 'hearing
'

???


it is clear you are deciding for now that there is nothing to listen to

many others havent made that decision and do hear, even if not from that 'burning bush'

No MsHarmony I'm not deciding anything. These decisions had already been made by the authors who wrote the biblical fables. It's now "carved in scriptures"

In the OP, Mykesorrel specifically addressed precisely this notion. These the kinds of outrageous "miracles" that are described in the Bible no longer occur today.

The Biblical fables claim that God speaks to people in audible language from clouds, etc.

To twist that around to now claim that God "speaks" to people via intuition, or any other subtle non-miraculous way, is total BS.

I speak to the obvious issue of the fallacy of ancient fables.

You, on the other hand, try to salvage those fables by making them into something that they never were in the first place.

lol,, ok

The first part was cute, the second bled with irony. "an atheist is completely fine not knowing why we're here, now, ask a theists this and it's always God did it".



::cough:: Moses ::cough::



So then by that notion you have no reason to believe the people in Biblical days believed what they thought was God, interesting.



According to your Bible God spoke to man, what don't you understand about that?



The relevance is NOT the burning bush, but the fact God spoke directly to man, i think it is laughable today people laugh at so called prophets yet believe 2000 year old stories is a truism. That's something i cannot fathom.

its not that unfathomable, ,when we consider that the population of the whole world at that time was probably equivalent to the population of just the US today

so people would have probably had much less skepticism, conspiracy theorists, and other 'doubts' to consider


we have technology now, everyone is trying to be brilliant, everyone has their own theory, those theories are accessible to billions of people at once on the internet

we dont have roles , we dont have 'places' in the society..so we take each others word with more of a grain of salt because there is less of a CULTURE of depending upon certain people for anything specific,,,,

this is a culture so far 'advanced' that they are far from what was 'original',,, in many more ways than spiritually,,,

I know God exists and I can prove it.

Abra he still does these things its not the circus act that is displayed on tv.

thats not the way Yahweh is.. I have spoken before about seeing clouds roll awaay on fire and a brightness so bright i had to shield my eyes but i heard him. I have said before and I will say again i was the only one who saw but it blindedd the whole house to where 5 other people could not see anything it waas so bright in the house. I have spoken about during the flood of 93 how i accidently pulled a live current circuit apart.. hand to hand. Mercy hospital drs said the only explanation they had i was alive was a miracle i was kept over night for tests.. they found nothing wrong but had prepared my family for the worse they believed i had to of been cooked on the inside. Ameren Corp. out of st louis talked to me after wards and wanted to know if i wanted to take a less dangerous job.. most do after being electricuted like i was.. then they informed me i was at that time in thier 100+ year history as a power company i was the only one to ever live then alone walk away unscaded. what was it? I know because i thought i was going to die and my life did flash before my eyes sadly what i should of did 1st i did last and that was say in my head " Yahshua help me" and imeidetly an insulator failed and went to ground cutting me loose. it was rated at 14,000 volts yet it failed when i just said the only thingt i could do in my head.

you know the thing about believing and i mean really believing and staying the cource nomatter what. is when disaster hits lets say a city or state without those ingrained beliefs you will have anarcy because it becomes a dog eat dog world where everyone is for themselves. but true believers know the path even if it means harm to themselves.. they will rise up and use thier heads in a fashion i do not believe most non believers would.. because all they worry about is theirselves. Thats why he exists. to show us how to treat our brother and if many people join in this effort then tradgedy can be very inspiring to all those who see this at work.. Yahshua said do not believe me.. believe the works that you see through me and that will tell you who Yahweh is.. Blessings..Miles