I love it that God never knows answers to questions that a private investigator would know.

But that would be putting God to the Test... which no TrueChristian™ would do.

Which are both part of the larger game: Most Messed Up Game Ever™.

I love it that God never knows answers to questions that a private investigator would know. Of course there's all kinds of ways fundies explain it away, but the fact is, they think they talk with God and that he exists, but he has not given them (or us) any evidence he knows anything more than we do.

God could prove to us that he exists using silly little games like this. But he doesn't work like that, of course. He just uses more subjective silly games like "warm fuzzy feelings" and "wow what a coincidence" games.

dwade- I'm glad you got something out of the Ken Miller vid! That's encouraging! :)

Don't give him any hints, sock. This is between him and God.

And also, you're wrong, but I see your reasoning for the guess. There is actually no 'E' anywhere in my name.

Wrong on all three counts. You must be asking the wrong god.

In the world of science we would call this "disconfirming evidence"

You still think you have a relationship with the God of Abraham? What has he ever told you, that you didn't already know?

Furthermore, if God talked to people, we wouldn't NEED preachers or evangelists.

I'm pretty sure his middle name starts with an E. Probably Eugene or Earnest.

Phrank,

Your full name is:

Franklin Josephus Geefunk

Fortunately I am not looking for conversions on this site. If I did I would certainly be disappointed. I am not convinced that anyone can take you too seriously from a blog. But, I thoroughly enjoy the conversations with non-believers, this site provides me that opportunity.

I also really got a lot of info from that video link from LRA on the ID discussion with Ken Miller. Good stuff, at this point I am not in disagreement.

I think that posting persuasive arguments in favor of atheism on a site dedicated to atheism is a very different animal from posting those same arguments on a Christian site.

And in that difference lies the dividing line between conversation and evangelism. At least in my mind.

"Do you try to convert people?"

Well, yeah, I suppose I do.

I would call it "trying to talk some sense into people", but yes. I don't go to Christian fora to do it, but if someone comes here, and asks (even clearly rhetorical) questions about God, I try to answer them.

Getting a little philosophical here, I might say that ALL conversation is persuasive in some way.
If you don't want to, in some way, shape the thoughts of the person you are talking to, why speak?

Whether it's "where do you want to eat tonight?" Or "Do you think the new Windows OS will be any good?" Or "Does this haircut look good?", the goal of answering the question is to affect the other person's view of the world, in whatever small way. If you don't care one way or the other, you will probably not ask or answer the question. And even by answering with a shrug, you are in some way making the argument that they should not care either, because it's not important.

Dang, this answer kind of sprawled all over. Feel free to ignore this.

Do you try to convert people?

ahh, the miracle of the paraplegic's gold tooth. That's going to live in infamy.

To be fair, though, my conversion rate (online) is also 0%.

well we haven't heard from Donny as much as we used to. Maybe he's giving up on are doomed souls...

But, does that mean Donny's miracle of the gold tooth and dwade's aw shucks earnestness aren't winning you over?

I've read this thread with great interest, and have noticed the same thing happening that happens on most skeptical forums. Donny and dwade, your conversion rate is 0%. You are not succeeding.

God's a low talker.

"a relationship with the one and only true god where you drink some tea and eat crumpets together"

Mr. Wade lives in the American Midwest. I'm pretty sure he's never eaten a crumpet, with or without God.

Doug, I have explained at several different places on this forum what my Christian experience was like. It was much like the experience of others. I occasionally talked to God, and even though the communication was all one-way, same as you would get talking to a wall, I convinced my self he was listening, and that he would do whatever was best for me.

Occasionally, horrible things happened anyway, and I shrugged it off as a mystery that would be revealed one day when I got to heaven.

But later, I realized that the God I had believed in doesn't ever answer prayers, or talk to anyone.

We can talk to him all we want, but he does not ever answer questions.

If I sat in a room with a person for 10 minutes and asked questions, and that person NEVER answered a single one, I would not consider that person to even be friendly, much less claim that they loved me.

So, God ever answered any questions? You ever get around to asking him what my name is? Or what color the curtains in my living room are? Or what is God's favorite food?

My guess is he's being pretty silent. Why do you think that is?

donnypauling
"do you know how ridiculous it sounds to hear people claim God doesn't exist after spending so much time with Him? It's kinda like me telling you that your parents don't exist because I've never met them and don't know much about them.

so you met god?
what happened to faith?
isn't it faith what makes you believe in god without meeting him?
if you met him , do you no longer require faith?

"My mind was hallucinating tonight, then, 'cause I spent an incredible amount of time with God."
yes you were hallucinating. i say this because you were spending time(in your head) with someone that you cannot see

dwade

" I believe that you can be smart, dumb, poor, rich, black, white, etc, and understand and meet God. God does not discriminate. He made the gospel simple enough for even a child to understand"

yep, a child can understand all the ramblings of john in the book of Revelations.

The gospel is simple enough that's why different interpretations breed different denominations.

"Was it simply a religious experience?"
because yours is not simply a religious experience but a relationship with the one and only true god where you drink some tea and eat crumpets together

Donny,
I have a post just for you....

http://dougwadedesign.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/the-question-that-changed-my-life/

sorry this doesnt prove anything.

we don't need to settle anything. You need to settle it. Now why don't you answer my question:

you stated that you were once a Christian believer turned atheist, but yet you ask this question:

Why has God not introduced himself to me? Does he not know I exist, or does he just not care.

So have you ever had communication with God? That is the Christian life. If not, I would like to know what your experience was? Was it simply a religious experience?

...Which proved you do not have a relationship with the all-knowing creator of the universe.

Or my parents.

You and Donny both claim to hang out with God, yet you can't even agree on whether he is the same guy as Allah.

Why can't y'all just ask him to settle that for you?

I told you it was rumplestilskin

You cannot contact your God. We already proved that. He wouldn't tell you a simple thing like my middle name.

If you knew my parents, they could tell you the same thing.

You don't know either one.

I already caught some typos; sorry:

I can introduce you to my God by prayer
I can give you a map where He can be located through His spoken Word
Claims about my God can actually be verified through other believers
If my God talks to me, other people in the faith can hear the same message
So, my God, like your parents can be contacted.

and Donny, I believe that you can be smart, dumb, poor, rich, black, white, etc, and understand and meet God. God does not discriminate. He made the gospel simple enough for even a child to understand.

Funny thing is, some people are too smart to figure it out.

Phranky,
I am curious, you stated that you were once a Christian believer turned atheist, but yet you ask this question:

Why has God not introduced himself to me? Does he not know I exist, or does he just not care.

So have you ever had communication with God? That is the Christian life. If not, I would like to know what your experience was? Was it simply a religious experience?

Phrankygee,

I can introduce you to my God by prayer
I can give you a map where they can be located through His spoken Word
Claims about my God can actually be verified through other believers
If my God talk to me, other people in the faith can hear the same message
So, my God is just like your parents.

Donny, I also spend great times with God. It's as real to me as our conversation right now. Keep your faith through the storms.

No, I will not give you their number, because I don't want you to meet them.

So, why do you not want me to meet God?

Also, If my parents loved you and wanted a relationship with you, they would probably have introduced themselves. My parents do not know you exist, so they have not introduced themselves.

Why has God not introduced himself to me? Does he not know I exist, or does he just not care.

I have a relationship with my parents. You do not have one with God.

You are free to be skeptical of whatever you wish to be skeptical of, dear Teleprompter. :)

Frank, you say I should be able to see your parents but I'm sitting here at my computer looking for them and I just don't see them. I think you're making them up. You claim other people have talked to them, but I haven't met these people and even if I had I'm not sure I can trust them. If your parents are real, they'll make themselves evident to me. Will you ask them to do that for me? And if you give me their number, how will I know it's not a trick of technology? We all know technology can do all sorts of crazy things.