Is God's silence significant?

[marco]

We wait for a period of time before pronouncing missing people dead. In the last two millennia we've heard nothing from God, but before that he did shout a few words from the sky, if reports are accurate.

Which is the most reasonable conclusion:
(a) God has died
(b) God never existed
(c) God acts in whatever way he wants and some humans can detect him.

[marco]

God honestly believed he couldn't die, even viewing a future with him in it, but was slain by forces beyond his comprehension, some time he stopped communicating with us.

So far no one has noticed the difference, but the future would have been wonderful, had he survived.

I'm sorry to hear this, Willum.

Had he survived I'm not sure the being who destroyed two cities and flooded the Earth would have given us a wonderful summer.

[marco]

Well if we are to assume "reports [were indeed]accurate" and God has in the past shouted a few words from the sky, then it is obviously not reasonable to conclude that he never existed. Otherwise it's like saying you only met Elvis once so you presume Elvis never existed.

Then forgive my faulty wording, JW. The preamble contained the condition: IF reports are accurate. I assumed that one would be discarding the supposed truth in this conditional to concentrate on the meaning of the silence.

In your Elvis parallel the conditional has vanished. That makes a difference.

[marco]

According to the Bible, God talked to His people directly, and then through prophets, through His Son, Jesus, and now through the Holy Spirit, given to His people. We are His voice, and although I personally, don't speak loudly often enough, I pray I speak often.

I know this is preachy, so I apologize in advance. I have GOT to stop doing that, it's driving you all nuts! I'm going to ask for tutoring lessons from Mr. Z. Marco, and DI!!

You're just expressing your point of view, nurse, and backing it up with what you believe. But as you point out later some of us have faulty hearing and we don't get driven nuts - we just don't hear.

I could waive my tutoring fees but I suspect that God might have more influence, so my efforts would be wasted.

It is interesting to hear that others are not deaf and hear the Almighty above the storm of daily life. I suppose the Bible is the hearing aid ..... or the Koran.

[GlorifiedOne]

[Replying to post 1 by marco]

Only the spirit of man can hear the voice of the Lord. Those who hear Him are used as His servants to write and speak every word formed in their minds. This is how God reveals knowledge to us.

[PghPanther]

[Replying to marco]

Moses didn't have to be deluded......in fact he might have not even existed and if he was an actual person it is the story we are being told of his talking and hearing God. That in no way assures that even occurred........just that the story claims it which could be nothing more than verbal and/or written embellishment

............but if Moses was a real person and could have a way to speak to us and then claimed that stuff really happened then we could consider his possible delusion but there are many other failures of the story to consider before we even give it credence.

The fact that Santa Claus is silent is the same reason God is.....because they only exist in the imagination of those who believe in them....not in reality.

[marco]

[Replying to post 1 by marco]

Only the spirit of man can hear the voice of the Lord. Those who hear Him are used as His servants to write and speak every word formed in their minds. This is how God reveals knowledge to us.

I wonder how you know the details of this procedure. I don't.

How do we identify those who hear properly and those who THINK they hear but don't? There are umpteen preachers across the globe all preaching their own hymns. Do I listen to an Imam and become a Muslim based on the belief that God has imparted truth to the Muslim cleric?

[marco]

[Replying to marco]

Moses didn't have to be deluded.....

True, he could have fought against it.

The fact that Santa Claus is silent is the same reason God is.....because they only exist in the imagination of those who believe in them....not in reality.

Yes, I don't have a great deal of confidence that Moses existed or that he even supposes his tozes are roses. I regard him as I regard Hamlet and examine his fictional faults and virtues (if any.)

Here I am pretending that the Biblical God is true and I am wondering how we can check his pulse. As yet no one has discovered how to. There is a slight difference between Santa and God; we KNOW conclusively all the fictional details of Santa but there is some honest doubt about God.

[ttruscott]

The bible god is invisible and cannot be seen by humans

Do we not assume that the angels 'see' each other and 'see' GOD that is, have a non-physical body awareness of HIM? So when we become like the angels in the resurrection, we will 'see' GOD?

In other words I figure it is our sinfulness that makes us unable to 'see' GOD unless HE opens our eyes. 2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, "Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. They could see the angels of GOD's army but maybe not GOD HIMself...

So once again I must stress human means sinner, not a created person.

[JehovahsWitness]

So once again I must stress human means sinner, not a created person.

That is true now, but was Jesus not born as a human? If so was he a sinner? If not it is indeed possible to be human and not a sinner.

[Willum]

[Replying to post 28 by ttruscott]

And I must stress again YOU believe man was born a sinner.
You keep inflicting your belief on the rest of us, offensively.
You believe you were born in sin because of the nature of your God, and behave accordingly.

I was born in awesome, and so I will continue to behave accordingly.

But to say that I am a sinner because of your belief, is an offensive joke. I could describe you in a vile manner because of my beliefs, for example, for all the fairness that entails.

I could say according to my belief that all men behaved like rats, for example, clearly an unacceptable statement, by way of analogy, and certainly it doesn't make it true.

You may say, "Christians belief that all men are sinners." Or better yet, "All Judeo-Christians are sinners."
Don't include the rest of us in your belief's libels, you may be a sinner, but I am not.