Why We Can’t See God

I don’t think most atheists have an intellectual problem with the existence of God but rather an issue with sin that biases them against the existence of God.  The Bible asserts the cause of atheism is not the lack of evidence for God but the suppression of it. When I’m speeding it’s more convenient to believe the state patrol is not out.

But for those atheists who do have genuine questions, I think it important Christians have answers.

One question I’ve heard from skeptics is, “If God exists why doesn’t he just appear to the human race and eliminate any doubt?”  The answer may be that, in our fallen corrupt state, He can’t.

What if the stuff out of which man is made, once corrupted, is not capable of seeing God?  The Lord even suggests this when He says the Israelites would die if they saw Him.  (Exodus 33:20).  The human eye cannot look directly at the sun without suffering damage.  In the case of God, perhaps we cannot see Him without dying, so He doesn’t show Himself to us.

I suspect the objection to this line of reasoning is that it’s inconsistent with the omnipotence of God. But is it? God cannot lie because it is against His character to do so, but  that doesn’t mean He is not omnipotent.  If God creates a mountain and one person is walking down the mountain, by necessity a person walking in the opposite direction has to walk uphill.  We wouldn’t say God is not omnipotent because He can’t create a mountain in which two people walking in the opposite direction are both walking downhill.   We would say that the material with which God chooses to work prohibits it.

If I’m on the right path here, then the best way for the Lord to prove His existence to fallen man would be to become a man people could see, claim to be God and give evidence of it through miracles, which is exactly what Jesus did.

I’m no theologian or philosopher, just a Christian who became a lawyer who became a blogger, but it makes sense to me. GS

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