Should God show himself?

[Trailblazer]

I'll tell you this -- anybody (or any thing/entity/etc.) that wants me to pay attention to it really ought to, at very least, make themself known to me. Otherwise, why on earth would I pay any attention at all?

God does make Himself known, but God cannot show up in person, because God is not a person.

God makes Himself known through Persons who are called Manifestations of God, Messengers, Servants of God.

 

[Trailblazer]

TLDR; It is impossible to see God, anything that can be seen is Created and not the source. Even in 'heaven' you will not see God. The concept of God (in Monotheism) is antithetical to anything that can be seen, anything with form, image, likeness. As all form, image and likeness is created. Even speech itself is created (as in speech of God is relative to revelation and not to God itself).

I fully agree. We will never see God, not even in heaven.

"We will have experience of God's spirit through His Prophets in the next world, but God is too great for us to know without this Intermediary. The Prophets know God, but how is more than our human minds can grasp. We believe we may attain in the next world to seeing the Prophets. There is certainly a future life. Heaven and hell are conditions within our own beings."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 14, 1947)

Lights of Guidance (second part): A Bahá'í Reference File

 

[Trailblazer]

A personal appearance would clear all that up.

It would do a lot more than that, according to Baha'u'llah:

“Were the Eternal Essence to manifest all that is latent within Him, were He to shine in the plentitude of His glory, none would be found to question His power or repudiate His truth. Nay, all created things would be so dazzled and thunderstruck by the evidences of His light as to be reduced to utter nothingness.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 71-72

 

[Trailblazer]

this is exactly the reason why I joined this RF. Because I can talk with likeminded people who will not judge me or hate me for what I think and say- God has done and allowed so many horrors - The flood that killed tens of thousands, the killing of the first born of Egypt, God ordering Abraham to kill his infant son, Hitler's killing of 6 million Jews (allowed), high school shootings in America (allowed), Poverty in the World ( allowed), the underworld that promotes drugs and kills people (allowed), terrorism (allowed), sexual abuse and the list goes on and on.....................

Why do you believe that stuff in the Bible is true?

I believe men wrote that stuff about God, and then God got a bad rap for it.

 

[Trailblazer]

Thinking about your question, I can only think of one answer. Because you would be dead.

To explain...
If God were to show himself,
1) man would die from his glory. It would be worst than asking to see the sun 1 million miles away.

That is what Baha'u'llah wrote, in so many words.

“Were the Eternal Essence to manifest all that is latent within Him, were He to shine in the plentitude of His glory, none would be found to question His power or repudiate His truth. Nay, all created things would be so dazzled and thunderstruck by the evidences of His light as to be reduced to utter nothingness.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 71-72

 

[Trailblazer]

Seems god likes to destroy. Bible Atrocities: Atrocities in the Bible

Why do you believe some Bronze age myths and not others?

 

[Spirit of Light]

Only God know for sure why human beings are not in physical contact with God.
Humans believe, humans think, human judge others.

God just is.

 

[Trailblazer]

Based on the reported behavior this god would sure qualify as a psycho.

Reported behavior in the Old Testament?
That is all it was, reported.

 

[Trailblazer]

We would all know which one to follow.

But God does not everyone to know, only those who seek Him and have faith:

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

 

[Sand Dancer]

With the 1,000s of different versions of religions and the different versions of those religions, an appearance by God is long overdue. There also billions on Earth who would welcome the knowledge of its existence just to confirm which version of its being, religion, messenger, prophets are right.

By not showing itself it only confuses the issue and leaves open the possibility that it's just a manmade creation. No theist really wants that, even if their religion might not be exactly right at least they would know how close they are to the truth.

He did in the Bible, but not since.

 

[Altfish]

That's one reason God does not show up. God does not want to be obvious.
He wants us to figure out if He exists using our own innate abilities.

Absolute tosh!
What a pathetic excuse.

 

[thomas t]

And then god dropped fossils everywhere just to confuse us. LOL

or... he just took the bodies of the animals when the old earth was drowned in the flood .... and found a way to reuse them.

BTW I don't think that God likes to destroy. He happened to destroy a lot.

added last paragraph.

 

[thomas t]

thank you for all your likes,

I do not believe that God ever showed Himself to Adam and Eve; that was just an allegorical story and it contradicts what Jesus said:

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

my way to reconcile Genesis and John 1:18:
The Lord that presented himself to Adam and Eve ... was Jesus the son. And noone has seen God the father.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

That's right, so what would be the point?

It would prove some would cling to their gurus rather than follow a god and admit they were wrong.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

Because God wants us to choose to love Him or not, sight unseen.

I do not believe that God ever showed Himself to Adam and Eve; that was just an allegorical story and it contradicts what Jesus said:

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

So you pick and choose what you believe depending on what fits your theory.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

That's one reason God does not show up. God does not want to be obvious.
He wants us to figure out if He exists using our own innate abilities.

A flawed method because with all the religions it's obviously failed.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

God did show up, in the name of Jesus...

Jesus was a clear mirror, and God became visible in the mirror. This is why Jesus said, “The Father is in the Son” (John 14:11, John 17:21) meaning that God is visible and manifest in Jesus.

“I and my Father are one” (John 10:30) means that the Manifestation of God, in this case Jesus, and God are one and the same, so whatever pertains to the Manifestation of God, all His acts and doings, as well as whatever He ordains and forbids, is identical with the Will of God Himself.

Which only proves god can show itself, if the above is right.

Everyone telling us god's invisible, etc will now disagree with this.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

It is not about who we would RATHER get it from. It is about who God decides we get it from.

Which has clearly failed.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

God does make Himself known, but God cannot show up in person, because God is not a person.

God makes Himself known through Persons who are called Manifestations of God, Messengers, Servants of God.

But you said it turned up in Jesus.

If it makes itself known through so many surely it can make itself known to everyone.

 

[PAUL MARKHAM]

It would do a lot more than that, according to Baha'u'llah:

“Were the Eternal Essence to manifest all that is latent within Him, were He to shine in the plentitude of His glory, none would be found to question His power or repudiate His truth. Nay, all created things would be so dazzled and thunderstruck by the evidences of His light as to be reduced to utter nothingness.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 71-72

More personal opinions.