We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Why Doesn’t God Make Himself Obvious?
Why is faith so difficult? Why isn’t God more obvious? Why doesn’t God come out and provide irrefutable proof that he is God so that there is no more doubt? Greg’s father raised such questions and Greg’s responses are recorded in the book Letters from a Skeptic.
_______________________
What would happen … if God individually wrote a message in the clouds for every person alive? What if he wrote, “Jesus is my son. Believe in Him or parish”? Would all people now put their love and trust in Jesus Christ? I suspect not. When Jesus was here on earth and did all his miracles, those who didn’t want to follow him still doubted. When the father spoke from heaven “This is my beloved son,” those who didn’t have a heart to believe said, “It thundered.” And even when Jesus rose from the dead, there were a number of Roman guards who witnessed it, and yet they joined in with the religious leaders’ conspiracy to cover it up! …
There are many reasons for this, I suspect, but four, immediately to mind. First, the impression stupendous events have on us is rarely permanent. The impression fades with time. I have myself seen God do some incredible things with people, but in the weeks, months, and years after the event, the force of the initial impression wears off. Precisely because the event is extraordinary, the mind seems to remember it more like a dream then a real event. It doesn’t continue to impact life. If a person does base his faith on miracles, he needs a steady diet. … So even if God did address everyone with a message in the sky, this might convert many at that moment, but the lasting effect would, I suspect, be nil.
Second, there’s almost nothing which can’t be explained in more than one way. The cloud which says “Believe in my son” could be a strange cloud formation, a hoax, a demon, a hallucination. The voice which says the same thing could be thunder. Jesus’ miracles could be tricks, coincidences, or, as the religious leaders of his day thought, demonic activity. Things can always be explained away. …
Third, divine things are not as clear in the world as they might otherwise be because our world is caught in the crossfire of a spiritual, cosmic war. There is an enemy of human souls which utilizes his destructive power to blind the eyes of people (2 Corinthians 4:4). So there is evidence of good, but also evidence of evil, which clouds every issue. And some of the time when things are not clear to people, it’s not because the issue itself isn’t clear; it’s because their mind, deceived by the will of demonic forces or their own evil-bent free will, is cloudy. God can holler all he wants, but if people are covering up their ears, they cry out, “Why doesn’t God talk?”
Finally, even when God’s “direct approach” does seem to work, it doesn’t. God desires a loving, trusting relationship with us. We were created to this end. But does parting a Red Sea do that? Does speaking from the clouds do that? Does opening up the earth and swallowing the ungodly do that? He tried all of these and they didn’t work. At best they can wow or scare people into submission (and that only temporarily). They can coerce obedience. They can temporarily modify behavior — including the fear-filled words “I love you.” But they do not produce love. If God were to answer obviously all our prayers, if he were a genie in a bottle granting our every wish, this would mean that we’d use him, not love him. …
Love must be chosen. It must be free, and it must be from the heart, without external motivations. But, quite frankly, it’s very difficult for an all-powerful God to behave in such a way that love can occur with these qualities. If he uses a “direct approach” — to the point where an alternative explanation is not possible (if it’s possible to do this), and continuously enough so it doesn’t fade from our memories — he only succeeds and blowing us over or in spoiling us with a magical Genie.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Apologetics, Doubt, Free Will, God, Letters from a Skeptic
Topics: Attributes and Character, Hearing God, Prayer
Related Reading

Podcast: Do Open Theists Believe that God EVER Intercedes Directly in the World?
Greg considers God’s intervention in light of human prayer, and discusses the covenant of non-coercion. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0122.mp3 [3] Swain, 40. Photo via Ted Van Peltflickr.com

How can prayer change God’s mind?
You’ve argued that since God is all-good, he’s always doing the most he can do in every situation to bring about good. But you have also argued that prayer can change God’s mind. How are these two beliefs compatible?

Twenty Arguments Against Cameron’s “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
On March 4th, 2007, the Discovery Channel aired James Cameron’s much celebrated documentary, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” The documentary basically gives a new spin on an old discovery. In 1980, a first century tomb was discovered in Talpoit (a southern suburb of Jerusalem) that contained 10 ossuaries (that is, boxes that contain the remains…

How do you respond to Acts 2:23 and 4:28?
Question: Acts 2:23 and 4:28 tell us that wicked people crucified Jesus just as God predestined them to do. If this wicked act could be predestined, why couldn’t every other wicked act be predestined? Doesn’t this refute your theory that human acts can’t be free if they are either predestined or foreknown? Answer: In Acts…

Court-of-Law Theology: How It Falls Short
Courtney “Coco” Mault via Compfight Last week, we introduced a way of talking about theology with concentric circles. This approach is distinct from the common Western model of theology that depends upon a court-of-law framework. The following is an excerpt from Greg’s book Benefit of the Doubt regarding this: ____________________________ Within the legal strand of…

Why Compatibilistic Freedom Does Not Make Sense
Compatibilism is the view that free will is compatible with determinism. In this view, freedom is defined as the ability to do what you want, though what you want is determined by factors outside of you. Theologians who espouse this perspective, hold that God ultimately determines what individuals want. This is in contrast to “self-determining…