Questions for Christians - #1

[Patrick]

(Thread author's note: anti-christian bigots are cordially disinvited from this thread.)

(For the record, I am an agnostic.)

A big principle of Christianity seems to be faith - that is, accepting things as true but which can't be proven - notably the existence of God himself. Now, what is the point of this "guessing game"? A person is supposed to rig his whole life around something described only in ancient texts of murky origin. What's the point of that? Since God is all-powerful, surely He can appear, give unequivocal proof of His existence. There is noubt then of His existence, and everyone would fall in line and do good things. Instead, one is supposed to guess that that religion is the "correct" one - only to die and perhaps learn that he guessed wrong. What if you die and see Ganesh the Elephant God standing at the pearly gates, who says to the guards "Send him to hell!". You say "Why?", and Ganesh says "Because you guessed wrong, sucker!".

 

[Kopji]

A big principle of Christianity seems to be faith - that is, accepting things as true but which can't be proven - notably the existence of God himself. Now, what is the point of this "guessing game"? A person is supposed to rig his whole life around something described only in ancient texts of murky origin. What's the point of that?

God is perceived as a reality that can only be grasped by faith and belief, not perfect knowledge. Something that both an atheist and theist would agree on is the value of pursuing something true, and avoiding something false.

Faith can be seen as a kind of evidence, but is internally experienced. It is when that internal conviction is expounded as an outward evidence that it is betrayed.

Since God is all-powerful, surely He can appear, give unequivocal proof of His existence. There is noubt then of His existence, and everyone would fall in line and do good things.

Maybe there is something of value in making the 'journey'. Chinese literature contains a parable a child intending to do good, who helps a moth escape its cocoon... only to watch it die because the process of escape was necessary for survival.
In this perspective, faith is more of a continuing discovery than a destination.

Instead, one is supposed to guess that that religion is the "correct" one - only to die and perhaps learn that he guessed wrong. What if you die and see Ganesh the Elephant God standing at the pearly gates, who says to the guards "Send him to hell!". You say "Why?", and Ganesh says "Because you guessed wrong, sucker!".

Suppose heaven had many gates and a different Deity guarded each one? This last point seems to jump to a conclusion made by some religious groups, but certainly not all. Perhaps the existence of the other gates cannot be seen from the outside of heaven, but only from the inside? Heaven would then be modeled like a sphere - from the outside only a part of the whole could be seen, but from within it is seen as it really is.