Why is God hidden? (WIP)

Prologue

Why can’t God show up so I can believe? The matter of fact is, even if God show Himself, it will not necessarily convince people to either accept his existence or to follow Him. Some atheists will reject God even if He appears. It’s not a matter of evidence but of the will.

If God is all knowing and powerful, why don’t he snap a finger and show up in glory so people will be convince of his existence (self-evidential way) instead of relying on evangelists and apologists to defend his existence?

God’s presence isn’t only based on emotional feelings. Sometimes, maybe. But if your faith is only based on that, once the feeling goes away, the faith follows.

God doesn’t force us to believed in Him. He respect our freedom of choice.

God desire our salvation

God desires for all us to be saved, and He will find ways to facilitate it. But at the end of the day, we also have a decision to make. If we freely reject God, we will be left alone.

“(…), it it not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
Matthew 18:14

“This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:3-4

For those who sincerely seek God, He will provide sufficient evidence for His existence.

design in nature (kalam, fine-tuning)
reason (contingency, ontology)
religious experience (miracles)

“Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.”
Romans 1:20

For those who through no fault of their own, was invincibly ignorant of Christ, but live a moral life following their conscience, can have a way of salvation.

“This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation.”
CCC 847

For those who has been exposed, God will judge people according to the amount of revelation they received. That is to say, a clergy, pastor, etc. will be judged much more severely than the rest of the people.

For those who willingly don’t want it, many reasons are possible:

doesn’t fit people’s expectations
don’t want to change their own life style

To do that, it’s to put God in a box. He’s not an additional item to be put in our agenda. That will create internal conflict. Demanding that God fits our criteria is to make God in our own image, rather than letting us being created in His image.

For the one who wants, everything is possible. For the one who doesn’t, nothing is possible. People who do not want God is because they have a list of criteria they expect God to fulfill. Following God will mean to reject our sins and to improve in holiness.

Why can’t God make Himself more obvious? It’s very frustrating.

Asking for God’s presence 24/7 can be intimidating for people.

God is talking to us in the silence, not in a noisy environment.

What are we seeking for?

Is your heart open? Sometimes we ignore or avoid God’s presence or call in our life. Our mind tends to trick us sometimes because we don’t pay much attention.

“God maintains a delicate balance between keeping his existence sufficiently evident so people will know he’s there and yet hiding his presence enough so that people who want to choose to ignore him can do it. This way, their choice of destiny is really free.”
J.P. Moreland

First, if God revealed his presence, it will not necessarily convert people. Maybe some. But not all. And it won’t guarantee they will continue to pursue their relationship with God as well. Take the story of the Exodus for example. People saw a cloud of fire, with water being partake into 2. Whatever it was historical or not, that’s not the point. Israel saw that, and just after, they start rejecting God and worship the cow.

Second, if God revealed his presence, people might believe only in a generic theism (God exists, but that’s all).

Why can’t God answer my prayers?

If God cares so much about me, why can’t he respond to my deepest prayers? It seems like He doesn’t exist after all! What difference does it makes to pray if we cannot change God’s mind?

First, God isn’t a magical being or a wishful machine. He is a celestial Father. Kids at home might ask for things to have. Parents don’t always agree. They will give alternative things which is in the best interest of the child. For example, kids want chocolate. But dad & mom will give healthy snacks instead. Since they are too young to understand, they might get angry and refuse their parent’s love. Their life is a gift. If a dad always give everything a kid wants, they can end up becoming spoiled.

Second, some prayers get answered. It’s not like it never happened before.

Analogy of the spoiled kid

…

God manifest himself through other people or events. If we desire to have an intense mystical experience, that’s not how it works all the time.

We can’t expect God to speak to us if we don’t open the Bible.

Even Saints can feel moments of emptiness.

God not manifesting Himself can be a stoning block for skeptics. However, even Christians wrestle with this question, yet, still believe. Paul believed, Aristotle believed (in a generic God), etc.

If we believe that God is hidden sometimes, actually, it’s not Him who is silent but us who are deaf & blind.

If someone wants to feel the presence of God, he must be in a state of awareness. One must be open to listening to his voice in the silence. Intimacy during a period of meditation or a retreat helps tremendously.

God doesn’t come to us by a list of criteria or a busy agenda of meetings.
He has been revealed to us humble in Jesus Christ, not as a Hollywood superstar.

Against all expectations of a warrior-type Messiah, God decided to reveal Himself in the poorest of the poor, in the person of Jesus Christ. Some noticed it, some didn’t.

It is possible that God already revealed Himself to you, but you didn’t pay attention and wasn’t aware of his presence. That is why, it’s crucial to develop our awareness of God’s presence in our life.

God is pure spirit. He came into the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

For some skeptics, enough is never enough. God enters time, space & matter in Jesus, who was a humble man, not a Hollywood superstar.

God can be experienced.
– Dreams of Muslims who convert to Christianity
– Spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (Andrew Garfield did experienced for the movie “Silence” of Martin Scorsese)
– God use Love as his language

Salvation

Some people are worry about their salvation if Christianity is true.

If God is all wise, and desire each of us to know Him personally, He will find a way to demonstrate his existence in a way or another.

For those who had never the chance to hear the Gospel, God will judge people according to what they acts with their conscious.

If God loves me and wants to save me, why does He makes himself so hard to be known?
Don’t be surprised: I have that question myself too. But does that truly remove God’s existence? Or is it just a mysterious question that we have to take time to dig deeper?

With instant gratification being the standard & norm today, it become more and more difficult to take the time to reflect & being aware on God’s presence in our life.

I highly recommend to practice the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.

If we believe that God is hidden sometimes, actually it’s not Him who is silent, but us who are deaf & blind.

Absence of evidence, isn’t evidence of absence.

If it’s true, what does it proves?

Half-half
If God reveals to you, would you believe?
If you say yes, I would understand your struggle.
If not, then it’s useless we continue.

For some people:
God might exists, but don’t manifest his presence within our timing.

– God is a spiritual being
– not always about emotion
– accessible by metaphysical

Some knowledge aren’t accessible by the scientific methods (soul, truth, beauty, mathematics, science, laws of logic, etc…)
Christians aren’t the one to claim a first cause for the universe. Aristotle, a pagan philosopher knew it while ago.
Theses metaphysical components are either take as asserted (take as granted), or calculated by the cause / effect trail (there’s smoke because there’s heat).
We can’t find everything by the same method. McDonald doesn’t sells cars. Ferrari doesn’t sell fast-foods. Science is limited to the natural & physical world.

God gives sufficient evidences for us
When “enough evidences” is “enough evidences”? Some people have a “customer attitude” when it comes to God. The proofs might just be in front of them, and yet, some ignore it and say it’s never enough. And sure, we do no wants to look naive as well.
Is your heart genuinely seeking God? Are you willing to live with “enough”, or your heart demands more and more all the time? Our attitude plays it all. Please don’t be like a spoil child. Are we open to consider life as a gift, or as something that is granted?

Even in court room, few evidences is enough to make a case. In the ancient history, 2 sources are enough to confirm a fact.

– accessible by prayers
– God wants everyone to be save, give sufficient ways
– even if we see God, it would be too overwhelming

God of surprise, not of expectation
Don’t make this mistake, God is not a business dealer. Or a magician.

– God is in all things, but God isn’t all things
– in time of desperation, see the “Dark Night of the Soul”
– requires open mind & open heart
– revealed in His creation — points back to the Creator
– our own body is sacramental — we are made in the image of God