Divine Hiddenness: A Christian Response

[@RottenDoctorGonzo]

I am now a Christian (former agnostic), and want to tell this channel that you played a part in my journey. You still do actually. My old KZbin name was RottenDoctorGonzo, and I commented previously, during my agnostic days. Since 2019 I'm a believer that Jesus died and rose again. Thanks for what you do. Keep up the excellent work, please. 🙏

[@plzenjoygameosu2349]

GOD BLESS YOU BROTHER IN CHRIST ❤️

[@dantheman-bd1gd]

♥️

[@hidinginyourcloset]

God bless men, remember to keep your relationship with God strong.

[@michaelhenderson6786]

What a beautiful journey brother ❤ welcome to the family

[@2l84me8]

Why do you believe? Where’s your evidence?

[@Jaryism]

This channel has been life changing to me, in many ways. Seriously. I don't really have a crazy story or testimony to tell, but I'm 35 now and after I graduated college a while back my parents had separated.. a lot of things became tough in my life and fell apart, my brother and I were raised protestant but he became a really die hard atheist and back in the late 2000's became a huge Hitchens/Harris follower, I tried to cling to believing based on my "limited to nothing" understanding of the Bible. I'm a Chemist and I remember the few conversations I'd have with my brother he'd crush me 'cause I had no philosophical arguments, no biblical scholarly evidence... and as far as Science he'd be like "you're a science guy by trade dude, how can you honestly believe this **** backed by NO evidence, I felt like you of all people should who understands the scientific method would get this". over the next 10 years I'd basically become agnostic, in fact the only satisfaction I'd get from Christianity was looking up lil' factoids on "biblical inconsistencies" and odd fallacies to laugh over how stupid it was and justify why I hated it. Then like 5 years ago I started to get into ancient history and archaeology, I started reading Sumerian/Akkadian/Assyrian and Greek History and even started to get interested in the jewish historical side of the Bible, even reading the maps and stuff depicting the events in the Torah, but I never took it further that historical interest. I then stumbled upon The Bible Project on youtube and the summaries were really fast and cute, and gave me an interesting perspective that I hadn't seen before; ie. I clearing up the Book of Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Genesis, Revelations, Job etc. But the problem was it still felt like JUST THAT, silly stories like The Iliad/Odyssey that seemed unjustiable, none of this still really would hold ANY weight at all debating an Atheist and none of it gives proof to Creationism from any real worldly or scientific/philosophical perspective... ...Then half a year ago I was watching a video on Quantum Physics "Shrodinger's Cat" and I saw the "Emergent Universe" vid from IP. Watching the video... I'd never seen anything like it before or even remotely thought of science leading in the direction of creationism through "Idealism", how it plays out, it's absolutely genius that science was the very thing I thought was the ENEMY of my creationist views that I hid from in shame, the evidence now with the "superposition of particles" and probabilistic state of the universe bringing death to materialism and determinism seems so insane but it's true! The Teological fine tuning is an amazing argument. Watching his neurological "Search for the Soul" series shows that idealism is an overall better explanation for consciousness of the mind existing at a more fundamental and brain being emergent from that, it's actually genius. And the apologetic videos defending Christianity from "copy cat Gods" (Horus, Osiris, Mithras, etc) was amazing-- in fact that was a strong argument my brother used against was that most of it was stolen. IP, Michael, I don't want to speak to boldly calling you a modern day profit but you almost feel like that to me, it's so hard being a believer or a defender of Christianity this age against the adversity (in fact Jesus even said in the gospel that there would be much suffering in his name at some distant time before the coming kingdom) and you've brought us powerful reasons to justify all the hate, it's made me believe again, the truth of our reality and what it is, and truth of Jesus Christ.

[@anuragak3269]

Wow! May I share my testimony brother?

[@MrCmon113]

That's called motivated reasoning. You can reason yourself into any nonsense step by step if you just want to enough. Quantum physics does not support "idealism". If anything you'd have to say that it supports solipsism, which you can't accept. But you only ever understood it well enough for you to serve as an excuse. There is no "fine tuning" - no way for us to even know how likely or unlikely our universe is compared to other possible ones. You didn't look into this any more than you needed to use it as an excuse.

[@niclasschulz1536]

@@MrCmon113 Sure you can deny fine tuning. Doesn’t change that it’s an apparent fact. Running to your multiverse theory is way less reasonable, takes more faith to believe in a multiverse ( which on its own is just an attempt to run away from the truth that the universe is finely designed and thus requiring a designer.) than to believe in a creator.

[@geo.ies93]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

[@gleasonparker1684]

This channel keeps me sane especially in the sense of being exposed to so many competing religious ideas on KZbin. Thanks

[@IIrandhandleII]

They are all wrong, no person knows the ultimate truth.

[@mentalwarfare2038]

@@IIrandhandleII great, then I sure as hell won’t trust you

[@ea-tr1jh]

@@IIrandhandleII Then why are you making a truth claim?

[@SimonJSlou]

@@IIrandhandleII does that not mean yours is also incorrect?

[@aaronspaulding8762]

Your making a truth claim that noone can make a truth claim lol

[@jonathanfarrell2378]

Your postings are very well thought out and presented. As a philosophy major in college your ability to help others in sound thinking is important. Thanks for all your work.

[@InspiringPhilosophy]

Thank you

[@fearlesswee5036]

I just wanted to thank you and your ministry for converting me from agnostic atheism to Christianity. You've done so much to help me mentally and physically I cannot even begin to demonstrate my gratitude. God bless you and everyone at your ministry. 🙏❤️

[@jwillied1326]

That's wonderful. Praise God 🙏. I hope you are well

[@editorsphilosophynow3646]

Perhaps the most difficult thing in apologetics is generally to get non-Christian people in an atheist-saturated culture to listen to Christian arguments seriously and open-mindedly. This is a meta problem, since it is a problem independent of how good the arguments are (and there are many good arguments).

[@Thagomizer]

I've long given up. We've already lost the culture war. All religions looks strange, foreign, and more than a little scary to a naive nonbeliever, and the sheer amount of ignorant, facile cliches people apparently believe about the influence of Christianity on Western civilization boggles the mind. This is the new cultural myth. There was an open question posted to a Facebook group which neutrally asked "What would the world be like without religion?" The sheer number of people who answered this question with "Peaceful", "Perfect", "Less wars" etc. was nothing short of depressing. You would have to be extremely ignorant to believe these things.

[@bamboo1763]

in your opinion, whats a good argument that supports theology?

[@grantbartley483]

@@bamboo1763 The cosmological and moral arguments are good philosophical arguments for general theism. The historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ (the willingness of the original witnesses to suffer persecution for testifying to it) puts it beyond reasonable doubt, in my opinion. You can find different videos where I go through all these arguments here, if you like: kzbin.info/aero/PLwaiQXAdTRa19LNS8Qf3RHrGsEXSRJJB4

[@scrameosaxe8391]

Could say the same for u

[@grantbartley483]

@@scrameosaxe8391 But you'd be wrong. I was an atheist before I was a Christian. Plus, I edit a philosophy magazine, so I've heard them all. There is no atheist argument that stands up to scrutiny. Suggest one, if you like...

[@hermannaxelschatte2364]

The conclusion to this clip sound a lot like how my conversion came to be. God allowed me to run amuck to my own desires and folly. He met me where is was and showed me my bankrupt intelligence with out him. It was humbling. Yet he gave me his unconditional love and renewed my mind heart and soul. I’m am saved! Praise him! Thanks for all the work you pull for your channel.

[@alamargrethejensen9610]

I'm an agnostic and while I mostly find your content challenging and thought provoking, this one seems to be fairly weak. While confirmation bias is real, and is something this particular prideful human is guilty of her fair share of, the same can obviously be said of believers. As it is comforting to think of a God loving you and reserving a place for you in heaven, it stands to consistency that you would do as you assert the atheist would and seek to believe such things in the face of evidence to the contrary. Your story of the disfigured father is in now way analogous to God. God, being omnipotent, has it within his power to reveal himself to everyone in a way which does not scare or threaten them. This can in no way be a stone he cannot lift. "God is not hidden because he does not care, but because he cares more than we could know." While this sounds comforting, it is merely unfalsifiable conjecture designed to reassure people in the face of the creeping doubts that surely must be accumulating.

[@MJWynn]

I agree with your points, mate. Every solid argument has its faults. "This then, is the ultimate paradox: to think of something that thought itself cannot think of." - Soren Kierkegaard

[@InitialPC]

It's not a matter of "If He shows Himself to me I'll believe He exists!" I already believe He exists, I'm a Christian. I just wish I could feel His presence...

[@psalms.j4025]

I understand how that feels and sometimes I wish too feel His presence too. But if you are truly a Christian as you claim, you can trust His promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you”

[@TheApostle12]

Remember faith before feelings is a motto i stand by and i feel like more people need to know God has already promised in his written word that he’s always here and will never abandon you his promises are always fufilled. When you have a question i guarentee the answer is in the bible

[@nimsy6476]

I don't know why, your videos dealing with the personal side of God always manages to make me cry. Your beautifully thought of analogies make it easier for me to understand God's enigmatic nature. Thanks IP.

[@annoyingdude76]

damn IP, you should really put everything you made thus far into a book, in case youtube decides to go full internet atheist and delete your videos or something

[@fujiapple9675]

Don’t give KZbin any ideas. I hope IP has those videos saved on a separate file.

[@kimbanton4398]

Chill out. KZbin won't go full-atheist. It's freedom of religion after all. You can post any videos you want about religion.

[@gabrielasanchez2028]

@@kimbanton4398 give it a few years ;)

[@Rolando_Cueva]

Found the Conspiracy Theorist

[@jaclo3112]

KZbin isn't like theists organisations. they don't just ban people for not believing what they believe. Hence KZbin is flooded with the stupidity of christian mythology and non believers are silenced and banned from Christian specific platforms and organisations.

[@jimbojackson4045]

Wow. This was REALLY good. You put into words what I could not, and so much more. Thank you!

[@TacoTuesday4]

@johnhiggs325so turned off from God that you have to disparage a well laid out video? I feel bad for you.

[@lostathenian1836]

Surely there is enough evidence that the earth is spherical, eh? And yet some say it is flat.

[@petersalucci5444]

Gandalf the Bronze Haha true

[@petersalucci5444]

Jesus Christ is GOD But the bible doesn’t say the earth is flat

[@Nicoslast]

@@petersalucci5444 What does the bible say about our earth? Can you point me to scripture that prove your claim or not ? Some people just dont want to reason.. bible has more truth than these freemasons at nasa you should know that.

[@petersalucci5444]

Jesus Christ is GOD Uh sure, but u also have to provide evidence the bible claims the earth is flat.

[@petersalucci5444]

Jesus Christ is GOD Uh you still need to back that up with scripture plz

[@dennisalwine4519]

Another great video! Reminds me of how Dr. Frank Turek talks about the number of people who, when asked, "If Christianity were true, would you become a Christian?" respond with a defiant "No!"

[@Kevorama0205]

@Dennis Alwine If God were demonstrated to be moral, of course we would become Christians. Demonstrating his existence doesn't demonstrate his morality, though. If you can't do that, why should we follow him?

[@dennisalwine4519]

@@Kevorama0205 That's not what I asked, and you know it.

[@Kevorama0205]

@Dennis Alwine If being a Christian only requires belief in Jesus, then I would be a Christian. If worshiping out of fear of hell makes one a Christian, then I would be a Christian most likely. If you have to worship out of love or respect to be a Christian, then I wouldn’t be, probably. That should all the possible interpretations of your question. Though for all the complaints about defying God, Christians seem to have no issue defying Satan for some reason.

[@dennisalwine4519]

@@Kevorama0205 so your answer is yes. You and I can dismiss your parade of strawman arguments. I commend the fact that you can answer in that way! It also seems as though you realize Christianity is true, else you would not need all the strawmen to self-justify hanging onto a contrary belief system. Though we are likely a generation or more apart, I am probably very much like you. I hung onto denial until I had to accept what I knew was true.

[@Kevorama0205]

@Dennis Alwine You asked me about a hypothetical situation, and I described how I would react to that hypothetical situation as best as I was able. I constructed no strawman. I deliberate tried to exhaust all possible meanings of “Christian” to avoid that. Unless you provide your definition there’s not much else I can do. What exactly is contradictory about what I’m saying? You’re being awfully vague about it.

[@darkovujcin6064]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 01:31 🕵️ The problem of divine hiddenness questions why God doesn't provide sufficient evidence for everyone to believe in Him. Some argue that God's hiddenness prevents many from making a reasonable choice to follow Him or not. 03:32 💔 The argument assumes humans are so reasonable that they would believe in God if given enough evidence. However, psychological data shows that people often reject evidence that contradicts their desires, and beliefs are influenced by personal biases. 06:07 🤔 The subjective notion of "not enough evidence" is not enough to argue against the cumulative case for God's existence. The focus should be on finding a coherent worldview that best accounts for the data, rather than dismissing it based on personal preference. 10:05 🚪 Divine hiddenness may serve a purpose in the process of sanctification and moral development. God's hiddenness allows individuals to confront their selfishness, pride, and moral deficiencies, leading to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God. 19:46 🙏 Divine hiddenness is not a result of God's indifference, but a merciful act to foster genuine love, humility, and perseverance in His disciples. God's timing and way of revealing Himself to each person are tailored to their individual needs and spiritual growth. Made with HARPA AI

[@Blue-5]

As an Atheist , I can tell you one thing I am so unbelievably biased towards negativity that there's literaly nothing that can make me see the world in a more optimistic and positive way Because atheism is often called "the hard truth" . If I start trying to abandon it , I whould be scared of being delusionaly positive and reject any evidence no matter how good it is out of fear that i'm gonna be wrong God could honestly reveal himself right now to every sentient being on this planet and it whould solve pretty much nothing . There's nothing that can convince an Atheist to believe in God without making them abandon their ultra nihilistic worldview for a second . Which is incredibly hard to do because youre always scared of being "delusionaly positive" Maybe this is only true for me , but there really is no reason why God whould try to show himself . Ppl will always say it's a hallucination or some other existential excuse to reject it For the most hardcore Atheists , no ammount of evidence will ever be enough .

[@thejabberwocky2819]

Your lack of ability to evaluate hypotheticals and poor standards of evidence do not reflect on other atheists.

[@steffedy]

Wow, I always think your videos can't get better but they consistently do. You are by far the best apologist out there. Your rational, logical and philosophical arguments are so needed right now when believers are facing mockery in society on a daily basis. Thank you so much for what you do IP, you help strengthen the faith of believers and bring awareness of the awesomeness of God to those who are willing to question 🙏🏾

[@steffedy]

@@akkadakka5831 As is typical, many atheists and non believers love to throw ad hominem attacks. What is it you actually disagree with? I would respect you more if you made a rational argument against his points. But if all you can do is make personal attacks against the character of IP and Christians then why are you here on a channel dedicated to philosophical thought?

[@DSW-im8cj]

even though im not a Christian, your shit is why im not an atheist. and I actually know arguments from atheism more then most atheists do.@Saint Dragon

[@jmrstrong]

By God revealing himself, you're saying that somehow it takes away people's freedom. How can providing information (truth) take away people's freedom? Nobody said anything about forcing people to follow God or even forcing anyone to believe. In other words you're saying more information equals less freedom. This, by the way, directly contradicts the Bible "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

[@Oatmeal_Mann]

Inspiring Philosophy, I have to say. I might not be a Christian (I'm a Hindu Theist ) but your channel has had such an impact on my life throughout the years. I might not be convinced of Christianity, but you have given me an intellectual respect for it that I'd never had. Thank for this.

[@77megapixels53]

Everyone is given full knowledge of the existence of every other person they have ever met, yet we all choose who we love and who we don’t. Why are the rules completely different for god?

[@rogerkearns8094]

I'm not convinced that love _is_ a choice.

[@bryanpratt5850]

@John Smith He has shown Himself.

[@BigHeretic]

@@bryanpratt5850 There are _claims_ that he has shown himself - all as convincing as yours.

[@ishikilucas8148]

Sir it is not the matter of God. Think how many u pass by each day and only decide to know existence of (meet) some and try to choose to love them. It is the implication that though u come past Him u just don't want to meet him so u don't. It is not the choice of love but the choice of knowledge or in ur sense meeting.

[@BigHeretic]

@@ishikilucas8148 "If you don't see the aliens you're not looking hard enough". God is supposedly everywhere so it would take a superhuman effort not to meet him whether you want to or not. The logical implication is that he is not everywhere and your attempts to conjure him up out of nothing is because you know that there is no other way, he's not going to appear on his own. He remains hidden to believers and none believers alike.

[@daniellowry660]

The other thing I would mention about god revealing himself to people it almost always serves a function beyond the mere salvation of the individual. When God appeared to Moses it was not to inform Moses that he existed it was God calling moses to a task...same with the disciples and Paul. It was not simply about evidence.

[@holdtrue2021]

💯🎯😇

[@vgsdomingo1]

What about Thomas in John 20? Despite walking with Jesus and witness the "miracles", Thomas doubted his resurrection. Jesus presented himself to Thomas simply to prove his resurrection was true. Why not for everyone?

[@vibrantphilosophy]

That’s exactly how God revealed himself to me. To call me into ministry.

[@ellasmith6554]

Child Boo Was Thomas not one of the leaders of the early christian church? It was important Jesus revealed himself to all of his disciples because they had an important role which was to spread the gospel to every nation. Thomas was killed in India for spreading the gospel so yes Jesus had to appear to Thomas or else Thomas would have even said that the disciples were lying and Jesus wanted Thomas to spread the news to reach everyone. Jesus didn’t just appear to him for no reason. Jesus also reveals himself to people in Muslim majority countries because he knows they don’t have enough knowledge to make a decision about him. I am assuming you live in the west were you have sufficient knowledge to do your own research and also ask God to reveal himself to you. It might not be a supernatural event and it doesn’t have to be. Most of the early christian didn’t each have supernatural events and yet they kept their faith even when persecuted. Is it such a huge sacrifice to simply have faith and accept Jesus that you need him to personally appear to you before you do so? You can rely on people testimony and also the eyewitness testimony in the bible. After all that was the only thing the early Christians had and yet they kept their faith

[@vgsdomingo1]

@@ellasmith6554 You speak of faith as if its a good thing. Its not.

[@SavedSkeptic]

I’ve wrestled with this, but you’ve really helped me by laying this argument out so clearly. Thank you!

[@MrCmon113]

"Wrestled" ie you're trying to deceive yourself.

[@sasilik]

If you think that it was clearly layd out then you should listen the response video from DarkMatter kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqqXaIFmib13p8k It shows how weak and bad these arguments are.

[@SavedSkeptic]

@@sasilik no thank you! I am good.

[@sasilik]

@@SavedSkeptic so you are good to accept bad and contradictory arguments. Good to know.

[@sasilik]

@@SavedSkeptic "These are the kind of ridiculous problems you run into when you make your god too powerful. He would know how to convince everyone to change and if they can't then he should not have created them in the first place because it's not exactly benevolent to create someone knowing ahead of time that they would spend an eternity in misery. We as human beings euthanize our beloved pets because we can't even bear seeing them in relatively limited misery. Imagine creating a pet to exist in that condition forever and then call yourself benevolent."

[@jmorra]

I am so touched. I thought I was going to find only reasonable arguments. These were there , as usual , but I also got teary . How do you do that? You are saying what's true. That's how.

[@TheBrunarr]

Just what I needed after a long day of work, just relax and watch a new IP video.

[@prudhvic4]

And be brainwashed.

[@TheBrunarr]

@@prudhvic4 If you can't tell the difference between brainwashing and freely watching a youtube video of someone defending their beliefs then you have a lot of sorting out to do lol

[@prudhvic4]

@@TheBrunarr so If I freely watch a faith healing video and complement it. What does that mean?

[@TheBrunarr]

@@prudhvic4 It means you find the content of whatever a faith healing video is trying to prove convincing and you enjoyed watching it, what else would it mean? Do you think every video you freely watch and enjoy is brainwashing you? If I freely watch the trailer for the new Avengers movie and like it am I being brainwashed? That's what it looks like you're saying.

[@prudhvic4]

@@TheBrunarr I have no problem if you like the avengers trailer, but if you watch a video in which a guy tries to prove that the avengers are real and if you're convinced by that then yeah you have been brainwashed.

[@Iamyinkadavies]

My dear sir, you leave me speechless everytime honestly!!!!! May The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY bless you, increase you with cunning wisdom continually, in the mighty name of JESUS CHRIST I am truly grateful for this great explanation sir 👏🏾⚘❤🍷

[@doxasticmastery]

This was so refreshing. I am so thankful that I can know God.

[@cnault3244]

Which god do you know? There are so many to choose from,and all of them have the same amount of evidence for their existence.

[@cnault3244]

IsFriezaABoyOrGirl "he said God, not false deity gods. " So far no one has presented any evidence for any god,so all gods can be considered equally valid beliefs or considered equally false beliefs. "There’s only one God to choose." Nope.I can name a few of the top of my head: Thor,Odin,Zeus,Apollo,Mercury,Anubis,Osiris, Ganesh,Yahweh.These are all names of gods,and all the ones I named have an equal amount of evidence for their existence., "And no they don’t have any evidence of their existence." Yes,I just said that.No one has shown any evidence for any god, including the god in the Bible. " You clearly didn’t watch the video and carry the same arrogant pride that keeps God from your heart. " Well,if this god exists and this god wants to be in my heart but my non-belief in the god ( non-belief isn't arrogance) keeps god out,that would mean I am stronger than god. And if you believe the bible,you must also believe that god may have hardened my heart so I don't believe in him. In 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 it says God deludes people, making them believe what is false.

[@doxasticmastery]

@@cnault3244 I can already tell you aren't sincerely seeking an answer to my comment. When I say "God" I am referring to whats been understood in classical theism. That should be enough to convey that I don't believe in Greek pantheons. There is an abundance of evidence and support for classical theism and that of Christian theism so I don't need to explain to you all the details. If you are so curious watch IP's playlists, he sets up a theistic worldview quite nicely. I would encourage you to assess your motives and become an actual truth seeker, the gospel is the only thing that can remove those barriers.

[@pepedestroyer5974]

@@KEvronista what kind of evidence do you want? a white bearded old man in the sky?

[@pepedestroyer5974]

@@KEvronista but what about philosophy, if God is inmaterial you can not find him/her on a test tube. What about philosophy? Philosophy is a good way of finding the truth. You are looking like Lawrence Krauss or Alex Rosenberg: The only method of knowledge are the physical sciences through empirical method Also I guess and I take Hitchen´s word literally, if God is in heaven waiting for him, it would be like the celestial North Korea. I think if God made his/her presence physical everybody would worship him/her because of fear or because they want benefits from him/her. That is not the point, in every single theology, the goal is to grow up in a spiritual way before knowing him/her

[@drsiege3434]

Your analogy regarding Zeus perfectly describes how most atheists feel about God. Even if he does exist, (which is unlikely), his person in the bible is rather petty, vengeful and inconsistent. He did a LOT of things we would consider evil, in fact. But he gets a pass because, well, he's God and can do whatever he likes. Why would anyone worship such a God? All your arguments are also negated by the fact that he supposedly revealed himself to the early israelites. Thus, his hiddeness is not strictly necessary to serve his purpose.

[@carbon273]

This is a REALLY good video.🤔 You reminded me of a verse: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8, 10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

[@vjnt1star]

"1 If there is a god, he is perfectly loving" surely an explanation is required here to understand why that would be the case

[@TheBrunarr]

Well the usual definition Christian apologists use is a Maximally Great Being, which maximal love belongs to, and the argument from DH seems to be directed against these types of Christians so it's safe to assume that when Schellenberg says "God" he means "Maximally Great Being."

[@petersalucci5444]

vjnt1star Well I think of it this way (and I might be wrong).... what is the point of life? Or the universe? What is the point of living another day on this earth. What is the thing we need most?.... it’s Called LOVE. We all grow up to find love in relationships in friends, why is that? We even see in Nature that one thing that a animal needs to survive it to mate and reproduce. Of course this Is slightly different but some animals are capable of loving. So let’s say the whole point of Existence revolves around love then the god who made it must be love, or loving. In genesis god created humans to be his companions, his family, his children. Because he Wanted something to love. The whole point of our existence is to love. So I think that if that’s The case then god would’ve been the one who made that purpose.

[@xxxmmm3812]

because love is greater than hate, if you want elaboration look it up in books as it would take too much time and effort to write it all down here.

[@Terry-nr5qn]

That is why its a premise. The whole point is that a premise of an argument can be debated. But if the premises are true, the conclusion logically follows.

[@spectre8533]

like any other premise

[@blakejohnson1264]

This strengthens my faith, thanks for the videos IP

[@normaodenthal8009]

An excellent exegesis. In summary, God is perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear. Love that is enforced is not love, but oppression, and creates only fear and resentment. Fear will never bring us closer to God. God’s love is always already available to us. We just need to tune in and receive God’s love, and when we have had an inner experience of God’s love, we no longer require external proofs. Trying to prove the existence of love is futile. You can only live love because you are love, but you need to let go, and let God.

[@cnault3244]

In summary no evidence for this alleged god has been presented.

[@paynedv]

C Nault, You need faith

[@cnault3244]

David Julius " You need faith" Faith is a terrible reason to believe something. If you think faith is a valid reason for belief,then a person who has faith that leprechauns exist or has faith that Zeus exists has just as valid a reason to believe as your faith in your god.

[@normaodenthal8009]

It’s not about external evidence, it’s about experience. God is not a being like Zeus on Mount Olympus or big daddy in the sky, but Being itself. God cannot be known as an object, and just like love, can only be experienced in relationship from subject to subject. The mind has its limitations when it comes to the heart.

[@cnault3244]

1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV "How much faith do you have in that statement?" Don't know what you are asking me. How much faith do I have in WHAT statement?

[@GainingUnderstanding]

"There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how's the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?” If at this moment, you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise old fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish. The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about ...It is about simple awareness - awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: “This is water, this is water.” -David Foster Wallace, "This is Water," a commencement speech to Kenyon College class of 2005

[@jesharrell9748]

Gaining Understanding On some level, God as an explanation or greater essence of reality feels very obvious and natural. Does that resonate with you?

[@GainingUnderstanding]

@@jesharrell9748 That does resonate with me, but the immanence of God didn't for some time. It wasn't until later I realized I was looking at God like some object that is out there in the world, as if there is existence first and God is within existence, until I realized God is the ground of existence and is thus in a sense existence itself. So God is not some distant hidden being, God is ubiquitous.

[@thescapegoatmechanism8704]

Gaining Understanding as much as I love David, I can’t bring myself to read Infinite Jest. Too much reading.

[@GainingUnderstanding]

@@KEvronista Good thing there is a literal explanation that this metaphor reflects.

[@GainingUnderstanding]

@@KEvronista The literal explanation explanation of the story is within the very quote I provided in my original post... Please read someone's entire post before criticizing it, thank you.

[@creamshows]

Great explanation. Ultimately, if you seek God out of arrogance that he must meet your standard and guidelines and be as you think he should be, he will seem hidden. And your intentions matter, most atheist have an anger about the existence of God, and if he did reveal himself they’d reject him anyway. God is not like us, he is not arrogant and eager to prove a point to people. He knows he exist, and if you don’t want to genuinely seek him with the intention of accepting him and his laws, then he won’t force himself on you. But those who seek God genuinely, find him, and then it is then we are overwhelmed by his grace, love and magnitude, we understand that he exist in such a magnificent and large way that we can’t comprehend who or what he is. We can only embrace the feelings and emotions. But some do get a physical example of his existence. And when we do it’s frightening. We’re not talking about another human, we’re talking about a cosmic creator.

[@trumpbellend6717]

What utter piffle 🤭😅 how telling that if Christian soteriology is correct the most important factor that differentiates those deserving eternal paradise and those deserving eternal torment is the geographical location one is born into. If one is born in Saudi Arabia there is about a 95% chance that you will belive in the "wrong" God and reject jesus and thus receive eternal damnation in a lake of fire. However be born into America and magically there is about a 95% chance that you will believe in the "right" God and thus receive eternal salvation. 👏👏 Allegedly this is the justice of a perfect omnibenevolent omnipotent omniscient loving God. The fact that many people who reject jesus often lead devout pious lives and follow very strict and demanding religious practices with regards to worship, diet, clothing and relationships is not a factor, these people seemingly reject jesus because they *"want to sin"* 🤔🤫 Some live lives of isolation and quiet contemplation taking vows of celibacy and silence but the loving jesus still deems these people unworthy of anything other than eternal torment. Conversely however a murderer so long as he truly repents and accepts Jesus on his death bed he can spend an eternity in paradise with those he murdered. Unless of course those people also found the "evidence" for your God unconvincing, in which case the murderer would be looking down from paradise on the people he killed as they too suffered for eternity with me 😡

[@pepedestroyer5974]

Wooow Michael, Thanks a lot for your job, I hope having time to translate your videos in my language. God Bless you

[@antoniorobles8706]

Check out Paulogia's response: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKXJd3uFhd2Jic0

[@x-popone6817]

@@antoniorobles8706 Which IP responded to on his blog.

[@juancarlosaliba4866]

I've been watching your videos since the outbreak of the Corona Virus. Since my conversion from agnosticism and almost atheism to Catholic Christianity, I now see God's hand moving even in these trying times. Thanks for this man!

[@TheTijuT]

Dear Juan, may you continue your journey and find meaning through the journey of your life. I have been a catechist for a long time. If you have questions concerning Catholic Christianity, please do feel free to email me at [e-mail] Take care and stay safe, Juan. Peace be with you.

[@vejeke]

Just remember that The Clergy Project exits, in case you discover better reasonings.

[@lumonox]

Mann come back to atheism I didn’t know that an atheist would get converted back to Christianity I just feel bad for u bro

[@lumonox]

If u want a video completely debunking and disproving every point in this video be more than welcome to watch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqqXaIFmib13p8k

[@rossalinii9089]

IP, thank you so so so much. You have cleared the storm for me through this video, I am truly thankful for your gift of teaching others because without this video and without God using you to make this video I don’t think I would have been able to have information on how to defeat my self-centeredness. Thank you again, keep doing what you’re doing❤️

[@metaphoricalparadox5138]

“Y’all just wanna sin’ - The movie

[@lukeanthony9904]

He portrayed non-believers as just believing what they want to be true, because they don't want god to interfere with their sexual morality. None of the sisters are described as loving their mother or sisters or doing any good in the world. One loves her material things and the other becomes bitter at the father. This reveals how IP really feels about atheists.

[@bryanpratt5850]

@@lukeanthony9904 atheists don't exit. None of the girls were atheists. Was there ever a girl who said, "I have no biological father."?

[@spectre8533]

@@lukeanthony9904 he used sexual morality as an example, but of course the whole morality is a problem.

[@lukeanthony9904]

@@spectre8533 So "y'all just wanna sin"

[@inukithesavage828]

@@lukeanthony9904 To be honest, he was very kind to atheists in that video.

[@PrestonGranger]

Even if the assertion "God is too hidden to be reasonably believed in" is subjective, that still doesnt rebutt the argument. If God knows what we will accept, based on our cognitive faculties, then lack of the acceptance still holds and the argument still works.

[@Apollogetics]

NO Divine Hiddenness is such a fundamentally flawed argument because its based on the FALSE premise that God merely wants people to believe he exists rather than a meaningful relationship or that convincing them he exists will also compel non-believers to pursue a relationship with him afterwards.

[@lllULTIMATEMASTERlll]

Meerkat SK5 We’ll, if someone wants to have a relationship with me, it sure helps if I believe that they exist first, doesn’t it? Even if people wouldn’t necessarily worship him/have a relationship with him if they believed in him, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to reveal himself wouldn’t it? Isn’t God strictly better off if he reveals himself to everyone?

[@MrCmon113]

It's not an argument at all, it's a distraction. There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to believe you more after you said that you can't give good reasons.

[@littleredpony6868]

@@Apollogeticshow can you have a meaningful relationship with someone when there’s not enough evidence to show that they exist? Having a relationship with god is a lot like having a relationship with Gandalf. You can talk to either of them all you want but neither is going to ever talk back to you

[@Apollogetics]

@@littleredpony6868 Although a personal relationship is a two-step process where you have to know something exists first before you can decide to have a meaningful relationship with someone, this does not apply to God. This is because He does not need to appear physically or do something on a global scale in the first place to convince the ones he knows would have a relationship with him if he revealed to them that he is the true God. Remember, he is omniscient so just like he knows what evidence would convince unbelievers he exists, he also knows ways to convince somebody without resorting to appearing physically or on a global scale. More importantly, even if he did appear physically, The bible is full of stories and situations of Israel’s not only disobeying God but choosing to follow another God despite having God physically appear to them almost on demand in some form. We even have evidence that God only shows miracles when he knows it would potentially lead into a meaningful relationship with him. So we would expect him to skip the first step and go right into the second. Thus, If you are talking about the Christian God specifically, then you have to accept all this as a reality and showing such evidence does not mean someone will automatically choose to enter into a relationship with him. You are also making the assumption that most if not all of them are disbelieving based upon intellectual reasons. For many of these faiths including atheists, they believe (or disbelieve) simply because they were raised to or pressured by their government to (dis)believe or it makes them feel good or just don't know or don't care enough to find out the other side.

[@mikehenry79]

The intellectual contortions are painful. Regardless whether some will reject a god even if given evidence and regardless whether some will only feign belief to obtain reward/avoid punishment, surely there are some who would become genuine saved believers if presented with sufficient evidence? And surely an omniscient god would be aware of who these people are and what it would take to convince them? And surely an omnibenevolent god would want to give them this evidence? And surely an omnipotent god could give it to them in such a way as to not override their free will? Indeed, I had excellent evidence that my father existed, he loved me, and (especially until I was fully grown) he was physically capable of killing me. Did having all that evidence of his existence, love, and power deny me my “free will” to genuinely love him back? More broadly, do they have free will in heaven? Do the people there know god exists? At the end of the day, refuting the divine hiddenness argument requires you to justify the claim that an all loving, all knowing, and all powerful god will punish us with eternal hell fire for not believing in him, despite the fact that he has elected to make the purported evidence of his existence indistinguishable from his non-existence. As such, this video is literally an effort to explain why you should believe outlandish claims on terrible evidence under penalty of eternal torture, and that, incidentally, this is the chosen design of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence. It’s ridiculous. You’ll be happier and find vastly more philosophical consistency if you let this silliness go and stop deceiving yourself. I encourage folks to watch Paulogia’s video clobbering this nonsense: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKXJd3uFhd2Jic0

[@Apollogetics]

DIVINE HIDDENESS ARGUMENT (Paulogia's version) Although a personal relationship is a two-step process where you have to know something exists first before you can decide to have a meaningful relationship with someone, this does not apply to God. This is because He does not need to appear physically or do something on a global scale in the first place to convince the ones he knows would have a relationship with him if he revealed to them that he is the true God. Remember, he is omniscient so just like he knows what evidence would convince unbelievers he exists, he also knows ways to convince somebody without resorting to appearing physically or on a global scale. More importantly, even if he did appear physically, The bible is full of stories and situations of Israel’s not only disobeying GOd but choosing to follow another God despite having God physically appear to them almost on demand in some form. We even have evidence that God only shows miracles when he knows it would potentially lead into a meaningful relationship with him. So we would expect him to skip the first step and go right into the second. Thus, If you are talking about the Christian God specifically, then you have to accept all this as a reality and showing such evidence does not mean someone will automatically choose to enter into a relationship with him.

[@edgarmatzinger9742]

As long there is a single reasonable non-believer, your loving god does not exist. And premiss 1 from Schellenberg's argument is incorrect to say the least: Why should an existing god be perfectly loving? Why isn't he indifferent? Or hateful?

[@X22-p4t]

You forgot the burned man analogy, did you?

[@X22-p4t]

And all reasonable non-believers are still alive, and still can turn to God.

[@edgarmatzinger9742]

@@X22-p4t What is the _"burned man analogy?"_

[@edgarmatzinger9742]

@@X22-p4t True, except they wont.

[@Ryan-hq7pw]

@Edgar Matzinger and as long as there is a single reasonable believer there is no longer a problem of Devine hiddenness.

[@hydrocarbon2195]

What if the person knows that he wants to believe in god, so he always doubts the positive evidence because he knows he already has a bias?

[@justinlequire]

He mentions that at the beginning. He believes because he believes, which is why I can't. I used to, but that was when I believed and couldn't NOT believe.

[@metaphoricalparadox5138]

Great question. A lot of ex-religious people examined evidence with the bias that they would prove God’s existence and felt compelled to abandon their beliefs by the end of their research despite their desire to believe. I wonder how IP would respond to that.

[@jameseverett9037]

Objectively speaking [if that's even possible], wanting to believe something has no bearing on whether it exists. But you already knew that. So if you think you want to believe, but don't want to believe because you want to believe, then you either don't want to believe because you fear that wanting to will somehow make it false [which is ridiculous, but you knew that too], or else you did something you need to justify by not believing. Otherwise there is no psychic split like this - a psychic split comes from a lack of integrity. However, you will deny the lack of integrity with even more fervor than the thing you're dramatizing the issue of belief over. If none of this is really true, there is simply no issue and no concern over it. You go on your merry way, and believe or not, but pay no mind either way, having no issue over whether or not you believe.

[@jasonwilliams4473]

Just noting but I do appreciate your brain. Very bright man. Have a blessed day.

[@devb9912]

Classic example of preaching to the choir. Nothing you have said is remotely compelling or logical unless you are already convinced of your conclusion.

[@AGPArchivist]

How so?

[@Cbawls]

Every time I get intimidated by a cosmic skeptic video I just come here and my spirit is restored. Praise God for His wisdom... its really beyond what we could ever know

[@thnfawc4482]

This videos is an absolute must-watch for a follower of Christ, one of the best videos of yt of all time.

[@soyboyjames3031]

Dude - This is some of my favorite content on youtube. Super well researched and well presented. Thanks for making it available.

[@EmmanuelTomes]

"Given the scientific evidence in psychology, one can reasonably suggest the reason many do not except the evidence for Christian theism is because of our innate desire to believe what we want to be true and then seek evidence to support it." The irony of this statement is just too much. IP just described his KZbin endeavors exact, as this is my take away from his work, and this critique can easily be levied against believers. The fact that arguments like the ones contained in this video need to be trotted out as if a god could not know exactly what is needed to convince everyone that he exists is telling. You can’t compare using studies and other forms of supposed evidence to the abilities of an all-powerful, all-knowing deity that would know precisely what to do to convince each individual-not to mention that he could just be present the same way other humans are. If over thousands of years the human species became acclimated to a good and moral god being physically present in our lives, the way the sun is, I think people would come to reject or accept him based on his character, deeds, love, etc. Humans are pretty adaptive and it's a very convenient excuse saying that showing himself objectively to all would somehow rob us of our decision-making capabilities. Especially if the immoral threat of hell for rejecting him were removed from the equation. You can reject worshiping a god and still be a good person. Moreover, this position kind of undermines the idea that believers have the capacity to freely accept the god they choose since they may be doing it out of fear of damnation and not because they love him. I would add that I think it's completely reasonable (in a sense) for people to believe in a god and atheists should not lambast theists as delusional or emotionally stunted for believing. But videos like this that basically say non-believers in general are deluded or don't believe due to some psychological blockage or that the evidence is so clear that any open-minded person would see it is just obviously ridiculous and unreasonable. Unfortunately that appears to be needed, because god being hidden to people who would otherwise believe doesn't really make sense. I am not an atheist because I want to be. I'd love for there to be an afterlife. But I don't see any evidence that it or a god exists, though I would gladly accept sufficient evidence that I am wrong-but him not being hidden would make belief unavoidable for nearly every human, save those who truly do have diagnosed psychological issues (psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, etc.). Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of believers who ALSO are motivated to believe what they want, in particular that they are chosen by an omnipotent being to live forever after they die, and the monetary, political and social benefits that can come from pushing that message to others.

[@Drewman56]

I am so glad I found ya. Literal blessing from God.

[@InspiringPhilosophy]

I'm so glad!

[@Roman-pd1bz]

@@InspiringPhilosophy GOAT

[@exaucemayunga22]

In the Bible he didn't have any problem showing himself. Now that we have all the tools to examine him, all of a sudden, he can't. An all-powerful god, yeah!

[@exaucemayunga22]

@Usman_K God in the Bible used scientific evidence, many times.

[@peli_candude554]

Great explanation of why God is not giving us everything but gives us everything... My personal take on this is we cannot see God without being humble and if God humbles us (or life throws us beanballs that we simply cannot avoid) and we are able to choose one from another. Another take on this is personal outlook. I choose to be happy and positive and even though I can be happy and positive without God in my life (openly attributing and accepting things as blessings instead of pure dumb luck). Choosing to be happy without God left me with that emptiness and still asking that ultimate question of "why are we here". That question is answered in God's love and our ability to improve the lives of others through God by showing others we are part of a loving and living world. When we choose love or life...or both...through God we have everything we need. Everything...

[@jesussaves6625]

Well, God tells us in the Bible that "reasonable nonbelief" doesn't actually exist. He says the evidence is the creation and that people have no excuse for not believing, and that they suppress their belief, in unrighteousness. Edit- great points. Some people just WON'T believe, no matter how much evidence is presented.

[@Niko_lai-78]

Where in the bible does it say that? I trust you can provide some verses. And what is that supposed to mean, "in unrighteousness they suppress their belief"? Is the unrighteousness not walking god's way or living in sin? If so then why can some people have been walking with god for maybe their entire life and believed suddenly fall away and lose their belief? I'm one of those people. I haven't been a believer all my life but I've walked with god for a substantial portion of it. I don't know what happened, I suddenly lost connection and haven't been able to find my way back. That's not a choice, it just happened and now despite choosing to try to get back to god I haven't been able too. At this point I've given up trying too hard, it causes me too much stress with all the pressure from family and environment to be a believer. It's a guilt-ridden and painful existence to live because you so desperately want to get back but belief is not a choice, it's something that happens naturally. If unrighteousness means living in sin then why does god show up to some people at all? We're all sinners in his eyes. Why did Jesus walk with the lowly people of society, the sinners and criminals? And why does he not appear to people who don't do a whole lot of evil most of the time, which is actually quite a large percentage of people. That's why I hate the "in their unrighteousness" statement. It sounds exactly like god is choosing not to show up to people because they're not good enough or they're "too evil". And it's also extremely accusatory, "it is *your* fault you don't believe" is a very harmful and untrue statement. You can't force yourself to believe something that you find no good reason to believe. That's how beliefs work. Now faith, that's hoping and believing based on trust. But it's hard for a lot of people to trust god because for them he doesn't seem to be present at all. You can have faith in friends and family though because you know them and trust them enough to take their word for things. They've shown you that they are reliable and trustworthy which is more than I can say for god. He's like that family member that never comes to family gatherings on the holidays or keeps asking for favors while doing nothing in return.

[@jesussaves6625]

@@Niko_lai-78 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse- Romans 1:20- This is the reason I don't think anyone can "reasonably disbelieve". God tells us Himself that the proof is there if we truly want to reason abs see it. When I said "In unrighteousness they suppress their belief" I was actually paraphrasing from Romans 1:18- For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” It means that humans tend to use their sinfulness (unrighteousness) to suppress the obvious knowledge of who God is. Also, not walking in God's way is the same as sinning, yes. People who have truly found Christ will not permanently fall away. Christ will not lose any that have been given to Him. I believe that you didn't choose the feeling of disconnection, but imo you need to make the time and effort to reconnect with Him. We have to be patient and accept that things happen in God's time. Not in ours. I would encourage you to come back to The Faith, even if you only obey the commands of Christ with your actions and trust that the feeling will come back. Obedience is what matters. The Bible does warn us that we will struggle and have strife in this life if we follow Him. "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household" (Matthew 10:34-36). And "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. If you were of this world, it would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also". John 15:18-20. So it's not pointless, because turning back to Christ is the only way to eternal life. I'm sure you know which verses cover that. Why does God show up to some people at all? He shows Himself to whom He chooses, and personally, I believe that He knows who will most benefit and who will come to Him. Many are called but few are chosen. You have been called once, don't waste that blessing. We are all sinners, like you said, we are born into iniquity- but there's a difference between choosing to keep living in your sin and allowing your spirit to become calloused, and a person who has repented, turned far from his sin, but occasionally has a minor slip up as God is sanctifying Him. And even though we're all born sinners, when we repent and be baptized, we are seen with the righteousness of Christ. That is why He died for us. Jesus walked with sinners, because sinners are the ones who need the gospel. He walked with sinners who repented, though. Remember, "go and sin no more" "REPENT for the kingdom of God is at hand". It doesn't really matter if you "don't do a whole lot of evil" if you are still wildly living in sin and thinking is OK, you have a problem- and most people do have a problem. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. Matthew 7:13. Thank you for such a thought out response to my comment. I hope I addressed all the points you wanted to get to. One thing I will correct is your statement at the end about God's (being like a person who is) always asking for things and never doing anything for you. Every breath you take is a gift from God. The fact that the universe is in motion is because of God. Every good thing in your life, and every bad or scary thing that you will eventually grow from- that's all a gift from God because He loves you and He knows even more than you do what will make you happy and fulfilled. You can trust Him. He's been by your side your whole entire life. He made you in your mother's womb. I hope when you look around at the world and ask of the beautiful creation, including your family that you love, you will see the Creator in all of it, and remember that He's called you for evergreen greater things. I wish you nothing but the best. May the Peace and Blessings of Christ be with you always.

[@spacebook8923]

“Some people just WON’T believe, no matter how much evidence is presented.” God knows precisely how it can be proven to me that he exists, and yet he doesn’t do it. Is that me simply not believing out of spite? How could it be? And even if it was just me “choosing not to believe”, why is that more powerful than God simply showing me he exists?

[@mzavros]

If this god shows you he exists, you won't have Free Will. But if you don't know he exists, you actually don't have a choice at all. A dog chasing its tail backwards.

[@thescapegoatmechanism8704]

So what hiddenness really amounts to is not so much about philosophical argumentation as it is about basic human psychology. We all have a “bias” for or against religion and our so called “reasons” for belief or disbelief are only mere expressions of our instincts and moral sentiments. The arguments themselves don’t really prove anything. If the psychology of the person isn’t already pointed towards religion, it doesn’t matter what “the facts” are or how probable they seem to be, they will never move the person on an emotional level. Contrary to what the Greeks would have us believe, people are primarily emotional creatures with a little bit of rationality on the side. What really persuades people (at least most people) are not arguments or statistics, but narratives, vivid images/music, and personal behavior. Anything to pull the heart strings. Sure, you could do your “research” and spend hours going down the academic well, but the problem is that you’ll never know when you’re finished, there will always be more things to learn and other variables you might have missed- at some point your heart will have to decide what to believe for you. As Hume said, reason is the slave of the passions. This is true of any way of life. If you start to practice the Christian life and expose yourself to the world of other believers, your passions against it will eventually diminish. Only then will you begin to retrospectively convince yourself into believing that you were “blind” to God and you will receive the arguments in a new way.

[@antonioperez4091]

The elephant controls the rider

[@MrCmon113]

What a bunch of nonsense. You could say the same about learning anything.

[@Cellidor]

I have to say that I find it really immoral and disgusting the notion of "God can't reveal themselves too directly or people wouldn't have free will to choose". We're talking about a "choice" that involves picking between a hypothetical place of eternal happiness and one of eternal punishment (which itself is a monstrous notion). It's like someone trying to argue that they can't tell their child they shouldn't cross the street without looking, or stop their child from walking into a busy intersection because doing so would "Take away the child's free will". It's even more disgusting because a more accurate comparison would be a child wishing to cross a street used only by silent, invisible cars that only the parent can see, and forcing the child to just "have faith" that these invisible cars exist and they shouldn't cross, and then blaming the child if they get killed by an invisible car for not "just believing".

[@AlbertM170]

The choice is not between happiness and punishment. It is about whether or not you choose your will over the will of God. It is between God or your own autonomy and 'independence'. Those who choose to find satisfaction and meaning on their own terms will be left by God to do just that, as they wished. The struggle and continuous failure to do so without the grace of God completing you is what we know as hell. A better (but still imperfect) analogy would be between a doctor and a patient. The doctor is offering a permanent cure for a terminal illness and the patient still decides to pursue a cure on their own terms. The choice of the patient between trusting the doctor or trying to preserve his own sense of right-ness is similar to the choice between trusting God and trusting your own finite, imperfect and fallible self.

[@Cellidor]

@@AlbertM170 You forgot the part of the analogy where the Doctor is invisible, and can't be seen or spoken to. One can only talk to people who claim to have been cured by or spoken to the doctor, despite those people seeming entirely unchanged compared to people who haven't been "cured". People will claim that others are ill, despite no apparent illness being seen (Or at least, the 'illnesses' they point out are seen in equal measure in those who've been 'cured' and those who haven't...). What I see when I look at those patients aren't those who've been cured, what I see are people who've been convinced that they're ill and then sold snake oil to fix them of the perceived sickness they either never had, or were told would get better if they just "believed in the oil" hard enough.

[@AlbertM170]

@@Cellidor and that's where you misunderstand my analogy (imperfect though it is). As long as you're on earth, you're not cured. You're still unwell. There are people who have received this cure but as long as they have this corrupt mortal body, the illness will fight back. And as for not seeing this illness, you must be joking. Every lie told, every betrayal and deceit, every murder and rape, every act of theft, jealousy and lust, every act of the prideful ego and every act of malice, laziness or selfishness by every human being ever is a symptom of this illness that resides deep in mankind. If you claim to not see this illness, then you have not lived on this planet. I have no idea why you brought up the invisibility thing (I don't think you watched the video) but met me say something small. The Doctor sent people who showed that the Doctor can be trusted. Whether you want to trust the learned Doctor or look for your own cure and inevitably fail in the process.

[@AlbertM170]

@@Cellidor but I digress. The point of the analogy is to give you a proper understanding of the choice between heaven and hell. It is a choice between giving your will to God and finding ultimate meaning in your Creator or wanting to be your own god and find your ultimate peace on your own terms. The reason people choose hell over heaven is their desire to do things on their own terms even when their way is wrong and will hurt them.

[@Cellidor]

@@AlbertM170 What exactly _is_ "Hell" to you? I feel like you may be describing something that's different than what I'm envisioning. It's sounding like you're describing Earth itself as hell.

[@daltonharmon1018]

Im someone who follows god and i can tell you from experience if you have faith but it truly starts waivering from weariness from the world god will show you to remind you his grace, it may be perceived as good, it might be bad, he will help you along whatever path to betterness you want. He is hidden so that way we can earnestly have faith.

[@josuejumalon]

The woman choose you, she married you, she exist, but yet man will still end up in infidelity.

[@nickj5451]

I always find myself saying "Lord, please bless this man" when watching these videos. "You are not considered at fault if you, against your will, are ignorant; however, if you are ignorant because you fail to ask, you are at fault. You are not blamed because you do not bind up your wounded limbs. Your sin is that you despise Him who wishes to heal you. No one is denied the knowledge of how to seek advantageously what, to his disadvantage, he does not know, and how he must humbly confess his stupidity, so that He who neither errs or toils when he comes to give aid may help the man who seeks and confesses." St. Augustine

[@MrCmon113]

>if you are ignorant because you fail to ask, you are at fault Religion in a nutshell.

[@nickj5451]

@@MrCmon113 Is this a criticism? Also what about religion makes you say this?

[@chrissonofpear1384]

Also, what is it about John 14:12, that people, will not, fulfil it? Or ever ask, if Torquemada, Paul III, Calvin, and many policy makers, ever remotely, got required, to fulfil it? Or present, any other, major credentials - before they got accorded, high office, influence, or ability, to make policy? And also - yes, we might, fail, to ask? Because, we are not born... innately, knowing, which and how many precise, gods, have always existed. Or how many creators - and later, sub-creators... have shaped, the world, nor visible, nature (especially, post glass darkly - and Fall?)@@nickj5451

[@shawnchristophermalig4339]

God solved this issue centuries ago. He appeared to us. It's just that many do not believe.

[@dcallahan119]

The most well thought out argument I've seen on this topic. Well done.

[@MarkHyde]

Thanks for challenging the stereotype that believing God means to stop using our intellect and reason. :) Been a 'hidden' sub for awhile now time to speak up.

[@Kevorama0205]

He literally argues in this video that we cannot use logic or reason to come to a belief in God because then we will act out of fear or greed, because those are in fact the logical responses to the God of the Bible, when we don't blindly love him and assume he is moral to start with.

[@MrCmon113]

Wow you really didn't pay any attention. He literally says that you should suspend reason to believe in his god.

[@karlazeen]

Whats the point of christian apologetics when suspension of reason is the ultimate conclusion for belief?

[@89cruzzey]

Awesome job brother, the Lord has truly blessed you with a gift.

[@timothyholman9029]

Such a brilliant answer to such an important question. I think your content is absolutely fantastic! It has really helped me be more confident in my faith. Praise the Lord! I was wondering if you would ever do a video on sexuality. It’s very prominent in our culture and I’ve struggled to reconcile how homosexuality is found consistently in nature, is evolutionarily beneficial, and doesn’t objectively seem to be inherently wrong, etc. with what we see in scripture. At this point I’ve been stuck with two options: 1) we have misinterpreted scripture because science seems to contradict what we’ve read (which would be incredibly difficult and would cause more problems than it would solve) or 2) the reason for it being sinful is completely misunderstood (but there’s not a whole lot else that scripture is obvious about). Additionally I’ve noticed that many atheists and other skeptics would object to abrahamic religions specifically because of the shame their teachings on sexuality can cause people. In general, how would you respond to this? Thanks for considering. Keep up the good work!

[@Kevorama0205]

@Timothy Holman There's a third option, which is that the Bible contains some incorrect moral teachings. Perhaps this conflicts with other things you believe about Christianity, but the other two options would seem to as well. It's worth considering, at least.

[@marcellofunhouse1234]

@@Kevorama0205 which incorrect moral teachings?

[@Kevorama0205]

@@marcellofunhouse1234 On homosexuality. The original poster seems to believe "Homosexuality is sinful" is wrong, and is trying to reconcile that with the Bible, but missed the option that the Bible simply isn't infallible.

[@marcellofunhouse1234]

@@Kevorama0205 it is wrong it goes against God since he made male and females only to be married

[@chrissonofpear1384]

And Leviticus 25:46 remains, for one thing... one of, the all time, howlers. And whoopsies. And just vague enough - that it took centuries, to fully extirpate, also.@@marcellofunhouse1234

[@andrewsummer3521]

Wow who knew God is too stupid to take our personal biases into account even though he's omniscient and omnipotent. Best argument ever, IP. It's so obvious... I'm only an atheist because I want to sin... DUHH

[@AnonymousC-lm6tc]

Did you watch the video? That’s not what he was saying and you are intentionally straw manning his arguments. Your cognitive biases are your responsibility. Your heart is obviously hard and you are clearly blinding yourself to legitimate arguments by defaulting to common new atheist internet talking points that lack critical thought and substance.

[@jml5926]

To truly label that one’s decision and action are well-informed, and that the act of freewill is a genuine exercise as such deserving discernment or accountability , there must be full disclosure either in the form of clear, self-evident presence/existence or testable predictions in that model of reality. In the absence of that, someone is exercising freewill and actualizing intentions out of a personal propositional stand/attitude (belief) which is an estimation of truth and not out of true knowledge which is independent. Hence, there’s no reason to suspect that having true knowledge as an attribute is a bad attribute if God himself possesses it. It is where you can truly predicate your decision as genuine, true and sufficiently/perfectly INFORMED.

[@NewportSolar]

At 18:28 - This whole analogy would be great, IF… God was somehow disfigured or unable to present himself in a positive or pleasing way. How could an all powerful God not be able to present himself in a positive way? To be clear, I do believe in God. Not because of the Bible, or any religion, or any personal encounter, but because the existence of a creator makes more sense than existence coming from nothing. That said, the mental gymnastics to explain God’s behavior or choices is VERY odd to me. I have my own analogies that I think make more sense, but they are just guesses. Maybe guesses with a hint of divine inspiration that I’m unaware of, but I also believe anything any human can conceive ultimately is inspired by God. Both good and bad, because God created ALL of it… unless there is more than one God. If there is only one God, he/she/it created everything and is therefor responsible for everything. To say God is not responsible for evil is to say God is either not all powerful or made mistakes. The Old Testament God even seems to admit making mistakes, which is why he wiped out humanity except Noah. He even expresses regret for that decision. The God described in the Old Testament makes mistakes, get VERY angry and vengeful, has little to no patience, forgiveness, or compassion, and expresses regret for things he has done. Honestly, that God scares the hell out of me. If you say I’m wrong, you haven’t actually read the Bible. That ALL takes place in roughly the first half of Genesis. I can not understand an angry, vengeful, or especially a jealous God. That makes ZERO sense. Nor can I imagine a God who makes mistakes. With all the evil and sadness in the world, I also can not understand or comprehend a God who made all this on purpose. Therefore, I must submit to the simple idea… I am not meant to know here. If I was, God would reveal the answer. Some say he has, I say he has not. I think he may have given us hints, but definitely NOT the answer. I do hope and have faith that in time, beyond our time here, we will understand. I don’t understand why we are here, or why there is so much pain, and evil, and suffering… all I do know for certain is, it is ALL temporary. Our time here is VERY short, I believe that is by design. I think we are here to learn, to grow, and to experience many things. I think the reasons will be revealed later. Not because God is disfigured and too ugly for us to see, but more likely we are being tested. Why would God test his own creation? Or give them the ability or desire to fail? I have no clue. But we are here. We are here for SOME reason. We are not some cosmic accident. There is an explanation and I believe we will receive it… in time, or possibly outside of time itself. PS: If I were a father watching my children play, I may want to hide myself TEMPORARILY not because I am disfigured or scary, but because I want to see how they play, what they do, how they interact with other children. I would not want them to see me, to perform for me, I would want to see who they really are when they don’t think I can see them. That makes more sense to me. I would also, swoop in, when that TEMPORARY time of watching is over and tell them I love them, that I saw them, and I would tell them what I was proud of and pleased by and what upset or concerned me. Under no circumstances could I ever imagine banishing them to a pit of fire for eternity, but I would want more than anything for them to learn, to grow, and be good. I can’t imagine a God less understanding than me, or less compassionate than me, or less forgiving than me. I truly pray God is not one to fear, but one who loves more than I can. Because the only thing worse than hell might be an eternity with a jealous, angry, vengeful God.

[@koreystreich6978]

"He [God] knows who will change and who will not." Then we do not have free will; your statement rules out any possibility of humans being meaningfully in charge of their own choices.

[@Apollogetics]

Although a personal relationship is a two-step process where you have to know something exists first before you can decide to have a meaningful relationship with someone, this does not apply to God. This is because He does not need to appear physically or do something on a global scale in the first place to convince the ones he knows would have a relationship with him if he revealed to them that he is the true God. Remember, he is omniscient so just like he knows what evidence would convince unbelievers he exists, he also knows ways to convince somebody without resorting to appearing physically or on a global scale. More importantly, even if he did appear physically, The bible is full of stories and situations of Israel’s not only disobeying GOd but choosing to follow another God despite having God physically appear to them almost on demand in some form. We even have evidence that God only shows miracles when he knows it would potentially lead into a meaningful relationship with him. So we would expect him to skip the first step and go right into the second. Thus, If you are talking about the Christian God specifically, then you have to accept all this as a reality and showing such evidence does not mean someone will automatically choose to enter into a relationship with him.

[@koreystreich6978]

@@Apollogetics this doesn't address what I said at all.

[@Apollogetics]

@@koreystreich6978 let me answer it a different way then by asking you this question. If I provided scientific evidence that showed the Judeo-Christian God existed and was morally perfect, would you pursue a relationship with him to become a Christian? If you say no, then you are refuting what you said.

[@koreystreich6978]

@@Apollogetics you didn't answer the question originally, and your still not addressing my point so I'll repeat it. If God is perfect, and God created everything, Free Will is impossible. I am already a Christian. You're wrong on just about everything.

[@Apollogetics]

@@koreystreich6978 Oh nevermind.

[@acem82]

Wow, at 14:01, you (maybe accidentally) perfectly explain why post-Constantine, so very many of those who were forced into "believing" in God through State orders (force of arms) did so very many un-Christian things. Not only that, it explains perfectly why that continued throughout the times of State Churches!

[@jameseverett4976]

Pretty much anything combined with state power will be corrupted and abused. This is what the US founders understood so well, but also knew would slip from our collective comprehension soon enough, and we would then struggle with misguided legislation coming out of moral quandries.

[@JerryMitchell97]

Oh my goodness, I love this explanation! I do see a slight subtle distinction that won't quite mesh to me, I think. It's the idea that God "wants" you to come to him but only if you do it right..(~ 9:30) I think it's more accurately described as that we *must* do it right for it to WORK. In other words, it actually just literally isn't possible to know God "for the wrong reasons" because if you have those wrong reasons, you have the wrong idea of God and don't know him at all. (Then it seems like there are a few places where the argument derives from that subtle difference, and thus the derived conclusions also don't quite sit right.) And maybe I'm just agreeing here, but knowing God in the sense of believing him, and knowing him in the sense of how you can know another person, those are the same thing. Which trails into something else you don't touch on here but might have already explained elsewhere, the idea of "original sin" basically just means no man can ever truly know God "correctly," and your belief is always imperfect. (Which is also the same about knowing another person, who could always surprise you no matter how well you know them.) That leads to another wonderful truth I believe, that no one can really be as lost as our human minds understand them to be lost.. since we're actually all lost by those standards, yet have just enough dim understanding to be lucky enough not to be. A single realization or moment of clarity can bring any person to know god, in an instant, no matter what they thought or did before that moment. But knowing him is ALSO exactly the same as knowing a fact. (The apparent flaw of that analogy is actually its strength: most facts aren't really true in the way you believe them, e.g. "birds fly" is basically a fact, but you can explain a whole bunch of other things that are also true, like penguins etc. because there's no such thing as a perfect understanding of that fact, and it's way easier/simpler than the fact that is God.) Simple assertions of God are true, e.g. "God is a fact." "God is love.", but the clarification of what those assertions mean and all the subsequent facts which inherently apply.. can take volumes, or lifetimes. I don't have a conclusion to draw here, so I would just write forever if I don't stop, I only wanted to share that initial feeling of very slight distinction, should anyone care to notice it and agree or disagree.

[@DDFergy1]

Perfect Love means different things to different people. Most people think perfect love means an enabling Love that permits and supports all actions thoughts and decisions.

[@drsiege3434]

There's no such thing as "forced belief". We can't choose what to believe nor can we be compelled to. Evidence leads to belief if convincing enough.

[@craftycri]

Brilliant! Line by line, you NAILED this subject, wonderfully done!! Years ago I was talking to a young pastor who believed God had abandoned him, I told him, the greatest gift one could have, the greatest honor one could experience, is God's confidence in us to withstand abandonment, for He will never test us beyond that which we are able. The hero's of the Faith in Hebrews, Paul's list, 5 times he received 40 stripes save 1, and of course Magnificent example the Lord Jesus exhibited on the cross... must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease? Please no!

[@williamoshea7898]

This is such a great channel, Thank the Lord for finding it!!

[@wishusknight3009]

Not really. So much mental gymnastics and so much denial of reality to square a presuppositional belief. Too much dancing and not enough disco.

[@santicruz4012]

For more than 11 years I prayed, went to church, fasted, read the bible, loved god with all my heart, I did my best trying to be a good christian. He never responded. The day he decides to show up, I will believe in him.

[@InspiringPhilosophy]

You married God for his money, not because he is God. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYLdZHt4j6qIe7M

[@santicruz4012]

@@InspiringPhilosophy I dont know what the hell do you mean by that. I was a sincere christian but god didnt reveal himself to me.

[@jesussaves6625]

@@santicruz4012 The Bible says that if you were a sincere Christian, you would not have gone out from among us.. I hope that you will come to recognize the ways in which He reveals Himself to you.

[@santicruz4012]

@@jesussaves6625 That is called the No True Scotsman fallacy, look it up. And even if I take you seriously, are you suggesting that God is not smart or capable enough to speak to me in a way that its obvious to me?

[@milka1150]

Hey I don't know if you're gonna c this or not but I'll just share my story...I teared up when I read ur comment b/c 11 yrs..wow...I was an agnostic who believed in God after an experience. As u said I loved God after that. I was constantly arguing with other religious groups and atheists just so people would love him as I did just for his glory y'know. I then found out when the 'good feelings' subsided,that I did not believe in the Christ story. Not even a bit. So b/c I wanted to believe, I read and read and read a lot. I prayed I fasted became full of rage at him. I never missed church. I said the sinner's prayer hundreds of times. I saw thousands of testimonies. I read too many apologetics but still not even an ounce of faith. So I came into the conclusion that if Jesus won't come and tell me to believe in him face to face I was not gonna believe. I think of God every single moment of my life I was not in it for the 'religion' I truly wanted him but he didn't come as I expected him to come. So after 4 long excruciating years I started to experience depression yaaay! the cherry on top 😭. I just don't know how to explain depression for those of u who don't know it but any ways in those days I didn't read the bible I didn't pray but I didn't complain either I wasn't angry at God anymore. That experience broke me. It humbled me. I let go of my accusations on God I mean I left a lot of things for him the only thing I asked him was him and he was denying me that. I didn't care that I didn't believe in Jesus, I JUST WANTED TO GET BETTER. So that was when I surrendered that day I met Christ. And he is with me since. For anyone who might be reading this my testimony is not at all 'conventional' but please understand God is greater than our doubts and our sufferings. May u find true peace in him.✌️

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

“I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?” - Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis.

[@wmthewyld]

GOD does not hide HIMSELF, nor does HE force you to find HIM.

[@JohnsonJLB]

The story of Moses and the Isrealites was another prime example. They knew God through His work in Egypt to free them, the curses, the ball of fire in the sky, the parting of the waters. The Isrealites knew Moses was talking with God on the mountain, yet they had Aaron create a golden calf to worship. They also whined and complained in the wilderness when God revealed Himself through constantly providing mana for them. Point is God revealed Himself to His chosen people and they still doubted Him. I think through those stories in the Bible God reveals why divine hiddenness is better for us to truly know Him. We must pursue Him to know Him.

[@MrCmon113]

In those stories your god isn't very shy at all. So why is he now?

[@JohnsonJLB]

​@@MrCmon113 Because He came to a culture of people that were devoted to passing down information as truthful as possible through repetition of the same story and correction and eventually writing it down. Even those people who saw God's first hand affects on the physical realm still doubted Him. How much more would people doubt His affect on the physical realm when they can attempt to explain it away with "science". It was the best time and culture to reveal Himself to. Also, He is efficient. If He gave all the evidence needed through that route and you still won't believe then no point in offering evidence via that same route. In this day an age (think deepfakes and CGI) it's much easier to confuse real events with fake ones. Even still when someone like yourself sees the beauty of mathematics written all throughout nature you still don't think the mind of a Creator could have caused it. The Mandelbrot Set is found in nature kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXbcgYqAi76jbpY also the bifurcation diagram is part of the Mandelbrot set. It governs populations of animals. kzbin.info/www/bejne/paetlKaCbNusqM0 . These non-physical mathematical laws show up in our physical realm and seem to govern it. To me just like DNA these laws represent ordered information. I've only ever known information to come from a mind. This mind is what I would call God. How much better of an explanation that a mind affects our physical realm than simply chaos and time did it. Sure, my explanations have only reached an explanation for Deism, but the Bible is great evidence for Theism.

[@georgeclose8816]

This is such a good video. Great job, IP! God bless you and your ministry!

[@jasontolkien9829]

Really great video, you do some spectacular work on this channel sir! :)

[@bombud1]

God doesnt promise that we will be safe and free on Earth. He promises we will live forever with Him in Heaven. If, in 50,000 years we think back, whether in Heaven or hell, "i wish i could have just toughed it out those measly 70-80 years. If only i had believed!".

[@LorenzoMolina-o8s]

I have a question. Why wouldnt Jesus reveal himself individually for everyone, and talk to us like we talk to our family, in a relationship?

[@ApostateltsopA]

At 11:10 or so, this requirement to humble ourselves, before we can get proof, is the exact sort of conformation bias the video points to as a problem in the first half.

[@AnonymousC-lm6tc]

Confirmation bias? Any free academic or philosophical inquiry first requires humility as all learning does. That is a basic tenet of education. Confirmation bias is when you seek evidence that confirms your presuppositions, which Inspiring Philosophy is not proposing.

[@sleepypuddle6474]

If god is truly all loving and forgiving then he would forgive someone who did not believe in life.

[@Navii-05]

Baseless assertion...Boring

[@raulvera164]

@@Navii-05 not really. He´s got a point. If someone does not like life, regret being born, does not find life beautiful, then that person does not have to thank God about anything.

[@Navii-05]

@@raulvera164 And can you be sure that such a state of mind is normal? People that have that sort of look on life are depressed or something similiar which can be dealt with. They may not feel like they have anything to thank God for at that moment but they objectively still do I suppose.

[@raulvera164]

@@Navii-05 I don't think there's such a thing as a “normal” state of mind. Some people just reach a point in life where they realize that life is really pointless and purposeless, without necessarily being depressed.

[@Navii-05]

@@raulvera164 Are you an atheist? If yes, then it is nice to see that you are consistent, if you are a nihilist that is. Yes, under atheism life is pointless and purposeless. (I am not saying that it is false because of that btw) But then again, if the Christian God exists then being a nihilist would not make sense I believe. Basically in either scenario we have a person that does not feel like they have anything to thank God for, but they are wrong if He actually exists.

[@michaelflores9220]

Threatening people with eternal punishment is coercion. it wouldn't be removing free will since it's not mind control, but it would be free will confronted with coercion.

[@AlbertM170]

What eternal punishment? Hell isn't a prison or something. It is the absence of God and all goodness. As God is the source of all good, His absence would also mean the absence of all good. God gives you the option to either want Him or not want Him. He will not force you to want Him and if you don't, then He won't force Himself on you. He will let you be your own god and find your own way. The suffering that you inflict upon yourself from choosing to find your identity in contingent and imperfect things, the constant disappointment and frustration and emptiness that will plague you for all eternity as every single source of joy you try to have eventually and inevitably lets you down until you consume yourself in your own selfish desires is what we know as hell. This picture of hell of a red naked demon dumping you in lava for eternity is as stupid to Christians as it is to atheists.

[@michaelflores9220]

@@AlbertM170 Catholics very frequently refer to the "eternal punishment of Hell". Even the catechism and Bible use the word punishment when talking about Hell. The Bible ALWAYS describes Hell as punishment imposed from outside by God.

[@AlbertM170]

@@michaelflores9220 the Bible describes hell as outside the presence of God. In a parable by Jesus, He says that the king threw those who wronged him outside his palace, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Revelation 21, in describing heaven, says that 'outside are the idolaters, the immoral...' Hell is described as being outside God's presence. And considering that many people hate God and do not want to be in His presence, it can be rightly concluded that these people choose hell over God, either due to their desire to be their own rulers or due to hatred for God.

[@michaelflores9220]

@@AlbertM170 Being thrown out is not sel-f inflicted. And Revelation describes people who have the mark of the beast being tormented with fire and sulfur "in the presence of the lamb and his angels". Isaiah speaks of the messiah smiting people with the breath of his lips. Smite is a transitive, not reflective, verb. it never says "They shall smite themselves".

[@AlbertM170]

@@michaelflores9220 Revelation also describes those same people with the mark of the beast cursing God in their lifetimes during the 7 vial/bowl judgments. They were the ones who cursed God instead of turning to Him. And the parable that I mentioned says that the king threw them out after rejecting the goodness that the king had shown to them. Thus it follows that they were cast out of what they had scorned and despised and they reaped the consequences of that scorn with weeping and gnashing of teeth outside the presence of the king.

[@pvpeet9374]

If you seek God with an open heart, you will find him. But most people don’t want to humble themselves and that’s what hardens their hearts, so they try to find God with pure logic. And then they can’t find him because everything looks like coincidence. You don’t seek a relationship, especially with the Lord, based purely on logic and your brain.

[@thejabberwocky2819]

No true Christian fallacy, plus the ultimate dishonesty of assuming you know other peoples minds better than they do

[@jackjones3657]

You make some excellent points here. If God were to come down from heaven in some dramatic fashion we would feel compelled out of fear to acknowledge Him. It is also His utmost respect for our free will that He refuses to force Himself upon us. He is a perfect gentleman.

[@cmk5724]

This is a truly great video, and perhaps one of the best that you have made. The analogy of the father with the daughters is great. I suggest that you look through the works of Philo and compare, or rather contrast, his idea of the Logos to that of John and Paul.

[@VierthalerStudios]

Hello Michael. I was just wondering if you would be interested in doing an interview?

[@InspiringPhilosophy]

Sure, I would love to.

[@petersalucci5444]

You see atheists ask why god doesn’t show himself.... but he did 2000 years ago And yet they didn’t believe him. So what makes them think they will believe him now?

[@justinlequire]

Yes, but based on everything discussed in this video, that means god didn't actually love the people he actually revealed himself to if his love had to be enforced.

[@Jacore1000]

Justin Bear Attack......You do know God's existence from His love are to different things; right?....The video clearly said that because God is all-knowing, He knows how much or less evidence a person needs to believe in him.

[@justinlequire]

@@Jacore1000 The bible says God IS love. They are not 2 different things. Not even "to" different things.

[@justinlequire]

@@Jacore1000 I'm not trying to pester you or anyone else. I just don't understand why youtube suggests Christian videos to me after watching FFRF videos. It happens all the time.

[@Jacore1000]

Justin Bear Attack......Your whole argument of God forcing His existence on people; because he don't love them is really flawed.....God has never force His existence on anybody He knows will not believe;......this is the whole point of the video......It is God's love for mankind why he stays hidden; that's the whole point here...You get it now?

[@shieldofpistis9557]

When Jesus walked this earth performing miracles and forgiving sins He was accused by even religious people of doing the devil's work. You are right. It's not so much that God is hidden. He can be showed all throughout history. The issue is that people decide they do not want Him to believe. Great video Matt.

[@MrCmon113]

You didn't pay any attention to the contents of the video.

[@shieldofpistis9557]

@@MrCmon113 Why do you make that assumption?

[@spacebook8923]

If anything that contradicts his entire point. IP wants to make the argument that God revealing himself would take away our free will and yet also argues that even if God did reveal himself that people would still choose not to believe. IP wants his cake and wants to eat it too.

[@InfinityExt]

What about the people who have no info on the gospels, if those people can go to heaven because lack of info doesn’t determine where they are going in the afterlife then why do we even need to spread the message and what makes knowing the message better than not knowing the message

[@jaimeur5305]

Man, your videos are a blessing to me, huge thanks, I've grown so much in faith

[@stephentaylforth4731]

Back in the day, when I was a believer I would have found this a convincing argument. Today its a weak argument, dripping in irony and based on what I now see as an appalling strawman. I'm now an agnostic atheist, I don't know there isn't a god, I don't ask much, what he's already supposedly done in 1 Kings 18 would certainly bring me back to the fold. He's done it once already, he cannot lose anything by repeating it. Yeah I know, I was never a real Christian. I've heard that one a time or two.

[@NeoVelocity]

I'm appalled not only by the reasoning but by the people that are so 'inspired' but it. A god that made our broken natures that might reject him, so he remains hidden to counter his punishment? I was Catholic, and horribly would've been touched by this but with merely a paradigm shift watching theist arguments drives me further away. The blindness of religious cognition is horrifyingly nauseating

[@Apollogetics]

Although a personal relationship is a two-step process where you have to know something exists first before you can decide to have a meaningful relationship with someone, this does not apply to God. This is because He does not need to appear physically or do something on a global scale in the first place to convince the ones he knows would have a relationship with him if he revealed to them that he is the true God. Remember, he is omniscient so just like he knows what evidence would convince unbelievers he exists, he also knows ways to convince somebody without resorting to appearing physically or on a global scale. More importantly, even if he did appear physically, The bible is full of stories and situations of Israel’s not only disobeying GOd but choosing to follow another God despite having God physically appear to them almost on demand in some form. We even have evidence that God only shows miracles when he knows it would potentially lead into a meaningful relationship with him. So we would expect him to skip the first step and go right into the second. Thus, If you are talking about the Christian God specifically, then you have to accept all this as a reality and showing such evidence does not mean someone will automatically choose to enter into a relationship with him.

[@benjaminbethel5640]

@@Apollogetics I have a question. So if we accept that Christianity is true we know that God can give people vision and dreams to know he exist. A lot of muslims that convert to Christianity had a dream or vison of Jesus. So my question is why don't he do that for everybody. I understand some people are skeptical and nothing would convince them, but some people who truly don't believe but are still open if God like audibly spoke to them or give them dreams. So why don't he do it?

[@Apollogetics]

@@benjaminbethel5640 Its funny you pointed that fact out about muslims because I remember hearing about that phenomna as well. I have actually answered this in this thread already. The bible is full of stories and situations of Israel’s not only disobeying GOd but choosing to follow another God despite having God physically appear to them almost on demand in some form. In fact, We have evidence that God only shows miracles when he knows it would potentially lead into a meaningful relationship with him. There is no reason to think this would not apply to dreams and visions as well.Remember, he is omniscient .

[@davidpallmann8046]

Thanks for the video IP. Have you read Michael C. Rea's book on the divine hiddeness?

[@Misteraitch1967]

Whether one believes or not will be down to personal experience, upbringing, social interactions etc. and as all of those are as unique as the individual then it is impossible for us to have the same beliefs. One perceives the task at hand is to experience the world through the eyes of a child. To see everything with new eyes, an innocence without assigning labels and names, pre-judgements or assumptions, biases and opinions, but to simply enjoy the unique spectacle that is appearing in front of you and ONLY for you. Never stop asking 'Why?'

[@raphaelfeneje486]

Personal experience and upbringing?? Really?? You're not ready to seek then. Why are people adviced to think outside the box?

[@jmca_power]

Convincing everyone that God exists and wants a relationship with them doesn't remove free will anymore than being told you have a long lost brother removes your free will

[@Nameless-pt6oj]

That’s not the point. The long lost brother is not a divine being who deserves worship and who wants to sanctify us. It’s one thing knowing someone exists, it’s another thing worshipping them and going through a sanctification process. That’s where the problem lies. That’s where free will is affected.

[@jmca_power]

@@Nameless-pt6oj exactly my point, is one thing acknowledging that someone exists, and is another thing to worship that someone, God revealing Himself to everyone doesn't affect free will, God revealing himself and forcing us to worship him does

[@taliaerin6671]

Brilliant!💜

[@gleasonparker1684]

I like the idea of cognitively based theism. God wants us to think about him and why we believe not just to believe on Blind Faith. I had not considered this before. Thanks for making me think more about God.

[@Graceforlivingyoutube]

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸Wowwww you are very good with what you do dear great share well done we love and appreciate you God richly bless you stay blessed 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

[@d454b]

Appreciate your videos, amigo. Fifth or sixth time I've watched this, learn something new each time. Praying for you.

[@pigeonrat5522]

please pray I am helped psychologically and not for an inward sense, but for help with grasping and sensing his love again. My own capability to see and be changed. To truly have faith in him and to know him.