I Cannot imagine going through life worshipping a god that is so flawed that I must devote considerable time making excuses for his ineptness and bad behavior.
You say that God is omniscient and knew there would be non-believers before he ever created us. Why would a god of reason create people he knows will displease him. There is absolutely no rational excuse for God to create beings that do not conform to his standards.
You then try to back out of this dilemma by stating that he gave me the freedom to choose what leader to follow. In other words, if I don’t want to worship God, that is OK with God. In fact, I choose not to serve any leader--be it God or Satan.
But you realize that won’t work. God cannot give me “free will” because he demands that everyone prostrate themselves before him. Since I refuse to worship God or his son, he must threaten me with eternal punishment. Of course, it is hardly “free will” when the threat of eternal agony hangs over my head.
How could a merciful, loving God condemn anyone to eternal torture for nothing more serious than failure to believe in him? Just the fact that God allows Hell to exist is a testimony to his extreme cruelty.
In an attempts to spin your way out of this you tell me that the choice of Heaven or Hell is mine. No the choice is not mine. I choose not to believe in God or Christ, but certainly I will not choose eternal punishment. Somebody will have to sentence me to Hell and then enforce the sentence.. Will God, Satan or some yet unnamed torturer be in charge of my punishment? It is likely that Satan will consider me an ally and regale me with wine, women and song.
Why doesn’t God do what any rational being would do that wants a person to accept a proposition as fact? Provide evidence! All God has to do is to appear to me. In fact, he does not even need to single me out. He can appear to all humankind at once; after all, he is allegedly omnipotent. If an educator (God) wants his students (we humans) to accept a belief as fact, then a rational educator will provide the best evidence possible for the veracity of the belief. If God doesn’t present himself before us, it can only be because he is totally irrational or does not exist.
Even after I: deny his existence; show him to be cruel, vindictive, capricious and illogical; and inform others about his worthlessness, he fails to appear to me and tell me to stop this blaspheme. Apparently he would rather punish me than merely convince me he exists and is not a bad guy. Either he doesn’t have the guts to face me, does not have supernatural powers and cannot appear, or he doesn’t exist..
You tell me that he will confront me someday as he has all of eternity. That makes no sense. What good does it do to face me after I am dead and have gone through a lifetime of blaspheming God? If the belief in God makes the world a better place and God actually cares about the world and its creatures, then God should provide his best evidence to ensure that I believe.
You ask, “Am I so important that I believe God should have the courtesy to confront me?” Yes, if he truly cares about all his creatures great and small.
It is one of the many sicknesses of Christianity to demean the importance and worth of the individual, You express this attitude by comparing a London street bum before the queen as equivalent to we mortals before God. The notion that we are all “bums” before God is a deplorable attitude. Most individuals are not innately worthless sinners who cannot function without God’s grace.
Why do you defend a God who has not performed one deed to benefit all of humankind. If you tell me that his barbaric sacrifice benefited humankind, please tell me how. Providing a free pass to la-la land has not, does not and will not make the world a better place.