Why Should God Appear/exist At All?

[nailit]

I asked this in naomi's 'Atheist Authors' thread, below, in response to khandro's query.
He did what all good religionists do and ignored it, so thought I'd put it out here.
Religionists....WHY does your God exist?

[nailit]

grasscarp, I'd love to take 'my pick' but its not an option.

[Old_Geezer]

It's not the basics of a deity you want to worry about. That's beyond your understanding. It's the basics of existence you need to identify, and I pointed out maths for you.

[Old_Geezer]

The answer is that there can not be countless time before time exists as I'm sure you are well aware. Dodging this acceptance is unhelpful to the discussion.

[grasscarp]

Wait to show his hand - Peter Pedant - who to?
All this rubbish about what God did or didn't do and when is the only thing in this discussion which is laughable.

[Canary42]

A dog thinks "This man feeds me, loves me, grooms me, houses me, pets me, and takes good care of me. He must be God."

A cat thinks, "This woman feeds me, loves me, grooms me, houses me, pets me, and takes good care of me. I must be God"

[Clanad]

OldG… you say "… there can not be countless time before time exists, as I'm sure you are well aware"… Why? Simply because you say so? Fact is an uncreated being that has existed before time began is incomprehensible to us… just as I would expect from a Transcendent Being capable of creating the Universe from a spoken word…no, and not in 6,000 years, before that old excuse is thrown up…

I find it striking that anyone would require that we comprehend the God of the Old and New Promises… to do so makes the Being ordinary and human like, which He is certainly not.

[woofgang]

No idea....when i see her/him, I will ask.

[birdie1971]

Gasscarp - "... [Why did this supposed god wait till about two thousand years ago to show his hand] - who to?"

To mankind.

Are you saying that the Abrahamic god of the bible revealed Himself to mankind earlier than is depicted in the bible (or the torah)? If so, how did He do this, when and to whom?

As I'm sure you're aware, earlier civilisations such as the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Sumerians, etc. were all polytheistic religions. Not one religion prior to the Abrahamic religions were monotheistic. Your incredulity at being asked why THE god (ie. the one you personally believe in) waited until about 2000 years ago to "show his hand" is an entirely relevant question and one which you apparently have no answer for.

[Canary42]

Good post birdie.

[birdie1971]

^ I suspect that Gasscarp will disagree with your positive assessment :-)

[wildwood]

@clanad. I was thought that god came to Earth as his son, Jesus. Surely this was in a human form. Without this 'Revelation' the christian faith would still be ignorant of his existence.

Maybe I should have paid more attention at catechism, but it seemed so unreal that it lost my interest as I grew older.

[grasscarp]

Birdie, my name on here is Grasscarp.
I was asking a question to Peter Pedant and not giving an answer. You have really gone to town over my two words "who to?"
If Canary likes your post that is fine by me. The cat and dog story posted yet again though is getting a bit boring.

[vulcan42]

grasscarp, you won't get an answer from Peter Pedant, he's not not on this thread.

[jomifl]

I think asking why god exists is just a bit too profound for mere humans to answer. Asking whether god exists is a bit easier to answer since there is no evidence that god does exist. The answer to this question makes answering the first question much more simple.

[grasscarp]

Oh dear Vulcan. I looked at name Pied Piper and thought it said Peter Pedant.
Not much I can do about it now. Thanks anyway.

[jomifl]

Grasscarp, I nearly made the same mistake...but divine providence...

[Clanad]

Birdie at 00:23 is just wrong… for example:

That view (monotheism predates polytheism) is well documented by the famous Egyptologist, Sir Wallis Budge, in his best-known text, The Book of the Dead. Following are statements from the Book of the Dead as to the attributes of the true God, selected from The Papyrus of Ani:

"A Hymn To Amen-Ra ... president of all the gods ... Lord of the heavens ... Lord of Truth ... maker of men; creator of beasts ... Ra, whose word is truth, the Governor of the world, the mighty one of valour, the chiefs who made the world as he made himself. His forms are more numerous than those of any god ... "Adoration be to thee, O Maker of the Gods, who hast stretched out the heavens and founded the earth! ... Lord of eternity, maker of the everlastingness ... creator of light ... He heareth the prayer of the oppressed one, he is kind of heart to him that calleth upon him, he delivereth the timid man from the oppressor ... He is the Lord of knowledge, and Wisdom is the utterance of his mouth. "He maketh the green herb whereon the cattle live, and the staff of life whereon men live. He maketh the fish to live in the rivers, and the feathered fowl in the sky. He giveth life to that which is in the egg ... "Hail to thee, O thou maker of all these things, thou ONLY ONE. In his mightiness he taketh many forms."

Wallis Budge states: "After reading the above extracts it is impossible not to conclude that the ideas of the ancient Egyptians about God were of a very exalted character, and it is clear that they made in their minds a sharp distinction between God and the "gods" ... Here then we have One God who was self-created, self-existent and almighty, who created the universe."

There are innumerable other references to this fact, but, in the interest of brevity, you can look them up…

I'm completely flummoxed by wildwood's comment… yep… I reckon (as anon-Catholic) you should have paid more attention in catechism… The Old Testament is replete with appearances of the pre-Incarnate Yeshua… glad to point them out if requested...