The Nature of Divine Revelation

As previously mentioned, most believers assert that God has conveyed His will through divine revelations. Yet, I have yet to find a clear instance of such revelations that dismisses natural explanations.

Take, for instance, Christianity's most significant text: the Bible. If a loving God truly cares for all humanity across cultures and eras, it seems improbable that He would opt to reveal His intentions through a small, ancient community, in their local language, using a fragile medium like papyrus, and through the unreliable process of manual copying.

Furthermore, these ancient writings are indistinguishable from other historical religious documents. Theologians may refer to this phenomenon as 'contextualization,' but this term essentially acknowledges that the authors of the Bible were limited by their historical circumstances and couldn't produce content that transcended their time.

Many Christians argue that the Bible includes fulfilled prophecies as evidence of divine authorship. However, numerous examples cited do not qualify as true prophecies. An omniscient God would surely be aware that such a method of revelation would leave most of the world's population historically uninformed. Only a select few would have access to the copies of original texts, which have been passed down through generations.

People would then face the daunting task of discerning which writings genuinely reflect divine revelation and which are merely human constructs. There was no divine guide to dictate which books were accepted, leaving individuals to establish their own criteria.

Additionally, they would engage in debates over which variations among the manuscripts are authentic and which may be later alterations or mistakes.

An all-knowing God could have anticipated these complications. Yet, many Christians still believe that this is how their omniscient God chose to reveal Himself. It's no wonder that throughout history, most individuals have known little or nothing about this God, and even those who have access to the Bible possess differing interpretations, leading to countless faith traditions.

It's perplexing.

Why wouldn't God communicate directly with individuals, as we do when seeking understanding? Wouldn't this facilitate a broader comprehension of His intentions, rather than depending on human intermediaries who dispute over true representation?

Yet, this confusion aligns with the notion that God might not exist or is silent, and that the Bible is simply a human creation, akin to any other ancient myth or sacred text.

Religious Experiences: A Questionable Foundation

Many Christians assert that God has directly revealed Himself through visions, dreams, and other personal encounters. While these experiences may feel profoundly real to those involved, there are significant concerns regarding this form of revelation.

Firstly, it is not uncommon for adherents of evidently false religions to claim similar spiritual encounters. If personal experiences were reliable indicators of spiritual truth, it would suggest that contradictory beliefs—like monotheism and polytheism—could both hold validity. However, logically, this cannot be the case.

Secondly, neuroscience and psychology demonstrate that our minds can generate perceptions that do not exist externally. For example, dreams, no matter how vivid, are entirely products of our brains, and we recognize this fact.

Substance use or chemical imbalances can also distort our senses. By consuming certain substances, we can experience hallucinations as vivid as any spiritual encounter.

Lastly, all these spiritual experiences lack objective verification. Some Christians argue that God might communicate through altered states of consciousness. However, if that were true, how could we differentiate which aspects of the experience genuinely originate from God versus those that are merely the effects of substances?

If God's mode of direct communication is limited to experiences that cannot be objectively validated and cannot be reliably distinguished from neural misfires—experiences that could happen without divine influence—doesn't that suggest that God is an unnecessary explanation?

You would expect that if God genuinely intended to make His presence known, He would utilize methods that unmistakably point to Him, methods that cannot be easily dismissed.

Miracles and Their Implications

What about claims of divine intervention and extraordinary occurrences? In most cases, a natural explanation exists.

Consider healing miracles. Theists often struggle to eliminate the possibility of placebo effects or other contributing factors. When a cancer patient's tumor disappears without medical treatment after fervent prayers, some Christians attribute the recovery to divine action. However, spontaneous cancer remission, while rare, is well-documented and studied by scientists.

The limitations of our current understanding do not imply that God supernaturally healed certain individuals while allowing others to suffer. If believers claim that prayer results in cancer remission, the onus is on them to prove that patients receiving prayers have a higher remission rate than those who do not.

Moreover, if God is truly omnipotent, we would anticipate miraculous healings that defy all natural explanations—such as limbs regrowing instantaneously. Instead, God seems to only intervene in cases that can be rationalized through natural means.

Christians often dismiss healings in other faiths, attributing them to malevolent forces. However, they seldom clarify how they ascertain that healings among their own believers are divine rather than attributable to other deities or supernatural entities.

Even if we accept the existence of malevolent spirits, would we not expect more from a loving and powerful God? Shouldn't we observe a significantly higher rate of healing among Christians—or, ideally, a complete absence of illness among them due to the blessings from their true God?

But is that the reality we witness? Not at all. Christian children face the same cancer risks as non-Christian children. In fact, it appears that this supposedly loving God does not intervene in the suffering that individuals endure worldwide. Diseases and natural disasters claim millions of lives each year. This stark reality poses a significant challenge to the idea of an all-loving and all-powerful deity.

The Silence of God: A Profound Dilemma

The absence of the signs we would expect to witness if an all-powerful and loving God existed is glaring. The ongoing debates about God's existence cast serious doubt on theism.

Christians can engage in all the mental gymnastics they wish to justify God's lack of clear revelation, but the truth remains: this world resembles one in which an all-powerful and all-loving God does not exist.

To believers, God's workings may be mysterious, but for atheists, there is no enigma. The absence of such a deity effectively explains what we observe in the world.

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