Perhaps we need to question our human ability to reason in the first place...after all, our reasoning ability on any topic is based on our knowledge of it. How much do we really know about any of it....as opposed to what we assume? This I believe applies equally in both camps.
If our knowledge is not soundly based, then our reasoning will be flawed. We tend to place science as the standard by which we judge God. But science is not exactly accurate much of the time. It comes to conclusions based on available knowledge and educated guessing in many cases. What is an established 'fact' today, may be superceded tomorrow. Facts don't change, but supposition does. How much of the science that is presented to the public (taught to children in school from a young age) is actual fact?
As I see it, people have flawed reasoning ability in both camps.
Those who think they know what the Bible teaches, base their understanding on what their "experts" (scholars) proffer, but on further investigation, demonstrate that they know very little about God and his purpose in our being here. Dogmatic beliefs fly in the face of what science knows, so it makes them look silly....uneducated.
Those who have ditched God, for science, (believing that science has successfully eliminated all need for him) are also basing their position on the flawed reasoning of others.
This is a very important issue because our future life is at stake. We are all stuck in this world for now, and depending upon what we feel in our own heart (sometimes conflicting with what is in our heads) we can either put God away...or we can't. That nagging doubt just won't go away.
Those who can accept that we are just an accident of nature and have no purpose here.....that this life is all there is....will not be disappointed. This life is all there will ever be for them. They will get what they expect.
However, those who have a spiritual nature, will fight to reconcile their spirituality with either cold science, Biblical Christianity, or some other expression of faith. It is spiritually minded people who have the greatest scope for choice. Their choice will determine their future according to the Bible. (which is what Independ on)
So how do we solve this dilemma? How do we find the diamond in the huge pile of broken glass? Is it even there?
From the Bible's viewpoint the situation is clear.
John 6:65...
Jesus said....
"no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” So we do not choose God as much as he chooses us, based on what he sees in us. Sometimes that is not just who we are now, but the potential of what we could become. The apostle Paul was a classic example of that.
Most spiritually minded people are looking for a religion (mode of worship) that suits them, rather than looking for a way to serve God that aligns with his will, rather than their own. He will never comply with our will....we must comply with his.
So those who choose their own way are also covered in the Bible....people often point to miracles as proof that God's spirit is with them....is that true?
When Jesus comes to judge the world, this is what the Bible says he confronts....from those who are sure that they are Christians in good standing...
Matthew 7:21-23...
"Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. 22 Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!"
"Lawlessness"? How can "Christians" be "workers of lawlessness"?
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12....
"But the lawless one’s presence is by the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and wonders 10 and every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth in order that they might be saved. 11 That is why God lets a deluding influence mislead them so that they may come to believe the lie, 12 in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness."
See...God allows people to believe lies if that is their wish.......it's a situation where it's not surprising that Jesus could say that "few" are actually on the road to life. (Matthew 7:13-14)
We all have choices.....but as I see it....not the way we might imagine.