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Why do the gods hide themselves?

Spiderman

Veteran Member
I'll never understand why the gods hide themselves. How is that the loving thing to do? How does it help us? If it doesn't help us, what do you think their reason is for doing so?

If you believe in one God, why do you think he insists that we accept him by Faith? Why not give everyone clear personal messages from time to time? Why remain hidden? (It pisses me off! grrrr!! :mad:)
 

lovesong

:D
Premium Member
How is that the loving thing to do?
It's not. It's also not un-loving. Many of the gods are rather indifferent about us, they don't love us, they don't hate us. They don't live amongst us, so what would they gain from going out of their way to come down here? Some have, and I'm sure they still do at times, but what would they get out of "revealing themselves" for us in a grand way?
How does it help us?
It doesn't. It's just the way the world is. We're just in different places. When those places happen to overlap, awesome, when they don't, well that's just another day.
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
It's not. It's also not un-loving. Many of the gods are rather indifferent about us, they don't love us, they don't hate us. They don't live amongst us, so what would they gain from going out of their way to come down here? Some have, and I'm sure they still do at times, but what would they get out of "revealing themselves" for us in a grand way?

It doesn't. It's just the way the world is. We're just in different places. When those places happen to overlap, awesome, when they don't, well that's just another day.

Sooo...they don't care about us? I guess one thing they would gain from us is our worship and obedience
 

Neo Deist

Th.D. & D.Div. h.c.
Sooo...they don't care about us? I guess one thing they would gain from us is our worship and obedience

I believe in a different approach. It's not that God does not care about us, but rather that God gave us free will and does not interfere. We are subject to our own decisions and receive the consequences of our actions. Who's to say God does not grieve when we grieve, but sticks to His principles and convictions?

Do you really think that an omnipotent, immortal being needs our worship and obedience?
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
I'll never understand why the gods hide themselves. How is that the loving thing to do? How does it help us? If it doesn't help us, what do you think their reason is for doing so?

If you believe in one God, why do you think he insists that we accept him by Faith? Why not give everyone clear personal messages from time to time? Why remain hidden? (It pisses me off! grrrr!! :mad:)
You do realize of course that your thread title says "gods" and your post is about "God," don't you?

The Wind God has been quite busy around my house today, constantly pushing the air at about 20 mph out of the west, sometimes gusting up to about 30 or 35. The Sun God will be doing his/her/its thing tomorrow, when the Earth God rolls around to face he/she/it. And so on.
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
Sooo...they don't care about us? I guess one thing they would gain from us is our worship and obedience
Why do you think gods would want worship and obedience from us? That's primarily an Abrahamic/monotheistic guess about what would motivate a deity.

And no, most of them don't care one way or the other about humans, as a species or as individuals--they were here before us, and will here still long after we're gone. Most of the ones who do care about us, care about us as kinfolk. Why would they want to order us around, or have us worship them?
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
You do realize of course that your thread title says "gods" and your post is about "God," don't you?

The Wind God has been quite busy around my house today, constantly pushing the air at about 20 mph out of the west, sometimes gusting up to about 30 or 35. The Sun God will be doing his/her/its thing tomorrow, when the Earth God rolls around to face he/she/it. And so on.
Well, I don't hear a clear message from any of the Gods

I believe in a different approach. It's not that God does not care about us, but rather that God gave us free will and does not interfere. We are subject to our own decisions and receive the consequences of our actions. Who's to say God does not grieve when we grieve, but sticks to His principles and convictions?

Do you really think that an omnipotent, immortal being needs our worship and obedience?
God doesn't have to interfere with free-will but he can have some compassion and give some instruction. It would benefit our world tremendously if people heard clear instruction from time to time.
 

Neo Deist

Th.D. & D.Div. h.c.
Well, I don't hear a clear message from any of the Gods


God doesn't have to interfere with free-will but he can have some compassion and give some instruction. It would benefit our world tremendously if people heard clear instruction from time to time.

It's called a conscience.
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Why do you think gods would want worship and obedience from us? That's primarily an Abrahamic/monotheistic guess about what would motivate a deity.

And no, most of them don't care one way or the other about humans, as a species or as individuals--they were here before us, and will here still long after we're gone. Most of the ones who do care about us, care about us as kinfolk. Why would they want to order us around, or have us worship them?
That is a good question why they would want our worship. It feels good to be worshipped, but the gods might be above such desires idk
 

siti

Well-Known Member
I'll never understand why the gods hide themselves.
The Bible is very clear on this: God hides because he doesn't have any clothes on. This is the whole point of the account in Genesis 3...God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge...when they did, it says, they became "like God" and "realized that they were naked" (look it up if you don't believe me)...the rest, of course, is history. This is further corroborated by the story of Moses who was the only man ever to speak directly with God, after which, being so profoundly embarassed by God's nakedness, he blushed so brightly for the rest of his life that he had to hide is face when speaking to the Israelites.
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
That is a good question why they would want our worship. It feels good to be worshipped, but the gods might be above such desires idk
Does it feel good to be worshipped? I'd much rather be recognized as kin, or as a friend, than be worshipped...I don't think it would be fun having to command everyone around all the time...
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Maybe there are no gods hiding, maybe its the ones who wrote about them that are hiding something ?.
I've had too many coincidences happen that make it appear God is involved in my life, and studied too many miracles to ever believe that...but I do sympathize with those who do believe such a sad premise
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
I'll never understand why the gods hide themselves. How is that the loving thing to do? How does it help us? If it doesn't help us, what do you think their reason is for doing so?

If you believe in one God, why do you think he insists that we accept him by Faith? Why not give everyone clear personal messages from time to time? Why remain hidden? (It pisses me off! grrrr!! :mad:)
kinda like Star Trek's ....Prime Directive

no interference
not until a certain level of intellect is achieved.

hopefully you will be ready before your last breath
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
The Bible is very clear on this: God hides because he doesn't have any clothes on. This is the whole point of the account in Genesis 3...God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge...when they did, it says, they became "like God" and "realized that they were naked" (look it up if you don't believe me)...the rest, of course, is history. This is further corroborated by the story of Moses who was the only man ever to speak directly with God, after which, being so profoundly embarassed by God's nakedness, he blushed so brightly for the rest of his life that he had to hide is face when speaking to the Israelites.
And there was that hiding behind a burning bush, thing, too...
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
There is a sort of experience, sometimes called the mystical experience, that apparently comes about when the subject/object perception of normal, waking consciousness abruptly ceases while yet some form of experiencing continues. Some -- but by no means all -- of the people who have this experience call it an experience of god. In that sense, perhaps, god -- whatever god is -- reveals itself to people.

However, the experience can be devastating. It can utterly upend one's most fundamental assumptions about reality. And, in many reported cases, it can take years or even decades to absorb and sort out. Assuming for a moment that the experience is of an actual deity -- a huge assumption, by the way -- one might suspect deity does not often reveal itself to people because the consequences can be so extreme.
 

psychoslice

Veteran Member
I've had too many coincidences happen that make it appear God is involved in my life, and studied too many miracles to ever believe that...but I do sympathize with those who do believe such a sad premise
I personally don't believe in so called miracles, such as the virgin Mary weeping, they have all been proven as fake, there is always things happening in life that seem to be special, but that is only because we are looking for that, we see what we want to see.
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
I personally don't believe in so called miracles, such as the virgin Mary weeping, they have all been proven as fake, there is always things happening in life that seem to be special, but that is only because we are looking for that, we see what we want to see.
but denial can shut your eyes
if you want to see nothing.......you are blind

none so blind as those who will not see

of course we all need to be a bit more.....analytical
 

siti

Well-Known Member
I personally don't believe in so called miracles, such as the virgin Mary weeping, they have all been proven as fake, there is always things happening in life that seem to be special, but that is only because we are looking for that, we see what we want to see.
That, and presumably there's a perfectly rational explanation for a 2000-year-old virgin weeping.
 
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