Why doesn't God make himself visible and physically present?

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crossnote said:
Right now the most visible place we see Him and know Him and learn of His care for us, is in His Word...the Scriptures.
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I've often wondered why we consider 'seeing' God as the 'proof' that settles our questions and not 'hearing' God.
Since when can God be seen, being in essence Spirit, and not heard?
Even in the Garden, there is no account that Adam 'saw' the Lord but rather...

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
 
All good answers.

It is my personal view that God's wish is that we make a choice. Faith is spoken about SO MUCH in the Bible, I believe that God wants us to have FAITH and to CHOOSE Him. If God were to literally show up we wouldn't need faith and choice would be easy - not to mention it would kill us to see Him. God is beyond our comprehension, the human mind is not even able to perceive Him. How awesome must our God be!!!
 
phil112 said:
You need to understand that you just uttered a blatant lie.
I realize you are trying to inject a little humor, but don't lie to get it done.
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Actually, I wasn't using humor and was in no way exaggerating.
 
selenah said:
Just been wondering.......
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This is one huge issue for atheists. If God doesn't exist then you are not going to see him. So God not showing himself is exactly what we'd predict. What you will find is that Christian apologists make all kinds of excuses for why God doesn't show himself, but to the nonbeliever they all sound pretty lame. When I was much younger I very much wanted to believe in God. I prayed diligently for God to reveal himself in some way, and if he had I would be a believer today, but eventually I gave up and concluded there was nothing there to find.

You have asked a very important question. If God existed the most plausible approach would be for him to announce his existence to the world. The failure to do so speaks volumes.
 
if its consulation I have actually met him before, I met Jesus once. I was small enough to sit in him lap like a small Child and btw those pictures of him being pale and skinny are totally bogus. Im not sure why he hides himself from ppl and reveals himself to others all I did was ask
 
Cycel has a very valid point. I didn't encounter God as a child either and I went through most of my life not knowing Him. The timing is His, He knows when each of us is ready. We may think we are ready and we may even be raised with a church going family and regularly attend church but you may still be blind to Him. God's timing is perfect.
 
Heb 11.6
[SUP]6 [/SUP]But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
 
I don't think our human eyes could comprehend God in His fullness. I know our minds don't understand fully God's working. Our knowledge of this world is but a drop of water in the vast ocean of reality.

God has reveled many truths to us in His Word and in His teachings. He shows the movement of His Holy Spirit in the actions of His people: giving to the poor, weeping with those who sorrow, taking in the orphans and widows, doing things for the happiness of others without the thought of how we can personally benefit but so that God's name will be glorified.

In those ways God does make Himself physically present and visible to the hearts and minds of those who are able to see Him. However sometimes we don't accept what we don't expect.

Even when Jesus came to Earth and was in the physical body of a man where people could touch and see Him, He was not accepted by many as the Messiah because He was not the conquering King they expect and demanded.

Growing up and maturing as a Christian is learning how to let go of our expectations and demands and learning God's expectations of us and His will for our lives.

He has a purpose for us all, all we need to pray and keep our eyes and ears and hearts open to His response.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
 
God is uncreated spirit and unless He manifests Himself in some type of created form (such as Incarnation) we can't 'see' Him and I highly doubt we will see Him in heaven outside of a physical manifestation.

This is why I'll ask atheists who say, ''If God shows Himself then I'll believe'', with the question, 'What will He look like? and How will you know it's God'?
As I said the closest we can see Him now is through Jesus as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
 
MadParrotWoman said:
All good answers.

It is my personal view that God's wish is that we make a choice. Faith is spoken about SO MUCH in the Bible, I believe that God wants us to have FAITH and to CHOOSE Him. If God were to literally show up we wouldn't need faith and choice would be easy
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Exactly... There is a reason that we're here on our own. Once we understand that, its obvious why God does not physically reveal himself.

Cycel said:
This is one huge issue for atheists. If God doesn't exist then you are not going to see him. So God not showing himself is exactly what we'd predict. What you will find is that Christian apologists make all kinds of excuses for why God doesn't show himself, but to the nonbeliever they all sound pretty lame. When I was much younger I very much wanted to believe in God. I prayed diligently for God to reveal himself in some way, and if he had I would be a believer today, but eventually I gave up and concluded there was nothing there to find.

You have asked a very important question. If God existed the most plausible approach would be for him to announce his existence to the world. The failure to do so speaks volumes.
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Its important to understand that seeing isn't enough. Remember that the angels don't need faith, they know God exist, but yet many of them rebelled against him. You can't ask God to reveal himself in order to believe in him (Luke 4:12), because it defeats the whole purpose of us being here in the first place, and God does not wheel and deal for your devotion. Besides, when God reveals himself, belief goes out the window. The purpose of believing and having faith is that it requires 'love'. Everyone would believe if they saw God, but seeing alone omits love, its our desire to voluntarily seek his righteousness that proves us worthy of His kingdom.

A rich man is hospitalized and is dying. No one comes to see him. He ordered a bunch of flowers to brighten up his room through his last days. One day a girl who was an ex-employee comes to see him and brings him a single flower. That single flower meant more to the rich man than the whole wall full of flowers that he ordered for himself. Why? Because it was offered from the heart of someone who came out of love.

Its the same with God, who could order a bunch of people to serve him, but it doesn't compare to one solitary soul who comes to the Lord out of love. Satan knew God, Satan was ordered to serve God, but he was just a wall flower.
 
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I couldnt see him in his fullness and in his glory but wheen u finally get to one day two things will happen-1 your body will shake and tremble but not of fear rather because of the powerful force of of glory alove. It will be a delightful trembling thats for sure. 2 your heart will melt for him, You will fall so deeply in love with him that you lose yourself in the sea that his his heart. Just imagine falling deeper and deeper in a bottemless sea of love and with every foot u go in your heart skipps a beat out of such and endearing love for him.

So ya you have this to look foward to at the end of your life, when u get there and this happens to if u goe before me i have the biggest i told u so coming for u;]
 
God showed Himself in human form. They saw Jesus, still they did not (all) believe He was who He said He was: John 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him"

After the reporting of hundreds of eyewitness accounts after the resurrection still we say "seeing is believing". The next time we see Him it will be too late for many. My advice is seek Him earnestly now, humble yourself before Him and He will show up.
 
MadParrotWoman said:
God showed Himself in human form. They saw Jesus, still they did not (all) believe He was who He said He was: John 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him"

After the reporting of hundreds of eyewitness accounts after the resurrection still we say "seeing is believing". The next time we see Him it will be too late for many. My advice is seek Him earnestly now, humble yourself before Him and He will show up.
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is Seeing believing or is believing seeing? Cheesy i know lol
 
MadParrotWoman said:
God showed Himself in human form. They saw Jesus, still they did not (all) believe He was who He said He was: John 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him"
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If you saw someone preaching in the street and those around him claimed he was God, would you believe them? Would you take it on faith that this stranger was God? He, himself, does not say he is God, but others are convinced. Would you seek confirmation? Even if you thought what you saw were miracles performed could you be sure they were not staged? Those with him would tell you to believe on faith. The atheists in the crowd would insist controls be put in place to verify the claims and the preacher would abandon the area insisting that God did not perform on command. Remember how in his own town Jesus was not accepted as God. I think there was a reason for that.

MadParrotWoman said:
After the reporting of hundreds of eyewitness accounts after the resurrection still we say "seeing is believing". The next time we see Him it will be too late for many. My advice is seek Him earnestly now, humble yourself before Him and He will show up.
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The problem with humbling oneself when one doesn't already believe is that believing on command is next to impossible to accomplish. I don't know whether you think that Hanuman, the Hindu monkey-headed god, actually exists, but for my part no amount of humbling is going to allow conversion. I suspect it is the same for you, yet so many Christians – who are already devout believers in the Christian godhead – think it should be possible to will belief in the god that they are convinced exists. Perhaps you can understand the problem.
 
MadParrot Woman said:
God showed Himself in human form.
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Pseudo-gnostic protestantism
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Protestantism did not come into existence for some 1,500 years after the death of Jesus. What do you mean by the comment? However, I think you may be right about the gnostic connection, though it is not likely most Christian members will understand why we should think this.
 
selenah said:
Just been wondering.......
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I'm actually surprised that this OP doesn't have more likes. Selenah, if you spend time 'drawing close' to God and have a desire to see Him visibly and physically too-- if this desire only increases or continues while you are drawing close to Him-- then the desire is from God. David said, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4). If you delight in Him, the desires of your heart become the desires He has for you, and so He will give them to you.

I was also 19 years old when I began to also desire to see God visibly and physically here on earth before the very end. The more I drew close to God, the more the desire in increased. This desire began after I had an encounter with God on an Amtrak train en route from Baltimore, MD to Atlanta, GA on March 28, 1998. (I recorded the incident and some other encounters with God here to encourage those who God has given desires that He may not have given others, so they don't give up or stop seeking because others may say their desires can't be had: http://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/84689-experiencing-gods-presence-my-experiences.html.)

Luckily for me, the people I shared this desire with were all Charismatics who believe supernatural things can happen, so they agreed with me that it was possible. However, if you have desires or dreams and nay-sayers tell you that what you desire is impossible, etc., remember that it was right after Job's good friends told him that God wouldn't answer his request to meet God face to face-- right after Elihu told Job that God was too awesome to appear to a mortal man-- that God suddenly showed up just as Job desired. (Job 37:19 - 38:1.) God appeared both visibly and physically in the OT; the ministry of the New Covenant is more powerful. If others don't believe, believe. Our faith is small because we are small, but God honors faith, no matter how small it is, if you can only believe​: "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed... nothing will be impossible for you" (Matt. 17:20).
 
MadParrotWoman said:
Cycel has a very valid point. I didn't encounter God as a child either and I went through most of my life not knowing Him. The timing is His, He knows when each of us is ready. We may think we are ready and we may even be raised with a church going family and regularly attend church but you may still be blind to Him. God's timing is perfect.
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Yes, whether or not He will appear to someone is dependent on timing or/and faith. I had no faith when He appeared to me first time on March 28, 1998; but it was perfect timing in the truest sense . I don't know all the details, but from what I do know, He chose that precise time and, by appearing at that specific time on that specific day, accomplished several different things at once that would not have been accomplished if He'd appeared a day before or after 3/28/98.
 
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