1) There is only God. many people are ignorant of him. many people have false ideas about him. many people call him by the wrong name. However, none of that changes the fact that there is only God who hears the prayers of every human. He is God, and there is no other.

2) Yes, God knew that we were going to rebel against Him and cause ourselves a whole ton of suffering. And He knew that as a result He would have to become a human being and endure excruciating torture (both physical and spiritual) in order to rescue us from rebellion. But He loves us anyways, and He was willing to do that for us. Do I fully understand why He allows suffering to go on? No. But He is Omniscient. He has good reasons that you or I could never imagine.

3) Paul gave up a life of wealth, status, and privilege in order to go on the road as a missionary. He lived a life of poverty, and was constantly arrested and tortured for his preaching. The end of his life was that of martyrdom. He did not gain wealth, or power, or status, or privilege from his preaching. He lost all those things. You can believe what you want to, but Paul was no con artist. He sincerely believed what he preached and gave up everything for Christ.

Your entire proposition depends upon the validity of your interpretation of the observations of quantum mechanics.

You have yet to witness the new discoveries that will arise.

When "causal" mechanisms are observed for those processes we do not yet understand, you will once again be trapped by the truth of metaphysics.

I do not mean to be offensive. But long ago we did not understand the mechanics that precede lightning bolts. You very may well go back to the stone age and tell the people that lightening is "acausal" simply because they have not yet advanced in their observations.

What scientists claim to know now, they will repudiate in the future upon new discoveries.

The essential nature of science will never change.

You can keep kicking the can down the road further. But that road leads no where.

Two things:
1) I sincerely appreciate your deep thought and creativity
2) You are a very gifted and blessed thinker.

Three things:
1) An infinite succession does not bring about that which is strictly impossible.
2) You will admit if you are honest that it is strictly impossible for zero plus zero to equal anything other than zero. furthermore, the probability nothing becoming everything, or of life coming from non-life, is strictly zero.
3) the existence of life and the universe necessitates a supernatural origin due to the law of sufficient cause. 0+0=0.


Now, I would ask you to consider the fact that we creatures, even all of us living beings all put together into one giant force field, we are far too weak to create and sustain all that is in the heavens and on the earth. If the foundation of the universe depended upon us, the world would collapse in on itself and would never return.

Creation requires a True God, not some aggregate of all living things.

just going to throw out a couple propositions for you all without getting too deep into this discussion....


1) the certainty of what will happen in the future is in no way contradictory to our freedom in the present. in theology, we would make a distinction between "foreknowledge" and strict predestination. foreknowledge of the future does not violate free-will in the present. rather, foreknowledge only has meaning if it is truly predictive of free choice. otherwise, it is not true "foreknowledge" (in the theological sense), but is rather simply mathematical deduction.

2) the naturalistic, atheistic, reductionist worldview absolutely rules out any semblance of free will. for a person to have the ability to make choices that contradict material precursors requires a transcendent, supernatural ability. the mere natural cannot rise above material cause and effect. for this reason, our experience of free-will should give us all very deep pause when considering the origin of this freedom.. not that we possess something great in ourselves, but He who created us in His own image - He is great.

basic common sense should be enough to indicate the eternal, infinite nature of ultimate reality

Yes the absurdity of this world does in fact provide evidence of God.

For a purely natural world would not be this absurd.

The level of pure evil that exists in our species - think Hitler, etc - cannot be explained sufficiently by evolutionary processes alone.

We, as a species, are radically broken and terribly sinful.

The Biblical witness - that all this absurdity is caused by a supernatural fall from grace - makes the most sense of the evidence.

Why else do we have large gaps in our souls, which we constantly try to fill with our work, with pleasure, with power and money, and with all the things of this world?

Because our soul was made to find it's rest in God.

And you will see , if you look, that only those souls resting in God are truly at peace.

:)

God doesn't always give everyone those kinds of great experiences.

But if you fast and pray and get serious enough, eventually He will reveal Himself to you in a clear and distinct way.

You just have to persist in true humility before Him and humbly wait for His timing. None of us deserve any special revelation. He created us, gave us life we didn't deserve, and yet we have all rebelled against Him, killing His prophets, even crucifying His only Son.

He loves you, like big-time! But you might have to go through a few months, even a few years, of diligently searching, praying, fasting, meditating, reading the scriptures, before He gives you that "road to Damascus experience."

In the mean time, the historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ should be enough to bring you to faith. An empty tomb and devout followers willing to live in poverty and ridicule for the rest of their lives to preach that message - even going to martyrdom and death. The immediate and rapid expansion of the Christian faith amidst such great persecution can only be explained one way!