Ambiguity of Revelation

This has been a topic that has often fascinated me. Why would God seemingly create order, design, and good in a universe but also allow the existence of disorder, chaos, and the things that we collectively define as evil? This seems counterintuitive for a deity that is "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9) Why then do we have this apparent ambiguity?

To understand this, we must also realize a few things about love. For one to love, it is necessary for the same to have the freedom to not love. There seems to be some divisive factors that cause a polarizing effect among individuals. We must examine these criteria for one to arrive at the decision to love or not love God

What criteria is readily available for one to love God? The following is a list I have compiled and is not necessarily in order of precedence:

1. His deep longing for a personal and intimate relationship
2. The degree of that longing exhibited by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son
3. The reliability that can be derived from God's attribute of immutability
4. The hope that can be derived from God's demonstrated faithfulness throughout Scripture and affirming archaelogical evidence, as well as the existence and prosperity of the Israelite nation in spite of adversity
5. The consistency and order of the universe that allows for scientific observation
6. The apparent fine-tuning of minute variables that has evidently enabled our species to inhabit a relatively safe area in a mostly hostile universe

In order to be fair, I will try to find reasoning that atheists may employ to justify either the passive act of not loving God or their active act of hating the Judeo-Christian God. Therefore, the reasoning I provide for choosing not to love God is as follows: (Not necessarily in order of precedence)

1. Lack of conclusive evidence for the existence of God
2. Apparent inconsistency within divine revelation
3. No means of empirical verification of the supernatural
4. The notion that belief in the supernatural causes conflict between humankind often resulting in violence
Not too shabby, huh? The atheists seem to wield quite a formidable arsenal at first glance. The seasoned Christian apologist will know;however, that much of this argumentation stems from ignorance or distorted views of the reality and/or nature of God. People assume that God is obligated to accomodate their expectations no matter how foolish they are. It just doesn't work that way.

Free Will and Determinism Paradox

This has been a topic which has grieved me greatly and has led me on a arduous search for information ranging from philosophy, the quantum mechanics uncertainty principle, and seemingly random radioactive decay. Yes, I've been all over the place.

Essentially, free will in the manner in which I am referring to is the faculty that allows us to bear the moral responsibility for our choices. If our will was not free, how can we be held accountable. This didn't mesh well with my currebtly held concept of a completely deterministic universe. It appeared to me that will was utterly dependent on causality and causality I saw as being in complete control of by God Almighty.

This posed a myriad of problems towards my existing paradigm. I had to seek reconciliation or I faced the possibility of living under a perception of reality that doesn't make sense or to abandon faith altogether. Personally, that latter would be exceedingly difficult as I strongly feel I have experienced divine providence. I could attempt to chalk it up to a psychological phenomena but some of the peculiar things experienced were externally verifiable and/or witnessed. More to follow...