The Problem of Divine Hiddenness, Answered Poorly by William Lane Craig (2 of 2)

Response to Counter Apologist:

You have so much to say about this God whom you refuse to take the time to understand.

Sample of your stunted understanding: “Consider that latter cohort: God deliberately creates people he knows won’t meet the entrance requirements for heaven. Instead, their afterlife will be conscious torment.”

First, WLC is a pincushion. Why not solicit people who really know God and defend him and his written word? Currently, WLC is very close to trading his faith for a bowl of stew. Let’s leave WLC out of the discussion.

God is a warrior. Early on, soon after Creation, a detractor sneaked in, blasphemed God, and then turned as many others against the Holy One as he possibly could. God decided to let it happen and determined to fight and win back what was lost. He told his Son, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” He is a warring God. He will win back everything orderly and on time. And he will do it in a manner that suits him, not you. There will be bloodshed before human history ends.

God also did not stop the procreation process of humankind. This is what you are referring to in your protest above. He decided to allow it to continue knowing that many (most?) would reject him. God’s enemies will increase in the last days. Your descendants – those like you who blaspheme him – will rise up in number, surround Jerusalem, and determine to exterminate the Hebrew race – his chosen people. This is all part of the plan to win back what was his. He is not going to stop you or your kind from multiplying. But one thing he will do – when his Son returns, he will utterly annihilate your descendants. The blood will run like rivers. In that day, His Son will set up an everlasting kingdom beginning in earthly Jerusalem, later reigning from a new Jerusalem in the regeneration.

Now about the “conscious torment” you bring up. Why do hell and torment last forever for the unbelieving and defiled? The answer is simple. If God gave you 100 lifetimes, you would blaspheme him in every one. If he gave you 1000, you would defy and mock him in every one. If God gave you eternity to come to your senses, acknowledge your rebellion, and repent, still you would not do it. You would continually blaspheme and mock and disparage your Maker. Therefore, his decision is to continually hold your body and soul in contempt and confine you to the horrors of hell.

God did not “deliberately” create you to miss out on the “entrance requirements for heaven.” Proof of this is that he gave you today – this very day – to come to him, but you would not do it. It is his choice to allow you and your descendants to come into the world, to give you each a chance to repent, then to fight against you if you do not – to engage your descendants and your insidious father, the archangel of Rebellion himself, and duly win back the whole of the Kingdom that has always been his.

God is a warrior. And he will win. Those who are with him will possess eternal life. Those who are against him will die every moment forever.

I have a technical term to describe the quality of this analysis.

Garbage.

This looks like a grade schooler trying to school you in communication theory.

You still have not shared your background. You apparently we’re not able to understand what I did and do now.

There are some very scary people around here.

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Indeed. Though I did learn something. My dad wasn’t that much to look at, but I always held him in higher regard than the broader world did. Knowing that my “insidious father” was “the archangel of Rebellion himself” is sort of heartwarming. And, frankly, it brings back a lot of fond memories.

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Preaching marked as spam.

A person widely considered the world’s foremost Christian apologist is a pincushion?

Why not solicit people who really know God and defend him and his written word?

Well if God’s existence is what is called into question, we can’t presume there are such people now can we?

The rest of your post reads like inquisition fan-fiction written by an angsty 14 year old. You were born a few centuries too late for that, so now you get to be an internet-warrior for Christ instead.

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This is really humorous. God as a warrior. Sounds like Thor or Zeus. You can’t be convincing to 21st century millienials describing God this way. God sound more like a character in a second rate video game.

As for WLC, he is an honest guy and trying hard to fit his theology with undeniable facts from science from the big bang to human evolution. I give WLC credit for trying to make his faith compatible with modern science. He is all the way back to the first picosecond of creation and trying to fit God into the universe.

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By the way, I find that a bit of word search-and-replace greatly improves this work:

Mighty Mouse is a baking show contestant. Early on, soon after Creation, a detractor sneaked in, insulted Mighty Mouse, and then turned as many others against the Holy One as he possibly could. Mighty Mouse decided to let it happen and determined to fight and win back what was lost. He told his Muffin, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” He is a baking Mighty Mouse. He will win back everything orderly and on time. And he will do it in a manner that suits him, not you. There will be a yeasty aroma before human history ends.

Mighty Mouse also did not stop the procreation process of humankind. This is what you are referring to in your protest above. He decided to allow it to continue knowing that many (most?) would reject him. Mighty Mouse’s enemies will increase in the last days. Your descendants – those like you who insult him – will rise up in number, surround Jerusalem, and determine to exterminate the pastry department – his chosen people. This is all part of the plan to win back what was his. He is not going to stop you or your kind from multiplying. But one thing he will do – when his Muffin returns, he will utterly annihilate your descendants. The yeasty slurry will run like rivers. In that day, His Muffin will set up an everlasting bistro beginning in earthly Jerusalem, later reigning from a new Jerusalem in the regeneration.

Now about the “conscious peckishness” you bring up. Why do hunger and peckishness last forever for the unbelieving and defiled? The answer is simple. If Mighty Mouse gave you 100 lifetimes, you would insult him in every one. If he gave you 1000, you would defy and mock him in every one. If Mighty Mouse gave you eternity to come to your senses, acknowledge your rebellion, and nosh, still you would not do it. You would continually insult and mock and disparage your Baker. Therefore, his decision is to continually hold your body and soul in contempt and confine you to the horrors of hunger.

Mighty Mouse did not “deliberately” create you to miss out on the “entrance requirements for the bistro.” Proof of this is that he gave you today – this very day – to come to him, but you would not do it. It is his choice to allow you and your descendants to come into the world, to give you each a chance to nosh, then to fight against you if you do not – to engage your descendants and your insidious father, the archangel of Rebellion himself, and duly win back the whole of the bistro that has always been his.

Mighty Mouse is a baking show contestant. And he will win. Those who are with him will possess a delightful array of baked goods. Those who are against him will die every moment forever.

The interesting thing about this rework of the text is that despite the alterations, no information which could possibly be of use to anyone is lost.

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