If we assume that God is sufficiently omnipotent to avoid logical paradoxes, then let’s look at His record of miracles (not a comprehensive list, please amend if you must):
[ul]
[li] Create the universe - I am sincerely impressed[/li][li] Instantaneously scramble the single language the world’s population spoke, thus creating the myriad of human languages - I am truly in awe.[/li][li] Halting the rotatation of the earth for a day to give Joshua more daylight fighting time - in comparison to the first two a bit weak, but nonetheless very impressive.[/li][li] Keeping Jonah alive in the belly of a fish - beyond medical/biological explanation but points off for style[/li][li] Water to wine - meh[/li][li] Walking on water - If Barry and Stuart can do it, I’m entertained but not impressed (again, review the first few points here)[/li][li] Raising the dead, coming back from the dead - Cool if true, but open to other interpretations (there’s a reason they used to put bells with strings in coffins)[/li][/ul]
My point: If the best God can do is descend from the heavens without apparent strings attached - wow, Copperfield can do THAT. Where’s God’s imagination?
Imagine I was hired by God, Inc. as part of His marketing team. My job is to come up with ways to increase the number of “believers” - i.e. what stunts could He pull to open the eyes of the atheists.
Off the top of my head:
If we assume the world population is 6.8 billion and 73% of the population is 15 or older, that’s almost 5 billion people. Let’s invite them to all to a meeting. Let’s give each individual in this crowd a comfortable personal space of 4 sq. ft, that’s 20 billion square feet. The circular amphitheatre would have to be 30 miles across (I’ve modelled my amphitheatre as a flat circle - too lazy to calculate the surface area required of parabola so everyone can see the stage at the centre). Every ten years, I would advise God transport everyone over the age of 15 to this amphitheatre for a regular update of His will and how we as a people are tracking to His plan. On schedule, every ten years, all of these people disappear from where they are and reappear in their assigned seat - wearing no clothes (because He can do that). God makes gives an impressive powerpoint presentation outlining what we’re getting right and what we’re doing wrong with suggestions for improvements. Then, after a brief Q&A he transports everyone back to the place and time whence they came.
Freewill is not violated by this: God merely makes it clear what He wants, we can choose to obey or reject His will. No one can claim this was a hallucination because when we all compare notes they match up. We will know something non-terrestrial occurred because no structure of that magnitude exists on Earth (believe me, we’d know). This would truly be miraculous, and certainly far less effort than, oh, creating the universe!
Here’s a more effective though less dramatic solution: Have God personally appear to each individual in a form they find culturally comforting, say on everyone’s birthday. Let’s timebox the meeting to say 1 hour, the first 45 minutes is God providing vital guidance, correction, and 15 minutes for questions and answers. Knowing this will happen every year, I have a whole year to think of the best use of that 15 minutes. There will be no question that God exists - there he is. His claims as to who his is will be bolstered by His demonstration of wisdom that, when I follow, pans out for the best.
If cost is an option, at the very least He should publish periodic updates to the Bible, with frequent rewrites of parables and metaphors to speak in a more accurate cultural context to the current audience. And, hey let’s splurge, directly publish the Bible in multiple languages Himself and not leave translation to us.
This is easy! Why is it so hard for God?
