In article <39A48629.4806490E@earthlink.net>, Nick Solomon

<nicksolo@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Hi, everybody. I'm a long-time atheist lurker here and extremely

> infrequent poster (extremely shy). Something occurred to me while

> reading some of the threads regarding the existence of god, on a

> somewhat different tack.

>

> Let's assume for the sake of argument that god exists and is as

> all-powerful as his (her?) believers say. Shouldn't he be able to change

> the belief system of one of his creations in the blink of an eye, or

> sooner? It seems so to me. Is he capable of doing what he wants? Talk of

> the "will of god" after disasters would indicate that this is believed

> to be so also (by believers, anyway). If he can do anything, and he

> wants me to believe, then how on earth is it that I don't?

>

> If god exists, then he obviously wants me *not* to believe in him. This

> means that those people who want me to believe in God are trying to

> subvert the will of God in their conversion attempts.

>

> Comments? (And does this count as an RFC?)

Nick, the standard apologetics for what you just mentioned are basically

paraphrased thus: "Gawd is so incredibly bitchen and powerful that us poor

little human jeezobots couldn't possibly begin to understand the complex,

but totally cool and low-calorie, ultimate plan He has made for us!"

It's an easy way to write off all of the bad stuff that happens to the

faithful. It's still wish-fulfillment, but it makes them fell better, I

guess.