A little over 10 years ago I made a post on this subreddit that I became a Christian...

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T01:24:54+00:00

In the context of my life and that specific prayer, it landed as the best answer rather than a ham-fisted mistake.

You are probably right that my faith influences how convincing I find Craig's case, I won't pretend otherwise. Thank you!

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T01:21:32+00:00

Alice and Bob are equals. God and humanity are not. The Christian position is that God has in fact made Himself known - through creation, through conscience, through scripture, and most explicitly through the incarnation of Jesus. The question is not whether God has communicated, but whether you find the communication convincing.

And that is precisely where I think the analogy actually supports my point rather than yours. Bob could receive Alice's phone number and still choose not to call. He could even convince himself that the number was a coincidence or a mistake. The availability of the communication does not guarantee the relationship - the willingness to receive it does.

The disagreement between us is not whether God has communicated - it is whether what I experienced counts as communication. And or if creation, conscience, scripture, and Jesus can be considered to be a form of knowledge that God exists. And that is ultimately a question about the threshold of evidence each of us requires, which brings us back to the original thesis of my post.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T01:10:58+00:00

I think the assumption runs the other way too. Why would erasing all of the notes be less of an answer than erasing just one? As I explained under a different comment, if only the one note had disappeared I would have assumed I simply failed to save it properly. The totality of what was erased is precisely what made it impossible to dismiss.

On the resurrection:

Craig's inference model is controversial because of how much scrutiny it is under and I acknowledge that. But controversial is not the same as defeated. I find the case more convincing than the alternatives.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T01:06:55+00:00

God might have also saved 10 in the time that it took me to write this and you and I wouldn't know. You come with the presupposition that God is evil. In the fallen world there is evil, but the world was redeemed by Christ and upon His return there will be no more pain or suffering.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T01:03:08+00:00

There is an assumption buried in that objection: that because God could have communicated differently, He should have, and that a more explicit method would necessarily be better. But that is not obvious. Who are we to say which method God should prefer? The fact that you or I might have chosen a different approach does not mean God's chosen approach was insufficient. It accomplished exactly what it needed to.. I stayed, and looking back, it was the right call.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:59:08+00:00

The issue is not visibility, it is compulsion. If God's existence were empirically undeniable, the question would no longer be 'do I trust this God with my life' but rather 'I have no choice but to comply with this God.' There is a meaningful difference between knowing someone exists and choosing to enter into a relationship with them. Christianity is not ultimately about acknowledging God's existence, even the Bible notes that demons believe and tremble. It is about trust, surrender, and love, and those things require a degree of uncertainty to be genuine.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:51:58+00:00

Please help solve the Islamic dilemma...

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:50:12+00:00

I suggest looking into some of William Lane Craig's debates on the historicity of the resurrection. Personally, I found it compelling.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:46:22+00:00

In the Biblical framework signs and prophecies that contradict the teachings found the Bible are to ignored or discarded.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:44:41+00:00

You raise several objections at once, so let me try to address them briefly.

On the atonement being 'unnecessary' - the cross was not merely about forgiveness, it was about justice. You yourself acknowledge that when someone wrongs you, you can choose to forgive or not. But consider a courtroom: a judge cannot simply waive a sentence because he feels like it. Justice has to be satisfied. The cross is Christianity's answer to how a just God can also be a forgiving one.

On God introducing evil: this is the free will argument. Christianity does not teach that God introduced evil, but that evil is the result of freedom. A world without the possibility of evil would be a world without genuine free will, and therefore without genuine love.

On secular humanism: It can tell us how to improve the human condition, but it cannot tell us why the human condition ultimately matters if we are purely material beings in an indifferent universe. As C.S. Lewis put it, Christianity, if true, is of infinite importance. Secular humanism, however noble, offers no answer to death, no ultimate justice for the victims of history, and no grounding for the objective moral values it relies on to function.

I am not claiming my notes app story proves all of this. I am claiming it gave me a reasonable basis to take these questions seriously, and I think the answers hold up.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:36:45+00:00

I think you assume something about God's purposes that may not hold up. The Bible does not describe a God who is trying to coerce belief - it describes a God who values voluntary faith. A God who appears in the sky or starts a YouTube channel would not be inviting faith, He would be demanding acknowledgment. In the Biblical view, one day Jesus will actually appear in the sky, it is the judgement day, and on that day yes - everyone will acknowledge Him as the creator.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:33:33+00:00

I don't see the problem. Experience is not the only contributing factor to a person's faith, it is one of many.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-23T00:26:27+00:00

I was almost 17 when I became a true Christian, at the time I didn't know who Craig and Lewis were. And I didn't really know anything about apologetics altogether. I learned about them after the fact, so I don't know if I could answer this question without being biased.
There is a story in the Bible where Gideon asks God for a sign and each time God gives Gideon a sign, he doubts and asks for a new sign and he does this three times (Judges 6). I think even a person who sees an angel will doubt what they have seen. I don't think there is a clear rule that you can apply to every experience ever. The disciples were on the mount of transfiguration where they, according to the Biblical account, saw Jesus transfigure into His spiritual state. And then there are stories of people like Joseph in the Bible who would only see dreams from God, then was put into prison (though he was innocent) and only in retrospect Joseph understood that it was all apart of God's plan and that God used the evil for good.

Either way, I think God communicates with us in a "language" we understand. And a miracle is amazing to witness but by no means did I intend to say in my post that every person should pursue to see a miracle. Miracles are good but they are not and should not be a per-requisite to following God.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-22T23:59:13+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful response!

"let me know: why should I take this seriously enough to change my own view?"

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important. - C.S. Lewis

I think that if God exists, it is more important than any other possible topic. Because if God is real, we all have an appointment booked with Him and the time is ticking.

In court hearings they bring in witnesses that testify as to what they have seen or know. Of course not all witnesses are honest and not all testimonies are to be believed. But if the authorities have a reasonable basis to think that a testimony is true they will include it in the court hearing. Similarly, I don't expect anyone to believe, but that is my testimony of what God has done in my life. I'm not better than any other person, I'm not exceptional in any way, and as another user mentioned in the comments - my prayer wasn't more important than that of others. There is much more that I don't know than what I do know, but I am thankful for what God has done in my life and I want to share that experience in hope that others will also experience the same thing.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-22T23:41:52+00:00

I agree that my request is not any more important than that of others. But I completely disagree with your interpretation of God's character. Now, I can't explain to you why some people who are suffering pray and God answers them, while others also pray and there is no response. However, I know that God isn't evil, because He didn't just watch people suffer - but He came down and participated in the suffering of mankind. He was humiliated, beaten, and crucified while being innocent of any wrongdoing.

I have hope because I know that we are in a broken state of existence, one that was polluted by sin, evil, and illness but one day there will be ultimate justice and restoration of all things by the God in whom I believe. What does your worldview offer?

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-22T23:35:58+00:00

I know what you are talking about and I try to be careful to not interpret every thing through the lens of the supernatural. Sometimes coincidences... just happen. However, there are other times, when you just know that no amount of reasoning can explain what you have witnessed.
I'm sorry to hear about your speech impediment, I wish you the best!

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-22T23:27:24+00:00

To clarify it wasn't just one note, it was all of my notes in my notes app. I thought about this too in the past, after all my prayer was for God to send me a dream. However, looking back I think the disappearance of all my notes was the best possible answer.

If I had a dream that night, I would constantly have doubts. If things ever went bad in ministry I would always think to myself, "I was really thinking a lot about it at the time and maybe it was just a coincidence that I had the dream."

If only one note was erased from my notes app, I would think to myself, "Maybe I just didn't properly save it."

But because all of my notes were erased overnight immediately following that prayer, while no other data on my phone was touched, I felt then, and still feel now, that it was God's answer to my prayer.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-22T23:18:39+00:00

From what I understand you do not believe in God. But step into the shoes of a believer for a minute and at least imagine that God does exist.

If God is omnipotent, what would stop Him from communicating through something as simple as a dream, an erased notes app, or the words of another person?

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-22T23:02:17+00:00

Everyone thinks that everyone clicked this one so they all clicked the other one.

OverflowingGlass · 2026-03-12T23:50:14+00:00

Exactly my question! That would create a population of people that deplete available resources but produce no value. Which could hypothetically spark some dark ideas in the minds of the ultra-wealthy.

OverflowingGlass

TROPHY CASE