"I want to be an astrophysicist to prove God is real using science."

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

It stands to reason, at least to me, that it is logically impossible to prove God's existence or non-existence using evidence that humans could perceive, as this evidence would be, logically, created by such a hypothetical God in the first place.  Game pieces proving the existence of the board game designer and all.

The religious claim is that the designer is in some sense "in the game."  That does not imply the possibility of provability, but it does imply the possibility of perception - and therefore, evidence, (though perhaps not to standard scientific methodology).

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

If god wanted people to know he was real he'd reveal himself. The Christian god obviously doesn't want to be proven real if he exists since people are supposed to have faith. Pretty futile endeavour there kid. But good for him for his education, I guess. 

If god wanted people to know he was real he'd reveal himself. The Christian god obviously doesn't want to be proven real if he exists since people are supposed to have faith. Pretty futile endeavour there kid. But good for him for his education, I guess. 

That's a good point.

 I may be accused of making a strawman argument for pointing out that some Christians would argue this point with two points. 1) That God did reveal himself 2000 years ago and 2) If God were to reveal himself it would take away our free will.

Yes these two points may be oversimplifications, but I have indeed heard these two arguments.

God has never revealed himself to me. =Fact. Why should I believe in him or be attacked for not believing in him?

I wasn't making any comment on whether god exists or the merits of Christianity. Just pointing out that if god wanted to be proven real he could do it on his own. And that the Christian god specifically wouldn't want that. Christianity's emphasis on apologetics in the past however many years doesn't make an awful lot of sense in the context of their religion.

The fact that the Christian god hasn't done so seems sufficient reason to question his existence.

A god that forces itself on humanity is of the kind craved by slaves. That knowing God requires sophisticated reasoning and personal maturity, proves what kind of follower He desires. You might ask yourself why you aren’t amongst that number.

There is a kind of knowing God that involves sophisticated reasoning and personal maturity.  It is not the only way of knowing God.  Knowing God within the Christian understanding is in the most important sense a relationship, which may be open to anyone. It involves a seeking after by the person who would know God, but this seeking after takes many forms.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

There is a kind of knowing God that involves sophisticated reasoning and personal maturity.  It is not the only way of knowing God.  Knowing God within the Christian understanding is in the most important sense a relationship, which may be open to anyone. It involves a seeking after by the person who would know God, but this seeking after takes many forms.

I don’t think we disagree. Before you can have a personal relationship with God, you have to have the sophistication to understand His will, and the maturity to obey it. At least, I think you have to have those things first. As you say, seeking after takes many forms.

I believe that for most people, most of the time, a sophisticated understanding of God's will comes only as the relationship deepens, rather than being a prerequisite for that relationship.   And there are many times when we do not understand God's will, we can only seek it out and do our best.   Obedience can be a matter of maturity.  It may also be a matter of a child's trust in their parent - this is not immature, but maturity might not be the right term.