God in a book. Nowhere to be seen outside of it.

[TooManyDoubts]

I never understood Christian belief even though I was involved in it and fervently believed for a very long time. I never got that the Christian god doesn't exist in any shape or form outside of a book. I mean, thinking about it now that is a very strange belief and mindset to have, that the god you profess to believe in has not a shred of proof for its existence outside of the printed page and that all 'proofs' are contained within it.

 

I lost count of the number of times I told people who weren't believers or who were struggling with their belief to read the Bible and God would reveal himself. Sure, I also believed I was in the presence of God when I prayed however not once did he ever say something to me (through thoughts) which weren't backed up by the Bible. I also never understood why the Bible wasn't positively brimming with amazing scientific knowledge that we're only just discovering now. It only revealed what the people at the time knew. It's clearly a made up, cobbled together book written by many different people at many different times and frankly shouldn't have been put out into the world at all.

 

As I was finally leaving the church I can remember someone browbeating me as I had browbeaten others in the past and was told to read the Bible and God would reveal himself to me and all doubts would fade away. I asked them if they had ever seen god, heard god, felt god, had any sense of God's existence outside of the pages of the book and was told: "No but that's why we need faith."  By the same token, I could say I believe in the existence of Peter Rabbit because he is written down in a book. In fact, I think I would rather have Peter Rabbit as my god. He would certainly be a lot more moral that's for sure.

[Geezer]

God exist in two places. 

 

1. On the pages of the Bible.

2. In the minds of believers. 

[disillusioned]

I know plenty of people who claim that there is ample evidence for God outside of the Bible. Family members of mine "hear" from God regularly. I know of countless people who claim to have witnessed miracles. So I don't think it's quite right to say that Christians think the evidence for God exists only in the Bible. Some Christians might feel this way, but not all.

 

I myself was never able to experience God as I was told I was supposed to be able to. So that left me with the Bible, which falls short. Hence my exit.

[mwc]

     I tend to agree with the OP.  The only reason people think that they think god is doing anything outside the bible is because the bible influenced them to think that way to begin with (not to mention the community of people reinforcing it all).  If the bible, or some holy gibberish, wasn't around would these same exact people think that sound, or wind or feeling or little voice in their head or whatever they personally think is god trying to communicate with them was actually a god trying to communicate with them?  Or would they think that those things were just those things?

 

          mwc