One of the main point of contention between atheists and believers is that atheists insist that there is no conclusive and verifiable proof of the existence of God**. And they are correct, regarding objective proofs. Atheists claim that the burden of proof is on the believers to prove the existence of God.
Look at it from another perspective, if there is a verifiable objective proof of God's existence, then there would be no need for faith. If there is a verifiable proof, then everybody would believe in God, and fear God, and live a compliant life. Then not believing in God would be stupid and there would be no choice, no need for faith, no need for belief, as God's existence would be confirmed. A lot of drama in life would come to an end, many would even say that all drama in life would come to an end.
If the headmaster is present in a class and the children know it,
They will not speak nor play, and would be all nervous and frozen stiff.
But this is not how this world seems to have been setup. The elusive nature of God seems to be by design. Please take a moment to stop and think about this, because faith is not about choice but about eternal destiny. Atheists, or scientists, or rationalists, or others did not design the world in which we exist. Nor does the world in which we exist needs to conform to any logical model conceivable to the human mind.
With existence of an objective proof faith and belief cease to be a virtue. I am not saying that faith is a virtue, but to believe in concepts taught be the prophets unquestionably is an essential part of any religion. Certainly there is every chance that a person starts believing in a prophet whose teachings may or may not deliver on their promise, or the student may not understand the teaching properly, and that is a constant persistent doubt in most believers. This is as if it adds different colors to the religious and spiritual landscape of society. This complicates the choices further, but again this seems to be by design - Nature is characterized by presence of extreme variety, and presence of many different schools of thoughts also conforms to this.
Coming back to the question of proof. The system of belief in this world seems to be such that glimpses of the unknown have been conveyed to few people, who are generally identified as prophets. And stories tell us that after their respective revelation the prophets lives did change, as they lived in awareness of God's presence, while rest of the people around them went on with their normal life oblivious of God. The drama of the world continued for people who were unaware of God's presence. Some people did heed the words of prophets. For others the life's test is to sift through the available teaching and paths, and try to find a way.
Life presents an endless maze of words and ideas,
Walk carefully picking your treasures,
Treasures of words, and faith, and belief,
Leave the wrong turns and take the right ones.
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**In this blog, by word God, I always refer to the Monotheistic ever present and all powerful God, the Creator of the world. I do not refer to the many different deities present in the many cultures and religions unless specifically highlighted.
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