The purpose of this post is not to contest whether or not God loves everyone or wants most people to be confused. This post is directed towards people (including myself), who think that God does not love everyone and/or think that God does not want everyone to know about himself (assuming he exists).
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Perhaps you have had a family member die or you are angry that someone you love is not ‘saved.’ Due to your (very understandable) frustration over these or similar matters, you come to the conclusion that God doesn’t exist. I would like to point out that if you think that God does not love everyone, and that he is ultimately responsible for most people’s confusion with reference to his existence, first, I agree with you, and second, the validity of the above two statements does NOT mean that God does not exist.
The question merely changes from “Does an all-loving God, who desires for everyone to have accurate information, exist?” to “Does a God, who loves some and hates others, who desires for most people to be confused with reference to his existence, exist?”
The error we are trying to watch out for is assuming that we know what God must be like. This is what is really being said: “God’s character must fall within certain guidelines specified by myself (or by popular culture), otherwise he does not exist.” With specific regards to this post, “God must be all-loving or he doesn’t exist” or “God must desire for all/most people to know the truth during this life or he doesn’t exist.” And in a more general sense, “If I don’t like certain attributes of God, then he must not exist.”
All this really boils down to is someone saying: “I don’t like God.”
While someone may have understandably good reasons for disliking God, liking or disliking something has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not it exists.
Why is this important? If a God who does not love everyone, who does not desire everyone to have accurate information about him, actually does exist, and he sends people who do not believe in him to hell, by assuming he doesn’t exist you make yourself one of the people who is going to hell. (Again, this is NOT an argument for God’s existence. Also, I’m not saying that if a God does exist that he/she/it is the Christian God- it could be any god or gods. I’m also not making the assumption that any God that exists must send people to hell. This is merely pointing out the errant logic and possible danger in assuming that God doesn’t exist because he has certain character qualities- nothing more.)
A wise man would try to find out if God exists (or multiple gods, or no gods, or whatever). If he finds out that a God who loves some and hates others, who gives accurate information to some and confuses others, exists, he would be even wiser to comply with that God’s wishes. This is especially true if compliance or non-compliance would dictate whether or not one spends eternity in heaven or hell.
In conclusion, if you think that God loves everyone and wants everyone to have accurate information about himself, your question is "Does a God who loves everyone and wants everyone to know about him exist?" If you think that God hates most people and deliberately confuses most, your question is "Does a God who hates most and deliberately confuses most exist?" Either way, everyone must go on a personal journey to find evidence for or against God, and then come to a logical conclusion.
Note: The principle advocated in this post can apply to other topics as well. For example, if you think that God doesn't answer prayer, your question becomes "does a God who does not answer prayer exist?" Character qualities that one thinks that God posseses are not proofs that he doesn't exist, they just change the question you are asking!
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