The evidence of a “hands-off” God

Part I of my answer to Question #2 (posted Feb. 8, 2021):

For those who are willing to believe, on the basis of faith alone, that God revealed Himself to us, performed miracles, and still answers prayers, there is of course no need of “proving” His active presence in the Universe. However, for those of us who agree that faith is the only way to “prove” God’s existence but not His nature or purposes, it’s necessary to analyze the evidence of His presence or absence.  That evidence is overwhelming that He is not actively present in our world.

Let’s first consider the primary “evidence” that God is present and active, namely, that He “revealed” Himself and His “miraculous” powers to a few selected individuals long ago during very desperate times. Those alleged revelations were then officially adopted as foundations of the Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions that exist today. And just as there are very profound and irreconcilable differences between all four of those religions, there are equally profound and irreconcilable differences between their respective revelation stories. Assuming that God is not inconsistent, those unexplainable differences definitely suggest that none of those revelation stories actually came from God. It’s also significant that the four major religions have always been quick to condemn as untrue all other versions of divine revelation that conflict with their own. At this late date, there is of course no way to test the accuracy or credibility of any official revelation story, but the sheer variety of such stories indicates that all of them are human rather than divine creations.

But if God answers our prayers, wouldn’t that by itself prove He is active and present in the Universe? As we all know, there are countless people in the past and present who sincerely believe that God answered their prayers by intervening to save them or loved ones from human or natural threats such as intentional violence, accidents, hurricanes, fires, disease, and such. Most if not all of those “miracles” can be explained by scientific fact or random chance. And, more importantly, for every one such “miracle,” there are thousands of non-miracles involving unanswered prayers, no matter how worthy. Just think of the millions of little children who die every year of cancer, hunger, or war; or of the multitudes of people all over the world who are injured or killed by natural disasters; or of the devoted doctors and nurses in a war-zone hospital who are destroyed by a stray bomb. This inescapable fact affects both good and bad people. Even if we assume God occasionally intervenes to save some individuals, what about those many more He does not save? To think that God has the power to save everyone but chooses to use it only sparingly is quite inconsistent with the traditional image of an all-knowing and benevolent deity.

Given all the evidence that God does not answer our prayers or intervene in our affairs, why would He choose not to use His unlimited power to do so? Or stated another way, why is He a “hands-off” God? The answer to those questions may depend on when He made that decision, i. e., before or after the appearance of life that was capable of suffering and dying. I will propose an answer in Part II that will be posted in a couple of weeks.  Until then, I will heartily welcome your thoughts about anything posted today.