Q&A: Revelation
Revelation
Question
Why doesn’t an all-powerful God give a sign of His existence and settle the argument once and for all over whether He exists or not?
If He is all-powerful, let Him put some huge, impressive fiery message in the sky saying, “I am God,” in Hebrew letters, so the world will know He is the Jewish God.
That way He would achieve indisputable recognition that He is God and that He exists.
It could bring a huge number of believers to Judaism.
I can’t find a reason not to.
And I know the standard answers: “At Mount Sinai He was revealed, and forty days later they made the Golden Calf.”
And also: “After Elijah the Prophet proved to everyone that the Lord is God, it still didn’t cause people to repent, and they went back to idol worship.”
But in practice, that was mainly because of impulse, not because of belief. And today there are many people whose reason for not keeping the commandments is not some impulse or another, but simply that they do not believe. And even someone who does believe would be happy to get some kind of boost to his faith so that it would be more certain.
So if that’s the case, why doesn’t He make some kind of revelation?
Answer
Excellent question. When I meet Him, I’ll try to find out.
By the way, there are those who would tell you that even today disbelief is also due to impulse, so revelation wouldn’t help much.
Discussion on Answer
Sorry, but you’re asking him as if he’s God’s official representative. The fact that a person believes in His existence doesn’t mean he knows the calculations and moves of that entity. He already answered you that he would “try to find out.” If there really were a specific and objective answer that one could know (for example from hints in the Torah and the like), he would have answered, so what is there to ask again?
I also think it depends on how you define that God you believe in, because for example the Rabbi believes in an entity that intervenes less, so that pretty much explains why He doesn’t make a revelation. If someone makes a strong claim that God is involved in every detail of life and listens and rewards and punishes, or like the way the Rabbi once described in one of the podcasts—“those who think God is in their pocket”—then the question is more relevant and weighty for them.
This question is difficult even if you don’t believe in Judaism: why did He create a world in which the truth is so obscure and hard to attain? Why does He allow suffering, evil, and injustice in the world? Why did He create many phenomena and creatures that seem unnecessary and even harmful?
In other words—why did He create an imperfect world with so many contradictions, doubts, perplexities, and unresolved questions?
(By the way, even the generation that left Egypt, who saw divine revelation, were not rid of their hesitations and problems. “They tested Me these ten times and did not heed My voice.”)
Apparently He has some purpose דווקא in creating this kind of reality, and we do not know what it is. But since the concept of “God” is by definition something beyond human comprehension, a reality we do not understand proves nothing about His non-existence. Just as an unsolvable riddle does not prove that it was not written by someone.
Indeed, there are those who would claim that, but I think it’s not a serious argument.
Because as I already said, even if there are some like that, there are also many others who have reached the conclusion that there is no God, or alternatively that the Torah is an invention, and they devote their entire lives to a worldview opposed to the Torah.
See for example: Baruch Spinoza.
So I wonder why He wouldn’t make some kind of revelation that would allow people who truly do not believe to keep His word?