How so?

Maybe you should pray to jebus instead.

How so what exactly?

Hardly controversial that God's respect would be earned by everyone, not cheaply, coercively or automatically given.

You wouldn't give terrible parents respect, although they may have brought you into the world. Especially parents who abuse children.

Neither would you give a bad God respect although he/she/it gave us a world to be brought into.

If your life is hell, from little choice of your own, and some people's certainly is, God better do a lot to earn your respect.

I believe that all of these points would be valid if the "god" we're talking about is a "god" like Zeus, who is very powerful, but is imperfect and ultimately is just another piece of furniture in the universe. However, the biblical God, who (if He exists) created everything, including meaning itself, would not have to earn anything, given that everything that exists is already rightly his, given that all things are created for his pleasure.

A God who decides to remain perfect...

Is worse...

than a God who does not.

That is....

a rather intriguing...

thought.

Sounds like the set up for an interesting Nuremberg defense. Will God appear directly on the witness stand and confirm you were just a temporary non-person, obediently following divine orders?

Maybe OP hasn't heard anything yet because he didn't specify which illusion he wants to talk to. Depending on who you ask there are different fairy tails.

They could easily convict women of murder for their abortions if God showed up directly and explained. Look, there be evidence if God takes the witness stand. Testimonial evidence.

God on a direct line could lead to some freaky stuff depending on what supposedly Godly attributes God directly exhibits.

That's one way to look at it. Here's another:

"Eternity isn't some later time. Eternity isn't a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. This is it. And if you don't get it here, you won't get it anywhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. There's a wonderful formula that the Buddhists have for the Bodhisattva, the one whose being (sattva) is illumination (bodhi), who realizes his identity with eternity and at the same time his participation in time. And the attitude is not to withdraw from the world when you realize how horrible it is, but to realize that this horror is simply the foreground of a wonder and to come back and participate in it. "All life is sorrowful" is the first Buddhist saying, and it is. It wouldn't be life if there were not temporality involved which is sorrow."-Joseph Campbell

You speak of beauty and joy my friend.

Your view is no different to mine.

No, God will not appear on the witness stand.

Well, the “with God all things are possible” crowd probably isn’t going to like that.

Your God answers to no one? Not even his people?

Unquestionable authority may be the worst kind of totalitarian authority.

It is important to remain aware of who our role models are, and why.

Crowds that take verses out of context probably aren't going to like that, so I agree with you.

Correct.

When the "authority" isn't the creator and sustainer of the universe, then I agree with you.

Well said.

If you cant oppose or question this authority, can you really say that you're free to assent to it?

With God all things are possible sits with it’s own context.

While God creates all things possible, with God all things are possible.

It’s not very leading context. Circular because until God shows up and confirms directly it’s a matter of faith and uncertainty.

Free in what sense? In a sense, I am "free" to jump off the top of a seventy-story building, but gravity will assure that my act of freedom won't end well for me.

God has created a world in which people are free to act (within limits), and God has created consequences to acting or not acting in accordance with His commands.

You can question God all you want, and it's possible that He has answered your question already in the Holy Bible.

God will save everyone who asks Him to!

All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

With hellish consequences lurking in the background it doesn't sound like you're very free to assent to the authority of your God.

And that's fine.

That's the kind of authority you value.

American Christians don't talk about Original Sin nearly as much anymore - it just doesn't fit well into the moral assumptions of most people, Christian or not. Instead, religion is more commonly sold as a lifestyle choice: join a church, meet some cool people, self-actualize, feel good about yourself, and so on. A sermon like Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" could today only be offered with a certain amount of irony or in the most segregated religious communities.

There is a lot to say on this topic. There are two conflicting values that have to be held simultaneously. One is acceptance/tolerance/inclusion (feminine) and the other is judgment/discernment/discrimination (masculine). The stronger we hold each of those values simultaneously, our morality will improve, which means our well being will improve.

The problem is the stronger that we hold one of those values, holding the other value becomes more difficult. It takes a lot more effort. This often causes a demonization of one side from the other, seeing the project as zero sum between the two sides. In the West, we have placed increasing emphasis on ethics, which has lead to pulling more from the feminine end and, at the very least, devaluing the masculine side.

When the feminine side is dominating the culture, then there will be more of a general sense of assumed salvation and less focus on sin (or deficiency) as you mentioned. When the illusion gets disrupted by reality, then the masculine will surface in uncontrolled outbursts both individually and collectively. That looks like tantrums, outrage, and other destructive impulses that we are seeing more and more of in the political domain especially.

We are well aware of what it looks like when we pull too much on the masculine end and neglect the feminine, and those fears seem to be contributing to why we are imbalanced in the other direction. It may not seem like this is all related but it is.

The masculine (combined with wisdom) allows us to move forward and progress toward the ideal, and the feminine (combined with wisdom) allows us to do it ethically and at scale.

If you actually do hear from him, then how will you know you're not hallucinating?

Thats not freedom, that living in his jail, you call world.