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Originally Posted by Arouet
The point is, that merely having certain proof of God's existence will do nothing to remove man's will to love or worship him. The whole coercion argument just doesn't make any sense.
The point that I am making is that it could be a hindrance. If someone had a gun to my head and told me that I must love my wife, I might still love her the same, but I very well could build up resentment towards my wife as I feel that I am being forced into a situation that I did not choose.
I think that saying that if God sat in a throne in the sky and you knew he was the God of the bible, that this would have no effect of our "choosing", is ridiculous.
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In any event: how is all the fire and brimstone preaching, or family indoctrination, or peer pressure, less coercive than God actually appearing and providing his guidance directly?
First, most of what you are describing here is man induced. And I think that this only proves my point. If you grew up around people that were under this sort of environment you would know that that these tactics do more harm than good.
Have you known any people that were in a controlled pushing "christian" environment then left that environment, say for college? I have known many, and the results only go to further my position.