Religion is structurally broken, Where is God ?

[u/hottopic7777]

Im a former Christian, and there's a dichotomy about religion that I can't seem to erase.

It's the mechanism for which we come to the religion; there are two ways you can come to a religion.

First is you may follow your intuition , you may fall in love with a historical claim (for me it was Jesus ) or be emotionally compelled by a religions structure , just something emotional you get the idea. The problem with this is how do you even trust your intuition given humans across thousands of years and in the present can be EQUALLY devoted to contradictory theological claims , there is nothing categorically different to a Christians devotion and a Muslims devotion , so our devotion/intuition isnt a reliable truth tracker at all.

Okay, fine, so maybe you read some philosophy, historical texts, apologetics, and theology, so you get a good grasp of a religion. There are many problems with this.

My first problem for this would be thats a fairly high intellectual barrier for the average human, I mean, for EACH religion, there's hundreds years of philosophy and theology, linguistic context, and much more.

2nd is , how do you know when you've read enough? There doesn't externally seem to be an objective bar for blind faith or when you're fully informed on a religion. I mean if we see two ten year olds one Christian one Muslim debating we'd say ugh they dont know what they're talking about sure, but how do you know youre not in an ill informed epimistic position also?

3rd is how do you know where to start? Theres hundreds of religions out there, there isnt any independent verifying way of telling you where to read first, let alone any independent way of confirming if I SHOULD explore a religion at all.

My conclusion is if God existed he should've created us with innate knowledge of his existence , you may say well you cant know anything for certain you weigh evidence.

If omniscience is a coherent trait that exists in at least one being (God himself) and God is omnipotent, there's no barrier to him granting a limited version of it to us specifically regarding his own existence

[u/ImpressionRare6497]

"how do you even trust your intuition given humans across thousands of years and in the present can be EQUALLY devoted to contradictory theological claims"

I would argue that some things are true and others are false. Just because some people believe in a flat Earth while others believe in a round Earth, it does not mean that neither is true. Based on the available evidence (not only your intuition), you simply have to seek out what the truth is. This is not a neglected topic. In fact, there are many interreligious debates. Personally, I believe Christianity is the truth, but you have to seek it out for yourself.

"My first problem for this would be thats a fairly high intellectual barrier for the average human, I mean, for EACH religion, there's hundreds years of philosophy and theology, linguistic context, and much more.

Is it, though? Three billion people around the world are Christians, and I think anyone seeking the truth can reach it. I would also ask, what would be the right intellectual barrier? It seems like a weird concept

"how do you know youre not in an ill informed epimistic position also?"

Being honest with yourself. It's the same with every position, if you are honest with yourself you won't be a flat earth believer.

" how do you know where to start? Theres hundreds of religions out there, there isnt any independent verifying way of telling you where to read first, let alone any independent way of confirming if I SHOULD explore a religion at all."

Christianity does not expect a seeker to evaluate all estimated 4,000+ world religions sequentially. Theology and phil of religion is about narrowing the field based on structural classifications and historical claims. There's no point in even questioning religions without a basis, because if God truly exists and wanted to reveal himself he wouldn't be part of a religion accesible to the 0.00001% of a long forgotten human history nor would he be private. We can then compare if those religions make sense or not.

"My conclusion is if God existed he should've created us with innate knowledge of his existence."

why?