(29-03-2025, 01:41 AM)S I M T A N Wrote: Yes, that's what Paul says. He shares that it is not a lack of evidence that keeps an unbeliever from finding God; it's a lack of desire to know God and submit their life to Him that motivates the unbelief.
Someone has said that the reason an unbeliever cannot find God is the same reason a thief can never find a police officer! Indeed, some people will reject the very concept of the Biblical God no matter how clearly you present the message and even if presented with enough objective evidence.
Some individuals choose to overlook evidence, rejecting everything that is presented to them. It's akin to how young lovers may disregard the world around them when they are deeply in love
There are others like our friend who will reject God because he tries to assume God to be something attainable by the virtue of “logic”, or applied reasoning...I strictly rebuff the thought of comprehending God through logic whatsoever.
Then there are others whom God has the authority to harden..
...Romans 9:18 (NIV) reads:
"Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
John 12:37-40 (NIV) reads:
37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 For this reason they could not believe, because as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”