Why does God not show Himself beyond reasonable doubt?

To answer each part (see comment thread at question) of your question in turn:

Manifestation of God: Christians believe Jesus was God on Earth in human form (John 1:1) as evidenced by His radical teaching, physical miracles and the witnesses to His resurrection. (Incidentally, these witnesses were prepared to be tortured and put to death, rather than admit He was not resurrected.)

Logical proof of God: CS Lewis provided this argument to explain why he rejected atheism:

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?

A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?..

Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if i did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies.

Thus, in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never have known it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

I think you demand the same thing the Apostles demanded. It is important to see that Jesus himself endorses a critical stance.

Thomas the Apostle speaks (John, 20, 25):

"I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.

Jesus endorses this attitude and bothers to get back to Thomas to give him proof (John, 20, 27):

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!

And finally (John, 20, 29):

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me.

So the Bible makes it very clear that Jesus wants us to not just be gullible but to demand proof. Neither of the Apostles was prepared to believe without a proof and Jesus respected that and had this very story been incorporated into the Bible for us.

EDIT

But what about the phrase right after:

blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Isn't Christ himself saying to believe on faith?

You have to be very careful here: Jesus is saying this after he gave proof and he is saying this only unto him, i.e. Thomas, who believes already because he has the evidence right before his eyes; Jesus is not saying this unto us or to anybody else or in general!

So this part is one of the clearest and most unambiguous parts in the Bible. Christians have to take Jesus' word literally here and not try to interpret it as it seems convenient. I even think it is one of the most pivotal parts of the Bible!

As Hebrews says, "Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him."

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. That God is not seen visibly does not mean there is no evidence for His existence. There is ample evidence for His existence, and as the alternative, atheism fails to explain the origin of time, space, and matter along with a ton of other things.

The question actually assumes that God does not show Himself beyond a reasonable doubt, but I believe He actually does. God does show Himself to mankind beyond a reasonable doubt--just not beyond an unreasonable doubt.

Reasonable doubts are satisfied by creation, fulfilled prophecy, the resurrection of Jesus, and many other things.

Unreasonable doubts will one day be answered as well when every knee will bow and every tongue confess, yet God does not show Himself completely to allow people to reject Him.

For me the key to the answer is that there is only exactly one person to whom God can show Himself so that I have no reasonable doubt left: that's me. There are people who bear witness that He did so to themselves. This is good to know, but couldn't possibly solve my doubt[1] I take it as quite too serious and consequential a difficulty to judge on hearsay (of strangers) only. So if you happen to be one to whom God did not (yet?) reveal himself there possibly isn't anything else you can do but doubt His existence.

I think the only one who'd be able to answer the question is God himself. (By which he'd reveal himself to the OP "beyond reasonable doubt" I think...)

I'm not aware of a promise that He'd do so to a given person at (before) a given point of time (before the end of the world).

This makes me wary about some points that came up in the discussion above: (Disclaimer: really comments would be more appropriate for the following, but I'm new here and not yet able to comment).

I'd like to pick up Bork's quote and emphasize two further half-sentences:

Rom 1:18-20 NIV The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, (19) since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (20) For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Seems to me, only someone who knows the truth can suppress it. In other words, this is about consciously rejecting God. Also the 2nd part makes statements about people to whom God has made plain what can be known about him by humans. As I understand that it simply doesn't apply to people who did not yet find God (as I see it, it would be more preciset to say: whom God did not make find himself / let himself be found). I do not suspect the OP of posting a misleading question, so I assume that he didn't experience anything like God revealing Himself to the OP. So IMHO these verses don't help answering the question.

By the way, I take a similar view about the blessings: If Jesus states that if you believe in God without having seen him, you are blessed, that

• doesn't say you cannot be blessed if you didn't see him
• neither does it say that you forfeit the blessing if you ask for a personal proof
• neither that you won't eventually get your personal convincing proof
• but neither is there a promise of such a proof.
• actually, I think the blessing by God (grace/mercy) produces the faith (necessary condition!)

So taking up the coffee metaphor from above, people tell of cups of coffee being handed out, but it looks like the OP didn't get one so far. Which may be encouraging the OP to ask for one for himself, but unless he gets it that is not all that helpful.

I personally don't even know whether I ever did get one (if I didn't I do reasonably well without the coffeine, if I did, I didn't realize it was coffee), but iff you ask me to I could try to pass on the word of your asking for your personal cup of coffee. I don't think that is necessary anyways because I believe they know if you'd like to have one - whether or when they serve you is a completely different question, though. You'd need to tell me, though: trying to get a coffee for someone who doesn't like it in my opinion is not only useless but positively rude - so I'd never do it. ;-)

[1] Personally, I happen not to doubt His existence.

Anyone who's served on a jury knows that the range of what constitutes "reasonable doubt" is pretty huge with only 12 people in the room. Make it a (much) bigger room, expand the pool to 6 billion, and you'll have a range from total credulity to solipsism. If your definition of God includes some sort of fairness, then the requisite self-disclosure should include all 6 billion, including those who thoroughly doubt their own existence. If He clears the bar for the most stringent standard, the credulous will be deafened by the roar (how cruel is that?) and if He falls short of the standard for the last one, it will be terribly unfair to that last one. IMO this question is a much subtler version of the "rock that's too big to lift" question -- since an assertion and a negation are included in the question, "Yes" and "No" can never simultaneously answer both.

I guess I'm going to have to expand on my little rant :)

The Gospel we find in Scripture is all about the good news of God revealing Himself to and reconciling us to Himself. This is quite the opposite of hiding himself. We still have free will to reject the evidence -to turn our backs on his revelation- but this is not at all the same thing as not having been provided the evidence we need for to know and trust Him.

I said that to behold God would destroy us. There are numerous passages that show how imperfect limited men cannot behold God himself without being destroyed. One example would be Moses encounter with God¹, another would be what the prophet Isaiah experiences, even haven seen a vision rather than the real thing he feels he has been undone². Because of His holiness and our unholiness there is a chasm between us. Think about this question: would God's perfect nature be tarnished if it came into contact with sinfulness or would the sinful thing be destroyed?

Although it is not part of your question, it would be unthinkable to touch this subject without mentioning Christ for although no-one has seen God, God has chosen to reveal himself through His Son³. He is the image of the invisible God⁴ and we have seen him⁵! Through Him we can be reconciled with God⁶ and enter His presence⁷.

Lastly, your example of "proof without doubt" is something that would specifically make me doubt ... it smacks of human tampering. However he has done much more than this -- His fingerprints are scattered all through creation⁸. He gave nature laws that govern it that point us directly to him.

1. Exodus 33:18-20 (ESV) Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.

2. Isaiah 6:3-5 (ESV) And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

3. John 1:18 (ESV) No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

4. Colossians 1:15 (ESv) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

5. John 1:14 (ESV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

6. Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him

7. Hebrews 10:19 (ESV) Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,...

8. Romans 1:20 (ESV) For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

God has revealed Himself beyond reasonable doubt - otherwise requiring faith would be unjust. We can argue about what constitutes reasonable, but according to the Bible, there is enough evidence.

Rom 1:18-20 NIV The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, (19) since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (20) For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

(Emphasis mine)

If creation weren't enough, what about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was confirmed dead, sealed in a tomb, and yet appeared to more than 500 people after he was raised to life, and the eyewitnesses were willing to die horribly rather than renounce what they believed (would they have resisted to death for what they knew to be lies?)

1Co 15:4-8 NIV that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (5) and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. (6) After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. (7) Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, (8) and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

(Emphasis mine)

And finally Thomas who refused to believe until he saw and touched the crucifixion scars, believed.

I disagree with the proposition of the question that God has not provided evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

I think it is important to consider how you would react if God did exactly what you asked for, in an unmistakable way. While doing so consider the many times in the Bible where Jesus healed people. The Pharisees saw this and knew (or should have known) they were dealing with the Christ. Yet they plotted to kill Him. They would have seen the evidence for Christ's resurrection, but continued to persecute the apostles.

The human heart has a natural tendency to want to get away from God. Jeremiah 17:9 says it is "deceitful above all things, desperately wicked." Will you suddenly love Him and want to dedicate your life to serving Him if you get what you asked for? If not, why should God bother?

If so, I pray that you do receive what you are looking for. Indeed God did just that to Saul/Paul, a Pharisee who became His greatest servant in the church age.