A pastor I watched said God does not always reveal his method because limitation increases Faith. Thoughts?

[jennifer_bloom]

His example for this was that Joseph was in a state prison after God told him his brothers would bow before him one day. He did not know how God would make that come true. Then one day he was promoted to prime minister because a prison ally he met 2 years before said he could interpret dreams. The same power that led to his curse 20 years before led to his salvation 20 years later.

[c704710]

Jesus recruited 12 witnesses. Acts 1:8, Luke 24:48. That is the word he used, "witnesses" (Greek: martyr).
Also, Jesus said that the apostles must testify. John 15:27. He used the word "testify" (Greek: martyreite)

These were not everyday normal words that people used in conversation. They certainly weren't used in matters of faith and worship. These words are lawyer speak. I consider this particularly interesting in the case of John chapter 15. John is being maximum John here, and transliterating Jesus's words to be as poetic as possible. Yet John punctuates the particularly labored purple prose with the cold hard court case word for a legal deposition.

Yes, those who have not seen yet believe receive greater blessing, John 20:29. But that's not for everybody. We know this to be true because Jesus chose Thomas and faith with proof is the assumed mode that Jesus operated in. Jesus had performed his ministry with miracles so that people would know he was true. Telling people to going to report what they had seen, with only a few specific exceptions. Believing with proof is nothing to sneer at. It's also greatly emphasized by Paul. It's very easy to think that Jesus's words to Thomas was somehow undoing everything he had done in his ministry. There's a definite shift happening, Jesus is not going to be there in person to prove anything anymore, that will be done via history now. Even as Jesus is acknowledging the shift in evidence from proof of the five human senses, he's doing so in front of 11 selected legal witnesses who will legally testify.

Insisting that faith without proof is the _only_ option? Well it's not quite heretical, but...

Method is hidden so faith will increase? Sure, but there is so much more to it than just that. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10

Testing it's not only for proving faith [in God], it is for proving an improving the tested person in many aspects, both General and specific to the person. What Joseph would face would require resilience, patience, stewardship, emotional intelligence, administrative skills, cultural adaptability, embracing servitude, integrity, wisdom, humility, cunning, discernment, forgiveness. Faith was the backbone to all of this. But Faith wasn't the _only_ thing

[GeorgePulchri]

That’s an interesting thought.

I think if it as no matter what God reveals to us, we will always have limited understanding because we are finite creatures.
so rather than abandoning us to the plight of getting lost in the sauce by ourselves,

God goes ahead and cuts us short early enough on so that we can see our own limitations, and learn to develop faith early on, rather than after we are too mentally lost to even be able to have faith.

Thats my personal speculation. I don’t know if that is true. Only God knows.

[AviatorTom]

Religion never reveals everything. Something is always hidden. That's done intentionally, to ensure the flock keeps coming back, keeping the collection plate full.

[c704710]

For _religion_, that's often true.

[Snowman84]

Pastors are full of 💩 they basically just just rip off passages or chapters from influential authors like Dale Carnage as “Christianize” it all.