Faith and reason
can go hand-in-hand. I think, however, that you are
overgeneralising; and I think your logic is faulty,
Lamed-Ah-Zohar.
Point 1: People come to God through different ways. If someone has personally had supernatural experiences that lead him to believe what he believes, so what? As long as he doesn't tell you that because of his supernatural experiences, you should always believe, what's wrong with it? And what's the issue with miracle as a means of proof? You say it is shallow, but you don't explain why. If a prophet asserts that he is carrying God's message, why shouldn't he give some evidence to his people by doing things that are miraculous? (By the way, I have serious problems with the idea of the Son of God, but I think you are talking about prophethood in general). And we're not talking either/or. To become founder of anything that has millions of followers, you have to be kind and charismatic anyway. I don't know anyone who would say that Jesus, Muhammad or Buddha, based on their descriptions, weren't charismatic.
Point 2: What makes you so sure that people haven't? Before I really accepted Islam, I did research other religions. There is an issue of numbers (there are a helluva lot of religions), but there are some quick culling techniques you can use to instantly eliminate some religions. For example:
- Is the religion specific to a culture or race, or does it ascribe special rights to a particular culture or race? If so, how can it be meant for all of humanity?
- Does the religion encourage people to join it? If no, how can God expect me to belong to it?
- Do I have to pay any money to become a member of this religion? If so, how can poor people be expected to belong to it?
With those three questions, for example, I wiped out
Hinduism,
Scientology,
Zoroastrianism and
Judaism. And there are more
culling questions, but I'll leave them for another node.
Point 3: This is just wrong. Both Zoroastrians and Muslims, for example, have their texts still preserved in their original languages. I can't speak for other religions, but in Islam, we believe that it was not written by man. You may choose to disagree, but we believe it was revealed by God. And surely if God is omnipotent, He can find a way to express himself to creation, right? Sure, we may not be able to express Pythagoras' Theorem in a way that a worm understands, but that's our weakness, not necessarily God's. This appears to be yet another case of treating all religions like Christianity.