[Tribune7]

In other words, we should obey God because we do not desire to be punished, right?

You should obey God for a lot of reasons, the first of which is that He loves you. But before you get to those reasons, the first question you must answer is "does God exist?"

And if your answer is no, then why do you care about the rationale for obeying God?

God exists, however, and deep inside everyone knows it.

[Virginia-American]

God exists, however, and deep inside everyone knows it.

Huh? How can you claim to know what everyone knows?

I'm sure there are plenty of people who say "God doesn't exist, and deep inside eveyone knows it".

In fact, one could argue that obsessive scripture-reading and prayer, Sunday schools and services, revivals, etc, etc are evidence that deep down, the 'believers' realize they're living a lie, and will go to any lengths to hide from this fact: surrounding themselves like-minded people, trying to convert others, and if that fails, silencing them, often permanently.

but no matter how hard they try, how many times they say "I believe, I believe", that little voice of conscience just won't shut up.

[Dimensio]

You should obey God for a lot of reasons, the first of which is that He loves you.

I was merely commenting on the only possibly inference that I could derive from your analogy. Further, someone "loving me" is not sufficient reason for me to do as they say, as it is entierly possible for someone to love me yet still give me bad advice. I know that you don't believe this true in the case of the God that you claim exists, I'm just pointing out a fault in your rationale.

But before you get to those reasons, the first question you must answer is "does God exist?" And if your answer is no, then why do you care about the rationale for obeying God?

I don't. This discussion is purely academic.

God exists, however, and deep inside everyone knows it.

Argument from "I just know that it's so".