I do believe in God

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Firstly I do not believe the stories, as you rightly point out one can never really know the truth about what happened in biblical times. The point I am trying to make is that the contemporary portrayal of Christ is very divergent to the one who is represented in the earliest books of the NT. And that to have faith in stories which originated via oral tradition and were then clearly continually embellished to me is a fools paradise. This does not mean that we cannot get some idea of what the early Christians thought. If we can deduce snippets of oral tradition from later writings then we have at least some idea of the stories being told. I see no contradiction in this.

Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, deity, view, or in the doctrines or teachings of a religion. It can also be defined as belief that is not based on proof,[1] as well as confidence based on some degree of warrant.[2][3] The word faith is often used as a synonym for hope,[4] trust,[5] or belief.[6]

From Wikipedia. Knowing that religion is based on faith, and use criticle thinking, investigate things, and ask for proof is an imbellishment all by itself. Things are taken out of context. That is what you do. You take things out of context because you want proof. You embellish. You want to add details. I guess that is the best I can describe it.

Once again, I am sorry for being me.

You are completely ignoring my previous post and the purpose of all my posts, I am not adding anything nor am I embellishing, I am simply pointing out that contemporary Christians believe in a person who is divergent to the earliest Christians. Also I am pointing out that we know much of the historical processes which led to this. More to the point I am using the same texts they use, but unlike many Christians i am not glossing over what the texts actually say.

Also I have not (at least I do not think i have) asked for any poof regarding the biblical story or the faith that people have. Again I am simply comparing what contemporary Christians believe to what is actually in their Bible.

So once again I ask you where are my embellishments, where are my contradictions and where have I taken things out of context.

^^^^ you did it again.
You're funny.

I really have to stop taking you seriously. .

I BELIEVE YOU!! !!

The God of the OT is portrayed as a heartless, racist, psycho bastard because that was the way he was perceived by ignorant, primitive Middle Eastern tribesmen who wrote about him. With the NT, we have, I believe, God speaking directly to us as a man, and his message is one of love and mercy, and self sacrifice in direct contradiction to the OT. That's the only explanation I can give. I know it's not logical, but is faith ever?

If you are going to behave like an ignorant f**kwit then I will treat you with the respect you deserve and this will be the last communication I enter into with you. It is very very easy to use emoticons and make glib responses when asked to provide examples of claims made. It also, as I have already intimated, such behavior makes you look like a fool.

I can agree with your characterisation of the God of the OT not so much Jesus, to some degree yes, but not whole heartedly. Thank you for your responses to my posts.

Well you changed that post from f*****g idiot to ignorant f***wit pritty quick? What changed your mind? It went from idiot to fool quick too? Hmm? Personally I like idiot much better. Or perhaps village idiot. It suits me.

I am sorry I cannot earn your respect. Probably because I have wronged you. I have been a bad idiot, and I just don't understand how I thought you could have been such a contradicting embellisher.

A serious life is such a tragedy. I am sorry I laughed. I will try to be more tragic next time.

Those of us who think they know it all upset those of us who do.

I am sorry I upset you. Omnipotent one.

Whatever., You can define God in a million ways, some of them compatible with science. It still remains that there is no evidence of a God and no need of the idea to explain the natural world.

Any time.

There is a need to explain your awareness. because it is there. it is your reality. There is no evidence, proof, or science of it. It can be just as real as a dream. Or an illusion. It can be within. It can be outside of you. In many ways. It can be the same from one to another. Without us doing what we do, there would be no awareness. No reality. if people, and things cannot connect to one another, awareness, and reality would not exist. Would it be soo hard to believe that awareness by itself is god? Supreme in the sence that it is everyone. It is everything. Without it, you would be nothing. It is the master of your fate. The master of your reality. Awareness is a power that is over you, around you, and within you. You cannot control it. You just know that it is there, and you use it the best that you can. It is the house of cards that got delt to you.

If in fact awareness is god, it would be best to believe it. Because without it, you would not be reading this post.

Just my interpretation of reality. All the books in the world are nice. From a religious prospective, probably not meant to be taken soo literally for me. Reading, and trying to understand things has led me to this point. It works in my mind just fine. Maybe it will evolve into something else, or something more, I don't know. Thinking of things like this takes away alot of confusion for me. It just makes sence to me.

Sincerely:
The Village Idiot.

I do know that people who are spiritually connected to God are better off it strengthens them and I feel stronger when I am connected and talking to God. I realize I have been talking to God the entire time and it helps to talk to Him.

My God, to me, isn't the same as what was written about in the Old Testament. I do believe God existed for the folks who wrote what they did and that is their personal experience with God. You see, it is very personal. The problem is when people try to make relationship with God a public thing shared by something like a congregation. It is much more about the personal relationship one has with a spiritual Being. It is very important to my well being and I suspect many others as well. If people shared my peoursonal view of God, they wouldn't feel threatened by other's beliefs and if you are an atheist, fine, you are only missing out on a wonderful relationship but that is your choice. I would much rather be with God.

It's not like I am going to go jump into the nearest church pew though. To me, many churches do more to harm someone's relationship with God than to nurture it.

No need to explain the natural world implies that all future discoveries will be explainable without the need to posit an intelligence behind them. The unmoved mover Paley's Watch and other such arguments could also be considered to be evidence for the existence of a god figure. Science does not eliminate the existence of outside interference. The simulation argument almost presupposes the idea of a god if you consider the simulation's designer to be a god.

I don't think of God as creator. More like spiritual force. I don't go by other people's definition of God but I do like Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost.

I don't see how god would appeal to me if it was all natural, scientific, or had to do with somekind of critical thinking. That would be way too boring, and not nearly enlightening enough. Obtuse. Or some stupid mathematical equation.

I like to think that there is something just over the horizon. Just out of reach. Always drawn to it. Something better. A more positive thing. Something that can make everything good. Something that can make you, and me a better person. Something good that makes things good.

Then of course there is awareness. It must have something to do with it. It seems too obvious to me to even question.

Good, when there's evidence for it or naturalism fails, then we can consider your "Magic Jew" argument.

A watch doesn't imply the existence of a watchmaker, evolution explains the origin of complexity without needing to resort to a creator.