Christian "faith" vs. plain "faith"

[dyresand]

...the kind of effort you want me to undermines the whole point of the exercise Drich was proposing. Do you seriously think that a test to demonstrate god's existence, that requires one to already believe god exists and buy into the entire religion, is at all a cogent proposition? That's idiotic.

I think you're kinda missing the point. You have not been moved by intellectual arguments for the existence of God, which was my path, but apparently not yours, and frankly not that of many other believers. Okay. I can accept that. Drich proposes another equally valid path which is to experience first hand a relationship with the Divine Ruler of the Cosmos.

Here's a little allegory for you.

A peasant approaches the castle guard and says he wants to see the King to assure himself that he is under the King's protection. The guard replies, "Sure, but you must first remove your muddy shoes, because the King has many fine rugs."
To which the peasant says, "But my shoes aren't that dirty and are actually pretty clean compared to other people's."
The guard says no and adds, "If you saw how beautiful the rugs are then you'd understand."
"If you first show me the rugs then I will know if removing my shoes is a reasonable request?" asks the peasant.
"It doesn't work that way." says the guard. "You can only see the rugs from the inside and for that you must take off your shoes. That's just one of the King's rules."
"Why should I have to submit to the King's rules if I cannot see for myself why the rules are necessary."
"Because he's the King. If you want to meet the King it will be on his terms, not yours."
The peasant leaves. "Who needs a King?" he says.

Apply this simple logic.
If were were created by god who created god and why.
Because a being like god or any other sort of being could have not existed forever without he or she or even it being created.