Can God be loved even as a fictional character?

[drfuzzy]

Been a while since I've posted but I had a thought the other day and I am curious what all of you would say about it...

 When I read novels I often get close to the characters. I always love when the character displays traits that I can relate to but also to their humanity. By that, I mean how I love when they'll do something seemingly stupid, cruel, flippantly, etc. but you understand why they made the decision. But I have been thinking a lot on how hard it is to give up my faith in god because of a relationship I feel I have developed with him. I believed that the relationship had to be real because of how real it felt. But as my faith in god has slipped I knew there would have to be some way to get over this conundrum. I think the solution is that I can love god even as a fictional character. I know that many atheist hate how the god of the bible is portrayed. But if he is just a fictional character and all of the stories are made up, I think that I can still draw close to him while learning from those "atrocities." I personally get annoyed when certain atheist can almost never ascribe any single good trait or quality to god or Jesus. What comes to mind is an essay Matt Dillahunty wrote about how horrible the sermon on the mount was. But there are many other examples. It has really helped me to come to peace with a non belief in god and my still lingering love for him. I have been reading the bible more than ever with a whole new perspective.

So what do you think? Putting aside your feelings on religion and god of the bible, is it possible or healthy to still feel affection for god and even Jesus even if you acknowledge them as mostly fictional? I say mostly because even if Jesus or some actual man that Jesus was based off of walked the earth, he was almost certainly not truly divine.

Ok, I have 5 minutes left on break, so I didn't read the thread.  Please forgive.

But isn't this precisely what xtians do?   Love a fictional character?

And isn't it an immature trait?  I remember when a friends' 14-year-old daughter was obsessed with the Twilight series.  To tell her that vampires didn't exist would send her into a fury.  A lot of xtians behave the same way.