I called a friend who is a believer...

[Old Baby]

<Removed huge wall of text>

GC

I'm not going to respond inline because I'm not interested in doing a tit for tat on every minor point.

1. I'm not going to try to convince you that you're living a lie, because you've already said that nothing could sway you from your faith.  I was also unshakable in terms of other people talking me out of my belief, so I get that.  I had to deconstruct it on my own.

2. I'm not saying that it's impossible that I'm 100% wrong and that your faith is legitimate.  I'm saying that our conclusions are incompatible.  I can't reach the conclusion that it was all a delusion and still accept that it's true for other people.  I think you're probably sincere in your beliefs, just as I was, but now I'm just as sincere in my non-belief.

3. If God is Truth then Truth is God.  Your objection to this point makes no sense, plus you contradicted yourself.  You said "truth can never be God" and in the next sentence you said "God is truth, love, compassion, caring, salvation and ect".  You went on to say that God is reality, which makes my point for me.

4. You're basically saying that you turned to faith to guide you out of your doubt.  In other words, you relied on your subjective experience rather than what your five senses were telling you.  The biblical definition of faith is "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen".  In other words, it's believing because you want something to be real, and the belief itself is what makes it reality.

5. You're asserting that 30+ years of trying to please God might not be sufficient time for God to make himself real to me.  The fact that I prayed, studied, taught Sunday school, ministered from the pulpit, tithed more than 10% of my income since childhood, enjoyed listening to sermons, counseled people, grieved over my sins, tried hard to live to the biblical standard, and refused to settle for anything less than a knowledge of the truth means nothing. 

6. You're asserting that my non-belief is my fault because I did not seek God, study the scriptures, or allow God to reveal himself to me.  Read #5 again.

7. I'm not really very good at science, but I'm pretty sure that dinosaur DNA survives because it's in fossils.  Do you know what a fossil is?  You're suggesting that the stuff science comes up with is puerile.  The only reason that a rational person would assert this is because those findings would seem to contradict their sacred book.  You're suggesting that I shouldn't trust something that there's mountains of evidence for, but yet it's silly not to accept something that there's no evidence for whatsoever.

8. Every assertion you make about me reveals how little you know about me.  Again, having come from religion, I understand this completely.  Every time someone makes a statement that opposes your worldview, you have to find a way to marginalize that person.  Either they were never a true Christian (seed that fell on stony ground) or they were a Christian who departed the faith because they loved "the world" too much (seed that fell among thorns).  Also, there's no such thing as agnostics or atheists.  They all believe deep down, but they're just in rebellion. 

I'm going to give you  more credit than others around here.  I think you're probably a sincere believer, but you live in a bubble.  Having just emerged from that bubble myself, I understand you completely.

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Oh please.  With all of the books written, all of the analysis done, no contradictions in the scriptures??  Just what kind of freaking blinders would somebody have to be wearing to even say such a thing?

Here:  Bibvis    Bibviz.com.   673 Biblical contradictions, for a start, laid out nice and clean, with all sorts of informational links.

Those have been falsified, want to bring something new.

GC

Did you go through all 673?  You're sure at a glance that all 673 have been falsified?