What beliefs would we consider reasonable for a self proclaimed Christian to hold?

[Whateverist]

Well if that describes the way you see yourself then I'll have to take you off ignore and give you another look.  Maybe I was hasty.

Thank you. I have always taken thess 5:21 to heart which says question all things and hold onto what is Good. For most this means to question the questionable. to me this always meant question the foundation. meaning the foundations of what we as Christians believe and why the church now does not operate like it did. The answer I found has put many in the church off, but it seems to be truth as I have found God right where the bible says he is to be found.

I'm sympathetic to your inclination to reject the authority of churchly officialdom. Viva la protestant revolution.

So why can't others 'see him?"

Well, what is there to "see" after all? Most believers I know hold that God is undetectable by our senses, leastwise without a generous amount of inference. Isn't it really a matter of introspection and deduction? Why would we expect to find agreement based on that? You look inside and find something different than the usual. I look inside and wonder why we should call that God. Fine with me if you do, but that's not what I see.

 

What are they looking for? What if what they are looking for is not the picture of God found in the bible would they recognize Him? The obvious answer is no. Otherwise most of you would acknowledged God. Which is what I think you've backed yourself into by saying you should follow what the bible says or what we can accurately translate from it.

Not sure if I follow. Are you saying atheists here insist that God must be understood as the biblically branded version? Some might but I leave the door wide open. For my money it is a complete mystery what has held so many people enthralled all this time.

But I'm a naturalist. I assume that whatever a god may be will have a natural explanation since I define "natural" as everything that actually exists. Either gods exist and arise in our consciousness for natural reasons, or they don't exist at all. Pretty sure we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

Most of us has created a version of God loosely based on the bible, and when we test this God we find out he does not exist and simple pride then says because "I" was wrong about God there is no room for any God.

The version of God I created in childhood was completely uninformed by any bible learning. While I think that version had some good selling points, I stopped buying. I have no interest in finding any God and I think a reasonable believer has to accept that.