Trying to rationalize the irrational...
Yeah, seems like a ridiculous (one might even say, an irrational) undertaking. And no, your OP didn't even get close to your stated goal.
Christian theology has an omni-max god, creating the universe (all 200 billion galaxies, each with 100+ billion stars, and most of those with an uncountable number of planets), to act as a 'soul filtering machine'© for a small number of hairless apes, on one specific planet in a nondescript corner of the Milky Way.
As long as we're speculating, what plans did this god have for the other advanced civilizations (that most likely actually exist (unlike your god) somewhere in the universe)? Did the same "Passion Play" play out all over the universe?
Then, this god, knowing that humanity would one day develop the scientific method, and understand what good standards of evidence are, decides to communicate with his creation in the worst method possible. Appears to a mostly illiterate tribe in a very small geographical area on Earth, then waits decades or centuries to have his fallible creation record his message: in languages he would know would die out, filled with translation errors, with no originals available, by non-eyewitnesses, with no corroborating evidence of accounts, stories that directly contradict reality, etc, etc.
He sets up a situation with Adam and Eve, where they are certain to fail, then because of his own screw up, he punishes his creation for eternity. But wait, he waits a few centuries, then sets up another situation where he comes to earth, to have himself sacrificed to himself, to act as a loophole for rules he created. And the only way for his creation to prevent their own eternal punishment, is to be gullible enough to believe all this.
Sorry, but there is no way to rationalize Christianity.
Yeah, seems like a ridiculous (one might even say, an irrational) undertaking. And no, your OP didn't even get close to your stated goal.
Christian theology has an omni-max god, creating the universe (all 200 billion galaxies, each with 100+ billion stars, and most of those with an uncountable number of planets), to act as a 'soul filtering machine'© for a small number of hairless apes, on one specific planet in a nondescript corner of the Milky Way.
As long as we're speculating, what plans did this god have for the other advanced civilizations (that most likely actually exist (unlike your god) somewhere in the universe)? Did the same "Passion Play" play out all over the universe?
Then, this god, knowing that humanity would one day develop the scientific method, and understand what good standards of evidence are, decides to communicate with his creation in the worst method possible. Appears to a mostly illiterate tribe in a very small geographical area on Earth, then waits decades or centuries to have his fallible creation record his message: in languages he would know would die out, filled with translation errors, with no originals available, by non-eyewitnesses, with no corroborating evidence of accounts, stories that directly contradict reality, etc, etc.
He sets up a situation with Adam and Eve, where they are certain to fail, then because of his own screw up, he punishes his creation for eternity. But wait, he waits a few centuries, then sets up another situation where he comes to earth, to have himself sacrificed to himself, to act as a loophole for rules he created. And the only way for his creation to prevent their own eternal punishment, is to be gullible enough to believe all this.
Sorry, but there is no way to rationalize Christianity.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
