Miracles and Anti-supernaturalism

[Undeceived]

Oh, I think I can clear up the issue here: science doesn't tell you about truth. What it does is give you a tentative conclusion based on available evidence

Fair enough.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: atheism says nothing about creators. There could very well be a creator for the universe, but if you want me to believe in the one you're proposing, you'd better bring something convincing to the table. That's all.

I understand your position. But I urge you to look beyond the facts to their meaning. Most dogs cannot understand pointing. You point at food on the floor, and they sniff your finger. A finger is a finger to them, and nothing more--all facts, no meaning. Similarly, love produces within us physical reactions, such as flutters in the stomach. But we know the meaning of the flutters because we have inside information--we know what love feels like. Science will not tell you what love feels like. It is information like this that causes us to imagine what greater meanings there could be. When you request that I "bring something convincing to the table" I get the hunch that the "something" you are looking for are facts. I like that we are both writers. Use your ardent imagination. Make it your business to be convinced by meaning, and not merely facts. Note what it is your gut tells you, and work backwards. If you start at evolution, you force facts into a theory designed to accept every fact--a theory which changes, depending on the facts. Ask yourself what doesn't change. Ask yourself if there is anything more important than survival.

Your whole position requires you to discard the notion of infinity to get to your first cause; you have no reason to do that.

My reason is that I can continue my research and confirm the first cause with other evidence/arguments.

Analogy:
A murder has two possible suspects. The first one, Dave, is in custody. The other, John Doe, was blown up by a grenade, identification and all. Both are possibilities. But police will pursue Dave because they can find more information about him. He isn’t a dead end.

God created beings with free will and consciousness, so that they could produce their own emotional states free from god needing to fuel them, so that he could feed on them.

I’m not sure if you’re being serious, but this scenario makes some assumptions. First, that God, or anyone, could feed on emotional states. Second, that humans are actually capable of raising the net energy in the universe.

But love does serve me. It serves us all.

I referred to “selfless love”. In other words, love that doesn’t serve the lover. Such as loving one’s enemies. Do you deny that this kind of love exists?

If Pharaoh wasn't going to set the slaves free anyway, then why did god need to harden his heart at all?

The question is one of free will: Was God’s will for Pharaoh in line with Pharaoh’s new will? Suppose you’re a computer. Your operating system drives you to play solitaire in your spare time. A technician upgrades your operating system. Now you desire to play minesweeper. At no point has your free will been compromised. Now, you may argue that you should be able to choose your operating system. But how are you to choose before your creator gives you a system by which to make the choice? Free will cannot be extended before creation itself. Romans 9:

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?

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Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God needs our sacrifices.

Oh, so you don't consider the Torah to be part of your holy book? Excuse me for thinking that something I read in there actually pertained to your religion.

Show me where in the Torah it says that God needs our sacrifices.