Q: do you, Christian, claim that God exists, rather than you believe that he exists?

[Mr. Moncrieff]

Sir, she very recently stated - quite succinctly - that she was 'special.'

No doubt. And since I asked what I asked while providing her quote in the same reply, I was hoping that it would be implicit in my question that I was asking something different.

But seeing how my question could be misinterpreted, I desire to elaborate.

rasetsu, are you a human?

Touché.

[Lek]

Much of this discussion is "psychobabble" to me, but as a christian there is always a little nagging doubt present in my mind and probably always will be as long as I live. That's why I'm in a constant effort to investigate my faith. I want the truth and if what I believe is not, then I want to know.

No you don't. You reject scientific empirical evidence wherever it may contradict your beliefs. That's not investigation, it's apologetics with doubt.

I don't reject "empirical" scientific evidence and I just posted to another thread today concerning archaeological evidence for the bible. I trust science to the degree that we should. But I also believe in the existence of the supernatural even though science rejects that. Too many very intelligent people throughout the centuries believed in the supernatural for me to dismiss it - science or not. If you're not open to anything other than science, then you're the closed-minded one. Science has been proven wrong often, but I wouldn't dismiss it because it has been correct very often. The same and other very intelligent people believed in science also, but I and they wouldn't put all our eggs in that one basket.

[truthBtold]

Science does not reject supernatural claims.

---

To many intelligent people eat junk food for me not to do it too..

[fr0d0]

Science does not reject supernatural claims.

That sounds like an infinite pursuit. Clever person that bags that train.

[Mr. Moncrieff]

Therein lies the crux of science and religion.

Science is an infinite pursuit; religion is a pursuit tempered by definite revelation and dogmatic expectancy.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

When people speak of the God character they are talking about the specific ethnocentric Jewish deity of the Bible because of our cultural brainwashing. We have been so brainwashed with that fairy tale that it's almost impossible for an average person to envision any other deity, even if he's hard core atheist. The average American disregards other ethnocentric deities, such as Allah and the assorted Asian Indian gods.

The interesting thing is that in the Bible there are very few references to the supernatural celestial deity. There are some references to a desert mountain dwelling deity. However, almost all of the God and Lord references refer to the various Assyrian and Babylonian Emperors who ruled the Middle East for centuries. They were worshiped as God and the Lord because they had absolute power of life and death over everyone. This is especially true in those stories where the God character is being mouthy and spewing assorted threats against everyone.

The God character died with the last last Babylonian Emperor when his empire was destroyed. That's why no one has heard from him since.

So the answer is that the God character as portrayed in the Bible is non-existent. He was simply a series of men who ruled the Middle East thousands of years ago.

[Mr. Moncrieff]

...and he messed up the Roman Empire.

[Whateverist]

rasetsu, are you a human?

Oh this should be good.

[Angrboda]

rasetsu, are you a human?

No, I am not. Though I can adopt that perspective, if you like, as I have a feeling it was an assumption you were making before you began this tack.

[Lek]

When people speak of the God character they are talking about the specific ethnocentric Jewish deity of the Bible because of our cultural brainwashing. We have been so brainwashed with that fairy tale that it's almost impossible for an average person to envision any other deity, even if he's hard core atheist. The average American disregards other ethnocentric deities, such as Allah and the assorted Asian Indian gods.

The interesting thing is that in the Bible there are very few references to the supernatural celestial deity. There are some references to a desert mountain dwelling deity. However, almost all of the God and Lord references refer to the various Assyrian and Babylonian Emperors who ruled the Middle East for centuries. They were worshiped as God and the Lord because they had absolute power of life and death over everyone. This is especially true in those stories where the God character is being mouthy and spewing assorted threats against everyone.

The God character died with the last last Babylonian Emperor when his empire was destroyed. That's why no one has heard from him since.

So the answer is that the God character as portrayed in the Bible is non-existent. He was simply a series of men who ruled the Middle East thousands of years ago.

Ok. You've read the old testament, although you interpret it wrongly. Now read the new testament so that you've read the whole bible. Clearly you haven't done that yet because there's much discussion about God the deity there.