Well, I don’t know why anyone listens to Tom DeLay on any subject, religious or secular, so I can’t help you there. In fact, I can’t help you much of anywhere. You seem to think that I should intellectually justify my faith, to someone, if not to you. No thanks. You also seem to think that human logical arguments are valid in relation to God. I don’t see it.
I am not a bibliolitrist. I think the Bible is a collection of stories of folks who came to know God. I think if you make your heart a dwelling place for the Lord, and read it, it can help you. But I don’t do dueling verses with anyone. Faith is not a matter of logic. If you find that to be a failing of faith, then perhaps you shall not have faith. You also seem to think that anyone who has faith in one thing, therefore must accept any illogical thing without skepticism. That is a lot of faith in faith itself, for a guy who claims to have none. But hey, like I said, illogical things are not necessarily undesirable.
I don’t understand God. I don’t even understand my Lord Jesus, and I believe He is human. (And also God, but that’s another of those non logical things.) I don’t believe that God requires me to understand Him. (Or much of anything, for that matter.) I know people who are good beyond reason. Kind in the face of repeated cruelty, faithful to the faithless, and loving to the hateful. In those people I have seen God. One day, in a miracle, I felt that love. I felt it again, when doubt had driven me from it. I am not stupid. I learned then that logic, like all tools has its proper use. Learning of God is not one of them. Logic is about limits. God has none. Reason is about the understanding of the nature of all things. God exceeds the nature of all things. Wrong tool for the job.
Believe me, I have heard the Brooklyn Bridge story. I know ten cons to go along with it, as well. I don’t have a Spanish Land Grant to sell you, and I don’t need an investor for my Arizona Beach Front development. I don’t want to try to sell you my religion. I’m not all that sure I have a religion, in the sense you are used to thinking about. Telling me what “most Christians” think or do or say is just you arguing with them, in front of me. Believe me, most Christians don’t agree with me. And I’m not trying to convince them of anything either! I love God. He loves me. We both want to love you. End of Theology class. If you don’t want it, don’t take it. He will still love you. I think I am supposed to too, but you know how that works.
So, as I pointed out in my original response to the OP, I am skeptical of people’s ability to discuss the nature of God, in any meaningful way. That has no bearing on my relationship with the Lord. In other matters than faith, I have enough skepticism to avoid a man with “a deal for me.” I don’t want a deal. If I wanted a deal, I would propose one.
Tris
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi ~