Well if that's the extent of your religious training then 1) Ever heard of allegory 2) Where were you promised a mansion in the sky? Evidently that day I was playing hooky in the monastery.
I have no doubt that is true from your limited knowledge and experience. Not to mention your animosity.
As a former atheist, I hear you. I have read all of this, and more. I will give u a clue tho, considering I have been in the hell that you are now trying to navigate. The bible is a man made document. Expand. Read the Koran, the Tibet and Egyptian books of the dead, Hammurabi, then go back to the bible. Meditate, pray. Study the Hopi medicine wheel, the Yoruba, and Santeria. Look at the Talmud, then go back again to the bible. Study, pray, and meditate. It will come to you FT. It will come.
He is looking, if he were not he would not be starting all these threads. Don't quit on him. That is why i told him to look at all those texts, then go back and look again. I want him to try and crush God. It will be his salvation in the end.
Why are people so concerned about what other people's personal beliefs are? Why do people feel entitled to indict and cross examine the beliefs of others? Why do they feel it is any of their concern? Outside of people with imperial belief systems which seek to impose their beliefs and standards upon society at large and, such as Islam, people's personal beliefs are their own business. Islam is not only a religious belief system, but a political one. In fact, this sweeping indictment of religion and any form of theism, very much resembles Islam in that way, insofar as it's partially of a political nature... Both seek to dictate the beliefs of others... There are plenty of Atheists who are confident in their beliefs and do not engage in these zealous indictments of the personal beliefs of others.
Agree, the superficial will try to control others, this is futile. Religion has a nice definition. If they stay true to it, they will chill out. It matters not how one comes to know the eternal. If they are fortunate enuf to find it, they will cease to have fear, worry, or regret.
Oh, I think he is logical. I also think his underlying premise is emotionally damaged. I remember a man telling me once that women are the most rational creatures on earth, the only difference is that they argue from their emotions to reasons for their emotions, and not the reverse.