Post by FilmFlaneur on Aug 9, 2020 18:10:50 GMT
Anyone who accepts the doctrines of sky-fairy religions of whatever stripe is prone from the word go to accept authority without question, Arlon--which just makes it all the more amusing to watch you posit yourself as any sort of independent mind, when that mind is so completely in thrall to sky-fairy notions.
But bless your heart. Keep trying, anyway. It is the internet, so if you keep at it long enough, sooner or later you're bound to develop a following.
We have been here before and Arlon, who himself loves to mock stupid "christians", has yet to show that many (in fact a majority) of Christians do not believe in a deity which is personal (In the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, God is described as being a personal creator, speaking in the first person) and deliberate (he designed creation to a plan). A supposed entity typically full of love, capable of jealousy, anger. pride and compassion & etc, all of which of course are human characteristics. A Pew survey discovered that 56% of Americans believe in the God of the Bible and that "the great majority of Americans who believe in “God as described in the Bible” envision “an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving deity who determines most or all of what happens in their lives,” the survey found... Overall, eight-in-ten self-identified Christians say they believe in the God of the Bible, nearly all adults who say they believe in the God of the Bible say they think God loves all people regardless of their faults. Simply put, those who believe in the God of the Bible tend to perceive a more powerful, knowing, benevolent and active deity. (Roughly a quarter (23 percent) of all the “yes” respondents said they believed instead merely in a “higher power or spiritual force.”)
www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/fall-2018/when-you-say-you-believe-in-god-what-do-you-mean
www.pewforum.org/2018/04/25/when-americans-say-they-believe-in-god-what-do-they-mean/
A majority of believers also pray every day, which also suggests that they expect the divine to be a personal one, with deliberation and an anticipated will to act on their behalf.
www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/frequency-of-prayer/
Nearly eight-in-ten U.S. adults think God or a higher power has protected them, and two-thirds say they have been rewarded by the Almighty.
It is ironic to be certain about what others believe in when not certain about one's own preferred version of God. In recent messages for instance Arlon has decided that the Almighty is, variously, a 'code of ethics', then 'the essence of nature' then on to something 'entirely abstract' and, most recently, a thing entirely 'vague and nebulous', not all of which is compatible.