Mostly that I don’t take any of the books literally anymore, but as personal lessons; and, that I don’t see God as someone/something separate from anything that exists, but as everyone/everything that exists.
While I see God as His own being, at the same time I see God in our midst, just as people (as far back as Genesis) did in Biblical times. As far as taking Biblical stories literally…As a kid, did you ever read Just So stories, fables, myths, etc.? I gobbled them up, which may be why I was able to identify the literary venues being used in the Bible. Many stories were never meant to be taken literally, they were meant to present a lesson.
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I’d be interested in how you discern the helping hand of God from coincidence.
I fully understand done levels of solace exists apart from a cure. That’s human action, not God.
Mesh properly? Does the science of one contradict the other? No? Then no issue.
I don’t believe because there’s nothing that convinces me a Deity is anythinf more than an extraneous variable…the Universe doesn’t require a Deity to exist.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Only that no compelling evidence suggests one is necessary or does in fact exist.
In short, existence looks the same without a God factored in as it does with any of the Deities humans have conceived factored in.
So why assume the extraneous variable?
Exactly, it’s essentially the same view, but from a different lens. Semantics ruin all the sharing with too many people when it comes to various dogmas and those that are certain they “have it right.”
Absolutely. I recognize the Hero’s Journey structure when I see it. It’s a tried and true way of conveying wisdom through the gaining of knowledge.
Because if the events of the Bible did not happen e.g. a worldwide flood, Israelite enslavement, etc. Then, they just become a collection of fables, no different than that of Greek or Egyptian myths.
What I see is that we both followed the science that tells us no planet-wide flood. However, it appears only one of us went back to the original Hebrew. In the original Hebrew we read that the earth was covered, not that the Earth was covered. Israelite slavery is another interesting study where it appears one of the twelve tribes was in Egypt, not the entire nation. Again, the Hebrew bears this out. However, the experiences of one tribe–over time–were adopted by the entire people.
The story of the ten plagues wasn’t primarily about the plagues, but about the ten Egyptian gods who had control over such events–versus the One God of all.
If people put even half the time of learning the Old Testament properly as they do learning science, history, languages, we could rid society of so much Biblical ignorance and learn about ancient cultures at the same time.
And semantics isn’t even the main issue. The real problems is that Hebrew never has translated well into modern day English.
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Nor does the science of physical matter contradict philosophy.
I am interested in how you do not. 
And you’ve heard them all before.
You’ve lost your sincerity card with me. Take it up with someone willing to waste their time on your questions. I’ve been in enough of these discussions to know how it usually goes with someone who has said stuff you’ve already said.
No issue with that.
I’m not the one claiming something unnatural. Something divine.
It’s very “natural.”. It is “divine.”
Even lowly creature have the spark of the divine. All beings share a planet, going around a star in a vast universe that runs on a divine, eternal, perfect Law.
Why would God allow for translation errors? Biblical canon was established through various councils, rejecting some gospels and keeping others. This was supposedly done through divine guidance. Why not the same for translations?
I’ve heard of some biblical archaeologists, attributing the story to this tribe, or that tribe. Their evidence is severely lacking for consensus. Even Israeli archaeologists from Tel Aviv consider the story of Exodus a foundation myth, with a possible minor historical basis.
Belief just requires too much faith, and I don’t see any reason to have such faith. I don’t believe in the ancient Greek or Egyptian Gods, or the Hindu Gods. Why should I believe in the Christian God? Why should I have faith that the books made canon are true, and those left out are not? Faith that the life of Jesus happened as it was told?
Then we have all the schisms within Christianity. Catholic, Protestant, LDS, Eastern Orthodox, with their interpretations, the apocrypha etc.
I prayed about this last night and here is what was laid on my heart; you are concerned with the outcomes of life and as Jesus said, this is not His Kingdom. This is about being born again, being introduced to The Lord, being baptized by the Holy Spirit and becoming a Christian, living a Christian life as a witness to others and in turn leading them to Christ. My partings of the Red Sea are occurring during my Christian walk in this life. As David said in Psalm 23, and yeah tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…it isn’t about the shadow of death, it’s about the walk and you having a personal relationship with God.
This is the time period about “the fulness of the gentiles”.
It is God’s fault? Why do you blame God? If a mere me could figure this out, don’t you think others are capable of doing the same?
In fact, it requires very little faith, merely a belief that living the way God lays out is a good way to live this life.
We have no command to have faith the entire planet was covered by a flood, that there were talking snakes, or even that Jonah was swallowed by a large fish. Humans have a way of making things too hard. I picture ancient man laughing at their descendants, taking these stories as literal fact, too dumb to know a fable from a Just So story from a simple truth.
I have no problem with them as fable. Just like the crucifixion and resurrection story - fable.
Matter of fact, God himself is a fable. Humans have a way of making things too hard and inventing things that aren’t necessary nor true.
