Regarding my comment, "It's amazing the latitude they [atheists] give themselves to excuse causality," thank you for proving my point. Your entire rant has nothing to do with my statement and is nothing more than a redirection that does not refute my comment. I'm not going to address your rant.
I will say this.
There are only two things any of us can possibly know — ONLY TWO. One is that I am consciously aware of my existence, and two, I empirically know I didn't create the universe I exist within. Those are the only primary truths any of us can KNOW to the degree we can know anything. Everything else is a secondary understanding built upon logical and educated assumptions stemming from science, philosophy, theism, etc, to varying degrees of truth or fallacy. Any other truth claim must stem from those two primary truths.
I know you fancy yourself logical, but your logic is built upon assumptions that are built upon assumptions, which are built upon more assumptions. In other words, a bucket with holes. You must apply your assumptions properly and without bias if you want to get to some level of truth. The same goes for me.
My point is no one has all the answers, and being an ass doesn't solve the problem of origins. Theological answers will never satisfy objective science, and objective science will never fully satisfy a theist. Both drive in separate lanes.
What amuses me about your responses is that you can't seem to separate an originator of all things (whatever that may be) from an ancient Judeo-Christian religion from a barbaric period. Your big dismissal of origin theory is to blame the church or the Bible. Newsflash: the originator was not created by the church. That's a bad application of logic.
And why do you care what ancient people groups thought and wrote, anyway? Of course, they anthropomorphized God. Every ancient people group did! Did you really expect them to describe God from a scientific or heavenly realm outside their dimensional universe? I'm scratching my head here.
Criticizing and ranting about Judeo-Christian history doesn't answer the big questions, so why waste your time doing so? If people choose an idea you don't agree with, so be it. The bad, stupid Christians aren't putting a gun to your head forcing you to believe their way or else, and they aren't persecuting you, either.
The other thing is, I don't tell you how stupid you are in believing that "no material x zero time x no intelligence = everything." Why? Because you are not stupid, and neither am I. The funny thing is, I agree with much of what you say, but I try to balance my thoughts with decorum and grace. I don’t expect people to be perfect, but there is a limit to how long I will tolerate ignorant and rude people. I don't have Job's patience.
It seems the problem you struggle with is you demand scientific answers to theological questions and get frustrated because theology doesn't act like science. Well, science is a narrow and limited band of awareness. You should know that science can't measure everything that exists, and to believe it does is ignorance. What about the beauty of a flower, love, a pleasant melody, consciousness, etc.? Are you going to justify that those things don't exist even though you live your life as though they do? Have you ever told your spouse they are handsome or pretty? Why would you tell them something that doesn't exist? Objective science can't prove everything.
You insist on a black-and-white world in which the whole thing is bad if there is one inconsistency. A small group of people in the Middle East during the Bronze Age, trying to understand their existence, uses a simile comparing God to the wind (for example), and you call them stupid. Therefore, the Bible is a total lie or damned with your so-called empirical evidence. Guess what? ALL people groups did that at that time! Despite your claims of logic, you barely demonstrate any balanced critical thinking skills in your comments.
The difference between you and me is that I am open to what I don't know or understand. I am teachable. I allow myself to grow intellectually. And I have no problem changing my mind if better evidence is provided. All you have done so far is point out contradictions in the Bible that don't make sense to you as proof God doesn’t exist. You completely overlook the value of its history, moral virtues, remarkable poetry, and archetypal truths embedded in an ancient book that has meaning to me (one of many). That's your choice, and I respect that. Just stay in your lane.
