@SherlockHolmes
All you say is fine. I’m not debating with you. You are answering questions that haven’t been asked here.
@Citizenschallenge-v.3, in the OP, said:
》The few times I have a longer discussions with Christians I’m always struck with their need for certainty – and worse their demand and expectation of certainty...its the belief itself that’s important. What is that about? I’m mean, what’s wrong with belief in this incredible planet ... spend some time listening to Christian radio, it doesn’t take long to notice all the worship this and worship and on and on and endlessly.《
That is the question I am answering. The only question. Very specifically that.
You wrote:
I have found that what is present within the Hebrew scriptures (OT and NT) can be understood on many different levels ...
Yes, this is true. I used to be Eastern Orthodox Christian and it wasn't unusual for people to apply several levels or senses to Scripture:
Lots of different Christians do that, or varieties of that.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
You wrote:
(Judaism) also does claim that there is only one God, that God created humans and the universe and so does Islam, these are beliefs and you’ll find most serious Jews and Muslims really do believe this.
Dude, I know this. It’s the whole point of monotheism… and is beside, or beyond, the point I was making to Citizens… for the reasons I wrote.
You wrote:
I will tell you my current view though, it is that each of us has or will have a one-to-one “relationship” with God, organizations and groups are unimportant to me.
That's fine and lovely, and doesn't have much to do with Citizen's question.
After decades of constant theological and dogmatic debate inside my head, trying to find the box that God fit in, and ultimately trying to create my own box for him, it came down to this …
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If everyone believed the earth was flat, it would still, objectively, be round. If some people preferred to believe the earth was triangular, and others strongly rejected the earth being square, the earth would still be round.
Regardless of what humans believe, there is an objective reality…even about things we can never know. Therefore, there is an ultimate reality about a creator: a supreme being exists, or does not exist.
Anytime people are discussing religion and they say, “I believe…” “I came to understand…” “To me…” “According to…” etc. etc. etc., they are simply ascribing certain characteristics to this supreme being that they think it has, or that they think it ought to have.
But if that supreme being exists, it is under no obligation to conform to what anyone believes about it. It doesn’t have to be “loving.” It doesn’t have to be anything.
Someone may be absolutely certain that the supreme being spoke to them, led them, or showed them something. However, literally billions of people have felt the same way, over the course of human history, about personal experiences that describe very different and mutually exclusive descriptions of supreme beings. If he/she/it DOES exist, it has not cleared up millions of misunderstandings and false beliefs about itself.
For those who left one faith that was toxic or negative, for another faith that was more tolerant and logical to them, that’s fine according to their own needs but doesn’t say anything at all about how the supreme being REALLY is. It’s wishful thinking.
Given all that, I realized the chances that this being exists are infinitesimally small. What seemed obvious to me is that human beings have created such a being inside their heads, and that is the only place it resides – not “out there,” as an objective reality.
So whether someone believes the supreme being is YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the national god of the Israelites, who delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses at biblical Mount Sinai as described in the Torah… or a bowl of raspberry Jello … it’s all the same.