Why do Theists dominate the banishment list?

[Zzyzx]

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Why do Theists dominate the banishment list?

Theists predominate in the list of people who are banned for repeated rule infractions. For example, of the last ten people banned, seven or eight are Theists. http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 860481d25f

Why is this?

[Divine Insight]

Two items of interest:

DI -- could you cite some of your "ample evidence"?

I believe I already gave Mother Teresa as a prime example. There are many examples of nuns and priests who finally realized the religion can't be true. Mother Teresa is merely one of the most famous because of her life-long dedication to Christ as a nun.

Here's a short list of famous former Christians who realized the religion can't be true:

List of converts to nontheism

I sure that list is far from complete.

Also, that list doesn't include the average ex-Christians who aren't famous but can easily be seen to exist. We have quite a few right here on these forums. Plus you can find them all over YouTube and many other places.

And finally the evidence that is "sufficient" for me is the fact that I'm one of them.

You may very well question my sincerity, but I know that's ridiculous. No one could be happier to believe that a genuinely intelligent, loving, trustworthy God who's only interest is in righteousness and love exists. That would be GREAT!

The problem is that the Bible doesn't even describe that kind of God anyway.

This is why, today, I'll point to Buddhism as having a far better chance of describing a genuinely intelligent, loving, trustworthy God who's only interest is in righteousness and love.

But I have also come to realize that just because we can imagine such an entity that alone doesn't mean that it actually exists. So while I can't say that Buddhism is false, I don't hold to know that it's true either.

The Bible on the other is necessarily false as it is written.

If we could go back and rewrite the entire Bible making major changes that cannot be done via mere "reinterpretations" of what is already written, then perhaps we could create a God that could potentially exist. But clearly if we did that it wouldn't be the God that is described by the current Bible anyway.

So as I see it the Bible can never be justified as it is written.

Keep in mind that I'm not saying that "No possible God can exist".

I'm agnostic on that bigger question. But I am saying that the Biblical God cannot exist as described by the Bible. There are simply too many serious self-contradictions all through it, even starting in the first few chapters of Genesis.

The story of Adam and Eve doesn't even make any sense as it is written.

[Volbrigade]

[Replying to post 177 by OnceConvinced]

Thanks, OC. An interesting story (I will not add "sad", as it is not my intention to give offense).

My own journey runs roughly the other direction.

I was carted off to church as a child. A denominational Church, of the type referred to by Jesus in the "Seven Letters" in Revelation as "dead" ("Sardis").

I had a latent awareness of God from infancy, but as I grew, and became more and more immersed and indoctrinated into a godless culture, there were no satisfactory answers provided as to WHY I should continue to believe in God.

So I stopped believing. And became a self-professed atheist/materialist/evolutionist.

And began doing what pleased me. And partaking liberally of the pleasures this world has to offer. That path, I soon discovered, was folly. And could only lead to nihilism and despair. I journeyed to the edge of those territories, and didn't like the view. I consider myself... "fortunate" would be the secular word. I now say "blessed". Many, bolder than I, have made far deeper ventures into those territories. There is a point of no return.

For some reason, which I can only account for as a gift from God, I was never satisfied with anything that didn't resonate with truth. I didn't know what was "true"; but I could could perceive what wasn't. Call it a well-developed "bullsh*t detector".

As I grew older, and youthful pleasures became less pleasurable, and more irresponsible and self-indulgent, I began to search more deeply for that which corresponds to truth.

This path led through at least cursory contact with all the usual sources: mysticism, existentialism, "science-ism", art, literature, etc.

One thing that I became convinced of, through experience, was that the conventional secular-humanist materialism that was, and is, our cultural atmosphere, is simply insufficient to explain reality as presented to me. As a child, I had experiences that were beyond any natural explanation. And growing up, and as an adult, I found there were many, many people who had experienced supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Perhaps, I thought, we ALL do -- and many of us just block it out. I don't know.

One day, in my early 20s, I was searching the stacks of my local main library, a favorite haunt. I am old enough (pushing 60) that at the time, a downtown library was still a library -- aisles and aisles of musty old volumes, index cards, and all the rest. I LOVED it.

Searching through the philosophy and religion sections, I came upon a small volume, written by C. S. Lewis. The name was familiar -- hadn't I read something about him, an oblique reference, maybe in a Harper's magazine article or somewhere? Was it pro or con?

My memory's a little vague, but I think the tome was "The Screwtape Letters". Yes, definitely; I remember sitting in the library reading the part where the "patient", who Screwtape is providing advice to his demonic nephew and protege in regard to stealing his soul, is sitting in a library reading a book that could prove disastrously disruptive of that design.

I read "Mere Christianity" on the heels of "Screwtape".

I knew that what I was reading was true. It cut through the vague, gaseous nonsense and half-truths that this culture offers like a hot knife through butter. I proceeded to devour every word by Lewis I could get my hands on. I will be among the massive throng in Heaven, thanking this great man for aiding us along the path to redemption.

However, such is the spiritual reality we all are a part of -- knowingly, wittingly, or not -- that while I gave intellectual assent to Lewis' arguments, I knew that I could not give my life to God. I was in my early 20s. I had a LOT of sinning to do. Deliberate -- and, on a "good night" -- salacious sinning.

But the seed was planted. I struggled for 20 years, wandering in the wilderness, neither fish nor fowl -- neither a satisfied, complacent secular sinner, nor a convert to Christianity.

There was a pivotal event along that line where God got my attention in a direct, empirical way. It is intensely personal, and I will not go into detail here.

At last, I lay down my arms, and ceased my rebellion. I began to make my first tentative prayers, sitting in my back yard, with an adult beverage and a pack of smokes (I have since quit smoking. I still enjoy a lovely adult beverage, though. "It is not what enters a man, but what comes out of him..." ).

I needed help with my personal life, my family. I prayed for it.

I got it.

I didn't know who Jesus is. I liked this thundering Jehovah: this dreadful Heavy Metal agent of absolute power and might and majesty, glorious and fearsome, who flung the galaxies across the limitless reaches of intergalactic space, hung the planets in their orbits, and invented black holes, quasars, volcanoes and hurricanes for kicks.

But this Jesus guy -- I don't know, He seemed a little soft, a little weak.

I asked God to show me who Jesus is.

He showed me.

And He showed me show much more. Things began to cross my path, without my even actively searching them out, in many cases. "Believe, and I'll show you...".

Eventually, I became the lovable fundamentalist you have before you now. For a long time, no one would've known that I was becoming a Christian. I cannot point to the moment of my conversion, or "justification". Copying my mentor, Lewis, I decided it was time to "fly my flag" a bit, and i began answering attacks on faith in my local newspaper's letters page.

I ran into an old friend, from my transitional, but still carousing, days, who mentioned one of my letters. "I always knew you were a closet Christian," he said, not accusingly.

I smiled and told him "I'm out of the closet now."

So -- that's my story. "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.� -- John 18:37

A question, if I may, OC:

was there a moment in your journey from faith to unbelief where you said "I can no longer accept that God entered His creation as a man; died for my sins; and was resurrected into a mode of existence that transcends our bounded space-time environment?"

DI --

I can't ascribe any of your opinions as "ample evidence" that "believe, and I'll show you" is "clearly false".

There is a "Christian Religion" that many ascribe to, that is not genuine faith in Christ, but a works based religion like any other religion. Satan is a counterfeiter.

If you like (and Z approves), we can veer the conversation towards a discussion of that.

Otherwise, we have amply discussed the matter of theism v. non-theism.

There is the matter of my post #14, on the "Resurrections and Hyperdimensions" thread, that if you addressed, I have overlooked it. Perhaps you overlooked the post?

If so, I invite your response to it now.

[Zzyzx]

.

So I stopped believing. And became a self-professed atheist/materialist/evolutionist.

And began doing what pleased me. And partaking liberally of the pleasures this world has to offer. That path, I soon discovered, was folly. And could only lead to nihilism and despair. I journeyed to the edge of those territories, and didn't like the view. I consider myself... "fortunate" would be the secular word. I now say "blessed". Many, bolder than I, have made far deeper ventures into those territories. There is a point of no return.

<Snip>

As I grew older, and youthful pleasures became less pleasurable, and more irresponsible and self-indulgent, I began to search more deeply for that which corresponds to truth.

<Snip>

At last, I lay down my arms, and ceased my rebellion. I began to make my first tentative prayers, sitting in my back yard, with an adult beverage and a pack of smokes (I have since quit smoking. I still enjoy a lovely adult beverage, though. "It is not what enters a man, but what comes out of him..." ).

I needed help with my personal life, my family. I prayed for it.

It is not uncommon to hear testimonials from people who 'found religion' (or God or whatever) after having difficulty or being unsuccessful dealing with real life, making mistakes, being remorseful, having emotional / personal problems.

Perhaps many people NEED the 'guidance of a god' (or religion) to deal with life. Others of us do not have that need.

It apparently does not matter if the gods are imaginary -- as long as there is an appearance of external guidance and 'help' in decision-making.

[OnceConvinced]

[Replying to post 177 by OnceConvinced]

Thanks, OC. An interesting story (I will not add "sad", as it is not my intention to give offense).

None would be taken. It was very sad at the time I lost my faith. Heartbreaking. And even now it is sad that I can no longer believe there is a loving god who has everything under his control and has a plan for me. It is sad that there is no eternal life.

However one moves on and accepts these things. I love life and am happier now than I ever was as a Christian.

As a child, I had experiences that were beyond any natural explanation.

I had experiences which were beyond any natural explanation too at the time and outline some of these in my longer story. However I came to realise later that there were possible natural explanations. Sometimes it's just a matter of investigating the possibilities.

And growing up, and as an adult, I found there were many, many people who had experienced supernatural and paranormal phenomena.

Yes, Christians often make a lot of fantastic claims about things. I saw it all through my Christian life and still do now. Unfortunately they have little to back up their claims. Just testimony usually.

One of the things I found in my many years of being a Christian is that the things people were claiming they experienced were never happening in the churches I was part of. I wasn't witnessing any of that stuff. It was always unsupported claims.

I also found a lot of those so-called supernatural things happened at night when people were in their beds. Funny that.

I needed help with my personal life, my family. I prayed for it.

I got it.

God obviously saw you as someone worthy of getting help. I begged God for around 10 years for help with my faith. Never got any.

I asked God to show me who Jesus is.

He showed me.

Divine intervention. Lucky for you. I wish I'd seen some help from Jesus after all the begging and lamenting I did. All the crying out for help I did. All the knocking I did.

Seek and ye shall find? Didn't work for me.

Things began to cross my path, without my even actively searching them out,

Oh wait! So God didn't show you anything then. It was other things. People perhaps? Books? tracts? etc. Not actually God at all then.

It's very difficult to go through this world without coming across Christians and literature trying to tell you who Jesus is. Christians have a habit of forcing it upon you.

Eventually, I became the lovable fundamentalist you have before you now.

Glad to have you with us.

was there a moment in your journey from faith to unbelief where you said "I can no longer accept that God entered His creation as a man; died for my sins; and was resurrected into a mode of existence that transcends our bounded space-time environment?"

There was a moment I realised that Christianity was a fantasy. I was sitting in a church where one Sunday. Some people were testifying about a “Crusade� they had been on where they had travelled around our region, praying at various different places for the region. One of them told how they were standing near a field and there was a solitary thistle in the field. “God revealed to me that the ground was cursed and I felt God leading me to walk out there to the thistle and uproot it, which I did and we praised God out there as he lifted the curse from the land!�

As soon as he said that the congregation started to cheer, applaud and praise God.
All I could do was stare blankly and think to myself "these people are completely deluded!" But I realised I had been like them for most of my life. I just hadn't realised it until now.

It was an eye opening moment for me. However it was still a revelation I fought against for quite some time. I didn't want to believe that Christianity was a fantasy. However the more I cried out to God and the longer I went without any intervention whatsoever, I knew that I couldn't keep denying it any longer. I just didn't believe anymore.

I went from deist to agnostic to atheist. It was a slow process. Too around 8 years. I didn't want to lose my faith. I fought against it vehemently.

[Divine Insight]

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It is not uncommon to hear testimonials from people who 'found religion' (or God or whatever) after having difficulty or being unsuccessful dealing with real life, making mistakes, being remorseful, having emotional / personal problems.

Exactly. This is also the least compelling of all religious testimonies. All this does is verify secular psychological explanations for why some people find religion to be an attractive emotional crutch.

[Divine Insight]

DI --

I can't ascribe any of your opinions as "ample evidence" that "believe, and I'll show you" is "clearly false".

There is a "Christian Religion" that many ascribe to, that is not genuine faith in Christ, but a works based religion like any other religion. Satan is a counterfeiter.

Well, as I had stated, I can't convince you of my sincerity but that's not a problem for me. That's your problem, not mine. I'm not trying to convince you to give up your belief in this religion. I'm simply stating why I know the religion is false.

And that's what you are up against if you expect to convince me otherwise. In short you're going to need to convince me that I'm an insincere liar who is possessed by Satan. Good luck with that.


Also, I would like to address the following even though you asked it of OnceConvinced. I too have my explanation for this:

was there a moment in your journey from faith to unbelief where you said "I can no longer accept that God entered His creation as a man; died for my sins; and was resurrected into a mode of existence that transcends our bounded space-time environment?"

This was perhaps one of the greatest epiphanies of all. Exactly what is it that this religion is asking me to place my "faith" in? That's a very GOOD question and one that I took very seriously.

Is it enough to just place your faith in "Christ"? No, absolutely not.

In fact, before that could even begin to make any sense you must FIRST place your faith in the idea that there exists a supposedly all-loving benevolent God who LOVES you but is out to damn you to hell because you are such a disgustingly evil person who loves evil and hates God.

What an utterly absurd thing for anyone to place their faith in.

Why on earth would you place your faith in the idea that you love evil and hate God?

My life was exactly the opposite. I absolutely LOVE the idea of an all-loving benevolent God who stands for all that is GOOD. Therefore why am I supposedly being damned in the first place. Why do I need Jesus to save me from damnation?

It's lunacy to just place faith in Jesus as your "Savior" until you first place faith in the idea that you deserve to be damned.

In fact, those were among some of the questions I was seeking answers to. I sought those answers in the Bible and never found anything that can even remotely justify such an absurd notion.

You say:

was there a moment in your journey from faith to unbelief where you said "I can no longer accept that God entered His creation as a man; died for my sins; and was resurrected into a mode of existence that transcends our bounded space-time environment?"

Why in the world would my creator need to have his Son (or himself) brutally beaten and crucified on a pole to pay for my "sins". I have never done anything in my entire life that would warrant such a punishment. And far more important than this is the question of why this God would need to have anyone beaten and horrible crucified to "pay" for the sins of someone else? That very idea is the epitome of ignorance and immorality.

Christianity is founded on the most disgustingly immoral idea that beating the hell out of someone and nailing them to a pole somehow makes up for bad behavior.

This is one of the things that woke me up to the fact that this religion isn't even remotely moral or decent. It's the most indecent religious cult ever invented by mankind.

And now let's come back to the idea of "Faith".

Do I want to place my faith in the idea that I'm so disgustingly evil that I deserve to be damned to everlasting punishment?

No thank you.

So I want to place my faith in the idea that a God or his demigod Son had to be brutally crucified to supposedly "pay" for my sins?

No thank you.

Finally, would it even be moral for me to condone such a thing?

No it wouldn't. If I truly deserve to be damned then so be it. Damn me to hell. Don't be asking me to condone having an innocent God or demigod crucified on my behalf because that would be extremely immoral of me anyway.

I finally realized that to even accept Jesus as my sacrificial lamb or penal substitute would be the most immoral thing I could do. I would be far better off just accepting damnation and taking my own punishment.

So Christianity is the most immoral religion ever invented and it's basically demanding that everyone must become as immoral as it is and join and support it.

If the God of Christianity is true, then let him damn me to hell. I would want no parts of his immoral kingdom anyway.

It's a horrible religion that demands that we were created by an extremely heartless and hateful monster.

Why would you want to place your faith in that?

I would much rather place my faith in the belief that Christianity is as false as it can possibly be.

And any Christian who would fail to rejoice in the discover that Christianity is false can't be thinking clearly.

Why would any Christian be disappointed to discover that they aren't a hateful person who loves evil, hates God, and had to have God (or his demigod Son) brutally beaten and crucified on their behalf?

I can't imagine how any sane Christian could be anything short of ABSOLUTELY THRILLED to discover that Christianity is a false religion.

This is not a religion that anyone should want to believe in as a matter of faith.

Exactly the opposite should be true. Of all the religions in the world Christianity should be the very LAST religion anyone should want to believe is true as a matter of "Faith".

[Volbrigade]

[Replying to post 177 by OnceConvinced]

Thanks, OC. An interesting story (I will not add "sad", as it is not my intention to give offense).

None would be taken. It was very sad at the time I lost my faith. Heartbreaking. And even now it is sad that I can no longer believe there is a loving god who has everything under his control and has a plan for me. It is sad that there is no eternal life.

However one moves on and accepts these things. I love life and am happier now than I ever was as a Christian.

Good. And I hope, despite the fact that we have gotten off the original topic, that Z will let the conversation have its head, and go where it will. This is interesting to me.

As a child, I had experiences that were beyond any natural explanation.

I had experiences which were beyond any natural explanation too at the time and outline some of these in my longer story. However I came to realise later that there were possible natural explanations. Sometimes it's just a matter of investigating the possibilities.

And growing up, and as an adult, I found there were many, many people who had experienced supernatural and paranormal phenomena.

Yes, Christians often make a lot of fantastic claims about things. I saw it all through my Christian life and still do now. Unfortunately they have little to back up their claims. Just testimony usually.

One of the things I found in my many years of being a Christian is that the things people were claiming they experienced were never happening in the churches I was part of. I wasn't witnessing any of that stuff. It was always unsupported claims.

I also found a lot of those so-called supernatural things happened at night when people were in their beds. Funny that.

I am very glad -- fortunate? blessed? -- that I did not get involved in organized religion as a youth. I remember being dragged to Sunday School -- one Sunday, I snuck back to the car, and waited there a looooong hour (when you're 5, 6, 7 years old -- whatever I was) there, instead of the drudgery of Sunday School.

I quit going to church altogether as a college student. When back at home, I would accompany my parents, but felt very uncomfortable there; dividing my time between contemplating the mystery of why people would preoccupy themselves with such folderol, and having impure thoughts about the girl(s) in the next pew(s).

So I don't have the kind of first hand experience with the "fantastic claims" by Christians that you have.

No, the experiences I'm talking about are more occult in nature. When I was a child -- no more than 7 -- I took part in a seance in which some very strange phenomenon occurred, that produced 5 very frightened children rushing out of a dark bedroom as fast as their feet would carry them, and tumbling into the light of the living room, laughing and rolling on the floor. Just a few years ago, I asked my older sister, who was there, if she remembered the event. I was beginning to wonder if it was a dream, or just part of my imagination. She remembered. I think children are more open to such experiences.

And the kind of experiences I'm talking about, that I've heard from others, are the kinds of things people talk about late at night, when they trust each other, and they've had a few. Ghost stories, strange events, things that go bump in the night, unexplainable... "there was this one time... you probably won't believe this, but I swear it really happened...".

I've encountered so many of them that I really wonder if everyone's had some sort of "experience"; perhaps as children; and many have closed themselves off from it. Just speculation...

But it became clear to me that atheistic materialism is a superficial account of the actual reality we inhabit. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy..."

I needed help with my personal life, my family. I prayed for it.

I got it.

God obviously saw you as someone worthy of getting help. I begged God for around 10 years for help with my faith. Never got any.

You're still alive, though. Knowhutameen? Jez' sayin...

I asked God to show me who Jesus is.

He showed me.

Divine intervention. Lucky for you. I wish I'd seen some help from Jesus after all the begging and lamenting I did. All the crying out for help I did. All the knocking I did.

Seek and ye shall find? Didn't work for me.

Things began to cross my path, without my even actively searching them out,

Oh wait! So God didn't show you anything then. It was other things. People perhaps? Books? tracts? etc. Not actually God at all then.

It's very difficult to go through this world without coming across Christians and literature trying to tell you who Jesus is. Christians have a habit of forcing it upon you.

Let me clarify.

God didn't whisper in my ear. "Let me tell you about Jesus...".

He works through other people. Some, dead -- e.g., great authors (e.g., Lewis). Some, as Lewis points out, who are not Christians themselves. I began to see patterns and connections in literature, movies, music; and long for what Lewis calls "the echo of a far off tune from another country, never quite heard..."; a yearning for that country, an appetite for something this world can never satisfy.

Having gotten tired with the retread rock music of classic AOR stations, I began to search the dial when in the car. I discovered Christian radio. Vernon McGhee. Adrian Rogers. Ravi Zacharias. Many, many others. I began to get doctrinally sound instruction. Sometimes I would turn on a sermon, and it would be EXACTLY what I needed to hear. Synchronicities would pile up on each other. "There are no coincidences in God's Kingdom..."

Eventually, I became the lovable fundamentalist you have before you now.

Glad to have you with us.

Thanks! I'm really enjoying it, this time around. The site I've primarily frequented in the past is a fairly closed community, and has become virtually unmoderated. The folks are fairly civil, in a locker room kind of way. But conversation had become tiresome. Gifs and toss off, drive by insults replacing actual exchanges of ideas. And I can give as good as I get.

Here, I have to mind my p's and q's. Which is good. Christians say "you are saved -- so act like your saved."

By the same token, I have discovered you should post as though you are moderated, whether you are or not.

was there a moment in your journey from faith to unbelief where you said "I can no longer accept that God entered His creation as a man; died for my sins; and was resurrected into a mode of existence that transcends our bounded space-time environment?"

There was a moment I realised that Christianity was a fantasy. I was sitting in a church where one Sunday. Some people were testifying about a “Crusade� they had been on where they had travelled around our region, praying at various different places for the region. One of them told how they were standing near a field and there was a solitary thistle in the field. “God revealed to me that the ground was cursed and I felt God leading me to walk out there to the thistle and uproot it, which I did and we praised God out there as he lifted the curse from the land!�

As soon as he said that the congregation started to cheer, applaud and praise God.
All I could do was stare blankly and think to myself "these people are completely deluded!" But I realised I had been like them for most of my life. I just hadn't realised it until now.

It was an eye opening moment for me. However it was still a revelation I fought against for quite some time. I didn't want to believe that Christianity was a fantasy. However the more I cried out to God and the longer I went without any intervention whatsoever, I knew that I couldn't keep denying it any longer. I just didn't believe anymore.

I went from deist to agnostic to atheist. It was a slow process. Too around 8 years. I didn't want to lose my faith. I fought against it vehemently.

[/quote]

I understand. But that relates more to the behaviors of others, really. And I know what you mean. I love my Christian brothers and sisters -- but some of them are a pain in the butt. And some people, as I said, follow a "Christian religion" -- "Churchianity". "Siting in a church house does not make you a Christian; any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car." Some of those folks know almost nothing about the Bible, the faith they profess to have, or Jesus Christ. And don't really want to know. But they identify as "Christians" or "Evangelicals" in the polls...

No, I was more interested in -- well, what I asked.

Did you begin having intellectual doubts as to the existence of God? That He was not necessary for a universe to exist -- matter and space and time being perfectly capable of creating itself, thank you very much?

Did you think, "that Jew died, and that's all there is to it"?

That since there's no need for God, then he didn't manifest as a man at a certain juncture of space and time. And did not conquer death, by his manifestation as a being transcendent of our material reality?

That's kind of what I was asking...

DI: I appreciate your response. But that's pretty well-trodden ground. I'd rather you take a crack at the post I referred to...

[Divine Insight]

But it became clear to me that atheistic materialism is a superficial account of the actual reality we inhabit. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy..."

Whether or not you believe in Christianity has absolutely nothing at all to do with "Atheistic Materialism".

When I realized that Christianity is false I didn't become a "Secular Materialist". In fact, I don't even claim to be a Secular Materialist to this very day. I'm open to many possible mystical realities.

Christianity is merely one of many diverse spiritual and mystical religious paradigms. And it's actually the most immoral and irrational of them all. It requires that we believe we were created an immoral jealous egotistical God who is out to hurt anyone who refuses to believe in him on no evidence and extremely immoral fables. You refuse to acknowledge that fact, and continually avoid those observations like the plague.

You say that "Atheistic Materialism" is a superficial account of reality.

I say that an invisible Jealous immature God who throws temper tantrums of wrath is a superficial account of reality.

Face it, the God of Christianity is chomping at the bit to cast unbelievers into a state of hellish eternal damnation. If that's not a superficial religious paradigm I don't know what would be.

You can continue to ignore this and keep playing it down to your heart's content, but that won't make the truth of it go away.

[Divine Insight]

There is the matter of my post #14, on the "Resurrections and Hyperdimensions" thread, that if you addressed, I have overlooked it. Perhaps you overlooked the post?

If so, I invite your response to it now.

I went and replied to that post just now.

Note also that you needed to make excuses for your God in that post by proclaiming that God is limited and couldn't do any better. So apparently you have already acknowledged the it's not the best solution that even us mere mortals can imagine.

[Volbrigade]

[Replying to post 185 by Divine Insight]

Christianity is merely one of many diverse spiritual and mystical religious paradigms. And it's actually the most immoral and irrational of them all.

Opinion stated as fact.

Yes, there's a bunch of religions -- each one nuttier than the next.

ALL of them may be wrong. Only one -- if any -- can be right. Most of them have at least some things right...

Christianity is distinctive. In many, many ways. Because I'm feeling lazy right now, I merely googled "Christian distinctives". Here is a very partial list (oh my. It's a bullet list at the site. The formatting didn't transfer -- and I don't feel like fixing it):
_________________

the character of the Christian God (including the way mercy and love are intermingled with holiness and purity),
the transcendent/immanent God (the wholly other, yet with us),
the nature of God (including the Trinity),
the nature of the love relationship between God and humanity,
salvation by faith alone, imputed righteousness,
the unique role of works in “true religion�(a manifestation of relationship versus an effort to attain or maintain a relationship),
the openness and the simplicity of the gospel (the good news is to all, no secrets, no difficult rituals),
the role of sacrifice in the life of the believer (a reflective role versus an appeasing role),
the humility and the exaltation of the lowly,
the ethic of love,
the community of the church as the body of God,
and the nature of the eternal state.

_____________________

I would definitely add as a distinctive that the Creator of matter, time, and space entered into His creation, manifested as a man, at a particular point in history, in a specific place, in the company of well-known, authenticated historical figures. Suffered at the hands of some of them, both Jews and Romans; and was seen to resurrect from the dead into some transformed, hyperdimensional, eternal mode of existence. So profound was the impact of these things, that His followers established a faith that is with us to this day -- they even have message boards devoted to attacking and defending it!

So -- if you can name another "one of (the) many diverse spiritual and mystical religious paradigms" that comes anywhere close to that --

that would certainly strengthen your point.