>They are conclusions that are IMO very rational and that in no way violate rational thinking processes. IOW, it is reasonable to take a position of faith, and in my mind far more reasonable that an other positions.

I've got a question you might be able to answer:
If God is all powerful, and perfect (correct me if I'm wrong there), how come he has to step into the affairs of human beings? Doesn't that point out that something wasn't right and needed to be interveened?

If your guess that the force holding atoms together is God himself, admittedly, doesn't that prove that God erred in creating the universe? Doesn't it seem more reasonable that a flawless God would set everything in motion, and be able to step away without the universe exploding?

IOW, why theism and not deism?

And why Christianity and not Islam? Were you already a Christian before thorougly reading the Quaran? Or were you exposed equally to Islam and Christianity at the same time? Was your deity already outlined in your mind before you set out to determine whether or not a deity existed?

IOW, are your conclusions really predefined conclusions that you have found evidence to support, or are your conclusions derived from finding impartial evidence and logically arriving at rational conclusions (as youy claim above)? If it is the latter, then it would be very simple to list the premise, and present the symoblic logic needed to reach your conlcusion. In fact, it would be so simple for you since this end-all-to-be-all argument would be a common peice of information among the intellectual community. Unfortuantely, it is not. Which leads me to believe that the latter cannot be possible, and what we're really dealing with here is a case of the former whether your refuse to admit that or not. The former, obviouslly, is NOT very rational and violates the rational thinking process despite what you say above.

Of course, you could accept the premise that what the Bible says is true. But I have a hard time understanding how two conflicting ideas can both be true. For example, the word of God says "Don't kill", but Exodus 32:27, I Samuel 15:2,3,7,8 and quite a few other passages show the word of God saying "Kill". Also, right off my head, from our conversation earlier, 1 Timothy 2:12-15 says some pretty specific things about what women can and cannot do, and what they are good for (they will be saved by childbirth). However, you claim that in Galations 3:28 it is clear that God does not favor men over women. But, that does not change what Timothy says! The fact that other parts of the Bible state something else does not make the issue closed, it raises more of its own, like, which one should I believe? Should I believe any of it?

Bottom line: you express opinions that I disagree with and when it all boils away, it is these spiritual differences that are really the cause of the disagreement; if you want me to agree, you have to convince me that spirtually you are spot on.

Which was John Ryans question.