[quote=ShonHarris]
Just going out on a limb here and going to say that speaking from the perspective of a believer may not be how you win any minds and hearts here, Act. It's not about stigma, but about how you're entering this discussions. There's difference between a debate and trying to convince people. See, one has points that can be analysed and dissected to really get where the speaker is coming from. That one means you have to open yourself to having your mind changed, to be vulnerable, basically. The latter, in this context. is more just speaking about your values and other hard-set aspects to you that you have no intention of developing your perspective on. First off, that's fine you have those. I'm glad you've found things so meaningful to you you've made them a cornerstone to your identity. However, when you speak to others about topics, especially about a faith-community of a culture far disconnected from the Western world, it makes your arguments less clear. The debate becomes 'this fact because of the fact is declared' rather than 'this fact, because of evidence, because of this line of logical thinking'. To be super clear, you're talking to someone who has steeped themselves in study about Judeo-Christian iconography and scripture. I am a Universalist with a very deep passion for learning about how other faith-communities, I believe we all have personal journeys that take on many appearances and rituals, but are ultimately, . Whether or not three people share the same religious label, how they perceive this 'unfathomable' body is rarely exactly the same. Yeshua* spoke in parables not because he was incapable of direct statements, but because the path to your answer is perhaps just as important as the conclusion (if not more). So that said, religion is extremely individual despite some being quite large. It is extremely difficult to make an argument based on your faith not because faith is not fact, but because it's so steeped in your identity and experiences that we cannot really wholly understand your thinking there -- it's yours. And hey, just throwing this out there, God is actually pretty understandable if you're studying cultural context and surrounding faith-communities. I spent some time with this topic while in undergrad and found it stimulating, but I also never chalked it up to unfathomable. That probably helped my resolve. I'll hider the rest of this because, while it's definitely the short version, it's still pretty long. So no, God is not unfathomable because of outstanding morality or some immeasurable greatness, but because our perspective of who God is constantly changing as we as a people do. Religion is personal. Religion is a reflection of us as we think on it, on what we have experienced, and any deities or principles we pay reverence to speaks more about our personal values than the nature of the point we choose to focus on. It's like Gat said, and more, the problem with basing things on the Bible is that it's extremely outdated, but not just because of time, but because most Christians don't know the history of their religion or where the beliefs originate from. It's not really a big religion so much as a great many personal interpretations maybe based on the text, maybe based on what you've been raised or told about over the years.
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Well, God doesn't change because people think he does. That's. Just. Your opinion man. I'm telling you what the Gospel is and who God is. That's my only job. Not to convince you of anything.