How do you consider yourself logical and still believe in the Abrahamic God of the bible.

There is an almighty.

I’m not him.

That is all.

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There is an almighty.

I’m not him.

That is all.

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I'm not going to tell you there is no God as there is no way for me to be certain. What I am certain of though is that the Bible as currently translated does not hold up as a doctrine perfectly written with a devine architect when scrutinized by an unbiased outlook. I have read strobel and others, wanting to believe as it would be so much easier to do so.

What is illogical in believing in an almighty creator?

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But your belief does not impact reality any more than mine does

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Succinct and well put.

Explains so much that is wrong with our current society.

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I'm not going to tell you there is no God as there is no way for me to be certain.

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Cool.

Believe what you wish.

One benefit of living in a Christian society is the construct of free will. You have the ability of self determination.

So, you do you.

As for me, I believe:

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For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.

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Have a wonderful Sunday.

Peace amigo.

I do. And like you I've had questions.

Simulation theory made the bible make more sense for me than anything else.

So, you - an Energy/Matter-based Self Aware Entity, and a relatively very limited and simple one at that - question the idea that such MIGHT indicate that the sum total of all Enery/Matter IS possibly Self Aware? Self Aware in a way that our simple minds cannot even begin to 'see'? Though we can imagine and choose to believe.

Re reading the Bible, IMO, it's like William James said in his brilliant essay "The Will to Believe", 'Belief' must be an "open proposition", or you are wasting time. Further, that Bible (Scripture) states that "He that seeks to know God MUST FIRST BELIEVE that God exists". If you are reading to see IF you can or should believe that there is God, go fishing. The Bible is for Believers.

That said, God 'says' that God is Love. Jesus Gospel is based on creating a character of unrestrained, Universal Love. To the degree that you view life through the lens of Love/Unity, all things will then take on the 'color' of that Love. And that is a big win even if you cease to be for eternity.

Of course, a wonderful thing ceasing to be forever is not a happy ending, and a basis upon which to build a future. So in that respect, maybe it like our LSU Tigers...we take our losses today and struggle forward because we believe we will win in the future. No future=no hope.

If things really get rough, ask Jesus for help. He can't deny you; it's his duty and He truly loves us all. Just be 100% sincere when you do.

Good luck.

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They can't even start the thought process of questioning God's existence because at their core they believe the act breaks their faith and is a sin.

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I will disagree with you here. I believe God is plenty big enough to take our wrestling with our faith and even asking if he exists. If your experience is with a church that never lets you ask questions or struggle with your beliefs, then you need a new church or denomination.

Given your initial post, I doubt you are in church now which I understand given where you are. I would guess you have experience in one though that is more fundamentalist in its beliefs, Southern Baptist, Church of Christ, certain non-denominational churches, etc. Am I correct?

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with those. I grew up Southern Baptist. I’m sure they aren’t all like my experience, but the ones I grew up would not have open to questions.

I’m Methodist now, and they are. It is important to me. I really struggled with my faith when my wife died of brain cancer when we were both 27. I came out stronger on the other side, but I questioned a lot. I believe in a God big enough to handle my fears and doubts.

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The first question that hit me early on was the idea that if I had been born somewhere else I would likely be doing the same thing except for another religion.

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There are people with different tendencies and behaviors. Your assumption here appears to be that that would make you good in God's eyes because you follow the wrote script for Christians in America. That is false. Being a good person and breadwinner and hard worker doesn't meet God's standard. Romans 1-3 is clear on this. As for other groups/religions, Psalm 19 is clear that God is clearly seen in nature. I don't know how all of that plays out ultimately. If you are speaking logically, then the issue isn't that it is addressed, but that you don't like the Bible's conclusion.

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There are contradictions and stories in the bible that when I look at them though I can not see a reason to rationally put my faith in the word of the english translated version for sure.

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I don't know what contradictions you are speaking of. I know of exactly one story I'm unable to come up with a reasonable/plausible answer for. Most can be answered if you assume there is an answer, even if you feel it is weak. The real problem for me, generally, is that the people apologizing for the Bible do a very poor job when answering apparent contradictions.

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you have to be ok with the fact that the God you worship accepted child sacrifices

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No where in the Bible did God condone child sacrifice. The closest he came was Isaac and he had provided an alternative. The test was the point, not the sacrifice.

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consistently punished young children along with their parents with plague after plague.

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Yes, your sin impacts your family, especially your children. That's not illogical and the Bible carries that theme consistently through the Bible. You seem to see it as cruel but again, God laid out rules and told them and then they didn't meet them and faced punishment.

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Allowed his chosen ones to trick pharaohs by pretending their wives were there sisters andthen punishing the pharaohs for that act.

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God protected his people. It wasn't 100% fair, but he also protected the guys who were doing it innocently and warned them. It is consistent and logical that God protects those that are his even if you don't feel it was fair to others. They could have had the same protection by coming to God and accepting him.

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You have to believe the mosaic books of the bible were written by one man despite evidence to the contrary,

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Most people believe that Moses got some of the pentateuch from somewhere else (as in historical tellings) and wrote it down as well as maybe Job. I don't know what you mean by this.

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believe that jesus ended up in bethlehem due to some census that historically doesnt make sense

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There are serious challenges to the current real timeline of history. It was calculated at some point by some guy and they admit that mistakes were made. Most people think there was a 5 year time frame where Christ could have been born and there was a census exactly as described in that time frame.

As I said, your real issue doesn't seem to be the logic of the Bible, which is consistent, but the stated character of God. A person taking a good faith reading of the Bible would have to come away that it is consistent. The Bible stars off that the earth and everything in it is cursed due to sin. Christ comes to pay the way for sin and at the end, the earth and everything in it, including us, is made new. It is consistent from beginning to end in really weird and obscure ways.