I hope this paper is of interest, personally I found it remarkable. Abraham Heschel has always been a favorite of mine.

There is another block to Jewish theology. This danger is a more insidious one. I refer to the Hellenization of Jewish theology… To oversimplify the matter: this approach would have Plato and Moses, for example, say the same thing. Only, Plato would say it in Greek and Moses in Hebrew. Consequently, you can say that Moses was a sort of Hebrew Plato. This view has had a...

some folks believe that matter creates consciousness.
so at what point does matter create consciousness? how does something go from being no conscious matter to conscious matter?
how do you create something from nothing?

A Trinitarian creed begins:

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth and all things visible and invisible.”

This statement of belief is quite explicit and clear. It states that there is one God, entitled, ‘Father’, who is almighty.

On top of that the creed is clear that the belief is that this ‘Almighty Father’ created all things.

The question is: How did one almighty God who created all things turn into three persons, one called ‘Father’, who did not...

are people who believe in an anthropomorphic god, dualists?
can a dualist be one, have oneness, whole, or atonement with an anthropomorphic god?

@HonestJoe

I decided to start fresh with a new thread to continue our conversation because that other thread got derailed and I do not plan to post on it anymore.

Good, then you understand my position. I'm just lucky enough to have never been indoctrinated with a implicit belief in God and so didn't have an issue when I was able to reach this logical conclusion. You're still clearly in the mindset of needing to defend the concept of God you've been taught, even as you struggle with the...

If you are religious, how have your religious beliefs benefited you?

If you aren't religious, then do you think that you're better off without having a religious belief in your life?

On the one hand, I believe that being a Christian was a terrible mistake on my part and I am much better off without it in my life. The pain and negativity I endured as a Christian finally led me to Wicca and then to polytheism, which has been a very positive experience for me. Since giving up my Christian...

My latest post in the thread where I'm trying to show eloquence of Quran and signs of it being from God in that respect.

I wrote:

Salam

What does this have to do with eloquence? One way to define eloquence, is to talk about words picked in a way that are very well placed with respect to one another. That out of the words picked as there are many ways to say the same thing, the choice of words are very well chosen.

Now with respect to the reward verses, I believe I have not only shown...

Then the question has no value. According to Richard Dawkins.

Science does answer some "why" questions, including questions about the purposes of things. Those it does not answer may simply be unanswerable. The questions "what is the purpose of a light bulb?," "what is the purpose of a firefly's light,?" and "what is the purpose of the sun?" all look like the same sort of question superficially, but are importantly different. The first invites an answer in terms of the intentions of those...

What do you think the ultimate goal is of religion?

What do you expect religion in general or your specific religion to accomplish?

How or when will you know that your religion has accomplished it's goal?

Yadavas Hebrews were farmers. How come Jews thought Hebrews were slaves?