So allowing terrorism, child molestation, mass murders, incest, necrophilia, rape as a weapon of war, ebola, AIDS, cancer, Altzheimers, all of this under the guise of “free will”, all of these things are part of God’s Divine Plan for us and we poor stupid humans are just to lowly to understand how they benefit us in the long run.

Oh yeah. Sign me up for THAT belief system.

The hard-line black and white perception of an exclusively-benevolent omnipotent God is a horrible disservice to actual Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths, the holy texts of which do not present God in such a way. An omnipotent singular deity/creator would necessarily be the original creator of evil as well. To have evil come from something other than the creator would require a separate agent of creation, which is pretty strongly contrary to the notions of monotheism.

This is one of the reasons why some scholars consider the Book of Job to be a counterargument against Zoroastrianism, which a lot of Fews were being exposed to around the time of its writing. Job clearly shows the Jewish God as complicit in and permitting undeserved misfortune after undeserved misfortune falling upon a righteous man. God letting evil happen is part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, not contrary to it.

The underlying assumption to the Epicurus mental trap is the conceit that the motives and reasoning of an omnipotent God (real or theoretical) must be conceivable and rational to the mortal mind. So in short: “If God is infinite, can he not outsmart you who are finite?”

Of course, that’s another brand of intellectual laziness unto itself. What tangled knots we twist for ourselves…

As Barry states, “Mary and Joseph were visited by angels that explained things for them.” It may not convince you but as he said, it convinced them. As the rest of the story goes, Mary being pregnant went against all the rules of the time so Joseph intended to divorce her but the angels convinced them otherwise. Not sure how else Joseph could have been convinced. He must have thought that she had 1) cheated on him for sure and 2) slept with someone before marriage which would have been a big no no.

As far as the Epicurus quote, I have an issue with the second line,
“Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.” — No, I think this is where free will comes into play. Mankind chooses to do evil, not God. God is willing not to make us robots

Well, that’s the crux of the problem, isn’t it? As soon as you start saying “I know thats what the Bible says, but that’s not what it means” then you throw the doors open. Anything in the Bible can mean whatever you want it to mean.

“…there’s plenty of evidence of God and Jesus’ existence …”

Umm, no, there isn’t actually. Unless you are referring to something nebulous like “the beauty all around us”. Not a compelling argument for me. But you believe whatever you want.

“I don’t see the illogic of a Catholic priest guiding the doubting parishioner back to the fold. Sounds like he’s doing his job…”

I completely agree. That is exactly what I would expect a priest to do. That IS his job. But what if the doubter wants another point of view. One that isn’t a sales pitch for the church? What if they want to hear what the secular voice of reason has to say?

If you were considering buying a car, would you rely exclusively on the word of the salesman? Or would you check Consumer Reports and do some asking around?

Would you put more effort into researching the purchase of an automobile than you would put into deciding how you want to live your llife?

“As for the virgin birth, both Mary and Joseph were visited by angels that explained things for them.”

Oh. Okay. Angels. In dreams.

I’m convinced.

I leave you with the Greek philosopher Epicurus:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

Burrowowl already mentioned one: the “6 days” of Creation need not be 6 literary, 24 hour days - especially since the sun and moon weren’t created till the 4th day, and hence there wouldn’t be anything to measure a “day” before then. Each day is clearly an epoch of time, likely all different, representing the passing of time and evolution of life on earth. And if God chose after Creation was finished to stop and let some time pass, and things simmer for a while, there’s nothing wrong with the author of Genesis to interpret that as “resting”. It doesn’t mean God was tired, only waiting.

You also have your definition of faith wrong. It’s not belief without evidence - there’s plenty of evidence of God and Jesus’ existence - it’s belief without proof. I’m not sure this isn’t actually what you meant, but it’s an important distinction.

I don’t see the illogic of a Catholic priest guiding the doubting parishioner back to the fold. Sounds like he’s doing his job - helping those whose faith has slipped recall why they believed in the first place. You, who do not believe, would probably see that as intervening in a negative way. I see it as being responsible (as long as it’s done without coercion, threat or other dishonest methods like fearmongering). It’s entirely possible to do it honestly, regardless of what popular media would have one to believe.

As for the virgin birth, both Mary and Joseph were visited by angels that explained things for them. Even though they were visited in dreams, I have no doubt an angelic visit even while sleeping would leave such an impression as not to doubt its authenticity. Joseph didn’t have to take Mary at her word - it was already told to him as well.

Then you descend into profanity and hyperbole when expressing disbelief at turning water into wine, and I lost interest…

I’m not trying to argue “for atheism”. That would imply that I’m trying to change someone’s mind. I’m not. I don’t care what anyone else chooses to believe.

The definition of faith is “belief without evidence”. I can’t do that. I can’t believe in something just because someone else says it is true. The more outrageous the claim, the more evidence I need.

The entire universe and everything in it created in just 6 days by an omnipotent being who existed before time yet needed a day of rest?

I’m sorry. I just don’t buy it.

I don’t really care what anyone else believes. As Thomas Jefferson once sais, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my bones.”

We are just trying to be a resource for people who are doubting their faith and want answers they won’t get from their priest or rabbi or local cult figure.

If I am a devout Catholic and I express doubts to my priest, my priest is going to try and bring me back into the fold.

Not exactly objective feedback.

We, on the other hand, aren’t afraid to say, “Yeah, well…just think about it for a minute. Virgin birth? Would you buy that argument from your virgin bride if she turned up pregnant?

Seriously.

Turning water into wine?

None of the disciples learned that trick? They would have been brazillionaires! Fuck a bunch of Middle East oil…the water-into-wine business would have been HUGE!”

The last time I witnessed a miracle was when somebody actually allowed me to merge ahead of them when a lane was closed on I-70. They smiled and waved as they did it instead of laying on the horn, flipping me off and riding my ass for the next 25 miles.

Had to be divine intervention.

While I have a little bit of trouble with organized religion, I am glad that I was raised with spiritual values and the belief that there is a higher being. It gives me hope, it takes me through the difficult moments of my life, and I will die with my heart put in God.