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Did you read the sentences I bolded? You are telling me what I can and can't believe. That's hypocritical to whine about me doing that while you do the same.
I believe that my belief is exclusive. And when it comes down to it, you also believe your belief is exclusive. I don't believe that it's logically consistent for God to exist as a mutually exclusive idea. It's not possible. You seem to hold to this idea that it's irrelevant, and that what I believe is wrong, but you are not willing to be told the same thing. That's rude.
I am not telling you what to believe. I am telling you not everybody believes like you do. Period. BTW, every belief is exclusive to the person who believes it. It's neither right nor wrong. It just is. If it makes you feel better you can tell me I'm wrong. But I think you've done that plenty already.
I am not telling you what to believe. I am telling you not everybody believes like you do. Period. BTW, every belief is exclusive to the person who believes it. It's neither right nor wrong. It just is. If it makes you feel better you can tell me I'm wrong. But I think you've done that plenty already.
Of course you're telling me what to believe. You're telling me that I can't believe an exclusivistic view of God.
It's interesting to look at the archaeology of religion so to speak and see what it can tell us about the development of religion.
Old Stone age - concern with the dead. Burial practices.
New stone age Ancestor worship, a fertility -based matriarchy, perhaps.
Bronze age. The arrival of the human gods, God -kings and families of gods
Iron age, one god or Top God at least.
I have a theory ... ...that the Abrahamic God (originally a fairly bogstandard Canaanite tribal god, wife and all) was made the only god the Israelites should worship as a way of keeping their identity separate from the others. This later on became the Hebrew Tribal god becoming to Top God out of all the others and finally, the only real god, all the others being false. Probably quite late - perhaps during the sojourn in Babylon or even later.
That it had invented the perfect method of being Different from all the other tribes together with the genius of Paul who sold it to the Greeks and the remarkable popular appeal eventually made it the religion of Rome and Islam latching on to that - the two most aggressively evangelical religions ever - other than Chinese Confucianism, perhaps (Hinduism being more spread by Royalty finding its' impressive pomp very useful) and that has rather made monotheism look as though it is the only possible kind of religion, but in fact exclusive monotheism is really a later development.
Take what back? The part where I say you can believe anything you want? Or the part where I say don't expect everybody else to? And no, you nor I can tell anyone else what they should believe.
Take what back? The part where I say you can believe anything you want? Or the part where I say don't expect everybody else to? And no, you nor I can tell anyone else what they should believe.
It's mind boggling how you seem to be immune to basic logical thinking here.
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...that the Abrahamic God (originally a fairly bogstandard Canaanite tribal god, wife and all) was made the only god the Israelites should worship as a way of keeping their identity separate from the others. This later on became the Hebrew Tribal god becoming to Top God out of all the others and finally, the only real god, all the others being false. Probably quite late - perhaps during the sojourn in Babylon or even later. 
