Always struggled with my faith, and I keep getting drawn back

No, it was supposed to keep the Jews and early Christians from rebelling every few years.

Did you seriously think there would be deep truths found in a book compiled by government fiat?

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lol dude it's all horseshit. Imagine if you were a really smart dude thousands of years ago without any knowledge of modern math, science, or history. You can say something and people will fucking believe you because they can't fact check you because facts don't exist yet in a modern sense.

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>you know I'm willing to entertain the idea of a supreme being literally willing the universe into existence but the part where he tells desert dwelling pastoralist bovine farmers in 5000 BC how to live by appearing as a burning bush is where I arbitrarily cross the line because it totally ruins my suspension of disbelief

>>2927556
>>2927570
>>2927571
So tell me this, why is like, 70 percent of America strictly Christian? I mean I know we have a lot of stupid fucking people but I've met a lot of very intelligent devout christians, and it blows my mind. I feel as though there is a certain nobility about Christianity, and I believe in some sort of god, but I'm having a difficult time because all the religions seem "out there"

>>2927584
because Christianity was convenient. Judaism was this weird cult thing with a lot of faggy rules and then Christianity came along and you didn't have to eat Kosher and you could eat a lot of shit and it fitted in with the Western zeitgeist at that time and also Justinian liked it so blam.

As for
>I believe in some sort of God
well I do do. I'm what you would call a pantheist in that I believe that the Universe is essentially what we would define as a "God figure" given that the Universe is all of time and space, we are essentially both inhabitants and creations of the Universe. I highly doubt the Universe actually created us purposely or is even conscious on a level humans can comprehend, actually I just think that we're some shitty byproduct of the Universe continually expanding.
Though I do have a crazy theory that our positions in the universe are essentially analogous to cells within the human body, in that they don't know why they do what they do, but they do and they end up providing the human body with energy. I personally think that "human curiosity" is just one of the directional codings that is in our beings that causes us to continually do shit that will eventually cause us to harvest the energy of planets which will fuel the Universe to do whatever it does.
I kinda lost track of what i was talking about but i'm gonna post this anyway cos i'm lazy and gay

>>2927571
Is this an atheist arguing against deism or a theist arguing against deism?

> I mean, how did Adam and Eve just appear? How do millions of years of evolution just mean nothing? And Noah making an arc for all the animals?
Genesis is both seen literally and poetically among different scholars. It doesn't matter which one is correct though because it doesn't affect the gospel either way.
> I don't know why I don't believe this
Sounds like you're going through a natural phase of growth everyone who follows Christ deals with. To tell you the truth though- don't go to 4chan for answers. That's just dumb. This is stuff you need explore by talking to local pastors and prayer.

>>2927551
It's generally accepted (I know by the Catholic Church, can't speak about the Protestant denominations) that the majority of the events in Genesis & Exodus were essentially a creation myth and not meant to be taken at face value.

>>2927551
It's not just symbolic, it's deep. Like the flood is literally deep.

>>2927584
smart people believe stupid things all the time. that there are intelligent believers doesn't support their beliefs. if you ask these intelligent believers why they believe you'll get something along the lines of the old cosmological argument, "it was how I was raised", or even "I don't know".

>>2927627
the catholic church doesn't hold that it's a creation myth is simply incorrect, they dance around the issue by calling it symbolic

Treat the Old Testament as more of a cultural and prophetic context in which the New Testament existed in its earliest days. The New Covenant is what matters in Christianity.

Follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and don't let yourself get bogged down in ancient dogma.

>>2927656
I'll try that. Thanks for all the insight everyone.

>>2927551

>It not infrequently happens that something about the earth, about the sky, about other elements of this world, about the motion and rotation or even the magnitude and distances of the stars, about definite eclipses of the sun and moon, about the passage of years and seasons, about the nature of animals, of fruits, of stones, and of other such things, may be known with the greatest certainty by reasoning or by experience, even by one who is not a Christian. It is too disgraceful and ruinous, though, and greatly to be avoided, that he [the non-Christian] should hear a Christian speaking so idiotically on these matters, and as if in accord with Christian writings, that he might say that he could scarcely keep from laughing when he saw how totally in error they are. In view of this and in keeping it in mind constantly while dealing with the book of Genesis, I have, insofar as I was able, explained in detail and set forth for consideration the meanings of obscure passages, taking care not to affirm rashly some one meaning to the prejudice of another and perhaps better explanation.
Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 1:19–20, Chapt. 19 [AD 408]

>>2927679
What's he saying here? I don't know why but reading that is difficult for me to keep track of the point. Maybe I'm dumb.

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>>2927584
There are people with doctorates who are buying into this flat earth shit. You underestimate the power of social conditioning

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>>2927704

Basically Hippo, an early Christian theologian in pagan Roman times, basically said literalism of the Bible was fucking retarded and makes Christianity look stupid to pagans. He argued that it was still a religion worth looking into, but he'd punch Ken Ham in the face if he were alive today.

A secular Jew friend of mine, who attended synagogue regularly, explained the different ways that synagogues and churches operated, in his opinion.

He saw churches as preaching the plot of a biblical story first, and providing a meaningful interpretation after, if at all. He said this practice of placing the story over the meaning led to Christian denominations rejecting scientific fact. Then, he said that in synagogue, the sermon was all about interpretation, and the plot details were often overlooked. This practice led to the development of secular Jews, who could attend synagogue and understand what Genesis wants to express about human nature, for example, without being too committed to the idea that Genesis is the literal creation story.

So, OP, understand that people of different faiths think differently, and do not always accept the words of their sacred books as literal. Instead, they may dismiss the words to see the message. I hope this can help you in your doubt.