Of course, I expected this comment.

I would like to request that you read the intro, points #1, #2, and #6, and the conclusion of this article: https://joeomundson.medium.com/13-fallacies-used-to-discredit-ex-christians-971c60a6d79f

I feel belittled by your statements like "Joe didn't meet God, he just attended church." (Also, why are you talking about me in the 3rd person? I'm right here...) Honestly, how can you possibly know where my heart was at or how fervently I sought after God? You're using a couple quick details about my life to justify your own theology and it feels dehumanizing.

I did everything within my power to "meet God", and he was never there. Of course, I don't expect you to believe that, but it's true.

"On this we tend to agree. Do you know that there are various views on eternity? Eternal hell is never mentored in the Bible, just eternal life. If it’s between ceasing to exist and heaven, I’ll take the latter."

If you really don't believe in hell, you are in a small minority of Christians. I encourage you to stop responding to posts like mine and instead devote yourself to countering this extremely harmful dogma that is taught within your own religion. It's more damaging than anything I can possibly write. If you believe the "correct" interpretation of the Bible means there is no hell, please convince other Christians to see it that way. Because the story most Christians are teaching to little children is deeply traumatizing.

"Return to your quest. Examine the claims God makes and how he is revealed in history. Understand the scripture more accurately. Continue to do your homework and find answers that are satisfying. Giving up, trying to cope, pretending, is not satisfactory. Frankly I don’t like some of the things in the Bible either, but it is Gods word or it isn’t. God has sent 4,000+ years chasing us around, now it’s time for you to do little more work."

Members of any religion could say this same thing. "I know my way is right, so you need to study my religion until you convince yourself that it is true, too."

If the Bible is either God's word or it's not, I think there is a much stronger case to be made that it's not. Realistically, it's a collection of writings from various authors (many unknown) and it contains some history, some myth, some nice ideas and some horrible ones.

Furthermore, I could say something parallel to you from a secular perspective. "Clearly, Kent has never understood science or rational thought, or he'd realize believing in holy books is silly. He should go back to school, take some evolutionary biology classes, study cosmology and anthropology and the history of religion, and he'd see that I'm right."

... But doesn't that feel belittling? And arrogant? And dismissive? I don't know you. Maybe you've already studied science, maybe you know how to think rationally, and you still hold the beliefs you do for reasons that I can't fully understand. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on why you believe the things you do, and I'd appreciate the same consideration from you; though of course we can debate philosophy and religion.