| Thanks for elaborating. > Advice to pray to a God you don't believe in is useless advice. Agreed. But the act of praying to a god is actually an act of belief (i.e., trust) if you think about it. If the god doesn't exist, it's pretty worthless, though ultimately harmless as an isolated act. I happen to trust in God's existence and the teachings of the Bible, though. So it would be callous for me to see someone have existential struggles and not offer my well wishes and personal experience in the same area. I'd reply to the rest of your thoughts in more detail, but I'd rather not get too off topic. I will say that your concerns with the behavior of "holy people" and "orthodoxy" is also expressed in the Bible itself. And it's directly answered in very clear words. So in that sense, a problem with many "Christians" (1) isn't blind unwavering devotion to the Bible as much as ignorance about it, or a failure to practice its teachings. I'll also say that Christian philosophers advocate for abductive reasoning in (a)theist philosophy. It's a subject and train of thought I recommend well-read people be familiar with. There's a lot of depth and breadth on these subjects, but there aren't many places where Christians are allowed to earnestly share on these matters. I hope HN doesn't mind indulging well-meaning people like me from time to time. (1) I will point out that there's no regulation on the word "Christian". The Bible recognizes that as well, specifically mentioning in several places that many people will claim Christ falsely. |