Why I am not an atheist

The thing is, at least for me, it's rare to have these sort of in-depth conversations in real life. So even though much of what you say is true, and while there can certainly be problems with this mode of communication, I can't really find a substitute. And that's why I've made a home here.

Oh, there's no "might" about it, and there never was! I have never even imagined for one moment that I have a clear idea of what I or anyone else means by 'God'. It may possibly be the most confusing and maddening word in the language. (Any other candidates?)

I think there is a fact of the matter as to whether there is a god or there are gods. But before we can know what the fact of the matter is, we have to be clear as to what we mean by what we are saying. I totally accept that very little of what I have written in this thread has been clear. But it is an awfully big subject. Who can hope to be clear about it at the very outset? Who can hope to have a reliable map of the territory in their hands before they have even journeyed through it? I can only hope to come up with something a little better than Here be dragons.

You're forgetting 'The Fall'. OK I am not turning evangelical on you here, I don't necessarily read this the same way as they do. But I have no doubt that this is a representation of a major factor in 'the limits of human experience' and kind of a boundary condition of being. This is why a Christian would say, there is no use trying to penetrate this by mere intellect. Your intellect is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The crucial change has to happen on the level of the heart, the seat of being, which they say is accepting Christ. In Buddhism, it is expressed differently and without the peculiarly Augustinian angst that Christianity has introduced to it (which equates The Fall with sexuality, which is a whole other minefield....)But it is very similar in some crucial respects, one being that no amount of discursive intellection will set you free from this condition...it has to happen on the level of 'heart'.

Well our intellects and rational capacities are gifts from God in order that we may know and understand him better. We were made in God's image after all.

Seems silly to have a biological tenancy that is considered "evil" if you enact it.

Existence is the problem that religion has to solve, because existence itself is suffering. Why are we in a world full of suffering? Why must everything we cherish die? I am not going to even try to answer that question. But the idea that it is all related to sex is not at all daft.

Your intellect is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The crucial change has to happen on the level of the heart, the seat of being, which they say is accepting Christ.

Well our intellects and rational capacities are gifts from God in order that we may know and understand him better. We were made in God's image after all.

Respectfully, God is also made in ours. For me, the Incarnation is symbolic of God-in-Man and Man-in-God.

But I don't think Nietzsche presented any kind of way out at all, he just wallowed in it, and enjoyed the spectacle.

Existence is the problem that religion has to solve, because existence itself is suffering. Why are we in a world full of suffering? Why must everything we cherish die? I am not going to even try to answer that question. But the idea that it is all related to sex is not at all daft.