Info dumps by nerdy folks who are passionate about stuff are my favorite!! ☺️☺️

That's super interesting, thanks for explaining! And yeah that's a pretty central contradiction, I can see how that'd drive a lot of theological debate/discussion. Even within the public consciousness it feels like you have the two versions of the christian god, the "turn the other cheek" and the wrathful god you must learn to fear.

I get not wanting to accept the compliment, there's often a really big difference between a true expert within a field of study and someone with "expertise" in the more coloquial sense of someone having significantly more specialized knowledge than a layman. Regardless, you know a lot more than me or most other folks in this thread and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and perspective with us ☺️

You can say god on the internet, the fuck?

I’d say I am still interested in the philosophy that underpins some religions, I simply reject all mythological supernaturalism. Having been raised by classic Stephen King religious villains, I absolutely reject the entire concept of organized, centralized religion, appeal to authority or deity, and mystical thinking of any kind.

That said, I am a big fan of Jesus’ teaching. I don’t buy the “magical faith healer” nonsense, but I absolutely agree with his teaching, which is deeply humanist. Most religions have a kernel of profound humanism at their center, but all of them have been co-opted by the rich and powerful and metastasized into weapons of oppression, control, and abuse.

Matthew 5:17-18 NRSVUE [17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. [18] For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Checks out. I'll allow it.

You're right, I used the term replace where scholars might use fulfil. I was told in many instances where old vs new contradictions come up, that the old testament was fulfilled and that the new testament took precedent in most cases of contradiction. So I shouldn't have used the word replace. But my understanding hasn't particularly changed. It may have been colored by the positions of Professors I had spoken to in the past. They tended to be from the Church of the Nazarene Universities.

Respectable response.