You are making assumptions, my friend. You certainly didn't learn that here. I have questioned the Bible, my faith, and what I believe, and by process, experience, and research I have come to my settled conclusions. Allow me that and I will allow you to have your conclusions about what you have come to believe.

True, I was told many, many years ago that the Bible is the word of God, but that is not where my conviction about its truthfulness comes from, and it wasn't something that sprang up overnight to fill some vacuum in my mind. My conviction comes from the spiritual reality I came to know through many years, which the Bible consistently confirmed and supported, and I didn't get that inside the walls of any church. I came to know the reality of God by personal experience, and nothing can shake me from that. It's more real to me than the thinly-formed matter that makes up this world.

All bets are off (for me personally) because I am convinced the Bible is true, not because I started with a belief I then had to prove to myself was real, but from leaning into the spiritual reality that was proof enough in itself to convince me that the words on those pages were no lie. It is my right to hold that conviction as much as it is your right to maintain your skepticism. You certainly don't need me to agree with you to support what you believe. Only the unsure need that, and I give you the respect of assuming that is not the case with you, unless you tell me differently. Please give me the respect of assuming that my spiritual experiences are real on some level. You don't have to believe what I do to give me that.

On one point I would like to challenge you. We actually are in an argument according to the dictionary definition. But I don't see it as a negative thing. We are being civil, even if we have both been blunt on some of our points. I can see how passionate you are about your contentions, and I respect that.