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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]How, specifically, does your god differ from a magic man in the sky? If your explanation is apt I promise I will never use that phrase again.[/quote]

Interesting how the people who object to the term can't, or won't answer this question.[/quote]
"Magic man in the sky" is (as PP admitted) pejorative and derisive. It is a caricature of what religious people believe, not an accurate description of the religious conception of God. It's not a good faith engagement with the complexity of belief about the nature of God. It's not an argument against God so much as an over-simplification so that the idea can be dismissed out of hand.

To give you a cursory answer to your ridiculous question:

God isn't a "magic man in the sky." God is not gendered and doesn't have a body. Anthropomorphizing God can help us conceptualize a Divine being beyond our language and earthly experience, but that doesn't mean that God literally has arms or that referring to God as "He" denotes a literal maleness. The Bible uses different pronouns for God depending on the context; most often male, but sometimes female when referring to God's mercy or nurturing nature. Not having a body also means that God doesn't have a specific place of residence (God is everywhere, not literally in the sky).[/quote]

Doesn’t the bible always refer to god as “he”?

Doesn’t the bible say man was made in god’s own image?

Doesn’t the bible constantly refer to him being in “the heavens”?

Doesn’t the bible say god is all powerful?

Sounds exactly like a magic man in the sky. [/quote]
1. No, the Bible does not always refer to God as "He" as I already noted above. Also, as I already explained, the use of gendered pronouns for God does NOT mean that God has a gender. Gendered pronouns can convey attributes of God (strength, nurturing, etc). It's metaphor.

2. The Bible says mankind/humanity was made in God's image. Both man and woman were made in God's image. It's not about physical similarities (because, as I said before, God has no boost). It's about mankind's capacity for creativity, stewardship, etc.

3. "The heavens" is not literally the sky.

4. "All powerful" doesn't mean "magic."[/quote]

1) Educate me and tell me where god's gender is not he.  And before you tell me to "google it", I did:

[i]Yes, the Bible consistently uses masculine pronouns ("He," "Him") and titles ("Father," "King") to refer to God, though it explicitly states God is a Spirit without human sexual characteristics. While masculine language is dominant (e.g., Theos in Greek), female metaphors—such as a mother comforting a child or a mother hen (Isaiah 66:13, Matthew 23:37)—appear occasionally to describe His love, explains GotQuestions.org. [/i]

2. This is your interpretation, and it is fine but absolutely requires acceptance of non-standard meanings for the terms "image" and "likeness".  So how would a rationalization to have it mean whatever you wanted differ?

3. This one I am calling you on.  They meant heavens, they meant the sky

Psalm 68:4: Explicitly calls God the "One who rides on the clouds"
Deuteronomy 33:26: "There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds."
Psalm 18:9: "He bowed the heavens also, and came down; dark clouds were under his feet."
Exodus 16:10: "And as Aaron spoke... they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud."
Matthew 24:30: Jesus predicts that people "will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
The Tower of Babel: The people said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens" (Genesis 11:4). This indicates they believed a sufficiently tall building could physically enter God's space.
Jesus’ Ascension: After His resurrection, Jesus "was lifted up before their very eyes, and a cloud took him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9). Two angels then asked the disciples, "Why do you stand looking into heaven?".
A "Vaulted Dome": The Bible describes God as "The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens and has founded His vaulted dome over the earth" (Amos 9:6).
Jesus Praying: When Jesus performed miracles or prayed, He often began by "looking up to heaven" (Mark 6:41; John 17:1).
A "High" God: Multiple verses emphasize God's literal height: "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love..." (Psalm 103:11).
God Looking Down: "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand" (Psalm 14:2).

I literally could fill pages with this.  Again, if you want to claim it means other than what the words say, well, then that means it can be whatever you want, and therefore pretty meaningless as a guideline.

4. Would you like another bunch of quotes like above or would you just like to stop at "water into wine"?

Man.  Sky.  Magic.[/quote]

He’s definitely something because you think about Him as much as people who believe He’s God do.

He is on your mind constantly and you feel you have to disparage Him and people who believe in Him.

It’s fine to disagree with Christianity and not believe in God, but you are choosing to characterize Christianity and God as the cartoon version. Nobody believes what you are insisting God/Christianity is.

When Christians here tell you what you say we believe in is not accurate, you don’t listen and just forge ahead with nonsense.

The Bible sometimes uses “heaven” and “above” language. “Heaven” can mean:
 the sky, or the spiritual realm (God’s presence). People in ancient times used up/down language to describe things beyond normal experience.

What about clouds and imagery in the Bible?

You’ll see imagery like: God appearing in a cloud, or Jesus Christ “coming on the clouds.”

Those are generally understood as symbolic of glory, mystery, or divine presence. Not literally saying God lives inside clouds like a house.

God is beyond the physical universe. He’s not confined to any time or space.

You can personally think of God that way. But you can’t tell Christians what they actually believe. You are very wrong about Christians believing God lives in the sky above the clouds. That’s a depiction from movies and cartoons.

[/quote]

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