I'm an atheist (lack belief in god(s)).
I understand that there are many people who believe in various gods and I understand that there are various sacred texts for many of the gods.
As I understand it, many of these beliefs ascribe miracles or things that don't obey the laws of physics or nature e.g. walking on water, coming back from the dead etc. Hence special pleading e.g. unbelievable things that are accepted as having happened just this once in this one special case.
I have often wondered why people believe in gods, maybe it is drilled into them as a child? Maybe it is circumstantial (perhaps an unlikely event happened) maybe in times of turmoil a person "felt" a presence???
But that's one thing. Then it comes to the topic of this thread.
How do they go from "well the universe must have had a beginning as it is impossible to get something from nothing so there must have been an all powerful god that created it all" to "and I know that god is Zeus, or Allah, or Tane, or Yahway or Brahma or etc"
But then they also go beyond that to "I know my god exists, but I won't ever see or hear my god, I will never find evidence for my god, my universe will behave in a way as if there is no god, and yet my god definitely exists"
Then they go to
"Even though my god is "hidden" and never speaks, I can know what my god wants because I can use logic. Even though my god is a personality, I can predict my gods wants and desires just by doing logic, as if my god was a preprogrammed machine, always logically consistent, always perfect.
Personally I don't know how to reconcile a "logically consistent, always perfect" and predictable thing with a personality, a consciousness capable of making wise decisions. It seems we are trying to make the argument that a conscious intelligent life is no better than a pre-programmed predictable machine.
Anyway, back onto topic. It is interesting to understand how people go from "there is a god" to "...and that god is..."