> If the something under examination causes a sense of existential nausea, disorientation, and a deep feeling that is can't possibly work like that, it is divine.
This is a Jewish and Christian conception of God. How can this be true when so many things that give us comfort in the natural world: fresh fruit, shade trees, sunshine and warm sand between our toes, etc., were not created by man?
Even in mathematics itself: how improbable, how ludicrous, how miraculous is it that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th natural numbers -- numbers you could discover by looking at your own hands -- have the amazing property of demonstrating the Pythagorean theorem?
The Islamic ideal of God (Allah) is so much more balanced. God created both the integers AND the reals. He created everything, some things for our comfort and rest, some things to drive us close to madness, and a lot of stuff in between. Peel back enough layers of causality and all of creation has the stamp of the divine.
I want to push back on this, because the Christian conception of God definitely includes the idea that God created all good and comforting things, and is indeed their ultimate source. Like, just because God is transcendent[0] does not mean He cannot create things that are perfectly approachable, understandable, and enjoyable.
[0] Jesus being human changes the calculus quite a lot, of course, as elaborated in e.g. Hebrews 4:14–16. God, who was fully transcendent, became human, hence why Jesus is also called Immanuel/Emmanuel (lit. “God with us”) in the Bible.
Then what’s your view on the OP, as a Christian? Can you “see” God in one set of numbers but not the other? What’s your take?
> This is a Muslim conception of God. How can this be true when so many things that give us comfort in the natural world: fresh fruit, shade trees, sunshine and warm sand between our toes, etc., were not created by man?
...
> The Jewish [Christian] ideal of God (YHVH) is so much more balanced.
There's enough bigotry out there. Let's not make assumptions about people's beliefs.
Is it bigoted to discuss nuanced differences between belief systems?