You know, I understand what you are saying. It's really pointless to argue your position. The problem with your position is that there is no clear answer. The scholarly debate is of minimal value because they are trying to put into context a language that is not well understood along with...
I'm sure that there's a flaw in the way that I'm thinking and I'm hoping that someone can point it out to me. Lately I've had this line of thinking:
Man is created in God's image.
Man is flawed.
Therefore, doesn't it stand to reason that God is supremely flawed?
On one hand, I'm with you, that we are merely Spinoza's stone, skipping merrily along the water. On the other, I do believe that we have freedom in the sense that we can choose how we react to the things that come our way. Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
Funny this...
There is some recent work going on regarding time and consciousness, which the writers seem to equate to soul. In these works, the claim is that there is some scientific evidence that time doesn't exist, but rather, our consciousness interprets what's going on as having time. In this model...