But as I said – and I’m still awaiting your answer – the entire tenor of the Bible is that, in at least some respects, God is like human beings. He plans, he executes; he is angry, he is grieved, he loves, he forgives, he makes promises, he keeps promises, he makes covenants, he punishes the violation of covenants. And you seem to be forgetting that man is made “in the image of God,” which implies that there is a legitimate likeness between God and man. I think a runaway Barthianism has taken hold of your theologizing. I prefer my theology more Orthodox and less Gnostic.
Further, that God is a designer does not imply that he is nothing but a designer – a point you seem to be overlooking. I freely grant, and I think Paley would, too, that God is much bigger, vaster, and more subtle than the image of a designer can capture. But while he is more than a designer, he is at least a designer. I see nothing un-Biblical about that.