No problem, let me know what you think of it. I am currently bogged down with too many other books to really spend the time, it would be interesting to hear if it is relevant.
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Welcome to the forum @Frank_robert! 
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I hope to get to it soon and Iāll let you know what I think of the the book.
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Thanks Dan, I am glad I found this forum. From what I have observed this forum is different from other religious/science forums in that people can have heated disagreements yet do so in a friendly manner.
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Thatās what we aim for, even if there are a lot of near-misses. 
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Oh geez. That is certainly what we aspire too, but we do not always achieve. Iād say we are also distinctive for having a high ratio of actual practicing scientists, and other scholars. This gives a unique ability to make substantive progress in important questions that interface with science.
Notable, the GAE began as forum posts, so did the scientific chapters of WLCās upcoming book. Though all of us work on other things for most of our time, this provides a platform for us to lend our expertise to some of these larger questions. It has been fun.
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Agreed.
Welcome @Frank_robertā¦will you be having the duck or the unicorn today?..
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Iām going to try a different non-duck/unicorn routeā¦
In regard to scientific pursuits, there is often one way to interpret information. Once you understand it, you file it away as understanding and move on. The difference for me in regard to scripture is that I find that the understanding changes, and changes frequently and remarkably in specific reference to what is happening in my life currently. I find that does not happen in any other material I read. If I understand say, the particle-wave duality of a photon, I am done learning that concept.
But with the bible I am never done, it continues to reveal different, distinctly unique, relevant life lessons as I change. If I need to study a specific issue, I pray and am led to scripture that may or may not be directly associated with the issue, but always has a relevant lesson. This is the relationshipā¦there is a quantifiable back and forth that happens as I seek truth, and there is a noticeable lack of understanding if I donāt apply myself spiritually. (For instance, if I just want a quick verse to make myself feel better, I struggle to find it because I am being selfishā¦) When I was not a believer and just sought knowledge, I found none because I was not seeking God, I was seeking a bullet point to make an argument. That too, I find to prove the concept of a relationship. There is give and take, an agreement regarding faith that unveils truth in scripture.
There are other relevant experiences that prove to me that I have a relationship with God/Jesus. The Spirit works through other people, believers and non, and I can now tell which direction to go in a given situation by what I hear in my heart. No, I donāt hear voices. There are frequent confirmations, doors open and close. When I am not focused on God, my life quickly turns ugly. My thoughts become wicked, I make stupid choices, I generally fail to find peace. But when I am focused on God, the peace is just there. So, not all about what I read, though thatās a big part.
Anyway, I want to keep trying to explain, even though I know we are very far apart in how we perceive these experiences. I can say that I felt the way you did at one time, so I get where you are coming from. I surprise myself, none of it really makes logical sense, but I know the truth now, and I know that sounds strange. (When I say truth, I mean personal truth, not making any representation about anyone else or claiming that belief to be superior to any other beliefā¦it is uniquely my own truth).
Really? So if someone just says he knows what unicorn tastes like, youāll believe him? Well, you are at least consistent. I wouldnāt. So I am also consistent. 
Really? I am not questioning your honesty, but I find that difficult to believe. In any event, it should not take much reflection to realize that does not apply to most, or even many, other people. Do you think a classics scholar reads The Iliad once and is done with it, has understood everything thing there is to understand about it? An English scholar with the works of Shakespeare of a novel like Finneganās Wake? A philosopher with the writings of Aristotle, Aquinas, Hegel, Wittgenstein, etc? Are there really no books or movies or pieces of music you return to repeatedly, to find a new detail or aspect you did not appreciate before? If so, thatās too bad.
In my own work, I could literally spend years with a patient analyzing a single moment of their life, without every being certain we have fully understood it.
So, like I say, I donāt deny you are telling the truth. But you cannot assert that this is a unique experience that only occurs thru a āpersonal relationship with Jesus.ā
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Of course! You make a very valid and important point. To know if a Christian religious experience is valid, one key check is to make sure it does not conflict with the scriptures. For example if someone thought they heard a voice telling them to steal or murder, that would conflict with the Bible so would not be from God.
To be clear, this thread was started in response to a question about why a Christians talk about having a relationship with God. There are many aspects to that relationship. God created humans as both intellectual and emotional beings, so He speaks to us both intellectually and emotionally. Those two aspects of His revelation to us should support, not conflict with one another. If they conflict, then that would put doubt that the experience was from God rather than our own imagination
Who was talking to Abraham, then, when he was told to murder his child?
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I hear that unicorns are endangered so put me down for duck.
Having experts is huge plus and makes google redundant. 
Hey Michelle, just curious, but how do you square this with different emotional values to the same phenomena assigned in different cultures?
I am thinking things like corporal punishment, capital punishment etc. I even read a book recently that discussed a practice known as āabductive marriageā which is practiced in some cultures.
The old testament writers had radically different feelings towards war than most of us in the modern western world have, especially when it comes to non-combatants.
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The assertion I am trying to make, perhaps poorly, is that my experience was that I did not understand most of what the bible had to offer until I believed in God and developed a personal relationship with Jesus. Before that point, I thought it was just ridiculous stories, now I have a relationship with the Word and I get Truth and Life out of that relationship.
I am not challenging the fact that you can get deeper understanding of other books through study and reading them multiple times. I do challenge the difficulty in receiving truth from the bible without having a relationship with God/Jesus/Spirit. If you can, greatā¦I couldnāt. I would also say that knowing biblical truth, however, means that you know that you have a personal relationship with Jesus.
By the way, I donāt consider this a āreligiousā experienceā¦I do consider it spiritual, but so far I havenāt found a āreligionā that resonates with me. I donāt think I ever will. Religion to me is a man made farce that eventually drives people away from God. Had to say itā¦(probably a different topicā¦)
I have to agree with @Faizal_Ali on thisā¦the bible is not all rainbows and puppy dogs (or unicorns). God has commanded men and angels to destroy manyā¦all at times. But the bible is clear that the instances of destruction were for a reason, and Jesus came to be an example for us. So, the rules have changed since Jesus was sent.
Iām sorry, Iāve only ever lived in western cultures (the USA and a couple years in Europe), so I do know know enough about your question to give an answer. However, if is clear that God works around the world and speaks across cultures.
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Thanks for the response. I have only lived in England so am similarly hampered. Could it be though it isnāt that our emotions are in tune with Godās revelation naturally, but that we adopt them?
The example of Hell is one that is useful here. I know there are different views on it, but I suspect that most people have an emotional reaction against it, at least initially. Similarly, stoning people for breaking the sabbath (in at least one story), calling upon bears to maul children who mock a prophet in another.
I guess another factor here, from a doctrinal perspective, is how do we account for the Fall, if seen in the sense involving in some way moral corruption. Would that complicate the picture?
First of all, God did not ask Abraham to murder Isaac, but to sacrifice Isaac. Further, this request of Abraham was to teach a couple powerful lessons. The passage first demonstrates Abrahamsā faith, his incredible trust in God. Abraham believed Godās promise that through Isaac Abrahamās descendants would become as numerous as all of the stars in the sky. Thus, in the face of this request, Abraham knew that God would continue to provide. In Genesis 22:13 Abraham tells Isaac that āGod will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.ā Hebrews 11:17-19 explains āBy faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, āIt is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.ā Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.ā
This passage also demonstrates the substitutionary nature of atonement sacrifices and foreshadows the work of Christ on the Cross where God provided His own sacrifice, that of Himself, of His beloved Son as a substitutionary atonement for all who believe, thereby defeating Evil through Justice, Love and Mercy.
Actually this leads to another story about someone I know with whom God has developed a personal relationship (the topic of this thread). In 2004 I was part of a Bible study where we read this passage in Genesis 22 about Abrahamās sacrifice of Isaac. While reading this passage, an Iranian friend of mine, who is not generally an emotional person, and who was not yet a Christian, started to sob uncontrollably. So of course we stopped the study to hear what was going on with her. As it turned out, she had recently watched the dramatic movie āThe Passion of the Christ.ā That movie is difficult to watch, and as a nonbeliever she had clearly left affected by it, but did not know what do make of it. So now at our Bible study, reading about Abrahamās willingness to sacrifice Isaac, she understood what it meant emotionally for God to give up His own son, Jesus as a sacrifice for us. After gaining this emotional understanding of the Biblical texts she became a believer and has been following Christ ever since. This personal experience of my friend further demonstrates the point I was making earlier, that God speaks to us both through our intellect as we understand the scriptures and observe the world around us, and through our emotions. For the Christian our emotions and our intellect come together in our faith.
God asks all of us to give up, or sacrifice āidolsā that we have in our lives, as well. Genesis 20:3 āYou shall have no other gods before me." We are to put aside things that have higher value than God in our lives, and to live fully for Him.
Addendum: As I write this, the 20 year old son of a family friend is in the hospital undergoing a 8-10 hour long surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. His parents are, of course, praying for a successful surgery. As Christians who understand the story of Abraham and Isaac, they are also likely praying something like, āLord, you gave our son to us, so we put him back into your hands now, and we we trust you with the outcome of this surgery.ā That is the example of Abrahamsā faith. That example helps us to hold loosely onto the blessings that God gives us in our life, because we have an eternal perspective on the future. Those types of prayers are the ones that help Christians have peace during painful experiences in their lives.