@David_Jay
I appreciate your commentary on the issue but I respectfully disagree with some of your points.
1) Nobody wants to be wrong - While this may be true I don't think that it is a valid argument to make. I often hear people saying, "Everyone does this." Or, "Nobody does that." However, what justifies doing or not doing something isn't how many people do it or not do it. The questions we must always ask are, "Is it rational? Is it correct? Is it beneficial?" It doesn't matter how many people partake or do not partake in an activity. What matters is that they have valid reasons for partaking.
I may also be prone to not wanting to be wrong. Yet, it doesn't mean that I can't fight the urge. One needs to recognize it when they are wrong and make appropriate adjustments for their own good. Just because everone makes mistakes, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't avoid making them.
I know many people who try to accept it when they are wrong. However, some don't even put in the effort.
2) The El of the Hebrews is not the El of the Canaanites - I find this hard to believe when all the evidence points the other way. Many parts of the Old Testament support the view that they were were the same.
Examples:
a) Abraham accepting the blessing of the Canaanite El.
b) Yahweh recieving his rights over Israel from El.
c) Canaanites worshipping Yahweh (E.g. Baalam was not an Israelite and yet sought to curse Israel via Yahweh. (Numbers 22:1-12)
d) The mention of other gods in heaven's courts with Yahweh being the most high.
There are many others. I mentioned some in a recent thread of mine. (I would like your opinion on it if you have the time.)
3) Jews know more about their own religion than anyone else - To me, it seemed like you implied this. Someone who already has a bias towards a particular belief will most likely defend it even if they are wrong. Jews already think that Yahweh is not El. Real Christians already think that God is real. Hence, they possess a bias. I am not trying to say that any information from a Jew about Yahweh and El is incorrect. However, it seems logical to think that such a person would likely be biased. Therefore, I don't think that being a Jew or Christian makes you more qualified to speak about Yahweh, El or God than anyone else.
4) The last bit about Wrongology - It seems that I upset you a bit. This was not my intention. However, I didn't mean that beliefs cause people to be "mentally lazy, dishonest, cowards and foolish." In fact, I stated that if someone knowingly places faith in a belief system that is incorrect then they are displaying mental laziness, dishonesty, cowardice and foolishness. i.e. People should give their best effort to reform ideas which they themselves know to be incorrect. Someone who knowingly accepts a false belief system displays cowardice by not facing their fear of being wrong.
I started off my post by stating that I have no problem with anyone displaying faith in something which has not been thoroughly disproven. Hence, belief is not something I have a problem with; our very lives rest upon a multitude of them. What I do not accept is the inability of some to face the fact that a belief may be incorrect.
Therefore, if you can thoroughly disprove that Canaanite El = Hebrew El, then I am obligated to discard a false belief. However, if you cannot then I will keep my current belief since all the evidence I have seen points in that direction.
