I accept the reality of faith. But I have seen too many Christians confusing belief with faith. What is it you have? Too many conflate the two as being identical. They are actually quite different. One is an irrational acquiescence, uncritical acceptance. The other is a provable certainty. If you do not understand the difference, I would suggest that you do more investigation. God gave us reason and discernment. To say your belief is based on faith is to punt on the issue. Good apologetics are provable. They do not require blind acceptance of something which can neither be proven nor disproven. You say you’re a biblical scholar. Do the research. The Bible is quite clear about the difference.

There are many fanatics who are equally as certain about their points of view because of their “belief “in the truth of the ideas they hold inviolate as well. To hide behind a protestation of faith is to essentially alienate those you would reach. You need to be able to draw people in to your perceived reality. How do you do it? Your statement is utterly unconvincing to me, and I have faith. So what does that say about my faith if I reject your simplistic belief? I suspect you would have a hard time answering that.

We are now beginning to delve into some of the mystery of Christianity and the nature of God. It’s about to get a lot more complex. Two observations I would make. If there is any confusion, look at the source. Truth is clear and indisputable by anyone regardless of where they come from. Confusion comes from a different source contrary to the nature of God. The second is that truth is provable without hiding behind absolute statements that can neither be proven nor disproven. It is only those who are smugly self righteous who automatically close every argument by saying they have faith. You are taking exactly the same approach that Muslims do. Who can know the mind of God? I would agree that God is not knowable in his entirety by humans, but when it comes to issues that impact the health and well-being of millions and their personal salvation, he has given enough information to understand what to do. Ultimately your argument is weak because it is unprovable one way or the other and is dangerously open ended to potentially accommodate all kinds of bigotry and falsehood.