Excuse, really, the contiguous posts, but people do get insistent about some questions for me, so I've answered Angelo and Ron, and then pixel, as inadequately as the answers may be.
On this one fingered iPad, I can't locate the face icons, so I can't use them to show softening or irony, though I can be outspoken and don't care to.
Ricky has been very insistent, and I've avoided his questions because I've almost obsessively wanted to avoid religion per se and stick to my beloved history and facts concerning Judaism and Christianity, about what exactly metaphysically, spiritually, theologically, is this God I worship.
He has asked me before something like, "Do you worship this creator God named Yehweh as your personal savior?". Now, that's how I remember the question, and I sincerely mean nothing if I got it wrong. And then he asked two more questions above. I've avoided those questions because I didn't feel they were really on topic to even the religious threads, but I'm not trying to provoke you, Ricky. I felt, ironically now, that those types of questions WOULD anger members, and I tried to avoid them, because believe me, I'm not at all into proselytizing. That's why I was a teacher, so I could "sell" stuff that everyone would buy!
I have to still avoid that first question of ricky's because it just has too many built in assumptions that make it a difficult question to parse. So I'll inadequately address the others, because they are couched in terms that speak to whether or not I should be on the forum.
"Are those things real?" asked in the context that belief in God is subject to the same hard scrutiny and questioning that paranormal subjects are. Off the top of my head:
1. I don't believe that God can be equated with the other paranormal stuff. Yes, and I'm stating what I believe strongly, God does indeed exist, and His form, specific substance, body parts, I don't presume to know. I also don't know his "mind" but I do know he is active, created the universe(s), is benevolent and loving, created humans, beautiful creatures that should not demean themselves by likening themselves to supposedly "lower" creatures like ants which themselves are beautiful in contrast to some wildly assumed intelligent extraterrestrials that probably don't exist, but if they do, they will be beautiful creatures, too, that somewhere God had to let go and let evolution proceed, that somewhere in that evolution, perhaps way before even muticellular life, predation, the feeding on others, entered the world and that was physically the first form of evil. (if you think thus far I'm nuts, I can point to scientists who postulate this!).
That free will exists, is paramount, is not an illusion, that we have a soul and mind that is dependent on and yet separate from just our biological processes, that though we may indeed advance in technology and supplement ourselves, but that we are sophisticated creatures in our own right physically and spiritually.
That God deplores what we choose to do to each other, that he is against that very real thing that is the definition of evil, not gluttony or homosexuality, but doing that which everyone, even the evil, will agree is that which causes others, humans and other animals, gratuitous and intentional suffering, the what is called " exquisite" evil, the physical and psychological acts that cause " exquisite" suffering: for instance, if someone stuck a knife in my ribs and demanded my wallet, that is wrong, but not, necessarily, evil. There is a malignant, can be subtle, narcissism that defines evil. We have all experienced it, and I don't think I need to offer examples. It is often very subtle, very controlling, that which dominates and causes pain to others. It doesn't have to involve whole regiments of soldiers, but can.
Regarding God's " representatives and what they claim to be," what are they according to me, is asked?
God deplores this evil, we know what constitutes it, some people defy God and work it on others, some people are psychiatrically sick, have diseases, cannot control what they do, God has had to let go somewhat, we are given wonderful brains to invent wonderful cures for each other, more will come. God doesn't let evil exist, he is omnipotent, timeless, and we are encouraged to exercise free will, to approach with mathematics and science and philosophy what he has created, to approach Him, he encourages our humanism, but he doesn't play games and tell us the whole story of what it's all about, of what worth would we be to him or ourselves if we were slaves to him, that we had it all spoon fed to us? There is no literal hell for us, no punishment for having existed before his " representatives" gave us what we needed in order to be " saved", because we already know what evil is.
And he has appointed certain men and women to be his representatives, and yes, I believe at this point I will say only I believe in Christian doctrine and theology. Yes, I believe that this person did and said certain things, especially did certain things, actions, deeds, that scholars are hard pressed to discount. I don't believe even he knew how special he was, he had grave doubts, he was human, he allowed us to witness what wonderful creatures we are to God, he was a member of humanity and also of a, yes, initially nomadic people that was unique in spreading monotheism. He felt a special closeness to God, whom he referred to in his language as Abba. I don't presume to know the details of all the whys of all this, it doesn't mean that all others are damned who came before or who don't currently believe. I believe that he was unique among others. I was raised in an extremely liberally politically family, I went to an extremely liberal church, nothing was forced down my throat, I just came to this view through, yes, for me, I will only call hard study, it was just the opposite of sheer faith, I don't know, I can't attribute it to any blindness of reason, just the opposite.
I'm going to stop here. I've no doubt proved ricky's assumption that I don't belong in this forum! And I've no doubt enabled some here to rub their hands together and say I knew it, he's a crazy Christian, and thus proved them all correct.
It's just that beyond all the cruelty man does to man, there's something to Christianity, with its, yes, elevation of women, it's message, its start with a man who didn't raise an army to conquer territory, its tenets of forgiveness, but its demands, too, of which I know I fall short, its
Well, maybe. 
But, wait I said I was through on the religion thread. Never mind. Carry on.