Hi Myrddin:
You wrote:
I think good and evil really do not exist at all, and that this delusion of a dichotomy in a reality does indeed have a Creator, but that Creator is us.
I would agree with you if I did not believe in The Creator YHWH ('God' the Father of the Elohim (Mighty Ones)). Actually I agree in part in that there is The Creator 'in us', but right now not in all of us.
Also I don't believe good and evil were created. I believe they exist where living beings exist. They are just part of life and are defined simply as those actions of good which brings life and those actions of evil which brings death.
We cannot know or 'create' good or evil because we cannot know everything that causes life and everything that causes death. Only The Creator that exists has that information.
You wrote:
If evil is separate from your God, then he is less than the whole of what exists and therefore is not God.
As I understand it, 'God' is not 'separate' from evil as the choice to do it or be affected by it is there for Him to make. It's just that The Creator has the capability and chooses only good and avoids evil. We on the other hand do not have such capabilities and die as a result.
You wrote:
Avoidance of anything is an aspect of Samara, the Wheel of life, death and rebirth, therefore the diety that you worship, was at one point born, and will in the future die. This being cannot have any more claim to the title "God", than any other being subject to birth and death.
As I understand it The Creator I worship created the universe including its aspect of time. If I understand correctly, the concept of Samara has contiuned from infinity with its aspect of perpetual life, death and rebirth cycles all directly linked to time. Correct me if I misunderstand.
But The Creator, on the other hand, having created time, is not subject to life, death and rebirth as It is outside of time and exists solely because of It's capability that does only good and avoids all evil. The Creator is neither born nor has death. So Samara or any of its aspects are not a factor in the existence of The Creator.
You wrote:
So one should believe in your God to gain immortality, the freedom from death that most religions have promised through the idea of an afterlife.
Not so, although that is a side 'perk'. The reason that I believe in The Creator is that from this belief I understand that the capability of doing only good can be made possible. It just happens that eternal life is a 'side benefit'. Eternal life without only good would be 'hell'.
'Good' or righteousness, is the hallmark of eternity not just eternity itself and is the scepter of The Creator's kingdom that He has promised to us. Any life, whether temporal or permanent, is a true blessing only because of good. So it is good, or always doing right, that is of utmost importance not the length of life in any existence.
You wrote:
Your God has the fingerprints of human invention all over it, as he seems to represent all our fears, and hopes. Man will always invent gods since Man does not want to face reality, and therefore builds myths and rituals to protect himself from it.
I agree that the afterlife that the religions of the world 'offer' are inventions of mankind primarily because it was their method of gaining power over the masses by coeorcing them into a false sense of security.
To 'follow' a 'God' for that reason, offering rewards, or special favours, or escape from reality, or a false sense of security is wrong and not the teaching of the scriptures. Righteousness for the sake of doing only good is the central theme behind the Bible. Anything less than that is false and a lie. We all have fallen for the lie of the world religions that eternal life is the goal and righteousness is, well, a myth and unnecessary, even for the One Who is offering it to us.
The 'reality' of our existence is really only a shadow of the reality that is going to be available to us when the capability of only doing good is realized and we will finally see things as they truly exist, the way The Creator sees them as opposed to the death of evil due to our incapability of doing only good in this mirage of physical life we are now enduring.