I'll tell you what: there are only two kinds of people who could indulge in the kinds of remarks I'm seeing in this thread about some poor devil who's trying to make an effort to understand the Almighty after years of pigheaded disbelief. Christians (of course) and atheists.
"I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins," he said. "It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose."
Yes if you take Jefferson out of context rather than look at his Christian life practice he may at time 'appear' to be just another deist....
When he says that The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ are 'depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots...cosmic Saddam Husseins?
By who?....those who promote Christianity and Islam?....He sounds like just another atheist relativist...making moral equivalence statements between Islam and Christianity..surprised he did not take on Judaism while he was at it....must have chickened out on that course...
His new opinion as a deist is nearly as worthless and misleading as his opinion as an atheist
He appears to be anything but some poor devil struggling with finding God
But his conversion and salvation are up to Jesus and the Holy Spirit...if God wills him to be saved he will be....he ain't dead yet so who knows...perhaps by the grace of God he will...(be saved that is).
But when he preaches error or mistakes facts in order to bolster his own opinions.. he needs (as we all do) to be challenged
imo