So you don't get your beliefs from the bible, do you just make it up as you go along or based on what you wish were true?
Sorry for delayed response, been hectic with family.
I get a lot of my beliefs from the Bible. It's certainly been a central source of inspiration and encouragement for me in my life. So has my collection of chemistry textbooks, which I still read everyday, 10 years after graduating with a Ph.D. in the subject. Truth, inspiration, and beliefs can be found in a great deal of texts. I don't limit myself to the Bible.
Do I base my beliefs on what I wish were true? Well, not really. Being a nice person isn't easy, sometimes. It'd be a lot easier if I felt the "proper" life was one which was laid-back, full of questionable behaviors, and demanded nothing from me, because that would save me a great deal of time and effort. However, I'm led to believe otherwise by the feelings that I have inside me, which - coincidentally or not - coincide (not 100%, or even 70%, but partially) with suggestions from the Bible on how to live my life.
Do I make it up as I go along? Again, no; I don't invent a new set of rules to match every circumstance. When I face a difficult choice and I don't know how to act, I ask God (the entity I hold to be God - a surge of emotion and directives from within) to guide me, and to instruct me.
As a scientist I realize I'm breaking with several fundamental rules about judging and gauging phenomena that I experience. I wrestled with it for years, but I eventually gave into the fact that the two can coincide. I can explain a lot about the world I see and that I measure; I can describe how molecules are formed, and how atomic building blocks behave. What the scientist in me often can't explain - rushes of emotion driving me to an action that is not in my own best interest, but will benefit others; an almost overpowering sense of awe and majesty that I feel when I praise God - I choose not to explain these with science.
One day we might determine that all of these internal feelings are nothing more than chemical imbalances of various neurotransmitters / undiagnosed mental disorders / xyz. For now - for myself - I choose to believe in God, living in my life, having entrusted him to lead me to make correct decisions.
The thread is way off track at this point, and I'm not entirely sure why focus has shifted to me, other than I shared some personal feelings on the subject that others may not like. I'm not going to "pray for you" or hold you in contempt or quote Scripture. I know from my own feelings and from the reactions of friends and family that I'm living an honorable life, a good life, and I choose to attribute those positive results - erroneously or not -to the personal relationship I've forged with God.
Whatever you claim it to be - vestiges of humanity, conscience, etc - that's fine with me, you can call it what you want. I'd encourage everyone to live a productive, admirable life, positively impacting those around them. I'd also encourage everyone to acquire at least a rudimentary knowledge of science, as I feel that would also directly and positively impact their life.
If anyone would like to debate this (though I don't see much to argue about - it's my life, and I'm not pushing my beliefs onto others) - feel free to PM me. In the meantime, again, to the OP: I don't think we can ever know why a perfect God would or would not do something, because he's beyond us. He's beyond me. I filter down (however inaccurately) what I feel he's leading me to do, just as (it's my belief) millions of Christians have done before me. Sometimes we get it right, a lot of time we don't. Humans aren't perfect. God is.
. 
... or as flattery 
