Tough Questions For Christians

I don't come by my atheism lightly. I think about it nearly every day. After all, if God exists and I choose to be an atheist, then I am deliberately choosing eternal torture, when I have the option to live forever in perfect serenity. That's pretty heady stuff.

I'd like to believe in God. Really, I would. An all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect creator who cares deeply for my welfare and who promises eternal bliss? Who wouldn't want that? The problem is, I cannot bring myself to believe. Even the concept of an all-powerful being is self-contradictory, but even if you ignore that there are all kinds of problems with the details of exactly who and what is God.

A small collection of these problems are documented here.

When I get answers to the following questions (which don't boil down to "God works in mysterious ways and you shouldn't question Him"), I'll consider accepting Jesus as my personal savior. Until then, I will continue to worship the Invisible Pink Unicorn...

1. Why does God allow charlatans to use His name to extract money, sex, attention and even their very lives from devout believers, who truly, honestly believe that they are listening to the word of God?

   "Of course some of you do not believe this. Listen, you old skeptic, you don't have to believe it, because it doesn't have to happen to you. But it had to happen to me. I'll tell you why. I decreed a thing ... God said "Thou shall decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee ... " I believe I can command God to perform a miracle for you financially. When you do, God can turn dollar bills into twenties." -- faith healer A.A. Allen
   "Jesus had a nice house, a big house." -- television evangelist John Avanzini
   "Jesus wore designer clothes." - television evangelist John Avanzini
   "Here is what actually happened in the Garden of Eden. The Word says that Eve was beguiled by the serpent. She was actually seduced by the serpent. He was as close to being a human that his seed could, and did mingle with that of the woman and cause her to conceive" -- faith healer William Branham
   "Did you know that from the beginning of time the whole purpose of God was to reproduce Himself?...And when we stand up here, brother, you're not looking at Morris Cerullo; you're looking at God. You're looking at Jesus" -- television evangelist Morris Cerullo
   "This Bible is the definitive word on finances, with special icons designed to lead you throughout God's Word, teaching you about Biblical finances. This beautiful, genuine bonded-leather Bible has more than 2,000 pages, chock full of financial breakthrough principles and spiritual commentaries honed from Morris Cerullo's fifty years of experience serving the Savior ... THIS INCREDIBLE BIBLE CAN BE YOURS FOR A LOVE GIFT OF ONLY $89 OR MORE." -- television evangelist Morris Cerullo
   "[P]eople are being raised from the dead and temples are being hit by lightening or fireballs and knocked off their things. It's all over. Germany and Africa. It's everywhere. God's doing it." -- revivalist Randy Clark
   "Jesus is no longer the only begotten Son of God" -- television evangelist Kenneth Copeland
   "God's reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself...He was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even" -- television evangelist Kenneth Copeland
   "God is a being that stands somewhere around 6'2", 6'3"" -- television evangelist Kenneth Copeland
   "And the whole New Testament calls Him the first-born....The word "born" began to ring in my spirit; it just began to roll around: born, born. I never had let Him go through that in my own thinking....And while I was laying there thinking about these things, the Spirit of God spoke to me. And He said, "Son, realize this: Now follow Me in this, don't let your tradition trip you up." He said, "Think this way: A twice-born man whipped Satan in his own domain." And I threw my Bible down. I said, "What?" He said, "A born-again man defeated Satan. The first-born of many brethren defeated him." He said, "You are the very image and the very copy of that one." I said, "Goodness gracious, sakes alive!" And I began to see what had gone on in there, and I said, "You don't mean--you couldn't dare mean, that I could have done the same thing?" He said, "Oh, yeah, if you'd had the knowledge of the Word of God that He did, you could have done the same thing, 'cause you're a reborn man, too."; -- television evangelist Kenneth Copeland
   "lt's all a copy. If's a copy of home. It's a copy of the mother planet. Where God lives, He made a little one just like His and put us on it." -- television evangelist Kenneth Copeland
   "Heretic hunters, these guys who spend their lives straightening us all out doctrinally, they're gonna go straight to hell" -- television evangelist Paul Crouch
   Some of the people that I know who have criticized, some of them are dead right today in an early grave because of it and there's more than one of 'em got cancer." -- television evangelist Kenneth Copeland
   "Do you know what else that's settled then tonight? This hue and cry and controversy that has been spawned by the devil to try to bring dissension within the body of Christ that we are gods. I am a little god. I have His name. I am one with Him. I'm in covenant relation. I am a little god. Critics be gone!" -- television evangelist Paul Crouch
   Get out of God's way, quit blocking God's bridges or God's gonna shoot you if I don't! I refuse to argue any longer with any of you out there. Don't even call me. If you want to argue doctrine, if you want to straighten out somebody over here, if you want to criticize Ken Copeland for his preaching on faith, or Dad Hagin. Get out of my life! I don't even want to talk to you or hear you. I don't want to see your ugly face! Get out of my face in Jesus' name." -- television evangelist Paul Crouch
   "if you have been healed or saved or blessed through TBN and have not contributed to (the) station, you are robbing God and will lose your reward in heaven." -- television evangelist Paul Crouch
   "God, we proclaim death to anything or anyone that will lift a hand against this network and this ministry that belongs to You, God. It is Your work, it is Your idea, it is Your property, it is Your airwaves, it is Your world, and we proclaim death to anything that would stand in the way of God's great voice of proclamation to the whole world. In the Name of Jesus, and all the people said Amen!" -- television evangelist Paul Crouch
   "What do you need? Start creating it. Start speaking about it. Start speaking it into being. Speak to your billfold. Say, 'You big, thick billfold full of money.' Speak to your checkbook. Say, 'You, checkbook, you. You've never been so prosperous since I owned you. You're just jammed full of money.' -- television evangelist Marilyn Hickey
   "Don't analyze this 'move of God', and you had better receive it if you don't want a stamp of disapproval from Jesus." -- evangelist Steve Hill
   "Poverty comes from Hell. Prosperity comes from Heaven. Adam had complete dominion over the earth and all it contains. A) Adam could fly like a bird. B) Adam could swim underwater and breathe like a fish. Adam went to the moon. Adam walked on water. Adam was a super being. He was the first superman that lived. Adam had dominion over the sun, moon & stars. Christians do not have Christ in their hearts. Sow a big seed, when you confess it, you are activating the supernatural forces of God." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "When you don't give money, it shows that you have the devil's nature." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "[S]ay 'I am a God-man....This spirit-man within me is a God-man...'. Say 'I'm born of heaven -- a God-man. I'm a God man. I am a sample of Jesus. I'm a super being.' Say it! Say it! Who's a super being? 'I walk in the realm of the supernatural.' Say it!...You want to prosper? Money will be falling on you from left, right and centre. God will begin to prosper you, for money always follows righteousness....Say after me, 'everything I ever want is in me already'." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "If you have attacked me, your children will pay for it." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   " . . . the anointing is dependent upon my words. God will not move unless I say it. Why? Because He has made us coworkers with Him. He set things up that way." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "Pastor Benny shares this testimony, whenever he comes to a CITY, the demons over that city will FLEE, crying, 'The man of God is coming; the man of God is coming!'" -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "There's a groups [sic] here in California that thinks they are the judgement seat of Christ. Dear God in heaven, I wish I just could just ... they call it a ministry, my foot. You know I've looked for one verse in the Bible, I just can't seem to find it. One verse that said, "If you don't like 'em, kill 'em." I really wish I could find it." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "You see, frankly, that's the way I think about it. I'm sorry, I'm not exactly the normal kind of guy, you know, I'm from Israel. Sometimes I wish God would give me a Holy Ghost machine gun, I'd blow your head off." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "... I was in Ghana recently preaching one night, they broguht a man, and this man was put on the platform, and he was dead, the man was dead. And it was a very scary thing, because nobody told me he was dead ... suddenly the people went wild ... behind my back the man was getting up and moving ..." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   "I was in Ghana just recently where half a million people showed up and a man was raised from the dead on the platform, that's a fact people." -- television evangelist Benny Hinn
   If you want to keep any kind of a semblance of a ministry, you better back off from this revival and what God is doing. You better back off, because I'm going to prophesy to you that if you don't, and you continue to put your tongue in your mouth on this move of God, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down. I said, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down." -- evangelist John Kilpatrick
   "... I'm speaking prophetically tonight. I rarely do this, but some of you, if you don't come right now, the Lord's gonna put you out to pasture. You have never known a spooky feeling until you've not felt the presence of God. If you don't come in this sixty second period right now, friend listen to me, some of you, you're not gonna hear His voice no more ... you've got sixty seconds to respond to Jesus right now, starting now." -- evangelist John Kilpatrick
   "The Voice of the Lord spoke tenderly: 'Now, child, cease your strivings and your begging; just begin to praise Me'. All at once my hands and arms began to tremble gently at first, then more and more, until my whole body was atremble with the power. Almost without my notice my body slipped gently to the floor, and I was lying under the power of God, but felt as thought caught up and floating." -- faith healer Aimee Semple McPherson
   "Jesus and the disciples were rich, only rich people could take off for 3.5 years." -- television evangelist Fred Price
   "Jesus was rich and that He left us with an example to follow. That is why Fred drives a Rolls Royce; he is following Jesus' example!" -- television evangelist Fred Price
   "[H]ow can you glorify God in your body, when it doesn't function right? How can you glorify God? How can He get glory when your body doesn't even work? What makes you think the Holy Ghost wants to live inside a body where He can't see out through the windows and He can't hear with the ears? What makes you think the Holy Spirit wants to live inside of a physical body where the limbs and the organs and the cells do not function right? And what makes you think He wants to live in a temple where He can't see out of the eyes, and He can't walk with the feet, and He can't move with the hand? The only eyes that he has that are in the earth realm are the eyes that are in the body. If He can't see out of them then God's gonna be limited ..." -- television evangelist Fred Price
   "Without the additional $4,500,000, God will not extend Dad's life." ... "Partner, we cannot let this man of God die. There is no reason for him to die." ... "IF YOU NEGLECT TO PAY ATTENTION ... then Satan will take advantage and hit you with bad things and you will wish that 1985 had never come" -- Richard Roberts, son of television evangelist Oral Roberts
   [God told me] "I would not have had you and your partners build the 20-story research tower unless I was going to give you a plan that will attack cancer." -- television evangelist Oral Roberts (the research tower has since been sold to a commercial enterprise)
   "God spoke through a word of prophecy in May 1968, and said, ‘I have chosen you to usher in the coming of My Son.’" -- television evangelist Pat Robertson
   "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" -- "drunk in the faith" evangelist John Scotland
   "I am a sign and a wonder. When a prophet told me there was an anointing for me coming pre-1994, I thought great. But when that anointing came, it came in a package I didn't expect. It came in a package of offense. I’ve come to the conclusion that my gift is offending people. What can you do? You know I mean. I think Christians are to sensitive anyway you know, always winging. But it is a gift. I don’t need to even say anything. Uum. I SHOT THE SHERIFF. AND I SHOT THE DEPUTY TOO! WOW, the sheriff is legalism. And the deputy is religion. Um. That's good isn’t it? That's copyrighted now. You can’t copy it. Heheh. I didn’t ask for this. No I didn’t. The problem was when I came through the doors November 1994. And the Lord said to me, 'What do you want John'? I said I want to get drunk. I just forgot to tell him how long." -- "drunk in the faith" evangelist John Scotland
   "I said to the Lord, "I don't like looking drunk, you know your eyes get blood shot." And He said to me, "John, you see some of think God doesn’t talk like that but he’s very, he is a fun God." Let's get the fun back into church. And he said, "John, you see the rock stars on breakfast TV, they always wear sunglasses." So He said "get yourself a pair of sunglasses". I call these glasses glory shades. I’m sure Moses would have worn them if they had them in the Old Testament. -- "drunk in the faith" evangelist John Scotland
   "Being poor is a sin." -- television evangelist Robert Tilton
   The only time people were poor in the Bible is when they were under a curse. -- television evangelist Robert Tilton

   If I knew of someone using my name as part of a scam, I would be very angry and take steps to make them stop. Even if it weren't a scam, but the person actually believed they were speaking my words (as I assume is sometimes the case in cults), I would let them know that their beliefs were wrong. Surely the innocent victims are entitled to know that they are mistaken -- that the leader they follow does not speak for God. It's just common courtesy, but apparently it's too much to ask of God. Can you answer this?

2. How can my mother enjoy Heaven, knowing that her atheist son will be tortured forever in the fires of Hell?

   Does she forget I ever existed?
   Does she cease to care about my welfare?
   Are either of those acceptable alternatives?
   

   Everyone on the planet knows someone that they care about (even if just a little bit) who is destined for Hell. Can you enjoy Heaven knowing that your son/daughter/father/mother/friend/etc., is writhing in torment and will continue to do so for eternity? Does it matter that it's a friend or family member, or is the eternal suffering of a single fellow human being enough to "spoil" Heaven for you? What do your answers say about your own morality? Can you answer this?

3. What is the moral lesson to be learned from:

   • Numbers 31:17-18? Can you answer this?
     31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 31:18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
   • The cursing of the fig tree? Can you answer this?
     Mr 11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: 11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
     Mr 11:19 And when even was come, he went out of the city. 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
   • Deuteronomy 7:1-2? Can you answer this?
     7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
   • Deuteronomy 13:6-10? Can you answer this?
     13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 13:7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 13:8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 13:9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 13:10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
   • Deuteronomy 13:12-16? Can you answer this?
     13:12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13:13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 13:14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; 13:15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 13:16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
   • Deuteronomy 17:2-5? Can you answer this?
     17:2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 17:3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 17:4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 17:5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
   • Deuteronomy 22:10-11? Can you answer this?
     22:10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. 22:11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.
   • Deuteronomy 32:23-25? Can you answer this?
     32:23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. 32:24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 32:25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
   • Exodus 12:29-30? Can you answer this?
     12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
   • Exodus 22:18? Can you answer this?
     22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
   • Exodus 29:38-42? Can you answer this?
     29:38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. 29:39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: 29:40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. 29:41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 29:42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.
   • Exodus 31:15? Can you answer this?
     31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
   • Ezekiel 9:4-7? Can you answer this?
     9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. 9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
   • Hosea 13:16? Can you answer this?
     13:16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
   • 1 Samuel 15:3? Can you answer this?
     15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
   • 2 Samuel 12:15? Can you answer this?
     12:15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
   • Isaiah 13:15-18? Can you answer this?
     13:15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. 13:18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
   • Jeremiah 19:9? Can you answer this?
     19:9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
   • Leviticus 20:9? Can you answer this?
     20:9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
   • Leviticus 20:18? Can you answer this?
     20:18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
   • Leviticus 25:44-46? Can you answer this?
     25:44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 25:45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. 25:46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.
   • Numbers 21:6? Can you answer this?
     21:6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
   • Revelation 21:8? Can you answer this?
     21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
   • Deuterotomy 23:2? Can you answer this?
     23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
   • Exodus 34:7 and Numbers 14:18? Can you answer this?
     Ex 34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
     Nu 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
   • Luke 14:26? Can you answer this?
     Lu 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
   • Psalms 137:9? Can you answer this?
     Ps 137:9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
   
   

4. There is a daycare center down the street from me where at least five children have been killed because electrical outlets are exposed in the playroom. The staff maintains that they're not responsible, since they told the children two years ago not to go near the exposed wiring. They maintain that they care deeply for each child and grieve when one gets hurt, but it's up to the children to teach each other about the danger.

   Obviously, I'm making this up. No daycare center could remain in business if they were that careless. But how is this different from Our Father in Heaven allowing me to be an atheist without directly confronting me about the error of my ways?

   Sure, he sent a messenger some 2000 years ago to pass the word, but the word has become garbled in the passing centuries. There are literally hundreds of Christian sects, all claiming to have The Absolute Truth Of God^TM, and frequently their Absolute Truths Of God^TM are contradictory. Then throw in the various Muslim sects, Mormons, Scientologists, Buddhists, Shintoists, Zoroastrians, and whatnot. Which one is true? Why does God not tell us which sect is the closest to his wishes? Why does God not at least tell those who, in good conscience and with good intentions, follow the wrong religions, that they are mistaken?

   If my children are doing something dangerous, I forcefully stop them and tell them what they are doing wrong and why. I don't rely on their peers to pass the word, and I reinforce my teachings as often as needed to get the point across.

   I have to say, if God is my Father, he's a pretty crappy parent. Can you answer this?

5. If God knows the future and the past with perfect certainty,

   • Why did He create me knowing that my fate is to burn forever in Hell? If you had a disease which caused all your children to live in relative comfort for 1 hour, then die slowly and in horrible, debilitating pain over the course of 10 years, would you choose to have children? Do you think your choice is moral? Can you answer this?
   • Why did He change His mind so much? Can you answer this?
     • Genesis 6:7
       Ge 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
     • Exodus 32:14
       Ex 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
     • Judges 2:18
       Jud 2:18 And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
     • 1 Samuel 15:35
       1Sa 15:35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
     • 2 Samuel 24:16
       2Sa 24:16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
     • 1 Chronicles 21:15
       1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
     • Psalms 106:45
       Ps 106:45 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
     • Jeremiah 26:19
       Jer 26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
     • Amos 7:3
       Am 7:3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
     • Amos 7:6
       Am 7:6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.
     • John 3:10
       Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
   
   

6. Satan is the Prince of Lies. It is said that he will appear to you under the guise of an angel of light to deceive you. Now, think carefully before you answer this: Are you absolutely sure that the Bible is not a work of Satan, containing just enough good to fool you, but also containing blasphemous ideas which are not of God? How can you know for sure? Can you answer this?

   2Cor 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
   
   

7. The Old Testament contains many references to slaves. Why is slavery never condemned in the Bible? You'd think "Thou shalt not keep thy brother in bondage" would be a Commandment. Can you answer this?

   Ex 12:44 But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. Ex 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Ex 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Ex 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Ex 21:26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. Le 25:6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, Le 25:50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. Le 25:44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Le 25:45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. Le 25:46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.
   
   

8. Regarding the story of Noah's Ark, are you a biblical literalist?

   You answered "Yes".

   • Why, among the thousands of types of dinosaurs, were only crocodiles and alligators saved? Can you answer this?
   • What did the carnivores eat when they were let out of the ark, while their prey were repopulating? Can you answer this?
   • How did polar bears get from the middle east to the polar ice caps, and penguins to Antarctica, and all the strange Australian beasts to Australia, etc., without leaving populations behind? Can you answer this?
   • Where did all the water come from (enough to cover Mount Everest at 29,000 feet)? Can you answer this?
   • Why did the massive influx of fresh water not kill the ocean creatures, which require salt water in a certain salinity, temperature, and pressure range? Can you answer this?
   • Of the millions of species of insects, arachnids, and other bugs on earth, did Noah actually collect two (or perhaps seven?) of each, and how did they survive for 10 months when some of them have a lifespan measured in hours? Can you answer this?
     Ge 6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
     Ge 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 7:3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
   • Didn't anyone else have a seaworthy boat? After all, they would only have to care for themselves, not two (or maybe seven) of every beast on the earth. Any oceangoing fishing boat would do. Can you answer this?
   • Panda bears survive on bamboo shoots and other asian delicacies. Given the assumed dearth of tropical flora in Noah's neighborhood, how did he feed them? Same question applies for carnivores, who require large quantities of fresh meat on a daily basis. Can you answer this?

   You answered "No".

   Given that some parts of the Bible are literally true and others are metaphors or parables, how do you decide which is which? Is a passage true until you decide that it doesn't make sense? Is it possible that the life of Jesus is a parable itself -- a collection of stories gathered about various people and things, melded together to teach a moral lesson? How do you know for sure? The stories of creation and Noah's ark are presented as history, not parable -- why was God not more clear in delineating which is which? Can you answer this?
   
   

9. Please read the following excerpts from Genesis (the boldface is mine for emphasis):

   ---

   2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
   
   3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
   
   5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

   ---

   
   
   • Who lied, and who told the truth? Can you answer this?
   • How were Adam and Eve supposed to distinguish between good and evil acts if they didn't understand the concepts until they ate the fruit? Can you answer this?
   • Why did God put the tree in the garden in the first place, if not to tempt them? Can you answer this?
   • Why didn't God know they were going to eat the fruit ahead of time? Can you answer this?
   
   

   Isn't all this sort of analogous to putting a dish of candy on a low table, then telling a 2-year-old child that they must absolutely not eat any? Would you really expect to come back into the room and find no candy gone? Can you answer this?

   ---

   3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

   ---

   
   
   • How were they able to hide from Him? Can you answer this?

You may get the impression from my diatribe that I don't like Christians. You would be wrong. I have many friends who are Christians, and I find them to be almost universally friendly, nice people who care about their fellow human beings. Just like my atheist, agnostic, Hindu, Jewish, and Unitarian friends. It's not the religion that makes you a good person -- you choose a religion which agrees with your preexisting core values.

That's why the quasi-barbaric tribes of the Old Testament worshipped a god who was strong and harsh and could help them win battles. Jesus Christ may have been the first man to stand up and declare that we are all brothers under the skin, and wouldn't it be neat if we were just nice to each other, and if so he is rightly considered one of the most important people in history. That change of mind-set, more importantly than the domestication of animals and the division of labor, marked the shift from barbaric tribesmen to civilized nations.

Unfortunately, we still struggle with The Barbarian Within.

The quasi-civilized people of the New Testament worshipped a god who speaks to our better selves, who forgives us when we do wrong, who loves each of us unconditionally, but who apparently did not find anything wrong with slavery or the subjugation of women.

Is it really surprising that there are hundreds of sects claiming to be Christian? That racist Ku Klux Klansmen and the black Baptists they hate can both claim to be worshipping the same god, and both using the Bible as their inspiration? That gay and lesbian Christians share the same gospel with Reverend Phelps (of "God Hates Fags" fame)? That the Good Book was used to justify the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition?

You are free to believe what you want, but in my opinion the sooner we cast aside our primitive myths the better off we'll be.

Yes, but Doug...what do you really think about Christianity?

You may also be interested in reading about God's Love In Action. A parable for the modern age, if you will.

Hey, all of this is my personal opinion. I could be wrong. What do you think?