Hostage to fear

[Godscreated]

Cool.  An unbiased theist.  In that case, I have loads of sincere questions.

Well I have to say none of us are totally unbiased, I will do the best I can to honestly answer these question, you have many ans i do not know how long this might take and I would rather do this at one time, in the future I would appreciate one or two at a time, that's if you will have more. 

1) The bible mentions belief as though it were a choice. I've found that my Christian identity is wholly wrapped up in trying (desperately) to believe, when I simply have not been convinced. A positive affirmation of belief "on" Christ Jesus would be a lie in my case... something that very doctrine prohibits. What I do believe is that I've made tremendous effort in trying to believe, by investigating the faith. Without deconstructing this paragraph, please address this over all point; If belief is a choice and there is evidence that this belief is convincing and rational, why hasn't this evidence rationally convinced me to believe? Especially when I'm not ignorant to it... down to its most specific points.

What I believe and understand about belief is that it is a choice and it couldn't be any other way or it would be forced on us.

I noticed that you have emphasized, trying desperately, made tremendous effort. This is also against the teachings of Christ himself. He said that each of us would be called by the Father through the Holy Spirit, what Christians calls conviction of the heart. This means you can't come into belief without the help of God and He will but, you have to allow this to happen. You're choosing to allow God to put into you an understanding beyond what you or the world can achieve. We are to focused on the physical as humans and what God gives us is the spiritual that is beyond our reach.
I don't think you are ignorant and I suspect you've read much of the Bible if not all, but like many you are reading and understanding only the surface ie. the physical things not the spiritual. If you will remember I replied to you about hell, that when you take hell out of the equation so to speak you have eliminated eternal justice. You are essentially deconstructing the essence of scripture and doing what you asked me not to do, that's not to deconstruct the whole of your question, so why are you deconstructing the scriptures and trying to arrive at what God has given us. 

2) If scripture says that I can know the difference between good and evil, and I believe that the god of scripture is evil... why should I worship this god?

Because you have not allowed God through a personal relationship to teach you who He is, you are basing your opinion of God with a physical understanding and without allowing Him to show you who He is and of coarse that only comes after one has accepted Christ as their savior and Lord. You need to keep in mind we are not dealing with a physical being and one who is omniscient, who is eternal and who's plan is beyond our complete understanding. God said, "My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are above and beyond your's," the thoughts He speaks of is also understand of all things. We do not understand what life is, He created it.

3) If scripture is god-breathed and right for teaching, why does it conclude that the Earth is 6,000 years old, which would put the creation of man in the middle of the height of Egyptian pyramid-building?

This is a subject that is highly argued and it would really depend on what wants to believe, I do know this, not only do creation scientist believe the dating of the Egyptian dynasties are wrong but some secular scientist are concerned they may be wrong. Of coarse this will probably only muddy the water, but it does put concern on the age of the pyramids. 

4) Why does god let thousands of toddlers die every day of starvation?

I actually think there's a question here that you should consider. Why do the people of this world allow those children to starve, God created us to take care of our fellow man, why do we not spend the money to help them all, the moneys wasted and spent on government projects around the world could easily pay for the foods needed, for the technology to help these peoples to sustain themselves, to drill wells to supply clean water. We are the ones who created these problems, why then is it God's responsibility to right our wrongs. The world today is in a mode of "bail me out I screwed up," this is something that's been taught it wasn't the way things use to be, socialism has been responsible for this type of thinking and now those who support this kind of thinking try to apply it to God. I've been asked this question a number of times and I ask why should God bail out the world, He didn't cause the problem then I ask, what are you doing about helping these poor children if you are actually that concerned about them. I say that anyone who throws away food has no right to question God.

5) How do you square the holocaust?  If god is all good and powerful, and was everywhere during the holocaust, why did he not intervene?

The best answer I can give you would be similar to the the answer to question #4. I will ask you this why is it God's business to run the world? Is God suppose to intervene in a persons life that doesn't want Him to or, is He to allow life to continue as we make it and then be their for those who want His help to get through the mess we make of the world. If God was to act as the atheist here think He should the world would be seriously overpopulated, because nothing bad would ever happen, not even death. As we know death is the earthly penalty for sin.

6) I prayed that my boss's niece (6 years old) would not die of cancer... but she did.  Was it god that destroyed her family's lives by not answering their prayers or was it because Eve did an evil thing before she knew what evil was?

This is a leading question that is designed to give me no way out, but not to fear there's an answer that doesn't condemn God. Why should God listen to you a person who doesn't really believe, who doesn't trust His word (Bible). Yes the death of man is the result of Adam and Eve's disobedience, I find it funny you mention only Eve and I like how you tried to work in she didn't know she was doing wrong when the scriptures leave us with no doubt she knew she was doing wrong. Did she know what evil was, yes after her disobedience. If this family was praying to God and Christians they should have understood that the prayer might not be answered in the way they desired.

7) How can the Christian church deny marriage to someone with klinefelter syndrome?  Who decides what gender he or she is?  Does god hate people with klinefelter syndrome who marry?  Will they go to hell for marrying despite having two genders?

I've never heard of the Baptist Church refusing to marry a man with klinefelter syndrome. I can't answer for other denominations. From what I understand the gender is set as male. God hates no one, what He hates is people's sinful actions. Why would God hate a person who has klinefelter syndrome and marries some produce children and even more can when they receive treatments and like I said a person with klinefelter syndrome is classified as male. The only reason anyone goes to hell is for rejecting Christ, not because they were born a certain way. You should know this if you have studied the Bible as much as you've said.

8) Who is Enoch and what made him good in god's eyes?

Enoch was the son of Jared, Enoch was the father of Methuselah. Enoch we assume by what little scriptures tell us walked closely with God in a very special relationship. Does walk mean he physically walked with God, not necessarily, but it could have been if it was Jesus who appeared to people during the OT times. I'm not sure why you wanted to ask this question, I think the answer to this is an easily understood one by most that read the very short story.

9) What made rahab righteous?

Rahab was justified or righteous because she showed her faith that God would give over Jericho to the Israelites, she trusted that God would do what He had promised to Abraham all those years ago, she also did as the men from God had asked, showing more faith in God's ability to keep her family safe until after the city fell.. Works doesn't save anyone works shows what we believe, if one believes he/she will do God's work because they have real faith in Christ, they will want to do work. So if someone claims to be a Christian and never shows any evidence of being a Christian then a doubt should arise in people of faith.

10) What is your answer to the euthyphro dilemma?

I have no answer, because man can't define who God is, the men who discussed this were actually speaking concerning non existent gods. I should live my life according to Jesus example and teachings not man's thoughts. God says man will always disappoint each other because we are a selfish sort. Even in the discussion of a definition for piety there was selfish motives.

Sorry it took a while to answer these questions, you gave me several and I wanted to answer them all at one time.

GC