(August 11, 2015 at 4:50 am)robvalue Wrote:(August 10, 2015 at 9:30 am)lkingpinl Wrote: No there is really only one excuse and that was Jesus fulfilled the law and paid the consequence of sin for all. That is why Drich and GC will say things like "they don't apply". While technically true, I think that statement needs clarification. If we go back to genesis, there was one simple commandment. "Do not eat of the tree of knowledge of god and evil." That was broken and Moses had to come up with 613 laws. I go back to my analogy of the smoke detector. The sign says "Don't mess with it". We then do what we want and say, "well it didn't say don't touch, or destroy, or disengage, etc."
There is an objective standard, "Don't mess with it" and we selectively interpret and redefine.
You're right, that is one big excuse for not following the bible. Either the bible is realiable or it isn't; if it is reliable, we have God on the record condoning such horrors as murder, rape and slavery. I don't know how Jesus exactly makes up for this, considering it's just God pretending to be a human. I've never understood what the big deal is there. At best you're saying God used to be an immoral monster but then improved a bit. Or even that God was immoral because of us or something?
If the bible isn't reliable, then just forget it. It seems that the only important message is just one sentence and the rest is stuff that needs excusing. And even that message is not unique to Christianity, like many of its facets it's stolen from older religions.
If the bible just happens to be reliable when it says stuff you like and is unreliable the rest of the time, you may as well write your own bible!
So, do you really believe Adam and Eve literally happened? And even if it did, how can you respect a being that curses people for what happened before they were even born? That is some fucked up shit.
I'm telling you as a concerned friend, your excuses for God sound just like battered spouse syndrome.
Rob, atheists are not alone in asking these questions. This is a very common issue amongst believers. There have been incredible articles written about it. One thing I keep in mind is that I am not God and placing any moral judgments on God makes no sense to me.
I could create a long winded response, but instead I will point you to some amazing articles written about this subject
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013...ml?start=1
http://www.bethinking.org/bible/old-test...s-killings
http://epsociety.org/printer_template.asp?pid=45
I'm a little curious why you say you are concerned however. If there is no God, each person finds their own meaning in this life and I find that in my delusion of a sky daddy which fulfills my life to immense happiness. You believe there is nothing but this short life and we simply decay, to say you are concerned makes no sense. Concerned about what?
We are not made happy by what we acquire but by what we appreciate.
