Abusive Theology 101

[Locke]

I'll ask another question......

Why is god good?
It's rhetorical, but I expect an attempted response.

I can answer that from a Biblical perspective, but in a forum post, that would be circular reasoning, without listing full-blown evidence for the Bible's validity outside of itself.

I could answer it by trying to define God, but without understanding the validity of Scripture, there's really no foundation to do that with.

Everything outside of my undocumented experiences that I could show you would come from Scripture, and since you haven't experienced my life, anything I say there can be disregarded as relative...

Except of course nature! But that can be refuted with scientific fact to describe every facet, as even Scripture tells us God works in processes.

And clearly, if God is real, then He would of made the systems of science that we use for discovery. If that is the case, then the Bible should not go against the laws of nature, but compliment them instead. In consideration of that, I would encourage you to do what every great scientist has done - take your theory (in this case, the Bible) and test it in the world around you.
After all, faith - according to the Bible - is not a delusional emotional feeling, but a response to evidence. The evidence will be found by putting the Bible to the test when it says, if you do this, then this will happen. Take Jeremiah 29:13, for example.

Actually, this is the exact way so many devout scientists became completely convinced of God's existence - by honest questioning, and putting everything to the test. Examples would include Einstein, Darwin, Newton, Faraday, and Bohr, to name a few.

One of the most terrible things someone could do is become a theist without thoroughly analyzing the evidence. Unfortunately, it's exceedingly common - I'd say at least 99.9% of theists. When a certain person asked Jesus what he had to do to make it to heaven, Jesus told him to love the Lord with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind.

And if you don't want to do it? Well.. at least we know you weren't sincerely asking.

EDIT: I actually sincerely don't understand why torture would be considered bad without God in the picture, so I ask again. Why is torture bad?