Horrible things in the bible

[Chad32]

We didn't create the world and we don't have the authority to kill our fellow men and women. We are to treat each other with love and that's what christians are to strive for. We should love our neighbors and we have no right to treat others unkindly or unjustly. The fact is that lawbreakers are punished for their crimes even to the point of death. The judge and jury who sentences and carries out the punishment may love the person, but they are required to carry out justice for the good of all. Justice is a requirement for a for any society to maintain order and safety for the members. Love and justice certainly can co-exist. God loves us all and gives us all the opportunity to live eternally, but he also is just. You have just as much opportunity as I do to possess eternal happiness. I accept the fact that he is a loving [/b]and[b] just God and I follow him. You said that you used to be a christian, but couldn't accept that God could do all those "horrible" things. I don't think's that a good reason not to believe in God. That's not a judgement about whether he exists or not, but just a belief that he is not nice.

"Because you're not worshiping me" Is not a justifiable reason to kill people. What is the point of free will if you're going to kill people for using free will? You talk about justice, but when something as small as not paying enough attention to the guy means the death penalty, there really isn't any room for justice. Sin is a useless word because it's impossible for free thinking people to be exactly like Yahweh, and in his opinion the only way to be good is being exactly like him.

Well that's the reason I wouldn't worship him if I had conclusive evidence that he existed. The reason I don't believe in him is that the only evidence we've found for a god called Yahweh is a lesser war god of a Canaanite/Babylonian pantheon. He was the Babylonian version of ares of the Greek pantheon.

There is a passage about loving our neighbors as ourselves. There's also a passage about hating ourselves, and some passages about killing everyone who doesn't worship Yahweh. The nice passages about loving neighbors and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, tend to swallowed up by the more numerous passages about doing the exact opposite.

I don't really think an eternal life anywhere sounds pleasant, including one where I'm constantly worshiping a guy I don't like.