3 reasons for Christians to start questionng their faith

[JesusHChrist]

since God has commanded Christian are to be as Christ, as a lamb led to slaughter and His Word is complete, what are you getting at?
a bunch of phony ifs?

You are dodging the question.

God orders or commits genocide in the bible (the Flood, slaughter of the Middianites, Canaanites, tribes of Benjamin, etc.).

This is ok because God says it is ok?

That is Divine Command Theory. Surely you know of it. Look it up if not.

[junkyardboy]

since God has commanded Christian are to be as Christ, as a lamb led to slaughter and His Word is complete, what are you getting at?
a bunch of phony ifs?

You are dodging the question.

God orders or commits genocide in the bible (the Flood, slaughter of the Middianites, Canaanites, tribes of Benjamin, etc.).

This is ok because God says it is ok?

That is Divine Command Theory. Surely you know of it. Look it up if not.

yep, commands to OT jews under the law

[Darkstar]

That's proof? All I see two conflicting statements from the same text.

Nice. Since you have no proof that God ordered genocide, adjust your statement.

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Deuteronomy 13:12-18

12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in 13 that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), 14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, 15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely,[a] both its people and its livestock. 16 You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt, 17 and none of the condemned things[b] are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors— 18 because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.

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Isaiah 13:9-18

9 See, the day of the Lord is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the Lord Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own people,
they will flee to their native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives violated.
17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.
18 Their bows will strike down the young men;
they will have no mercy on infants,
nor will they look with compassion on children.

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Jeremiah 51:20-23

20 “You are my war club,
my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter nations,
with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider,
with you I shatter chariot and driver,
22 with you I shatter man and woman,
with you I shatter old man and youth,
with you I shatter young man and young woman,
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
with you I shatter governors and officials.

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Or...were these all the work of false prophets?

[JesusHChrist]

yep, commands to OT jews under the law

It makes no difference what/time or place or else you can't claim an absolute morality, can you? He ordered then. Could order it now.

So what I said earlier holds. God ordered/committed genocide.

Hence, your god has worse morals than any human dictator, i.e., a monster.

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Yes! Holy crap Yes! Why? Because in the end it is God who judges all of us and it is to his standard that all will be judged. So what does it matter what anyone else thinks if literally Heaven and Hell resides on what God thinks to be good?

So there is nothing inherently immoral about genocide? From what you are saying there is at least one circumstance where genocide, baby-killing and what not are OK?

[smax]

my, my
why are you only agnostic?
objective morality?
objective morality is Yahweh does what He wants.
its part of the job description

To be clear, I am an Agnostic Atheist. Some Agnostics lean toward the existence of a god. I do not lean that way at all, but I acknowledge that there are simply elements of the Universe that I can't explain and don't have answers for.

Christians, and other religious people, tend to stumble on the word "Atheist", losing sight of the arguments at hand while trying to argue with Atheists about what Atheists actually are.

As for Yahweh, even he did exist (he doesn't), I see no reason, at this point, for you or anyone to believe that he has human interests and benefit in mind. With that, I see reason why human morals should be shaped around the idea of his existence. Let's start focusing on the benefits, success, and survival of our species for change, what do you say?

[John V]

As someone who spent over 25 years practicing the Christian faith, and who has since found greater liberty and personal fulfillment outside of that practice, I would like to encourage all Christians to consider some of the more compelling reasons to question your faith.

What greater liberty and fulfillment have you since found? Personally I can't think of anything I want to do which I can't due to Christianity.

[Esquilax]

As someone who spent over 25 years practicing the Christian faith, and who has since found greater liberty and personal fulfillment outside of that practice, I would like to encourage all Christians to consider some of the more compelling reasons to question your faith.

What greater liberty and fulfillment have you since found? Personally I can't think of anything I want to do which I can't due to Christianity.

Oh come on, that's easy! You can't live your life free from the constant threat of doing something that might land you in hell, nor the constant pressure of having to live up to the tyrannical standards of a cosmic dictator that simply will not practice what he preaches. Those are two of the things you can't do as a christian.

[smax]

the Divine command is for Christians to love our neighbor as ourselves.
what are you ranting about?

The Bible also says:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. (1 Jn 2:15)

and

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (Jm 4:4)

When these scriptures are compared with 2 Cor 6:14, which says "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?", it's not hard to figure out why Christians have committed so many unspeakable acts against people who simply don't believe as they do, especially when they are told that the "violent" take kingdom of heaven "by force". Matthew 11:12.

From a psychological standpoint, this all represents a desensitization of sorts, freeing the more devout followers to do whatever is necessary to further their religious cause without conscience or regard for the inflicting of human suffer or even death.

[John V]

Oh come on, that's easy! You can't live your life free from the constant threat of doing something that might land you in hell, nor the constant pressure of having to live up to the tyrannical standards of a cosmic dictator that simply will not practice what he preaches. Those are two of the things you can't do as a christian.

I'm living my life free of those, and I'm a Christian. I have a savior, who said his burden is light and his yoke easy. But my question was for the 25-year Christian, thank you very much.

[Ryantology]

What greater liberty and fulfillment have you since found? Personally I can't think of anything I want to do which I can't due to Christianity.

Of course not. You interpret Christianity so that it suits your wants and desires, like most of your co-religionists.