This one was before my time here

[Drich]

I am just going to copy and paste the OP from this thread http://atheistforums.org/thread-106.html and then answer these questions. Some of them are old and tired but there are a few I dont think we've talked about here.

frpm a post Daylight Atheism

I liked all of these, but especially numbers 2, 6 and 10


1. Why is God called loving or merciful when, in the Old Testament's stories of the Israelite conquest, he specifically orders his chosen people to massacre their enemies, showing no mercy to men, women, even children and animals?

God is not call Omni-benevolent in the bible. Meaning He is not all loving and all forgiving to everyone. God has mercy on whom He has mercy.

2. Does it make sense to claim, as the Bible does, that wrongdoing can be forgiven by magically transferring the blame from a guilty person to an innocent one, then punishing the innocent person?

In God's eccomony, yes. His rules His "Sense."

3. Why does the Bible routinely depict God as manifesting himself in dramatic, unmistakable ways and performing obvious miracles even before the eyes of nonbelievers, when no such thing happens in the world today?

The bible depicts both. We tend to over look one for the other. To where now in this day an age we believe that God can only present Himself one way.

4. Why do vast numbers of Christians still believe in the imminent end of the world when the New Testament states clearly that the apocalypse was supposed to happen 2,000 years ago, during the lifetime of Jesus' contemporaries?

It doesn't it says this generation will not passa away. The word for generation also means a people. Meaning the Jewish people. "The Jewish people will not pass away until..." They haven't, even without a country of their own they remain. (which has never been done before)

5. Why do Christians believe in the soul when neurology has found clear evidence that the sense of identity and personality can be altered by physical changes to the brain?

My first response is to ask what changes? Like if we remove sections of brain matter? If this is the case then I would say just because the brain can no longer completely have the body respond to what the soul tells it, it does not mean the soul is found in the brain.

6. If it was always God's plan to provide salvation through Jesus, why didn't he send Jesus from the very beginning, instead of confusing and misleading generations of people by setting up a religion called Judaism which he knew in advance would prove to be inadequate?

The establishment of Judaism and the law was to set the standard of righteousness needed to be found worthy before God.
We had to understand what Sin and righteousness was before we could know to seek redemption for sin, to reobtain righteousness needed.

and a two hour class explaining every thing appearently would not have been enough.

7. Since the Bible states that God does not desire that anyone perish, but also states that the majority of humankind is going to hell, doesn't this show that God's plan of salvation is a failure even by his own standard?

Your confusing God's personal desire with God's stated Plan. The Plan is to give everyone a choice as to where they will choose eternity.

God's desire is that everyone choose Him. (But He knows the majority won't.)

If this outcome is a success, what would count as a failure?

Force everyone into Heaven as Slaves of the Living God.

8. Why didn't God create human beings such that they freely desire to do good, thus removing the need to create a Hell at all? (If you believe this is impossible, isn't this the state that will exist in Heaven?)

He did, and Man lived in the presents of God for an unspecified amount of time. Then man wanted more and took it.

9. Is it fair or rational for God to hide himself so that he can only be known by faith, then insist that every single human being find him by picking the right one out of thousands of conflicting and incompatible religions?

Hate to break it to you but all religions are wrong to one degree or another. What makes one 'religion' legitmate or acceptable before God and another (or even the same one) unacceptable before God. is the fact that the same forgiveness offered by the blood of Christ when we willfully sin, is avaiable to us when we are trying our best to worship and love God with all of our being.

It's not the religion, it's the condition of the heart that is trying it's best to work that religion to worship and love the God of the bible with all of their being. In short what makes a given religious expression valid before God is the personal relationship one has with God.

10. If you had the power to help all people who are suffering or in need, at no cost or effort to yourself, would you do it?

Absolutly not.
How do you spoil a child?
spoil (spoil)
v. spoiled or spoilt (spoilt), spoil·ing, spoils
v.tr.
1.
a. To impair the value or quality of.
b. To damage irreparably; ruin.
2. To impair the completeness, perfection, or unity of; flaw grievously: spoiled the party.
3. To do harm to the character, nature, or attitude of by oversolicitude, overindulgence, or excessive praise.

You give that child everything he wants. You make his life too easy. Then that Child will grow into a person with an impaired value/ is damaged irreparably;ruined, and to the rest of the defination..

If so, why hasn't God done this already?

Maybe because the spoilage mirrored in our Children is magnified infinatly more when a persons life spans eternity.