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PLEASE KNOW:
I truly believe in God. In my opinion, anyone should be able to walk out the door and see evidence of his existence. Actually, walking out the door isn?t even necessary. God is incredible and incredibly evident. I don't believe he inspired the Bible. Here are reasons why (this is good stuff to use in arguments with Christians. I was raised a Pastor's son.... so I know a thing or two about scriptures):
TOUGH SCRIPTURES (I ASKED THE LOCAL PASTOR):
Scriptures like Hosea 13:16, Samuel 15:2-3, and many others make it difficult to accept that God inspired the Bible. Are you sure it wasn't angry Jewish men attempting to get everyone to think the same way they do, and writing messages of revenge against those that didn't see things the same way they do? (Especially in the Old Testament). Here are a few example scriptures that make me scratch my head:
Hosea 13:16 (Toddlers Killed and Babies Ripped From Pregnant Women):
Revised Standard Version
16 Sama'ria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
King James Version
16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
1 Samuel 15:2-3 (Killing Women and Children for God):
Revised Standard Version
3 Now go and smite Am'alek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.'"
King James Version
3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
Later in that same chapter, Samuel hacks a man to pieces for the Lord. Huh? Is this the same loving God I hear about throughout the Bible? So many verses like those above appear throughout the Bible. It?s hard to accept a perfect, loving, unchanging God inspired such things. Just one inconsistency or inaccuracy means a perfect being didn?t inspire the book. That would be imperfect. So, God had a greater plan with these killings? I don?t accept that. That explanation is what human believers need to come up with in order to cope? it?s either ?explain it away? or ?toss it out?. Tossing out the Bible would be blasphemy, now wouldn?t it? What, then, would we base our lives upon? Shall we accept something because there isn?t a better alternative?
HISTORICAL ACCURACY:
The argument that the Bible is historically accurate doesn?t prove God inspired it. Stephen King?s latest book mentions the bombing of the twin towers. He also talks about several other true current events. 1,000 years from now, when someone reads it, shall they decide that the book is fact because it contains historical accuracies? The historical accuracies in the Bible mean one thing: the people who wrote each book were actually in the land they claimed to be in during the time they claim to be there. Historical accuracy does not equate to truth, as the Stephen King example illustrates.
SUMMARIES OF ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS (SOME RESTATED):
1. Why would a God who created all of us choose one group of us to be his ?chosen? people?
The Bible says the Jews are God?s chosen? does it strike you as merely coincidental that the authors of the books that make this claim happen to be (drum roll please)? JEWISH? Hmmm?
2. Why would God punish us for eternity (our lifespan multiplied by billions and gazillions) for messing up here on earth during our miniscule 70 year existence?
I?d never spank my son for the rest of his life for disobedience, even if I fully explained to him why he shouldn?t disobey (?hey, he knew the consequences, HE made the choice? I don?t like it but I can?t look upon his sin ? even though I created him - so I HAVE to spank him daily for the rest of his life? ) hmmm?
Or how about this scenario: I have 10 kids. I choose one of them to be more important than all of the others. I choose child #1 to be that important child. I make this decision after I send children 6-10 off to Siberia where they have no communication with me. If all my children don?t believe the rules I have instructed child #1 to write I?ll send them into eternal torment or shoot them in the head. I don?t care that the children in Siberia weren?t here when I made these rules? these rules should be evident to them. Maybe they have ESP or something. (How shall the billions that have died without knowledge of Christ ever get to heaven? Jesus specifically says ?NO MAN comes to the father but by me??, there are no other options). We are humans and our minds can?t truly comprehend the vastness of God?s ways. How can we be expected to know?.?
3. Why does God (that never changes) tell us not to kill in Exodus, and then rip innocent unborns from their mother?s wombs in Hosea?
Please don?t tell me this is subject to interpretation and that ?Thou Shalt Not Kill? actually means something other than what it says. That?s BS.
4. Why is the Bible so hard to understand?
If you wanted to create a guidebook for your young children, wouldn?t you put it into language they ALL could easily understand? Why would only a select few of them actually comprehend it (or claim to)? Isn?t God a much more perfect parent than any of us? Wouldn?t that mean he?d be even MORE inclined to make things simple. I BELIEVE HE HAS? look at the evidence of himself he?s put into his creation. It?s there WITHOUT the need for a hate-filled book (yes, it?s contains love also, but hate prevails ? you better walk on the ?straight and narrow? if you don?t want to be eternally doomed ? or could eternal damnation have been invented by the human authors that put pen to paper in an attempt to convince us that WE better believe what THEY wrote? OR ELSE).
I believe I could LITERALLY write a book on why I don?t think God inpired the Bible. The more I read it, the LESS I believe a perfect God inspired it. Did God make it NECESSARY to have a book in place that we must follow in order to reunite with Him? I do not think so?
-Donny
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