WileyCoyote
Active Member
I once was a devout Christian. But after meeting many people with different views, and after years of "soul searching", I find myself practically a non-believer. I don't discount the existence of God, but I find it very hard to believe.
I don't hold anything against devout Christians. Most of my family, and several of my friends, are devout Christians. I didn't CHOOSE to quit believing. It just happened (do we ever really choose what we believe?).
The first move towards that came when I stopped believing that there could be a literal hell. How could a loving God send anything or anybody to hell forever? What kind of sick being would eternally torture anything that it created? Psychologists tell us that animal torturers have perverted minds. Yet God could touture billions of his creations by fire forever and be righteous?
What if you tortured your children by fire for disobeying you? You would rightfully be incarcerated so that you could never do that again. Yet a loving God is supposed to be able to do that to billions of his children, and justify it?
And why is the Bible so confusing? So vague? If I were God and I decided to leave my wonderful creations a book by which they were supposed to pattern their lives, I would have made it so simple, consistent, and specific that a caveman could understand it without question. Yet we have so many different versions of Christianity in our world (Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Church of Christ, etc.). All because they can't agree on what the Bible means.
And why is blood sacrifice required for the forgiveness of sins? The Bible commands us to forgive people who wrong us. Just plain forgive them. But for doing the same thing, God requires a blood sacrifice? Doesn't that mean he is asking more of us than himself? If I'm supposed to forgive people even when they don't want my forgiveness, why couldn't God do the same thing?
Isn't the idea of sacrificing your own son to be crucified a sick thought to you?
God created us, gave us free choice, and then is gonna torture anybody who doesn't make the choices He wants?
Just a few of the honest, logical, non-combative things that I ponder. What's your take?
I don't hold anything against devout Christians. Most of my family, and several of my friends, are devout Christians. I didn't CHOOSE to quit believing. It just happened (do we ever really choose what we believe?).
The first move towards that came when I stopped believing that there could be a literal hell. How could a loving God send anything or anybody to hell forever? What kind of sick being would eternally torture anything that it created? Psychologists tell us that animal torturers have perverted minds. Yet God could touture billions of his creations by fire forever and be righteous?
What if you tortured your children by fire for disobeying you? You would rightfully be incarcerated so that you could never do that again. Yet a loving God is supposed to be able to do that to billions of his children, and justify it?
And why is the Bible so confusing? So vague? If I were God and I decided to leave my wonderful creations a book by which they were supposed to pattern their lives, I would have made it so simple, consistent, and specific that a caveman could understand it without question. Yet we have so many different versions of Christianity in our world (Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Church of Christ, etc.). All because they can't agree on what the Bible means.
And why is blood sacrifice required for the forgiveness of sins? The Bible commands us to forgive people who wrong us. Just plain forgive them. But for doing the same thing, God requires a blood sacrifice? Doesn't that mean he is asking more of us than himself? If I'm supposed to forgive people even when they don't want my forgiveness, why couldn't God do the same thing?
Isn't the idea of sacrificing your own son to be crucified a sick thought to you?
God created us, gave us free choice, and then is gonna torture anybody who doesn't make the choices He wants?
Just a few of the honest, logical, non-combative things that I ponder. What's your take?