The act of murder is rampant in the Bible. In much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents, or not being a virgin on your wedding night. In addition to these crazy and immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God's irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who make fun of bald people, and the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport. There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children.

Kill People Who Don't Listen to Priests
Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)
Kill Homosexuals
"If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives." (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)
Death for Hitting Dad
Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)
Death for Adultery
If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)
Kill Nonbelievers
They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)

"Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses." (Ezekiel 23: 19-21)

"and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions." (Ezekiel 23: 21, NRSV)

"Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters. I said, 'I will climb the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit stalks.' Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine and the fragrance of your breath like apples." Song of Solomon 7:7-8

"And Lot went up to Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him. Then the firstborn said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.' Genesis 19:30-36

I understand the faith in the Bible, but there's so many variations of what is in the Bible. How do you know which is most accurate? And wasn't the Bible written by man? How do we know it wasn't messed up?

I know it may seem nitpicky and such, but maybe it was true when someone said I am just taking the easy way out. Meaning, that since I believe in a higher power, but have not instilled blind faith in a book that I'm not doing what's necessary.

I'm the kind of person that needs see things and understand things to believe in them. Another reason I prefer older cars, because I can SEE exactly what is going on and understand it. Maybe that means I have trust issues? I dunno. I just know the more I read up and hear about how things came about, the more skeptical I become. I think, okay here we go, this is going to make sense, this is will be what it takes. Then, there's holes all over like Swiss Cheese.

Obviously we had to come from somewhere. Birds or God's hand, whichever, we are here. There's more evidence supporting evolution than "let there be man, woman". One question about that is, if we all came from Adam and Eve, how did we avoid the incestrial deformities that occur today over all those years?

I dunno ... it seems like a dog chasing his tail at times.

"Zero2Cool" wrote:

First, as far as "incest". Remember, mankind was PERFECT when God made us. So when Adam and Eve sinned, their bodies first started to break down. Thats why they lived for hundreds of years, there wasn't the disease or imperfections that have come over time. Thus, there was not the gross imperfections that you see now in incestuous relationships.

Think about this for a second. We are copies of copies of copies, and so on, for thousands of years. Yet we still are living, breathing creatures.
Try taking a piece of paper that you typed, take it to a copy machine, and make a copy. Then use the copy and copy it, Keep doing that and see how few times it takes before you can't even READ the print. Yet look at how man is still here.

Zero, the Bible was inspired by God. It says in the Bible that anyone that changes it's meaning will be held responsible for doing that. All you can do is trust Him, and let Him worry about the results.

Dcube.....look at the things you wrote, then ask yourself this question: If mankind would have obeyed what God said in all those, what you called "immoral" passeges in the Bible, would we be better off today?
Would we have the moral decay, and the results with disease if man would have obeyed God? Gay sex, sex before marriage, .....how many people have died from sexually transmitted diseases? These would have been avoided if men and women learned some self control.
How about adultry? You think it's wrong for God to expect people that make a VOW before Him to ONLY have sex with their mate, to hold them to that?
God put down some laws, that IF they were obeyed, mankind would flourish.
But like in today's world, people want to do WHATEVER they want, with no consequences.
Fact is, there ARE consequences to everything you do.

As far as the Bible contradicting itself, it doesn't. You can take verses out of context, and they might look contradictive. But if you compare it with other scripture, you see that it doesn't contradict at all.

God doesn't want evil to happen to people. But Satan does. And lets face it, alot of what happens to us is our own fault, because of choices we make.
Too many people want to blame God for that.

If you choose not to believe the Bible, you will take things like His judgement for OUR actions as Him being cruel. Of course thats because we don't want to take any guilt for what we do.
"If it feels good, do it" has been man's way for a LONG time.

"Cheesey" wrote:

Alan, thank you for taking the time to respond to this. I know I might come off as stubborn or pig headed or what not, but I just have a lot of questions and I know, you said one shouldn't question it, but unfortunately, it's my nature, how I was brought up.

You said that man was perfect with Adam and Eve. Okay. Then God wiped them all out sparing Noah's family. At that time God decreased longevity of life by 90% or so. With that being said, we are just getting weaker and weaker as the generations go on? But science has proven that is not true and that in fact we are getting bigger, stronger and faster as well more healthy.

You know what, what's God's number? I'm going to text him. :)

"Zero2Cool" wrote: