I don't believe the Jesus character actually existed. But his claimed teachings are not sane. No one loves their enemies and behaves like they love them. Are we supposed to love terrorists who seek to kill our friends and family ? Were we supposed to drop flowers on Nazi Germany in WWII...
There is a reason to assume the universe has always existed. That is, it actually does exist.
On the other hand "God" is just a creation of human imagination. How can one assume God always existed when there is no evidence he actually exists at all ?
What's missing from your analysis is the effect of time on evolution. Very small, seemingly insignificant changes occurring over billions of years can result in seemingly impossible results. The Colorado river started as a tiny creek. But over millions of years it created the Grand Canyon...
It seems you are saying to each his own. I fully agree with that. However, some religions, including christianity and Islam, tend to condem non-followers.
It seems odd that a god would communicate his message in a way that is so equivocal that there are as many seemingly legitimate ways to interpret it as there are people. This is how we end up with over 35,000 sects of christianity alone. In this scenario, one can never be certain about which...
If you don't see a contradiction in moral behavior here, there is no point in discussing this further;
Exodus 20:13American Standard Version (ASV)
13 Thou shalt not kill.
Deuteronomy 13:6 – “If your brother, your mother’s son or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who...
So, if you think you have something to contribute to the discussion beyond "you are wrong and bad", please do.
Show me where the points I make are not valid.
If jesus readily accepted being tortured and killed, why did he ask "father, why have you forsaken me" in his final words before death ?
So god required HIS own death as ransom to end the condemnation HE imposed on all future generations of humanity because two people, in the beginning...
It's not really a bait and switch. The sentence following the introductory paragraph of my initial post alludes to moral relativism in the bible. The second to last sentence addresses it directly.
I suppose a second theme is what appears to be immoral circumstances and messages in the bible...
Well, if the bible is "the word of God", and God is perfect, incapable error, there should be NO misses. The existence of misses in some cases opens the possibility of misses in other places. This contradicts the notion that the bible is an infallible, absolute source of morality. It also...