Idahoshooter, is your question because you seek an answer, because truth is important to you...or is it just something to create a discussion?
But it will lead you away from the lies, and as the old saying goes, "nature hates a vacuum". When what we believed to be true is show to use that it is not, we are on a good path to understand how to learn more.
So please consider my counter question deeply, and let those that scream and shout and insult do so at top speed and maximum intensity.
The offer is genuine however, and if you want information concerning those questions you posted, and a lot of other questions too, just let me know.
Yes, I sincerely desire to know truth. And I do love learning the mechanics of the world around me.
I was born into a very conservatively religious family and well educated as to the teachings of OT and NT.
But the more I learned, the more the discrepancies and contradictions in the verses jumped out at me. And the teachings of the Pastors conflicted with my observations of the world. And conflicted with observations made by serious students of the sciences much more learned than I.
While I deeply respect the religious convictions of the devout, and I would never criticize their beliefs, I no longer share those beliefs.
I am convinced the OT and the NT are both written, not by God, but by men who wished to control, and be enriched by other men. I am convinced that any human soul is simply a product of mythology. There is no Heaven, nor Hell.
When the electricity stops flowing across the synapses, the man is dead and is no more, forever. Thus it is important for each of us to produce our own version of Heaven right here on Earth.
We have somewhat similar stories. The scripture says the Bible is the word of God, and infallible...This is dogmatic. And it was this dogma that led to my awakening.
When I learned that Moses never existed, the Exodus as described never happened. That all life started in "eden" 6k years ago. When I discovered the story of Noah is actually a blatant ripoff of Gilgamesh which was written at lest 2k years earlier than the OT. When I learned that the Israel/Judah "nation" as detailed in the OT actually works out to a grand total of two small city states (both of which practiced idolatry as its majority religion)...I could go on and on. But it became clear to me the Bible is the same as pretty much every other religious document in the world...A mix of myths intermixed with historical events.
SO much doesn't make sense. Why did God ignore humanity for over 200k years, and choose to make "first contact" with man 3,500 years ago. Why did he ignore mankind for all those millennia? Why is it the Bible details ZERO scientific evidence that wasn't generally known for the day? Why didn't God warn the Israelite's about bacteria? Why does it go from religious moral absolutes, to moral relativity?
