The notion that a "loving" God saves me by having his son spill blood is archaic and more than a little mad.
Steve,
The wages of sin is death and eventual judgment. This is the answer that my college professors did not want to face as they taught me about "the problem of evil".
I was a virtual atheist when I noticed the near obsession of my philosophy professor, in attacking Christian arguments. After leaving the JW's I assumed that most educated people wouldn't even waste their time with biblical arguments. I was VERY MUCH surprised to see Christian ideas attacked so feverently at university.
From God's point of view, there is no "problem" of evil.
The professor was forced to first explain Christian arguments in order to destroy them. Most of the Christian arguments I never knew about as a JW. This really piqued my interest. I found many of the Christian arguments sound and reasonable. I owe a great debt to my atheist professors and the atheists on this very discussion board for helping me to clearly see the competition as a choice, a not the necessary default view I once believed it to be.