You said: "Awakened:
Then, without being rude, I have to say you are deceived.
In Leviticus 'Jehovah God' authorises the wholesale slaughter of a town - apart from the virgin girls who were captive. When this doesn't get enough virgins, he authorises the kidnap of virgins on their way to a festival. I find it very hard to conceive that a mloving god would authorise an action which would result in the rape of girls (let's remember most women over 14 would be married at that time so we're talking about virgin girls being raped by soldiers) who had been kidnaped, possibly by the person who had killed their parents. "
Nowadays that sort of thing is a WARCRIME. How can someone who believes god to be a loving concerened father even conceive that a book which contains such bruitality was inspired by him?
Likewise, I think Jehovah God would know that there were Bristlecone Pines growing in California before, during, and after ANY possible dates for the Global Flood we are told about in the Bible. This, and a host of other evidence attest to the Flood being a false myth that was incorporated into the Bible. Would God allow his inspired book to be filled with lies?
After the 'Flood', the Bible also tells us that God confused the languages of the builders of Babel because he was afraid that there was nothing that they could not do. When viewed with the 'fall of man' in mind, where God punished man for disobedience by effectively saying 'go on, rule yourself and see', such an action at Babel would have been a violation of such a punishment; it's like a father telling his son he can try and climb a tree if he wants and then cutting his legs of when he looked like he was going to do it.
And that is just a few bits from the first few books of the Bible. There's much more.
If you believe the Bible is God's inspired word, you are deceived, or have a cruel god in mind. The Bible is a book written by men, with all the faults and innaccuracies this means. Rather than looking for a text to show you purpose in life, you have to open your heart to truth, let the sacales fall from your eyes, and accept you either have to throw off childish understandings or remain a slave to lies.
For if the Bible cannot even portray god consistantly, or get facts straight, then it cannot be inspired, and each word must be viewed with equal suspicision. There might be wisdom in the Bible, but it's our minds which allow us to determine which parts of the Bible contain wisdom.
If we assume it's all correct we swallow the camel and strain out the gnat, as there is no evidence FOR such an assumption and an awful lot against it.
Put down the book, open your eyes, and live. "
