What to say to a Christian who likes to pick and choose their scripture.

[When I wrote this, I wasn't imagining myself talking to any old Christian, I was imagining my thought process about 2 years ago while I was still a Christian (I guess) when I came to the conclusion that the Christian God was highly unlikely.]

1. "Is God a good and perfect, all knowing, all-powerful being?" – probably yes…

2. "Do you believe the Old Testament is the true word of God?"
2.a. If yes, skip #2.b. and move on to #3.
2.b. If no, then what about Adam and Eve, the firmament, God casting Satan from heaven to hell, etc, and what about all the references from the New Testament to the old testament? - they may say "Oh yes I believe those parts," and if so, then they do believe that at least some of the Old testament is the word of God, because otherwise, how would anyone know to write it down (unless it was an outright fabrication.). This argument should eventually lead you to #4.

3. "What about the nasty bits in the Old Testament about stoning family members to death for doing things like disobeying you?" (there's lots of other nasty bits in there as well (SAB) ) - I assume the likely answer is something like we don't follow those scriptures anymore, or that they became outdated with the release of the New Testament, or something to that effect.

4. "So the New Testament is the true word of God?" - I assume the answer is yes, if you are talking to a Christian.

Soooo........

If both The Old and the New Testaments are the word of God, who is perfect, all knowing, and all powerful, why did he need a second chance at bible authoring? Why was there a need for him to dictate two different books, separated by several thousand years of time? (We actually know from history that the New Testament was probably compiled as a fix for the rampant fear and disbelief of God, and the church's resulting lack of control over society.)

(Speaking of second chances… why the flood? Why couldn’t God predict the problems and avoid them, rather than letting it all get out of control, and then totally destroying thousands of innocent children in order to give himself a second chance? Seems like cheating or something… extremely lazy, at the very least (not to mention utterly evil, terrifying, and violent).)

If the New Testament is the word of god, and the Old Testament is as well, but is too outdated or something, why couldn't God have foreseen this, and rewritten the original before releasing it, in a way that would incorporate both the new and old testaments. Or why didn’t he just say "Screw the original! You’re up, Jesus!"? Why did he wait until he knew most of his believers hated and feared or simply doubted him (rather than just predicting they would hate, fear, and doubt him, and fix the problem at the source). It just seems like a poor strategy for someone who is both perfect and all knowing. Plus, why would God EVER say that it is cool to stone somebody to death, or to kill someone period. (All I can say is read Deuteronomy now...) Why should I believe any of the Old Testament (the ark, the flood, Moses, Adam, Eve, the firmament, Satan, the 6+1 days hypothesis, creation, etc) if it is obvious that much of it is utterly ridiculous.

If you're a Christian, it is pretty much impossible for you to be correct if you believe the Old Testament IS NOT the true word of God and the New Testament IS the true word of God, because the Old Testament is often referred to (creation, original sin, Satan, etc)in the New Testament. So either the Old Testament is true, or it's not. Either its true that god wrote or dictated the Old Testament, or else whoever wrote the New Testament was lying throughout the whole thing in order to make their prospective cult members (today's Christians) believe they were simply signing on for a better version of their old religion; because, if the Old Testament was not the true word of God, then how did the writer(s) come up with all these things that turn out to be "true" in the New Testament?

So you can either believe in just the Old Testament in its entirety, or else you must believe both Testaments in their entirety. If you only believe the New Testament as the true word, then your religion has no foundation (the foundation for the Christian religion is set up in Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament). If you state that you can get your foundation from the Old Testament (and skip the rest) and apply it to the New Testament, then you are essentially admitting to getting your religious foundation from a book of fairy tales that were written 4000 years before god ever decided to write a book.

Also note that I am saying that if you believe the Genesis story, that the earth was created 6000 years ago, and you believe in the New Testament, but you can't think of any reason why a man's daughter should be stoned to death on his doorstep (Deuteronomy 22:13-21), then you, my friend, are going directly against God's wishes, and perhaps you should rethink your path. I'm saying that in my mind there should be no such thing as a moderate Christian... you have to be literal, or else you are doing it wrong. I'm saying you are doing something wrong according to the bible so if you ever want to tell an atheist how they should change, and you quote scripture the whole way through, just remember that you're doing it wrong too. Why should someone believe anyone who is so hypocritical?


I'm tired and I got off track, and I don't know how to finish this so bye!