Expressing doubts...

about Christianity. This might make a few people very angry, but I don't think what I'm going through is wrong. And if you do consider yourself a Christian, and it does make you angry, you might want to do some soul searching of your own. A Christian should eagerly and quite happily jump at the chance to debate their religion with someone having doubts. As someone with a decent amount of teaching experience, I can tell you that as we teach others we also educate ourselves.

I believe my God wants us to question him, his works, his word. He does not want us to blindly accept his teachings, he wants us to question him and find the answers for ourselves, and in doing so realize that his teachings stand up to our close scrutiny. That way we come to him in spite of our doubts because we have established that it's the right thing to do, that his way is the one, true way. This is what I believe.

What I also believe, and you may find this hard to swallow, is that Judas Iscariot was nothing more than a patsy. Judas did not betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, or whatever reward he was given; Judas betrayed Jesus because that's what was meant to happen, it was his destiny to betray Jesus. Read the Bible. Jesus knew he was going to be betrayed not because he knew what Judas was going to do, but because he knew that's what was meant to happen. Judas betrayed Jesus because that's what was meant to happen.

I have a problem with the whole "Free Will" thing, and the Bible's contradiction of this, and the case of the Holy Kingdom of God vs Judas Iscariot is just one of these.

In the beginning God made man, and he created him in his own image, and that's another contradiction. If God is an all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipotent deity, how could he create a flesh & blood entity "in his own image"? And if he is all-knowing, why would he give man 'free will', slap him down in the Garden of Eden along with the Tree of Knowledge, then tell him not to eat from it? He's all-knowing, so he had to have known what was going to happen when he put Adam and The Tree in an enclosed area, and yet God still punishes Adam when he does what God knew he'd do all along.

A man bought an expensive, antique vase, which he took home and showed to his wife and 7-year old daughter. Then he said to his daughter, "this is a very expensive vase. You must never, ever touch it, lest you break it."

And the child said to her father, "then you must never, ever put it where I can touch it."

I ask you, when the father places the vase on a pedestal in the middle of the living room, and the daughter breaks it, who is truly at fault?

Yes, I dare to suggest that it was God who was at fault for putting Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden with the Tree of Knowledge, then telling them not to eat from it. God knew exactly what would happen, but not only did he know what would happen, he facilitated it, then he punished Adam & Eve when they did what he knew they'd do all along.

Then there's the Great Flood.

God is all-knowing yet he still gave man Free Will. And because he is all-knowing he had to know exactly what man would do with his Free Will, and yet when man does what God knew he'd do, God is angry and floods the Earth and wipes out everyone bar Noah & Co.

After the flood Noah & Co. find themselves in Shinar (Genesis 11:1-9). When I was told the story of the Tower of Babel in Sunday School I was taught that the Babylonians were arrogant, hence their desire to build a tower that would reach to the heavens, but now I know that the Babylonians were comprised of Noah and his immediate family. They've just got off the Ark where they witnessed first hand the might of God as he destroyed almost the entire world. Why on earth would they be arrogant? I don't think they were.

Genesis 11:4 says, "Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

I've been thinking about this passage, and I don't like it. No sir, not one bit. This is immediately following the Great Flood. These are the only people on the planet and they know it. So...who are they trying to impress? There's nobody there but themselves, and God. And why are they concerned about being scattered over the face of the earth? They want to build a Tower that reaches to the heavens so they can make a name for themselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. They're not building the tower out of arrogance, they're building it out of fear. Fear of losing their identity as a people.

But whose people are they?

Quite clearly they're God's people, because it was he who saved them. God commanded them to build the Ark and he saved them while drowning everyone else. Damn straight they were afraid, they were afraid of God. They feared his wrath, they were afraid God would scatter them over the face of the earth so they built the legendary Tower of Babel to impress him, and impress him it did. It impressed God so much that it led him to do exactly what the people feared would happen if they didn't build the tower. How ironic is that?

How do we know God was impressed?

Genesis 11:5-6 says, "But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."

Nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

The Lord sees what the people are doing, and says, "Holy Crap! Working together, these guys can do anything!"

This is the Lord God speaking. He knows 'Impossible'. When he says, "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them" he means it!

Now who's afraid? Both parties are. The people are afraid of God, and God is afraid of them. How on earth can I say God, the all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipotent being...is afraid?

Because of what he does next. Immediately following the Lord's observation that his people can accomplish the "impossible", he separates them and scatters them across the face of the earth. Why would he do this? The most obvious answer is so they won't accomplish the impossible.

God gave us Free Will, but when Adam & Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, as the all-knowing God must have known would happen, he punished them.

When Adam & Even were cast out of Eden they made babies, and their babies grew up and had babies of their own, lots and lots of babies, and God had to have known that would happen. And they multiplied and spread out over the Earth and did wicked things, and when God saw what they were doing he wiped the slate clean and started over with Noah & Co.

Then when Noah & Co. settled down after the Flood and built the Tower of Babel, God took one look and said "Oh no, you don't!" and he scattered them across the face of the Earth.

I really want to understand why God would do this, but I cannot, because these actions do not speak of an all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipotent deity. They speak of a spoiled child, upset with how his science experiment has turned out and throwing a temper tantrum because things haven't gone his way.

I would really appreciate someone explaining this to me. I'm quite amenable in the face of a persuasive argument, but you need to do better than just say "Dude! Read the Bible!" As should be quite apparent I have read the Bible, and that is why I have questions.