Something I often hear from Christians (or Muslims, and the like), but surprisingly from atheists as well goes something like this: If you want to really learn the truth if God exists or not, read the Bible!

I honestly have to agree.  I think everyone should read the Bible.  Christian, atheist, agnostic, etc.  READ THE BOOK.   You’ll be surprised by what you find in there.

But wait!  Before you do.  I want you to keep one thing in mind.  Keep this thought in the back of your head.  “God is the creator of the universe.  God is the creator of everything.   God is the most intelligent being who ever existed and and who ever will exist.”  Then promise me with that thought in your mind, when you finish this book, you will ask yourself this question: “Is it possible that the most intelligent being in the universe wrote, dictated, inspired, etc. these writings?”

When you’re done.  The answer to that question should be an easy one.  It will be yes or no.

Unfortunately, I know that some of you will claim “I’ve already read it.” or you won’t read it at all.  But I assure you, you can’t know until you do.  For those of you who won’t read it, I’ll give you some excerpts of this book to entice you to see what it actually says!

Remember.  The most intelligent, all loving God wrote this book.

“For I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever.” – Jeremiah 3:12
“Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever.” – Jeremiah 17:4

So which is it?  Does God not keep anger?  Or does he keep it forever?

How about this one?

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.” – John 5:31
“Jesus answered: Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid.”  – John 8:14

Apparently the water is a little muddy here too.

Can we see God?  Apparently that’s a little muddy too.  A paradox perhaps?

“Jacob said, ‘I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’” – Genesis 32:30
“No man hath seen God at any time.” – John 1:18

Remember, the most intelligent being on the planet wrote this stuff guys and girls – and – this “All Loving God” would have you feel how about mercy?

“Blessed are the merciful” – Matthew 5:7]
“Leave alive nothing that breathes. Show them no mercy.” – Deut. 7:2
“The Lord hardened their hearts… that they might receive no mercy.” – Joshua 11:20
“I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. A curse on him who is lax in doing the Lord’s work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed.” – Jer. 13:14; 48:10

Hmmm.  I’m confused.  What should I do now?  Oh wait!  Jesus came to change things.  He came to set us free from the laws.  The old testament doesn’t apply anymore. So Mathew is right and the old testament is “passed”.  Yet Jesus was very clear that he did not remove the laws right?

I’ve heard many pastors say in the past “God is not evil.  God can not do evil.  God is love and therefore the absence of evil.”  Sometimes I wonder how many pastors have actually read the Bible.

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” – Isaiah 45:7
“Then God sent an evil spirit.” – Judges 9:23
“Behold, this evil is of the LORD.” – 2 Kings 6:33
“And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” – Exodus 32:14
“evil came down from the LORD” – Micah 1:12

Ladies and Gentleman, there are a hundred other verses in the Bible just like these.  Google it, or just READ THE BOOK.

Lastly, I leave you with some commandments.  These are from the most intelligent being in the universe.  Remember, Jesus said he brought grace, and forgiveness if you don’t follow the laws – but you’re supposed to still try to follow the law to the best of your ability (some say you MUST follow the laws to get to heaven, even with grace).  So here are the commandments from your All Loving, Merciful God:

“Any person who curseth his mother or father, must be killed.” – Leviticus 20:9
“If a man cheats on his wife, or vise versa, both the man and the woman must die.” – Leviticus 20:10
“If a man sleeps with his father’s wife… both him and his father’s wife is to be put to death.” – Leviticus 20:11
“If a man sleeps with his wife and her mother they are all to be burnt to death.” – Leviticus 20:14
“If a man has sex with a woman on her period, they are both to be “cut off from their people” “- Leviticus 20:18
“If a priest’s daughter is a whore, she is to be burnt at the stake.” – Leviticus 21:9
“People who have flat noses, or is blind or lame, cannot go to an altar of God” – Leviticus 21:17-18
“If anyone, even your own family suggests worshipping another God, kill them.” – Deuteronomy 13:6-10
“If you find out a city worships a different god, destroy the city and kill all of it’s inhabitants… even the animals.” – Deuteronomy 13:12-15
“Kill anyone with a different religion.” – 1. Deuteronomy 25:11-12
“If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.” – Deuteronomy 17:2-7

Sure is a good thing that today’s cafeteria Christians boldly proclaim their loving God, and just ignore all the rest.  No one would ever go to church if they were taught this on Sunday!  Or maybe, just maybe, this stuff was written by man, not inspired by God at all.  Just a thought?  Maybe?  You decide.

Answer: GOD

I counted the number of people that were killed by God in the Bible. I came up with 2,038,344. Now, of course that greatly underestimates God’s total kill score.  I only included those killings for which specific numbers are given.  There are many events in the Bible where no number of fatalities are given.  Noah’s flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the many plagues, famines, etc all are unknown variables, likely to push this number well over 30 million (see below).

Satan on the other is documented as killing only 10 people in the written text of the Bible.  Even those 10 are suspect, as God basically allows Satan to do the killings as part of a “bet” (Job’s family).  Don’t believe me?  Here’s the scripture:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job … And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD … put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house…And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. – Job 1:1-19

So there you have it.  Confused?  So am I.

Now to take this one step further, let’s put some real world numbers to the rest of God’s killings.

Sure makes you question that “All Loving God” stuff huh?

One should keep in mind that the concept of the soul in the west as far as I know did not originate within Christianity or Judaism, but rather in Greek philosophy.  As such, the old testament does not talk much about a soul or afterlife (there are a few passages that hint.)  There are also some Christian denominations, such as Seventh Day Adventists, that do not believe in an immortal soul, rather that we will be resurrected during the final judgement.  In Buddhism, the concept of an immortal soul is generally not believed in as much compared to other eastern (hinduism) and western religions.  However, Buddhism tackles this problem in a complex manner thats too much to talk about here.    Suffice it to say there is some ground here for disbelief in the traditional notion of the soul even among different world religions.

Generally when people talk about the soul, they seem to define it according more or less three things: Memory, Will and Consciousness.  That is they believe you retain your memories and personality in the afterlife, that the soul is what drives the will and allows us to make choices, and finally that the soul is the “seat of consciousness”–it is how we are aware of our thoughts, emotions and our environment.   They may say that the soul is all three, or one of the three, but they usually define it according to these terms.  Below are my issues and questions revolving around each of these concepts as it relates to the soul.

Memory

Many people believe that our memories are held or part of our soul.  If the soul holds our memories, and our memories will exist in the afterlife and are not dependent entirely on our physical brains, then people would not get amnesia from a concussion.  Diseases such as Alzheimer’s also affect memories.   Even the simple passage of time seems to erode our ability to recall events.  If memories are tied to an immortal spirit, why is this so?

Will

Its well known that drugs alter behavior, whether simple beer or prescription medicine, or something harder like marijuana or heroin.  If the soul has free-will, then why would drugs and other physical issues change our ability to make moral and rational choices?  Why would a drug that enters the body affect a ghostly spirit that is supposed to be independent of and controlling that body?  Alzheimer’s also affects behavior, sometimes as drastically as taking drugs and there have been cases of people who have suffered some sort of injury to the brain that causes their personality to completely change.

Consciousness

If the soul is “mere consciousness”, that is, just pure awareness and is not dependent on the body, then what happens to it when we’re sleeping?  We have dreams, but we also have times during the night where we do not dream at all.  At that point, we’re not aware of anything.  As far as i can tell, I don’t have any awareness until I either start dreaming again or wake up.  Its even difficult to tell how much time has passed.  One could easily imagine death as a sort of dreamless sleep.  Again, If consciousness is defined by or dependent only on an eternal, non-physical soul, why would external influences such as drugs change our mental awareness and thoughts, instead of just our physical sense such as sight and sound?