This is addressed to those people who have become Christians in their late youth and in adulthood. I suppose that when at first you encountered Christianity, you had some doubts and questions about the morality of some of the teachings, and had a difficult time accepting them, no? For example, I suppose you at first felt that a god who condemns everyone to eternal damnation who doesn't accept Jesus as their savior - that such a god isn't exactly a moral or a good god, no? Or all the stories in the Bible about God having killed all those people pretty much just like that. Or the idea that we have all inherited the blemish of the Original Sin and must pay for it, even though we ourselves have not participated in it. Such ideas do not seem to be something that a moral and good being would put forward, no? So how did you come to terms with God's apparent immorality and cruelty? How did you come to accept that damning someone to eternal hell with no chance of changing one's mind, is a moral and good thing to do?
************* M*W: Sure, I had all these questions and doubts, but I believed at that time (young adult) that there had to be an order in the universe. There had to be rules for mankind to follow. I attended a Baptist university, but shortly after graduation, and the advent of a family, I converted lock, stock and barrel into Roman Catholicism. This was not an overnight sensation. It was carefully thought out and embraced. However... the years following as I was raising my children in catholicism, I kept getting the feeling that the RC church wasn't taking me where I needed to go. I wanted to learn everything I could about christianity. I asked questions, I attended lectures. I was sincere in my religious pursuit, but I just couldn't get past the answers the priests gave me, and I couldn't find any literature to take me beyond the rote religious rituals that began to mean nothing to me. I came to realize that not only did I not know god nor understand him, this god they preached did not know me. Years passed. I wanted to continue believing, but my inner consciousness told me it was futile. Enter sciforums, and I found the truth others believed. It answered the questions I had had all along. It all made sense. There is no god. There is no savior. There is no grace, and there is no salvation. It is all a lie we've been told, and it is a lie that christians believe. There is no hope in christianity. It is all a false delusion. I have escaped it and have been able to find the answers I was always looking for. This is just about the delusion of christianity. I cannot speak for any of the other Abrahamic religions. They are all suspect, and as far as I understand them, they are all evil and based on lies. But, that's just me... and I am an atheist forever.
Acceptance of Jesus is acceptance of the Word of God. That Good is Good and Evil is Evil. Rejection of Jesus is rejection of the Word of God that evil is good and good is evil. Those who take joy in unrighteousness reject Jesus. Executed some. And given others an early mark from this world. God gives life and He can take it away from whom He likes when He likes. God has made a way for us to not "pay for it" And every human being in this world having come the knowledge of Good and Evil has at some stage used evil to personal advantage. Everyone who has lied to avoid the consequences of telling the truth have wilfully used evil for personal gain. You judge God as you deem fit but in the end He is right and has ultimate authority, so all such condemnation of God will be revealed as false. All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Most of what you referenced will not be found in the Bible but were later added to the beliefs of the Catholic Church by men (e.g. original sin, the concept of Hell, etc). The Old Testiment God was indeed a much more intollerant God than the God of the New Testiment. So what changed, was it God or was it mans perception of God. I would argue that it is mans perceptions that have changed and continue to change. And mans perceptions are very falliable.
Because these are the Christians who were most likely to initially have doubts about God's morality, and who somehow got beyond those doubts. I'm interested in how people got beyond those doubts. Those who were raised Christian and then remained Christian likely didn't have such doubts to begin with; and even if they did have them, they had faith in God all along, and were thus in the position to resolve those doubts in relation to that faith. Whereas those who turned to Christianity in their late youth and in adulthood didn't intitially have such faith, so they had to come up with some other means to reconcile their doubts about God's morality. I wonder what those other means are.
