God wrote the Bible AND the screenplay for "The Usual Suspects" (but not the screenplay for "The Ten Commandments".....strange).  In your face, pastro243!!

*high fives God*

Woo-hoo. Someone with some sense.

Funny list. Keep up the good work.

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You cant logically seperate the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament, its the same guy.

Furthermore, the 'change' from Old Testament to New Testament can be explained by the natural evolution of society.  When man created religion, it was because he had questions that the best answers for, at the time, involved gods and spirits.  For instance, things that moved, such as man, birds, animals, fish, etc. were alive, but winds and rivers also moved, so it made sense to think of them as alive and having a spirit (Mother Nature).  Thus, in early religion, religious texts and doctrine answered these questions (like Creation) and delved into the nature of the gods behind the explanations.  You should note that Judaism, atleast in its early form, didnt have a Heaven.

In later religions, man's stance with God became more important.  Man not only serves God, but God can also serve man and grant him wonderful gifts and pleasures if he does God's bidding on Earth.  This is most likely due to the growing influence of priests, who used religion to gain wealth and power.  Recall that many Greek temples used cutting edge technology to make visitors think their god was present, so that priest would gain more influence and power at the expense of other priests.  Religion was in competition and subject to social evolution, with the stronger religions attracting more followers, which usually meant that their God would do more for them.

Which is why New Testament Christianity is so much nicer than Old Testament Judaism.  God now gives us eternal paradise, forgives us for almost everything, erased many of the difficult rules we use to follow, and no longer actively destroys mankind on a large scale (no more Flood or Soddom and Gamora instances).

I was refering to the part where highwaystar said that this doesn't apply to just Christians. It does, read what Nordlead said.

I totally respect your reply.  If you can't answer those questions, you can't answer 'em... and that may have nothing to do with your faith.  But, for me, when I read about stuff like that in the Bible, it makes me feel like that is a bad God to worship.  Maybe I'm wrong?  Maybe I go to Hell for it?  But that's what my conscience demands of me.

I realize you don't want to continue the conversation here, and I respect that too, though of course you're welcome to re-join if/when you see fit.  This is a gaming forum, but it's also the Off Topic section, and there are generally discussions of all sorts of controversial stuff here, like abortion, socialism, etc.  (Though I know you know all of that. :)  But religion is often highly-personal, and again, I understand if you want to keep it private.

Finally, just to clear up a little bit about the Bible:  according to Islam, their god Allah *is* the same as the Hebrew/Christian God as found in the Old and New Testaments.  Islam believes that Moses, Jesus and Mohammed were all prophets of God (among several others).  Jews, Christians (inc. Mormons), Muslims: all the same god.  And while Protestants and Catholics, etc., generally have the same Bible, it's not always completely the same.  There are some differences in the books included, in the Old Testament.  For instance, the Catholics include the Maccabbes and the Eastern churches (e.g. Russian Orthodox) have a few books more than the Catholics.

Wouldn't it suck to be a Christian, but have an incomplete Bible? :)

Sorry outlaw, I was in a bad mood. I didn't get any sleeps...

I'm not going to hell :D
~Kami~