Either the Bible is in a State of Egregious Error or God Seems to Dislike Babies and Small Children

First of all, I'm appalled that my opponent says that he does not believe in God. I really feel that I've wasted my time even trying to explain God's motives, as I understand them. Why, if my opponent is an atheist, give a rat's tail about a god that he doesn't even believe in? Why do atheists spend so much time trying to figure out God? With that said, I'll answer some of the points raised in round 2 by my opponent. First, I maintain that my opponent is basing his arguments on feelings. He says that he 'infers' that God is uncaring because He takes life. Even if one does not get "smited" by Him, one will eventually die. And you will die because God designed you that way. Therefore, your life is in God's hands. If you believe in God, there is no way around this. This is also a short sighted, worldly viewpoint. God, if you are a believer, has a place for you to live in for eternity. Two places actually. Second, the bible points out time and again that God cares about his creation, meaning us. He created us, why would he create something that he doesn't care about? God cared about Job. He let Satan do his worst to Job to show us for posterity how unfailing faith works. In the end Job was rewarded greatly. And he was used to bring millions of souls to salvation. I can see how, to an atheist, that this is meaningless since you don't believe in salvation / eternal life. Job knew that everything that happened to him was by the hand of God being removed from Satan's will. Yet Job still knew that even if he died, he would still end up spending eternity with his creator. Job was looking at the big picture. Adam and Eve. How are they not viable ancestors for all humanity? How does my opponent know this? I'm coming at this from a biblical perspective, and my opponent is coming from a worldly perspective. Adam and Eve were the most perfect representatives of humanity when they were created. Their gene pool was intact when they began populating the world. It was tainted by sin, and God warned them in the garden that "They would surely die", under certain conditions. They met that condition and of course, died. Hence we all now die. The next point my opponent makes is just nonsense. He basically says that if there is a God, then something must have created him. Nope. God is, by definition, eternal. He existed before the universe, He created the universe and the universe exists in Him. To me, that's pretty simple. You just can't have an infinite being getting created by another infinite being. They can't coexist. And it would be pointless. This is another case of my opponent wearing world colored glasses. Next my opponent says that God is not perfect because everything is not perfect. At creation, everything was perfect. God even said so after each creation day. Each day, after creating things, He said, "It is good". As I've explained and as the bible explains many, many times, the world fell from perfection through sin. Sin tainted our world and now perfection is unattainable. The next logical question would be, "If God is perfect, then how did he create an imperfect creation?" Because He is sovereign and that is what He chose to do. This is logical. We know for a fact that God is perfect. He can't be any other way. We know that his creation is imperfect. Therefore, He must have made it that way on purpose. Why? Because perfect people can't exist with a perfect God. They would not need him and He would not need them. So creation would not even be necessary. The next point my opponent makes is that being created somehow negates free will. I think it's easy for God to create us with free will. We can choose to accept or reject him. It's our choice. There is a lot of controversy about this. I believe that God is omniscient and knows from the time of creation exactly how I will choose and in fact, ordains it. Since there is nothing I can do about this, I don't worry about it. I believe what I believe and am grateful to God for choosing me. There are others He has elected not to choose for Himself. He is God. He can do that. From my own point of view, I am exercising free will. From God's point of view, I am doing just a He planned. There is nothing evil in that. It is God's perfect will. Next point raised is fairness. This may sound harsh, but the fairest way God can treat you is to go ahead and let your sin drag you into hell. But, since God loves you and doesn't want that to happen, He made a way for you to be with Him, in heaven, for all eternity. I'm not going to continue going point by point with every ridiculous argument my opponent has raised. He's concerned about God's apparent apathy yet doesn't even believe that God exists. My contention is that God does exist. God created us so therefore He must care about us. The bible, which is the word of God, reiterates over and over how much God cares for us. My opponent decries the death of children by the hand of God and says that it happens because God is uncaring about children. I say, that even though we don't always understand, God uses people to bring others to him. People are his to use, it's his prerogative. In the eyes of God, children are just as sinful as adults. One sin is all it takes. One lie, one cheat, one hurtful thought toward another person. That is all it takes to be a sinner and no longer able to share heaven with God. I thank God every day that He has given us all a way to be with him. A way to let our sins be forgiven so that we can spend eternity in heaven. What about babies, innocents? The bible is not very specific about how babies and children that are too young to accept salvation are treated. But God has two distinct groups: Those that believe and those that don't. Babies and young children don't have the mental capacity to accept or reject Jesus' payment for their sins. They don't even know that they have broken God's law. John 3:18. Revelation says that we are judged by our works. Not from earthly works, but from works that manifest themselves from a believing heart. The biblical consensus is that those that die before they are able to know how salvation works, are saved by a merciful and compassionate God. The bible is not flawed. It states clearly many times that God loves his creation. This would include babies and small children. The bible, when studied, shows over and over how God puts up with his rebellious creation and always gives them a way to find eternal companionship with Him. He gave us all free will and then gave us a way to escape from the choices of our free will. He sacrificed His own son, Jesus, so that we could pin all of our transgressions on him. He did this so that we can have everlasting life with Him. Since He is our creator, with absolute authority over our destiny, would do this for us, shows that he is the pinnacle of caring and compassion. And now some final remarks. My opponent seems to think that he knows the mind of God. He has found a few bible verses that support his mindset. But it's obvious from his remarks that he doesn't know God. I'm a bible believing christian. I've read the bible, I've studied the bible, I've read commentaries on the bible. I've been in bible study for a long time. I understand the meaning behind the stories that we read in the bible. I believe whole heartedly that the entire bible points to one thing: Salvation through God's son, Jesus. Every chapter foreshadows the day that the messiah comes. Every story shows how mercy is bestowed on the faithful and ultimately mercy is offered to all who believe that Jesus is their scapegoat. It's obvious that God wants each and every human being to acknowledge God so that God can have them spend eternity with Him. To me, that's caring. That's love.