Do you believe in god? Sorry you have no free will.

My opponent used this argument to directly question the Bible as the word of God, and ask if it really could be perfect, giving a number of verses to prove his point. He argued that scripture cannot be God-breathed, because what it says is cruel and harsh. I'm going to go through all of his points and talk about each of them individually. But before I do this, I would like to address one thing, and that is the question of objective values. You claim that everything that God does is 'disgusting and cruel', and yet you don't define what 'disgusting and cruel' means. If you don't believe in God, then who are you to dictate what is right, and what is wrong? You cannot argue that what God stands for is 'wrong' if you do not offer a solid definition of right and wrong yourself. 1. GOD HATES GAYS: You used the Leviticus verse to assert that God hates homosexuals, but that's not what the verse says at all. The verse says specifically that God hates homosexuality itself- not the people who participate in it. God does indeed ask for punishment for homosexuals, but only because he is fair and just. This does not mean that he hates the homosexuals themselves, just the actions that they do. 2. GOD HATES PEOPLE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN HIM: You've done the same exact thing here as you did above: you assumed that because God disagreed with the actions of idol-worshippers, and wants them to be punished, he, therefore, hates them. However, this is not what the Bible passage says at all. Both passages clearly order the Israelites to punish idol-worshippers with death. This is because they have rejected God's word. It does not mean that he hates them, but simply that he must punish them for their actions. 3. GOD SUPPORTS SLAVERY: If you look at the Hebrew words used in that Exodus passage, you'll see that the passage uses the word 'abad', meaning bondservant, or laborer, not 'ebed' meaning 'slave'. This is spoken in the context of paid servants. As for the Leviticus passages, the first two of them say specifically NOT them serve as slaves, which proves my point entirely. The last one is referring to the foreigners who specifically disobeyed God, and God is using it as punishment, which is, once again, just. He commands specifically in the last verse that they not enslave their own people. As for the Deuteronomy passages, once again, this is the word 'abad'. As for the Matthew passage- that is a parable, an example of a story that Jesus told. Jesus neither confirms nor rejects the master's actions and therefore, this passage says nothing. 4. GOD GETS JEALOUS: Certainly, God gets jealous, but why would there be anything wrong with that? If God is really God, then it's right that he should want his people as his own, and it makes him sad when they go after other things. Just like a husband whose wife commits adultery- wouldn't there be a problem if he weren't jealous? 5. GOD PUNISHES YOU FOR BREAKING THE SABBATH: Again, I'm not sure I understand your problem with this. There are of course punishments for sin, and to not do so would be unjust. 6. GOD PUNISHES YOU FOR ADULTERY: Again, adultery is a sin, and therefore not punishing us would be considered unjust. There is no problem with this. 7. GOD FREELY ADMITS THAT HE IS EVIL: The Isaiah passage does not at all affirm that God is evil at all, it simply refers to him directing evil at other people, specifically the wicked, as affirmed by verses 9-10. The evil in the 2 Samuel passage, is again, done only in response to sin, as highlighted in the previous verses. Once again, there is no evil here. The Exodus passage only says that God had thought about bringing evil on his people (who clearly deserved it), but did not, because Moses pleaded for him not to. That is not wrong at all. The 1 Kings verse is completely unrelated- I'm not sure what you're getting at here. In 2 Chronicles, it merely says that the Lord has spoken evil against them, which they fully deserve. It doesn't say anything about God himself BEING evil. There is no James 19 or 23- I'm not sure what you're getting at there. The Amos passage suggests that God is the only one who brings evil on the people, and therefore the evil must be justified. It doesn't suggest that God is evil at all. The Deuteronomy passage is not referring to God's person- it's God giving people the change to CHOOSE (free will) between good and evil. As for the Judges verse, it simply says that God brought an evil spirit upon them because he knew it was the only way to punish them. It does not say that God IS evil. 8. GOD HATES KIDS: The Lamentations verse simply comments that women have eaten their children- it does not praise the fact that it is done. As for the verse in Matthew- it is completely true. God is a jealous God, and he requires our full attention. This is not wrong, and I would not have it any other way. The next verse talks about Herod killing the children, but it does NOT say that God supported it, simply that it happened. The Deuteronomy passage talks about them destroying everything in a war and leaving no survivors- nothing to do with kids. I don't have time to go through all of these, because I have a lot to address, but I read every one of the verses, and none of them directly says that, "God hates kids". There are examples of children dying, certainly, and God punishing children who turned away from them, just as he punished adults. But there is nothing in any of these verses that suggest that God hates children. 9. GOD HATES WOMEN: All of these verses clearly say that women have a different role in the family than men and that women are called to submit to their husbands. But not a single one of them talks about a woman's WORTH. A woman and a man both have different roles in God's plan, but nothing in any of those verses suggest's that a woman's role is lesser than a man's. 10. GOD LOVES RAPE: This is absolutely untrue and completely different from anything that the verses suggest. These verses talk about rape in a way that is certainly very controversial but when you look at it, the request makes sense. Asking the woman to marry the rapist, for example, can only happen IF the father allows it, which is basically the whole point. No father would ask their daughter to do that, and therefore, the request is only made to preserve the daughter's identity. This link explains it very well: https://www.gotquestions.org.... 11. GOD COMMITS ABORTIONS: None of these links say anything about specifically committing abortions. The links include God killing pregnant women, certainly, but this was because of something that the women did, and God's actions were justified. If someone is evil, then God has a right to punish them for that. 12. GOD PROMOTES CANNIBALISM: These verses refer to women eating their children, but not a single one of them says that cannibalism is okay. Many of these verses don't even refer to cannibalism- some of them just refer to God offering punishments, which is just and fair. 13. GOD COMMITS MASS MURDERS: It's true that God does kill a lot of people- there is absolutely no denying that. But you are wrong in assuming that it is without a reason. Every single one of those Bible verses that you listed has a clear purpose and reason behind it, primarily the evil in the lives of the people that must be punished. God is a good God- he has to punish evil or else he would be unjust. My God did clearly address the issue of free will, and you have yet to give any proof that these verses are 'null and void'. You argued that you can't trust God's word, and yet when you tried to prove that with these Bible verses, none of them lined up under close scrutiny. I've given you Bible verses, and I've given you real-life statistics for why the Bible is the word of God. But your answers don't add up. God did come up with a series of laws to govern mankind, but he is fair and just in sticking by those laws. He offers us free will and allows us to choose to be able to sin (as chosen by Adam and Eve), but still gives us punishments so that we can find the truth through him. He didn't just 'dream it up', he took the time to make it happen. And there is nothing that you have said that denotes the power of God's law over mankind. God's free will is not unfair, and he does and will punish that father. Because that father turned so grossly away from God and refused to accept his love and mercy, I believe that he will go to hell. But if that father comes to know God and repents of his sins, I believe that God is rich in mercy to forgive him.