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

Responses: >> "Your argument is purely emotional. You FEEL that God is uncaring because you think He takes life." False - I infer that God is uncaring because the Bible states as fact that God takes life. >> "Christian doctrine teaches that since Adam and Eve fell from grace, the whole human race is cursed with death. Death is the result of their sin." Christian doctrine is obviously false, as two people are not a viable genetic population. The story is metaphorical. Death is a result of medical conditions, not sin. >> "Since you bring up this debate, I am assuming that you acknowledge that there is a creator and that the creator of this universe is known as God." If there is a God, as described by the Bible, he's certainly not worthy of any praise... but I'm pretty sure there simply is no God. >> "This universe that we live in did not always exist. It had a starting point. Before that starting point, Something that could start it existed. God is what existed before our universe was created." Then there must have been something to created God. If you accept that God always WAS, you can accept that matter always WAS, and there is no need to posit God as a starting point. >> "He is perfect. Of course He is perfect because He is the source of everything." That's obviously very poor reasoning, considering not everything is perfect. >> "God made you, He can take you out whenever He pleases." My opponent seems to have the notion that we are "owned" by God, yet somehow retain free will. This puzzles me, as I have used my free will to not believe in God. Am I therefore not owned by him anymore? It seems egregiously unjust to think that I am still somehow owned by an entity I don't believe exists... >> "God is 100 percent righteous and everything he does is in order to bring glory to him. When a child dies, you may not see His purpose. But there is a purpose. You may not think it's fair, but if it is God's will, it's fair." This is a terrible line of reasoning - everything God does is FAIR? What about when God let Satan destroy Job's family to prove a point? What about the terrible suffering God caused to Job? Was that FAIR? What about God siding with the Israelites on their numerous genocides... was that FAIR? Obviously not... >> "Why do you seem to place more value on the lives of babies and small children? " I didn't - nowhere do I say that babies and small children are "worth" more. But now that you mention it, is it not more morally repugnant to smite an innocent baby that hasn't sinned at all than a grown man that has sinned many times? >> "Babies are sinners." Pray tell... what was their sin? Original sin? If that's a smiting-worthy sin, then we should ALL be smote. >> "Since God does everything he does out of pure love, (God is love), His taking life is not evil. " Riiiight - God takes lives in his fits of jealousy, rage, and love. This is just a silly idea. >> "Using selected scriptures is pointless. The one foundational fact about God is that He loves us all and that anything that He allows to happen to us is done through His love." Using selected scriptures to put forth the notion that God is love is pointless by this same logic. Obviously, my opponent cannot attempt to exclude the Bible as a source and retain any meaningful idea of God. ********************************** My opponent's two arguments can be summed up thus: 1) God owns everyone, therefore it's OK for him to kill them. 2) God likes babies because babies are people. However, these positions are obviously inconsistent with the Bible. God explicitly states that "Thou shalt not kill." I suppose my opponent will say that it's morally wrong for us to kill each other, but it's perfectly fine if it's God doing the killing. In other words, killing is not wrong for God. Again, this is a silly idea. God clearly does not like all people - he destroyed the entire world with flood once, and he smote two cities because he didn't like the behavior of the people there. Why would God kill people he likes?? That makes no sense. Readers, my opponent has barely even addressed the issue at hand. The verses in Round 1 indicate several instances of God smiting babies and small children. He has not denied this in any way, other than to say that God somehow likes the people he kills... AFFIRMED.