As the Bible describes God, He is inconsistent in His nature

========== INTRODUCTION ========== As it is considerably less space consuming to simply list and briefly describe numerous incidents of potential inconsistencies than it takes to fully address them, I will do my best to address as many as possible. I ask that voting be based on the cases raised that I am able to address, and if my opponent wishes we can continue this debate as many times as needed to address all of his cases. ========== UNJUSTIFIED AND INCONSISTENCY OF THE CHRISTIAN GOD'S MURDERS ========== 1. I disagree with my opponent's assertion that "If [God] were a peaceful and loving God, He would be able to correct bad behavior in a peaceful and intelligent manner" (presumably my opponent means that a truly good God should ALWAYS be able to correct evil without doing any harm to anyone). However, to simply wave His hand and cause someone to stop what they are doing would be taking away that person's free will, something that no one would consider to be "good." God made it clear from the beginning that He would not interfere with the free will of man, as He gave Adam and Eve the CHOICE to obey (Genesis 2:16-17) so that their obedience would be real, not robotical. If God were to change the actions or thoughts of man against their will, He would not be a good God. Thus, just as judges in our legal system strive to do, God institutes punishments that fit the crime. Certainly no one would consider the criminal justice system "good" if it made no attempt to punish wrongdoings. 2. As I believe I have established that punishments are necessary for crimes, I will begin to address some of the cases presented by my opponent. THE FLOOD As Genesis 6:5 tells us, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Clearly, "every intent" of every person on earth being "only evil continually" is more warranting of the death penalty than any circumstance described in the Bible. If not even a single good thought existed in men, just imagine the atrocities they were committing. As the Bible sets the scene, God's punishment was just and appropriate. KILLING 3000 FOR DANCING I will address this one next just to point out to the readers the blind faith my opponent is putting into his sources without even reading the verses he is "referring" to. "Yahweh commands the sons of Levi to kill 3,000 men for dancing. Again, dancing is not an act worthy of death. (Exodus 32:27,28)" Here are the verses my opponent claims to be drawing this conclusion from (plus the verse before it for context): "Then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the Lord's side— come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.' " So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day." First off, this text says NOTHING about killing people for dancing. Secondly, this text says NOTHING whatsoever about dancing. Clearly, my opponent is seriously lacking in his research abilities. I listed an online site in R1 that offers free reference to the entire Bible. My opponent has obviously not included the wrong reference, as Exodus 32:27-28 does refer to the sons of Levi killing 3000 men. However, the reason for this judgment is clearly stated. After speaking directly with God, Moses told Israel that God told them to make up their minds about Him, and those who were on the Lord's side were to go stand by Moses. 3000 men willingly and physically chose to stand in opposition to the Lord. Once and for all, they confirmed their stance and suffered the punishment clearly spelt out for the willful and complete hardening of the heart against God, regardless of whether they were friends or family of Moses or of the sons of Levi. KILLED FOR WORKING ON THE SABBATH If my opponent wants to present a specific example of this and its context, I will address it. SMASHING THE HEADS OF BABIES ON ROCKS "Yahweh says that it's ok to smash babies against rocks to make you happy. ‘Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.' (Psalms 137:9)" Once again, my opponent is obviously irresponsibly asserting that he understands the meaning of a verse without describing its context. First of all, this statement is from an unknown Psalm writer who is clearly not even quoting God. As this is NOT a statement of God, my opponent's argument on this issue fails completely, as we are debating the actions and nature of God, not the statements of men. However, as smashing the heads of babies sounds pretty serious, I will clarify what can be understood by reading a few verses before. "O Lord, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. ‘Destroy it!" they yelled. ‘Level it to the ground!' O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!" This Psalmist was crying out to God for reparations for what the Babylonian army did to the people of Jerusalem, asking for a punishment equal to the suffering they had endured. The purpose of this Psalm is to demonstrate that it is okay to share your emotions with God in hard times, but it in no way implies that the actions requested were actually carried out by anybody, let alone God. The assertion that God said to smash babies against rocks for fun is so egregious, I can only assume my opponent wanted to be embarrassed on this issue, and I am more than happy to oblige. JUSTIFIED KILLING My statement: God declared that THE TAKING OF LIFE IS RIGHT WHEN THE SITUATION JUSTIFIES IT. Clearly, God explained that JUSTIFIED killing is not in contradiction with His nature, as it is a teaching of God Himself. Pro's statement: This is circular reasoning. I already refuted this in my first round. Just because He declares Himself just and that killing is not contradictory in His nature, does not make it so. Clearly His own moral standards state that killing is strictly prohibited in all circumstances, yet he seems to do it all the time. I agree with my opponent's assertion that all killing by God in the Bible is not contradictory to God's nature simply due to the definition of God saying that He is always good. However, my statement above is not circular reasoning. My opponent has misunderstood my meaning GREATLY. First off, God did not declare that ALL killing is not contradictory to His nature and that it is also strictly prohibited in ALL circumstances (which would void this whole debate), and I never claimed this. Rather, I pointed out that God instituted that the punishment must fit the crime, meaning that serious crimes require serious consequences [1]. There is a difference between justified killing and unjustified killing. God states that He justifies killing for the punishment of certain acts [1]. Given the conditions that God has set forth, my opponent has the burden to find an example in the Bible in which the description of the circumstances does not fit the circumstances that God previously declared justifies the punishment of death. ========== CLOSING QUOTE ========== My opponent seems to have a fascination with cleverly worded quotes with fancy adjectives, lots of commas and semicolons, and no supporting sources or explanations to back up the insults they spew. If such insults are pertinent to this debate, Pro certainly has the upper hand. [1] Exodus 21:23-25, Leviticus 24:19-21, Deuteronomy 19:21