god is immoral and hates, he hates children a primary focus, but also hates women, gays, animals

I assume since you are a "free thinker" youll be open to the evidence and the logical implications and realities if there is a God. Before I begin I would like to state that in order to make a challenge on the bible , or any piece of literature, proper hermeneutics must be applied. So you stating I cant claim "youre taking verses out of context" is not a reasonable request. If someone doesn't know proper hermeneutics or how to literarily read any sort of text then ones interpretation can be wrong, like often done by skeptics. Few things need to be laid out before we can even get into scripture that I think atheist , because the presuppose their worldview onto the bible, tend to ignore. 1. The idea that God is sovereign over the entire universe is something that is most important (Psalms 115:3)"Our God is in the heavens and does whatsoever He pleases. (Romans 9:14-18) 14"What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15"For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. " 16"So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. ..18"So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. " The implications that if there is a God, whether God is as described in any beliefs system where a Supreme being is or in the bible, is that God owns and can do whatever it wants. Atheist do this very same thing because under their worldview man is the ultimate arbiter of morality as illustrated by this debate. The question is who is sovereign humans or God? 2. Your view of humans and animals are higher than God whether you realize it or not. Now this may seem like a conceding point but again you have to realize the implications given if God as described in the bible is correct. Mankind ,which can be seen in reality, are not innocent in the strictest use of the word. Biblically there is no one good apart from God. Let me illustrate "Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? "; " Titus 1:15-16 - to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. "; "Ecclesiastes 9:3 - Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ". Your main problem with the verses that you bring up is that you just assume that the people judged were inherently innocent. In fact you use verses where people did wrong but ignore it and blame God. So the question is are we as humans inherently moral or biblically righteous? 3. You need to frame context, history, literature and culture properly to get a proper interpretation. You stated " if someone were not well versed in the bible and they were to read the verses listed below, and or some of the verses that I am about to post through this debate, they would rightly be repulsed, offended, run for the toilet and vomit" I think this happens quite often and that not a slight against the bible but rather peoples intellectual discipline. Sadly you prove this point by showing that the novice reader didn't go read the entire book/chapter, study the literary style in which its written or the historical context but rather came to the conclusion based on a false assumption that whatever the atheist said was right. Judging by the standards of proper hermeneutics you have illustrated the same lack of literary discipline but I hope since youre open minded youll see that. So the question is does proper hermeneutics or understanding literary/historical context matter? 4. You must understand that since God is the sovereign law giver, some things you may consider "hurtful" i. e ,saying God's original purpose for marriage was between one man and one woman, is actually considered love because God knowing all things knows best possible outcomes. You use verses that you don't know any context about to show how evil God is "Numbers 31:17-18" but in historical context those men and women were ruining the culture and pulling the people away from God with their pagan rituals. "Numbers 31:17. Kill every male among the little ones " Which they were forbidden to do to other people, (Deuteronomy 20:14,) except the Canaanites, to whom this people had equalled themselves by their horrid crimes; and therefore it is not strange, nor unjust, that God, the supreme Lord of all men"s lives, who, as he gives them, so may take them away when he pleaseth, did equal them in the punishment. Kill every woman, &c. " Partly for punishment, as having, in general, either prostituted themselves to the Israelites, or some way been accessary in enticing them to idolatry, in which they were so confirmed that there was no hope of reclaiming them; and partly for prevention of the like mischief in future; for had they been saved alive, they would probably have continued to lead the Israelites into the sin of fornication, and have poisoned their minds by their superstitions. The female children were to be spared, because, being young, there was some hope they might be reformed from idolatry, and become proselytes to the true religion. These they might have as -servants, or might marry them. " -( Joseph Bensons commentary of the Old and New Testament). Youre the perfect example how someone who may not understand how the bible was written and even more so how immoral people truly were. So the question is do you truly understand what biblical love is? 5. You need to fully understand the attributes of God. God is not only Love but also Just, mercy, truth, peace, wrath, reason etc. There are times where God does judge nations or particular people but if you actually read the entire bible in context and not cherry picked verses from sites that also has poor literary discipline then youll realize that God is more merciful. You can pick out any situation in the bible, whether its the Canaanites , Egypt or even Israel, God always first gives warning and sometimes this warning last over 400 years in the case of Canaan before He judges. He often gives different ultimatums like in the case of pharaoh. If we choose to do what we want then God will judge us accordingly whether it be with blessings or wrath. God shows his mercy throughout the entire old testament , which conveniently an atheist website will leave out to confuse the novice reader. I believe if one will properly understand these few things they will come to the opposite conclusion of the instigator. In the next round I will show just how the God in the bible is a Merciful God worthy to be praised.