Your beliefs and your actions are your issue, as are my beliefs and my actions are my issue. How God judges me is unknown to me, so how could I possibly know how God is going to judge another? That's where a person's personal faith comes in. Personal faith is personal. When personal faith is applied to others, that's where it becomes illogical. Notice that I say illogical, not necessarily right or wrong.... Make all the logical arguments you like, but your arguments that are about the personal faith in God of another being intelligent or unintelligent, consistent or inconsistent, are illogical, as there is no foundation to logically reach any conclusion as to the consequence of personal faith.
Well, then it's a good thing I never made the argument that you conclude is illogical. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss on this issue or are you done?
I am assuming by you asking me if I am done, that means you are done. I think we have both had our say, thanks. Oh, and I disagree, in my estimation you did make an argument that I logically conclude is an illogical argument.... But since we are both done, there would be no need to reply, now would there?
Everybody here misses one important thing: Does almighty God hate anti-God people? You know, God is the controller of the world. He can actually do anything He wants. But why does He not make all people in the Earth, once born, believe in God? That seems to be the simplest solution to all sorts of problems. Don't suspect God in everything since He is always cleverer than you. Everythng is here for a reason, but only God knows why. Who are you to make judgements on what almighty God does? ----------------- Now another important thing: - Is God imaginary? Is The Bible all fake? Maybe it's what God wishes to see. Maybe the anti-god people are right. They are correct to criticise Him. "God" described in the Bible doesn't exist at all. Maybe the actual God is the Buddha. Maybe God actually love to see people disbelieving God. He actually hates His own believers. You think it MUST BE wrong. You don't believe it. You insist that God MUST be real. He EXISTS. You criticise everyone who suspect the existence of God. But don't you feel you commit the same mistake as anti-god people do? You have used your own human intellect to evaluate and judge what God should or would do. Why do you think God MUST NOT do that? Up till now, all interpretations of the Bible are merely human interpretations. They may be all wrong. Every word in The Bible may be all fake too. Maybe God created The Bible to fool beleivers. You think this idea is crazy. Again you have used your own human intellect to evaluate and judge what God should or would do. Why do you think God MUST NOT do that? Why do you think what you, as a believer, are doing is correct? You may do it all wrong. Only God knows. Think about it.
Reviewing the evidence about prayer At the beginning of this section, we looked to the Bible and found that Jesus makes a number of specific and remarkable promises having to do with prayer. For example, in Matthew 7:7 Jesus says: Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! In Matthew 17:20 Jesus reiterates that same message: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." Jesus says something similar in Matthew 21:21: I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Jesus says something even more straightforward in Mark 11:24: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. In John chapter 14 Jesus describes just how easy prayer can be: 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; 14 if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. In the case of medical problems, James 5:15-16 says: And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Jesus' message in the Bible is so clear and simple. God answers prayers. Ask and you will receive. The message is reiterated over and over again. In Mark 9:23: "All things are possible to him who believes." In Luke 1:37: "For with God nothing will be impossible." Nothing is impossible through prayer. However, when you look at the world around you, you find that things are not like that at all. You find yourself surrounded by contradictions: God never answers the prayers of amputees. If he did, we would see amputated limbs spontaneously regenerating every day. God never moves mountains -- if he did, we would see mountains moving around all the time. God never answers impossible prayers -- if he did, people would be flying through the air like superman on a regular basis. God never answers prayers that turn people into puppets -- if he did, then you are a puppet. God never answers prayers that break the laws of nature -- if he did, then scientific equations and computer models would have to take God's random antics into account. God never answers prayers that break the laws of probability -- if he did, then every believer would be rich and Las Vegas could not exist. When two people pray opposite one another, obviously someone's prayer will go unanswered. If a million people pray for the same thing but only one can have it (e.g. - winning the lottery), then by definition 999,999 people will have their prayers unanswered. God doesn't answer medical prayers -- otherwise the U.S. would not need to spend $2 trillion a year on health care. God doesn't answer prayers to avert natural disasters -- if he did, hurricanes would not hit the U.S. It is easy to see that God does not answer all of these different kinds of prayers. It is obvious through casual observation, but it is also easily proven with statistics. Statistical studies do not show any effects from praying. [ref] When people talk about "the power of prayer", what we are actually witnessing is "the power of coincidence." So let's agree on this point -- God does not answer prayers. Something this apparent should not be hard to accept, and this conclusion perfectly fits the evidence that we see in the world around us. If it is this obvious, then why do believers so adamantly insist that God answers prayers? Why is there an entire industry built around inspirational literature? Why do believers demand prayer in public schools? Why do believers hang onto the idea of prayer so strongly when it is quite obvious that God does not answer prayers? To answer these questions, please see Understanding Christian Motivations. The problem with prayer One reason why believers cling to prayer so strongly is because they must believe in prayer. The Bible's statements about prayer must be literally true. If believers were to acknowledge the obvious -- that God does not answer prayers -- they would have two problems: The Bible is full of promises that God answers prayers. If God does not answer prayers, then clearly the Bible is not the word of God. If God did not write the Bible, then the Bible is irrelevant. It has no moral authority. The Ten Commandments are irrelevant. Jesus is irrelevant. The book Revelation is irrelevant. And so on. If God did not write the Bible and God does not answer prayers, then God is imaginary just like Zeus. Thus, people must "believe" that God answers their prayers even though it is quite obvious that he does not. They find themselves in uncomfortable conversations like this one: Chris: God DOES exist! God IS all-loving and all-powerful! God DOES answer prayers! God is real and I have a living relationship with him every day! Lift up your heart and accept the Lord Jesus into your life today! Norm: Can you give me an example? Chris: Absolutely. Just yesterday I locked my keys in my car, and I prayed to God. Not five minutes later my husband came home unexpectedly for lunch and let me into the house. God answered my prayer yesterday! Norm: Can you not see that this was a coincidence? Chris: Absolutely not. God made my husband come home at that moment. God did it. Norm: Wouldn't that make your husband God's puppet? Chris: Absolutely not. Norm: So⦠God answered your specific prayer in five minutes by sending your husband home. God actually reached down onto planet earth and guided your husband. But on the same day, God allowed thousands of praying people around the globe to die of starvation, and he allowed thousands of praying patients to die of cancer and other diseases, and he allowed thousands more praying people to lose their jobs, die in accidents, contract diseases, etc.? Chris: Yes, God answers MY prayers. Norm: Does that make sense to you? Why would God have a relationship with you so intimate that he personally solves your most trivial problems, while at the same time he has given thousands of people new cancers today? Chris: God loves me. Norm: And what about the times when you pray for something and he doesn't answer your prayer? Or all the millions of people whose very sincere prayers go unanswered each day? Chris: When God does not answer my prayers, it's because it is not part of his plan. Norm: God has a plan for each of us? Chris: Yes, of course he does. God has counted every hair on my head. God has a plan for me. Norm: So⦠God's plan was for millions of people to die horrible deaths in the Holocaust? He planned that? Chris: Yes. Norm: Isn't a being who commits the pre-meditated murder of millions of people an abomination -- a horrific monster? Chris: Of course not. God is all-loving. Norm: Then what if God's plan for you is for you to die after being raped, tortured and then stabbed to death by a serial killer? When you pray for escape, God totally ignores you and you die because that is his plan for you. Would you say that God answered your prayers in that case? Chris: God would never let that happen to me. God loves me. God answers my prayers. Norm: Then how, exactly, did God totally ignore millions of praying people who died in the Holocaust? Chris: They were not believers. God punished them. Norm: OK... Then why did God kill the tens of millions of praying believers -- both soldiers and civilians -- who died during WWII? Why would God send your husband home for lunch, but completely ignore these millions of other people. Chris: It was all part of God's plan. This discussion can go on and on and on like this, cycling endlessly. The believer appears to be unhinged on multiple levels. It seems to be the only way for the believer to maintain the internal illusion that God exists and that God wrote the Bible.
An Insane God Simply look at the world we live in. All around us we have murderers, rapists, robbers, child molesters, terrorists, etc... How do they do their deeds? If God is all-knowing and God answers prayers, then we have to believe that: God watches them as they murder, rape, molest and terrorize other people millions of times a day, but he does nothing to stop them. God watches the victims as they are being murdered, raped, molested and terrorized, but he does nothing to help them. God completely ignores the prayers of the planet to eliminate murder, rape, child molestation and terrorism and allows these atrocities to continue unabated. According to the Standard Model of God, God is an omniscient, all-powerful, all-loving being who answers prayers. Imagine God sitting on his magnificent throne in heaven looking down upon Earth, seeing every detail. God speaks: "Look at all of those praying people getting tortured in that death camp. Excellent! I won't do anything to stop that. And look at that little girl down there being raped and murdered. Perfect! She is praying like mad, and so is her mother, but I won't do anything to stop that. And there are three terrorists preparing to blow up a church and kill 1,500 people who are saying the Lord's Prayer to me right now. Outstanding! I won't do anything to stop that. How wonderful it is that 1,000 prayerful people will die of starvation today in Ethiopia. I love it! I won't do anything to stop that. Oh⦠and there's little Suzy Jankins praying that I remove that pimple from her nose for her big date with Chad tomorrow. Let me go help Suzy right nowâ¦" Do you believe in a God who acts like this? Of course not. If you believe that God is specifically reaching down from heaven to answer your trivial prayer to remove a zit or to help you find your lost keys, while at the same time God is allowing 27,000 children to die of starvation each day by specifically ignoring their prayers, then your God is insane. Yet, if you believe in a God that answers your trivial prayers each day, this is exactly the type of insane God that you are worshiping. The Power of Coincidence What, then, is actually happening when God "answers" a prayer? Let's take a simple example of a trivial prayer: "I had finally gotten to the end of my rope with women, so I simply gave it up to God. I prayed, 'Lord, I need you to send me a sign. When you have found the woman you want me to marry, I want you to show me by letting her birthday be on the same day as my mother's. Amen.' And you know what? About a year later I met a woman, and she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and eventually I got up enough nerve to ask her out. On our first date we had such a great time I asked her when her birthday was. It was the same day as my mother! I told her about my prayer, and we got married six months later. We have been happily married for 15 years." That seems like an amazing event. It is so amazing that it must be the hand of God, right? It seems like a one in a million chance -- impossible without divine intervention. How could this man actually find a woman with the exact same birthday as his mother??? It is nothing but a coincidence. And it is not a "one in a million" shot. The chance is 1 in 365 that any woman will have the same birthday as his mother. What really happened? If the woman had had the wrong birthday, the man would not have married her, and eventually he would have found someone who was a match. Or, he would have simply forgotten about the prayer and married her anyway. In that case, we would not have heard the story. Coincidences -- even remarkable ones -- happen all the time. The "power of prayer" should actually be called the "power of coincidence." The dictionary defines the word "coincidence" in this way: A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged. [ref] "Answered prayers" are always coincidences, nothing more. The easy way to see that is to count unanswered prayers along with answered prayers and analyze the statistics. As soon as you do the statistical analysis you unmask the illusion of prayer. You could pray for 20 trivial things today: Pray for your car to start in the morning. Pray for traffic to be light so you get to work on time. Pray that you don't get fired for the mistake you made yesterday. Pray that the coffee stain on your purse comes out. Pray that it doesn't rain. Pray that the price of a stock has gone up. Pray that your computer doesn't crash. Pray that your son got a decent grade on his math test. Pray that there's enough money in your checking account. Pray that the guy you went out with on Saturday calls you. Pray that your mother in law cancels her trip for the weekend. Pray for there to be an available washing machine at the Laundromat when you get there. Pray that your car passes inspection. Pray that they have your size in the shoes you are thinking about buying at the mall. Pray that the envelope you are opening contains a check rather than a bill. Pray that your cat didn't pee on the new sofa. Pray for your baby not to wake you up tonight screaming so you can get some sleep. Pray that you have the winning bid for that camera on EBay. Pray that they have the video you want at the video store tonight. Pray that your team wins the game on Sunday. Some of your prayers would get "answered," some would not. The next day you could simply watch 20 trivial things happen without praying. Some would work out, some would not. There would be no difference. The act of praying about them does not change the outcome. Coincidences happen to all of us every day. If you are a believer, you handle those coincidences in the following way: If something nice happens, you attribute that to God -- he answered your prayer and is "looking out" for you. If you pray for something and it does not happen, or if something bad happens, you rationalize that it is part of "God's plan" (see chapter 8). It is "his will" that this bad event happens. An unbiased observer looks at the same good and bad events and sees them for what they are -- random events. God has nothing to do with them. It is the same with any superstition. Walking under a ladder is not "bad luck". Neither is breaking a mirror. Neither is seeing a black cat. Statistics prove that a broken mirror has zero effect on your life. In the same way, statistics prove that God never answers prayers. If you are a believer, try this experiment. Go for a week without praying. You will find that things work and don't work in exactly the same way that they do if you pray. Coincidences and problems still happen whether you pray or not, and in the same numbers. Prayer has no effect on the outcome. Good coincidences will not stop happening if you stop praying. Bad coincidences do not stop happening no matter how much you pray. The dictionary defines the word "superstition" in this way: An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome. [ref] The belief in prayer is a superstition. When a prayer appears to be answered, it is a coincidence. You have seen dozens of examples in chapters five through ten that demonstrate the coincidental nature of "answered prayers."
Proving it to yourself What I would ask you to do at this point is simple. I would like you to think this whole thing through. You have seen lots of evidence. What do you believe? Either: Assertion #1: You believe what Jesus says in the Bible about prayer. When Jesus says in the Bible that anyone with faith can move a mountain, you believe him, even though no one has ever moved a mountain. When Jesus says that nothing will be impossible for you, you believe him, even though God has never healed an amputee. When Jesus says that he will do anything that you ask in his name, you believe him even though you can ask for something right now and he will completely ignore you. You believe in prayers despite the evidence to the contrary. Or: Assertion #2: You do not believe what Jesus says about prayer in the Bible. You simply look at the world around you and you can see that it is not true. God does not answer prayers. The first assertion is incompatible both with common sense and with everything that you experience every day. There are thousands of examples. You see the world each day, and it is quite obvious that God does not answer prayers. It has been said before, but let's repeat it here: God never answers the prayers of amputees. If he did, we would see amputated limbs spontaneously regenerating every day. God never moves mountains -- if he did, we would see mountains moving around all the time. God never answers impossible prayers -- if he did, people would be flying through the air like superman on a regular basis. God never answers prayers that turn people into puppets -- if he did, then you are a puppet. God never answers prayers that break the laws of nature -- if he did, scientific equations and computer models would have to take God's random antics into account. God never answers prayers that break the laws of probability -- if he did, then every prayerful believer would be rich and Las Vegas could not exist. When two people pray opposite one another, obviously someone's prayer will go unanswered. If a million people pray for the same thing (e.g. - winning the lottery) but only one can have it, then by definition 999,999 people will be left in the cold. God doesn't answer medical prayers -- otherwise the U.S. would not need to spend $2 trillion a year on health care. God doesn't answer prayers to avert natural disasters -- if he did, hurricanes would never hit the U.S. If God does not answer all of these different types of prayers, it is clear that he does not answer prayers at all. When someone says, "God answered my prayers," what he or she means is that a coincidence happened. You can prove it to yourself right now. Simply pray for something. Pray for anything. What Jesus promises in the Bible is crystal clear and completely unambiguous: If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. [Matthew 21:21] If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. [John 14:14] Nothing will be impossible to you. [Matthew 17:20] All things are possible to him who believes. [Mark 9:23] For with God nothing will be impossible. [Luke 1:37] Nothing could be simpler or clearer than this. Jesus is God, so there is no reason for him to lie to you. In fact, it is impossible for him to lie to you because he is perfect. So go ahead and pray. Pray that God cures every case of cancer on the planet tomorrow. Pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this prayer it will help millions of people in remarkable ways. Will it happen? Of course not. Watch in your mind Now watch, in your own mind, what happens. You have prayed, but your prayer has not been answered. In your mind, you will start coming up with a thousand excuses -- reasons why Jesus has refused to answer your prayer. It is not his will. It is not part of his plan. This prayer is "too big". This prayer is "too obvious". The Lord works in mysterious ways. It will be answered three years from now, not today. You are not sincere enough. God will eventually inspire scientists to cure all forms of cancer, blah, blah, blah.... You are an expert at creating excuses like these. You have to be. The reason why you are an expert is because you have been creating excuses like this for Jesus your entire life. Jesus has disappointed you so many times that you expect to be disappointed. That is why creating this list of excuses is automatic for you. There is a reason why God has never answered a prayer to restore an amputated limb. It is because God does not answer prayers. Every "answered prayer" is a coincidence. It is easy to prove it using statistics. Proving it on TV It would also be possible to prove that God does not answer prayers with a reality TV show. Imagine this -- we conduct a nationwide survey, and we find the 1,000 most devout believers in the land. We assemble them in a studio and ask them to form the nation's most powerful prayer circle. We then ask them to pray on live TV. Here are some of the challenges we would give them: In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, "For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." We ask our 1,000 devout believers to pray that Mt. Everest move to Newark, NJ tomorrow. We watch and see what happens. We bring in a double amputee and have him sit in his wheelchair on the stage. We ask our 1,000 devout believers to pray for his legs to be restored as he is sitting there. We watch and see what happens. We find someone suffering from terminal cancer. We bring her on stage on a gurney. She is weak, gaunt and bald. She has just a week or two to live as her metastasized tumor consumes her body. We ask our 1,000 devout believers to pray for a miracle that cures her. We watch and see what happens. Let's say that a miracle does happen. She jumps off the gurney ten minutes later, completely cured. We bring in another patient. Ten minutes later that patient is cured. We bring in another patient, and the cure works again. So we ask our 1,000 devout believers to pray for the complete elimination of cancer worldwide tomorrow. We watch and see what happens. It is hurricane season and a Category 5 hurricane named Johansen is barreling straight toward the United States. We ask our team of 1,000 devout believers to pray that the hurricane be completely eliminated so it does no damage. Let's say that the prayer works. Do you know what this means? It means that the United States will never be threatened by a hurricane again. Every time a hurricane approaches, we can assemble our 1,000 devout believers and they will be able to eliminate the storm. This will save the United States billions of dollars, and thousands of deaths, every year. Etc. You can see what would actually happen. Our team of 1,000 devout believers will not be able to move a mountain. They will not be able to restore the limbs of an amputee. They will not be able to cure cancer worldwide, or even one cancer patient on stage. They will not be able to divert all the hurricanes that hit the United States. They will not be able to accomplish anything reliably through prayer on TV. We all know it. Why is that? Why is it that all of Jesus' promises about the power of prayer are false? It is because God does not answer prayers.
What does it all mean? Please scroll back several pages and look at Assertion #2. The assertion is that God does not answer prayers. It should at this point be very easy for you to accept Assertion #2. We have demonstrated it from a dozen different angles. It is compatible with common sense and the things that you experience every day. It meshes perfectly with all of the evidence that we see in our world. The "power of prayer" is really "the power of coincidence." That should be plainly apparent to you. In that case, you have discovered a profound truth. Here are several of the implications: It means that the world makes sense. If you have been looking at the world wondering why God "answers" some payers while ignoring billions of others, you now have a sensible explanation for your observations. When someone says that God "answered my prayers" or that "God sent a miracle," what you are actually witnessing is the power of coincidence. It means that there is no supreme being sitting in heaven doling out favors to some people but withholding them from others based on his whims. It means that when a person says a prayer, he is talking to himself. There is nothing wrong with that -- meditation can be a powerful and beneficial activity. However, there is no God listening to and answering prayers. It means that praying for God's intercession in any catastrophe, like a hurricane or a terrorist attack, is pointless. It means that public prayers, for example at conventions and sporting events, are a waste of time. There is no one at the other end of the line to hear the prayer. It means that humans need to solve the problems of the world. Instead of praying to God to solve, for example, world hunger, you should use that time to work toward a solution to world hunger yourself. God is not going to do a thing about world hunger. It means that people who believe in "the power of prayer" should not be taken seriously. When someone says to you that God answered his or her prayers, it means that the person is superstitious. The person is just like someone who believes in the power of horoscopes and astrology. It means that everything that Jesus says about prayer in the Bible is wrong. Therefore, the Bible is not the "unerring word of the Lord." The Bible is a collection of stories written by primitive men thousands of years ago. We will discuss this topic further in the next section. As an intelligent species, it is time for us to recognize that there is not a "God" in "heaven" who is looking down onto earth and answering prayers. We can see it, undeniably, using both common sense and statistics. In the same way that the pyramids of the Egyptians were pointless, and the Roman temples were pointless, and the human sacrifices of the Aztecs were pointless, praying to God is pointless. If you don't believe me, you can prove it to yourself right now. Simply pray for something concrete. Then watch as your prayer is ignored. On a personal level The fact that God answers no prayers has meaning to you on a very personal level. Let me give you an example of what it means. Let's say that you have a friend who is 35 years old, and she finds out that she has breast cancer. Obviously she is devastated. The cancer is fairly advanced, and the prognosis does not look immediately promising. If you are a believer, what is the first thing to do? The first order of business is prayer. Then the advanced believer would create a prayer circle to channel the "Lord's healing power" to your friend. As you now know, both the prayers and the prayer circle are pointless. God never answers prayers. If prayer circles worked, then we would be able to regenerate the legs of amputees, and we know that we can't. If prayer circles worked, we would not need doctors or hospitals. If prayer circles worked, we would pray that God completely eliminate breast cancer, and no one on the planet would ever get this disease. The effort spent praying is a waste of time. So what should you do instead of praying? Think about this question: What might actually help your friend? Do not waste the time praying -- spend your time wisely doing something that will actually help your friend. For example: Make her family a nice dinner and deliver it to her home. Offer to take care of her kids for several days while she recovers from her last round of chemo. Make get-well cards to cheer her up. Organize a bake sale or telethon to raise money for breast cancer research. Go sit by her bedside in the hospital each day and read to her. Bring happy movies for her to watch in the hospital. Etc. God does not answer prayers -- the evidence is all around you. Now that you know that for certain, make the most of this knowledge.
Who wrote the Bible? The Bible is the sacred text of the Christian faith. It is also one of the best known books on the planet today. All around the globe there are billions of copies of the Bible in every human language. Chances are very good that you have at least one copy of the Bible in your home right now. Nearly everybody does. To Christians, the Bible is the error-free word of God. The Bible is not the work of men -- it is God's word to his creation. To reinforce this fact, there are over 4,000 places in the Bible where it says things like, "Thus says the Lord." [ref] The Bible itself refers to its author in a number of places. For example, in 2 Timothy 3:16 the Bible says: All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13 the Bible says: And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 the Bible says: Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 19:7 the Bible says: The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The Bible is the law of the Lord, and it is perfect. So says the Lord. This quote from the Christian Courier sums up the position of many Christians on the origin of the Bible: God, although using human writers in the composition of the Bible, is nevertheless its ultimate Author. And since the perfect God cannot be the source of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) or contradiction (Hebrews 6:18), it must be acknowledged that the Bible is perfectly harmonious. [ref] The fact that the Bible is written by God gives the Bible ultimate authority -- God's authority. Because it is the perfect, error-free word of God, the Bible is essential to Christianity. The Bible acts as the single God-given source of information for Christians. If God exists and the Bible is the word of the Lord, then everything that Christians believe is true. Jesus is God, God does answer prayers, God did create Adam and humans have both souls and eternal life. But what if the Bible was not written by God? What if the Bible is simply a book of legends and stories written by fallible human authors? What if God had nothing to do with this book? In that case, then Christianity collapses. In other words, there is a lot riding on the Bible. Is it possible to know who wrote the Bible? Answering this question is the purpose of this section.
Why does God love slavery? Frederick Douglass started life as a slave. He was born to a slave mother in 1818, at a time when slavery was practiced almost universally throughout the United States. At the age of 20 he was able to escape from slavery, educate himself and transcend his humble origins. This transformation gave Frederick Douglass a unique perspective on slavery. Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography in which he described many of his experiences as a slave in graphic detail. He was a person who experienced the atrocities firsthand. For example, he describes the violence of his master in this way: He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin. I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it. I never shall forget it whilst I remember any thing. It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. He spoke of the slave trade in this way: We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination. Silvery-headed age and sprightly youth, maids and matrons, had to undergo the same indelicate inspection. At this moment, I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder. [Source: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas" by Frederick Douglas.] Imagine these injustices magnified across the lives of thousands upon thousands of slaves in the United States and you can begin to understand the horrific magnitude of slavery in America. Slavery is a scourge. It is an atrocity. All of us know that slavery is abhorrent. Slavery involves the loss of free will and the subjugation of one person to another. Slavery is a form of imprisonment. Slavery turns human beings into a type of livestock that can be bought and sold as the property of another person. As described by Frederick Douglass above, slavery is often accompanied by remarkable brutality. No human being would want to be enslaved. This is what makes the concept of slavery so repugnant. Now that you have a clear image of slavery in your head, here is an important question: How would you imagine that God feels about slavery? As the all-loving creator of the universe and of each human soul, you would expect God to be violently opposed to the enslavement of human beings. Our all-knowing God would certainly despise slavery in the same way that any normal person does. What other position could a perfect God take? It is surprising, therefore, to discover that the Bible tells a different story. If we read the Bible, we find instead a God who embraces slavery wholeheartedly. The Bible is so supportive of slavery, in fact, that it was frequently used as a justification for American slavery prior to the Civil War. What the Bible says about slavery Here are ten passages from the Bible that clearly demonstrate God's position on slavery: Genesis chapter 17, verse 12: And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised. In this passage God understands that people buy other people and, quite obviously, is comfortable with the concept. God wants slaves circumcised in the same way as non-slaves. Exodus chapter 12 verse 43: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it. Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it. God again shows that he is completely comfortable with the concept of slavery and singles out slaves for special treatment. Exodus Chapter 21, verse 1: Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for life. Here God describes how to become a slave for life, and shows that it is completely acceptable to separate slaves from their families. God also shows that he completely endorses the branding of slaves through mutilation. Exodus Chapter 21, verse 20: If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. Not only does God condone slavery, but he is also completely comfortable with the concept of beating your slaves, as long as you don't kill them. Exodus Chapter 21, verse 32: If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned. Not only does God condone slavery, but here God places a value on slaves -- 30 shekels of silver. Note that God is not sophisticated enough to understand the concept of inflation. It is now 3,000 years later, and a gored slave is still worth 30 shekels of silver according to God's word. Leviticus Chapter 22, verse 10: No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it. But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food. Here God shows that the children of slaves are slaves themselves, and that he is completely happy with that concept. Leviticus Chapter 25, verse 44: Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. Here God states where you may purchase your slaves, and clearly specifies that slaves are property to be bought, sold and handed down. Luke, Chapter 7, verse 2: Now a centurion had a slave who was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his slave. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue." And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.