Churchwork:

I apologize for this post in advance. Though I have read, and am certain that I am well within the rules for posting here, I am sure that you will take my post differently than it is intended. I merely wish here to go through your response to what I felt was a perfectly well-reasoned post above. The post will be organized into sections corresponding to the quotes and responses that you made.

First, as to a discussion on the inerrant nature of the Bible: I think that a discussion of whether or not the Bible is inerrant is essential to any discussion of its contents. As it is currently impossible to prove the resurrection (hence why we call it faith), a discussion of what we can prove about the Bible makes perfect logical sense. If we can establish that the things in the Bible did happen, then the case for those things that we cannot prove becomes much stronger. You seem very knowledgeable about these things, and I would love to have a discussion with you about them.

Second, I totally agree with the original poster here. My view of Christianity is admittedly slightly different than yours (though please do not get angry with me, if you review the rules, I am well within them). I am honestly asking for assistance with this as well. God is all knowing, all seeing, and all loving. He will forgive your sins, and give you everlasting life. If we were made in His image, why would he condemn us to hell for an eternity? The best way I have ever heard eternity described was by a pastor a few years ago. He said (paraphrasing) that if you picture a pile of sand a few miles high with a sparrow sitting on top of it and were to watch that sparrow take a single grain of sand from that pile to the other side of the world and pile it there, then fly back to the original pile for more sand and continue this way until the entire pile was on the other side of the world, then you would know what the first day of eternity feels like. That's a really, really long time (obviously, but as human beings we are incapable of truly understanding what an eternity is, as the concept of infinity beyond our grasp). My question is this: if God loves us all, even the sinners, why would he condemn us to an eternity in hell over actions that occurred in a period of time that is, to God (and us in heaven/hell), a blink of an eye?

All the original poster was saying is that the Bible tells you how to live your life, but that there is no reason to follow it to the letter (more on this if you take me up on having a discussion on the facts and meaning of the inerrant nature of the Bible). God loves us, He wants us to live our lives.

Finally on this point, atheism is not a cult. It cannot be, it is merely the lack of a belief in God and a reliance on what can be known with certainty. I am not an atheist, but I believe that it is damaging to your cause to refer to atheists as cult members. The proportion of atheists in the general population is growing, and if you intend to stop that trend then the first step should be to stop insulting hundreds of millions of potential followers of Christ.

Third, again here I agree with the original poster. I would like to use your own logic here to show you what he or she was trying to say. If we are to treat God like our parent (though obviously in a much broader sense), as you do, then think of how your parents wanted you to live. There were rules, but the rules were to ensure that you grew up to be a good person. They wanted you to have fun, they wanted you to enjoy life, and they did not want you to get bogged down in minutia. That's all the original poster was trying to say. Human beings are imbued with morals, people may circumvent those morals if they see some gain in it for themselves, but no one will ever say that murder is right, or that adultery is okay, no matter what their religious beliefs. That was the second point that I believe the poster was trying to make, and that you may have misinterpreted.

Finally, I have nothing to say about your last response, there's really not much content there. You were a little abusive, though. The person was writing as if he or she were God, never claiming that they were (see the title of the thread).

I look forward to a discussion with you.