God, are you there? | Teen Ink

God, are you there?

September 9, 2010
By OldSpeckledHen BRONZE, Sunderland, Other
OldSpeckledHen BRONZE, Sunderland, Other
3 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Sleep is the best medidation.


The devoted Atheist that I am, I have finally decided to compile all of my arguments on the subject of Christians. I don't choose to pick on the Christians for any other reason that it is the biggest religion in the world, and so I'm making my target audience bigger, that's all.

Now, The Bible is a compilation of 66 different books written over a 400 year period. In the Bible, there are the rules in which Christians must live their life by, such as the Ten Commandmants, and other rules such as:

You cannot play music that does not honour god

You cannot wear synthetic materials

A man cannot lie with another man

Now, I'm fairly certain that a large majority of Christians around the globe, will have broken at least one of these rules. And, the guarantee for getting into heaven is living your life by The Bible, so that's a lot of Christians in Purgatory... or worse.

Also, the Bible teaches one that God is a kind, compassionate figure, who helps those in need. Well, I'm going to assume you've read The Bible, and if you have, you will know that God may be those things, but he is also undoubtedly evil.

If a person commited or condoned any of the following acts, you would regard him as a tyrant, a sinner, a vile and evil person, wouldn't we? Here's a list of a few of the most evil things I can think of.

Rape
Slavery
Torture
Child Abuse
Murder
Theft
Human Sacrifice
Lying

Now, I'm going to give you proof, that God has condoned, and even ordered all of these acts with biblical references. Please, feel free to look it up.

Zechariah 14:1-2

"A day is going to come for the lord when the loot you have taken will be divided among you. I will gather all of the nations to Jerusalem for battle, the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped."

Now, this biblical reference gives an example of theft and rape.


2 Samuel 12:11

This is what the Lord says: "I will stir up trouble against you in your own household, and before your own eyes, I will take your wives and give them to someone close to you. They will go to bed with your wives in broad daylight"

This proves that God is condoning rape, and also forcing people to watch.


Deuteronomy 22:28-29

"This is what you must do when a man rapes a virgin who isn't engaged. When the crime is discovered, the man who had sexual intercourse with her must give her father 1 and a quarter pounds of silver, she will then become his wife."

Now, this extract states that rapist can make his victim his wife, simply by giving her father 1.25 pound of silver, can you think of anything more traumatic than marrying your rapist?


Now, let's move onto Slavery. Slavery is one of the worst things one man can inflict upon another, and yet, God condones it. Does this sound like something a good God would do? Here are some biblical references to prove my point.


Leviticus 25:44-46

"You may have male and female slaves. You may acquire them for yourselves and for your descendants as permanent property. You may work them as slaves"

Now, this quote in itself makes God's opinion very clear, however, The Bible has more references, that get more shocking and disturbing.


Exodus 21:7

"Whenever a man sells his daughter into slavery, she will not go free the way male slaves do. "

This not only condones a man selling his daughter into slavery, but also that she will not be treated with the same fairness of male slaves.


1 Peter 2:18

"Slaves, place yourselves under authority of your owners and show them complete respect. Obey not only those who are good and kind, but also those who're unfair."

So, this is saying, Obey any order, no matter what it is, and still, this is written in The Bible.


Exodus 21:20-21

"Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave with a stick so that the slave dies from the beating, the owner must be punished. But if the slave gets up in a day or two, the owner must not be punished, the slave is his property."

This is showing that God condones the beating of slaves, assuming they eventually recover. Is this something a good, compassionate God would do?


The next evil act that God condones is torture. And in the same manner, I will present the biblical quotes proving exactly that. But, before I do that, let me make it perfectly clear that all forms of torture are horrific, but if one is torturing someone to acquire vital information, it justifies it a little, but God orders torture only to inflict pain.


Revelation 9:4-6

"They could harm the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them, they are only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion's sting. At that time, people will look for death and never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.

So, God allows people to be tortured for five months, for no other reason than, they do not worship him. Very compassionate of you, God.


Revelation 20:10-15

"The devil, who deceived them was thrown into the fiery lake of sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet were also thrown. They will be tortured day and night. Forever and ever. People where judged on what they had done. Those whose names where not found in the book of life were thrown into the fiery lake"

Now, this is basically saying, those who God doesn't favour, will be tortured, for all eternity. Very forgiving, God. Wouldn't a good God at least, strike them down out of mercy?. He allows them to suffer, even though there is no hope of redemption.


Let's move onto Child Abuse. Child Abuse is one of the worst things a person can do. Children are innocent and are undeserving of such suffering, however, God shows a complete disregard for Children throughout the Bible.


Genesis 22:2-10

God Said: "Take your son, your only so Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah. Sacrifice him there was a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you."

So, this not only justifies killing a child, it also justifies, sacrificing the child. Would a kind and compassionate God not let the child live, and let the child enjoy life? Apparently not. Now, in the rest of the chapter, it states that God lied to Abraham, as God had no intention of Abraham going through with it. But because of God's lie, an innocent child was killed at the hands of his own father.


Exodus 12:29

"At midnight, the lord killed every first born male in Egypt, from the first born son of the Pharaoh who ruled the land, to the first born son of a prisoner in jail."

So, again, God punished the Egyptians who disobeyed him, but he did not harm them, instead, he slaughtered the first born sons of them. Is such brutality found in someone you claim to be compassionate, and loving? If a human had done something as disgusting as this, people would despise him .

2 Kings 2:23-24

"As he walked along the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him. They said 'Go away Baldy!, Go away!'. Looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the Lord's name"

After this, Two bears came out of the woods and killed 42 of the youths. Just because they insulted a prophet, God ordered them to be killed by bears. Very compassionate.


Jeramiah 19:9

"I will make the people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters"

God is apparently forcing people to consume the flesh of their offspring, and yet, no modern day Christians do this, do they?

Now, all of this references prove my point exactly. God is a man of two sides. Plenty of stories in The Bible speak of God's compassion, and love, but when we know God also condones all of these acts, it is hard to see him as a loving creator, and so many Christians disregard these stories, typical Christian ignorance.


But, I've had enough of posting these references, let's move onto arguments based on sheer intelligence.

Now, Richard Dawkins is one of the greatest thinkers ever to have lived, and he has an argument he uses against christians, which I will know post as a direct quote.

Girl in crowd: "This is probably going to be the simplest question for you to answer, but, what if you're wrong?"

Mr Dawkins: "Well, what If I'm wrong?, I mean, anybody could be wrong, we could be wrong about the spaghetti monster, the pink unicorn and the flying teapot. Now, you happen to be brought up in, I presume, the Christian faith, you know what it's like to not believe in a particular faith because you're not a Muslim, you're not a Hindu, why aren't you a Hindu?, because you happen to have been brought up in America and not in India, If you'd been brought up in Denmark in the time of the Vikings, you'd be believing in Thor, If you'd been brought up in Classical Greece, you'd be believing in Zeus. There's no particular reason to pick on the Judaic-Christian God, in which by the sheerest accident you have happened to be brought up in America and ask me the question 'What If I'm wrong', what if you're wrong?"

Now, that pretty much eliminates all possibility of a Christian retort, assuming that the Christian was intelligent. You see, arguing with a Christian is like arguing with a five year old child. The five year old has an answer for everything which must prove he is right. Let me paint the picture for you in a fictional conversation.

Scientist: "Hello Christian, how do you believe we came into existence?"

Christian: "God created us and all of the earth"

Scientist: "Well, did you know we have found indisputable proof that The Big Bang and Evolotuion are 100% accurate?"

Christian: "Well then, God must have oversaw Evolution and The Big Bang"


You see, even though God overseeing Evolution is not taught in the bible, Christians would still say it for fear of finally being proven wrong.

Now, it's at this point, I'd like to say a word of my admiration for Richard Dawkins, for having the patiece to deal with these people.

Goodbye, and Thanks for reading.


The author's comments:
I wrote this piece simply to exercise my beliefs.

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JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 31 comments.


Sparaxis GOLD said...
on May. 1 2017 at 5:17 pm
Sparaxis GOLD, Saint Marys, Georgia
13 articles 1 photo 307 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If you keep on picking on me, I'll mess up again. This time, on PURPOSE."

One thing that's still going to give me nightmares is Deut. 22:28-29. Doesn't this make it look like it's the victim's fault? How does this punish the one who's REALLY at fault here?

Sparaxis GOLD said...
on May. 1 2017 at 5:12 pm
Sparaxis GOLD, Saint Marys, Georgia
13 articles 1 photo 307 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If you keep on picking on me, I'll mess up again. This time, on PURPOSE."

There's one thing that got me thinking when it comes to evolution. I know we have the first amendment and all, but how could a scientist know for sure that a skeleton with a certain amount of carbon-14 really is as old as they say. Not only that, but we humans don't do well if we're born with another chromosome or even another bit of DNA. That's just my thought though.

Agentyork said...
on Mar. 8 2014 at 11:23 pm
Yeah, dude, honestly this whole thing was a tad ignorant. And I understand where you are coming from, don't get me wrong. I am a Christian myself but I totally have been in similar trains of thought before. And you know what, I did research on just one of the verses you provided and it was a statement of discipline God was giving. Also, I have read a majority of the comments (saying that Abraham didn't kill isaac and stuff) And I see that a lot of what you said was not based on context whatsoever. Almost like you went and did research somewhere that is trying to show hypocrisy or bash the bible. So i can respect your opinion, and you can believe whatever you want, but don't go and bash religions, and then try to justify it with insubstantial research. That's ignorance at it's finest and is what plagues our world this day and age.

on Apr. 18 2013 at 10:05 am
seanturlan SILVER, Chicago, Illinois
8 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality" -Plutarch

This proves one thing: arrogance is the death of academia. When you quote something, give the whole quote. Do not leave out parts that go against what you are trying to prove. Do not explore something with a preconceived notion. Do not be so stupid as to create something with hatred in mind. If you are not Christian, does it logically make sense that you would evaluate Chrisitanity. If I could give you one peice of advice, it would be that hatred breeds hatred, and your an advocate of such  the sort.

Beccabec said...
on Mar. 21 2013 at 6:30 pm
Christians don't go to Heaven, Purgatory or He.ll based on how good they were.

on Jan. 27 2013 at 5:21 pm
prolifepacifist, Cheverie, Other
0 articles 0 photos 30 comments
Dear OldSpeckledHen, I am a Christian and have no problem with you expressing your opinions.  In fact, I once wondered the same thing; How can God be all good and loving and tell us not to kill while killing others Himself?  Now, my religion teacher answered this question and she said that as Catholics, we focus more on the New Testament- and we're not going to get rid of some of the books of the bible (like the Old Testament), because then we'd be manipulating the past- but not all of those stories are necessarily true- more like references that we should take with a grain of salt.  BUT even if God did say to sacrifice Isaac and did flood the world... He sees the full picture and everything He does, He does out of love- even if we, from our lowly perch on the ground, cannot see it that way.  Anyways, OldSpeckledHen, I pray that one day you will receive the gift of faith but in the meantime please keep investigating!  Even if it's just to confirm your position as an athiest- dig through those religious texts!  And don't stop looking for the truth- even if it is that God doesn't exist.

on Jan. 19 2013 at 5:30 pm
Abigail.Oestreich GOLD, Warrington, Pennsylvania
14 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

Abraham did not kill his son. If you would have read the whole account, in context, then you would know that Isaac did not die and in fact, it was only a test. How can you dispute something you don't even know about? Read and study the Bible and other resources. Learn about the subject you're going to declare false before you do. Don't be ignorant.

Nelu96 GOLD said...
on Aug. 17 2012 at 4:57 pm
Nelu96 GOLD, Windhoek, Other
10 articles 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."- George Bernard Shaw

You have obviously not experienced God's love. God is there and I know it because I feel his power over my life. He is all powerful and almighty and no matter what you say, I will continue to believe in Him.

Olympia said...
on Mar. 16 2012 at 8:24 pm

(If this were facebook)

*Like*


Sylvia BRONZE said...
on Feb. 29 2012 at 3:48 pm
Sylvia BRONZE, London, Other
3 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love thy neighbour"

Well, I think there is only one conclusion we can draw from your thesis: you don't like Christians. 

In fact...that is all we can draw from your thesis, because clearly you have made the mistake of either 1) not bothering to do your homework or, even worse 2) being so arrogant that you didn't want to bother doing your homework. 

Spend some time typing the following into your Google search bar: theodicy; St. Augustine; "soul-making"; Richard Swinburne; the problem of evil and the inconistent triad and solutions thereof.

Then come back and tell me that there is absolutely no evidence/reasoning from scholars, with far more wisdom and experience, that you have made incorrect assumptions and jumped to false conclusions.

And even if afterwards, you still refuse to qualify or falsify your earlier assertions, then please take your toxic Christian-bashing elsewhere.


hi hows ya? said...
on Jan. 27 2012 at 3:48 pm
I've actually thought a lot on this one before- I'm not overly sure on this one, I mean, He's God-we're human. We're not SUPPOSED to be able to comprehend all that He is!!! But anyway, the way I think of it is that God has made us, right? He made us as He wanted to, and in His perfect Eyes, we are beautiful!! We are artwork. To put holes through your ears is like putting holes through a painting- you wouldn't do it- it's an insult to the artist. Also, Science states that nothing can come from nothing. We as humans cannot make nothing out of nothing. Logically, doesn't there need to be some greater being who created everything-something greater, more powerful than humans? It's not like this all just popped out of nowhere one day. Also, what do you believe happens after death, if there is no God, no heaven, no anything else?

on Sep. 1 2011 at 1:35 pm
hislittledramaqueen BRONZE, Naperville, Illinois
4 articles 2 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.
Saint Augustine

Before you go interpreting the Bible, please note this verse:

"There are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also other Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3, 16


on Aug. 2 2011 at 5:20 pm
secrets_of_silence GOLD, Gisborne, Other
12 articles 0 photos 439 comments

Favorite Quote:
life had i loved the more
had it but passed away
as quietly as the day
ebbs from the darkening star.


-emanuel litvinoff

also did you know there is an arguement that god doesnt want us to have peirced ears????

figure that one out


on Aug. 2 2011 at 5:18 pm
secrets_of_silence GOLD, Gisborne, Other
12 articles 0 photos 439 comments

Favorite Quote:
life had i loved the more
had it but passed away
as quietly as the day
ebbs from the darkening star.


-emanuel litvinoff

okay im christian and i have disobeyed gods orders on accident more than once... i wont pick a fight becouse thats against his laws but do you honestly think all that about him???

cos if you do you need a hug and a bar of chocolate.


on Apr. 7 2011 at 8:05 pm
inkblot13 PLATINUM, Auburn, New York
41 articles 1 photo 160 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If I knew where poems came from, I'd go there"




- Michael Langley, 'Staying Alive'

You mentioned God being compassionate, yes He is but He is also a Father, a father will punish his children for doing wrong am I correct??? That's how a father shows his love, sometimes you have to be punished in order to know what to do right.

on Apr. 7 2011 at 8:02 pm
inkblot13 PLATINUM, Auburn, New York
41 articles 1 photo 160 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If I knew where poems came from, I'd go there"




- Michael Langley, 'Staying Alive'

also, did you know that scientists are finding flaws in their research about evolution and how the  Earth was created? The Earth is proving to be much younger than they originally thought and have found serious flaws with evolution. They know say that life came to Earth by an asteriod with life on it.

on Mar. 25 2011 at 2:08 pm
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L'Engle

You're right. The Bible is the Word of God, not written by God. It had to pass through the garbled mind of man first and we may have messed things up a little.

on Mar. 15 2011 at 10:42 pm
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L'Engle

There's nothing wrong with you talking about what you believe, but to be so blatantly disrespectful of another person's religion while you do so is wrong. Religion, no matter whose, is a sacred thing and should not be abused.

on Mar. 8 2011 at 6:57 pm
WritingJulia SILVER, Binghamton, New York
6 articles 0 photos 72 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Kind words can be short and easy to say, but their echoes are truly endless." -Mother Theresa

I think something 2 keep in mind is that God didn't write the Bible: man did.  Therefore, there may be men's judgements.

on Feb. 28 2011 at 7:56 pm
CubeRunner SILVER, Edwards AFB, California
5 articles 1 photo 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grammar is like a zombie. It's unstoppable and it wants your brain. -By me

OldSpeckledHen, I would really like you to read my article.  I want to see what you think and I would love your comments on it.  Like I said above, it's called "Refutation of OldSpeckledHen's Article".