Sorry that some of these replies are to posts that were pages back. Some of the questions were left hanging, so I figured I'd answer. And my apologies if I bumped this topic a bit. To me, this topic is very important, and is worth talking about.
i'm not religious but i believe in god and i believe that jesus died on the cross for us. i just don't follow a lot of things from the bible so i avoid calling myself religious
What things do you not follow exactly? You don't have to answer if you would rather not, I'm just curious.
History books are written by the victor, for all we know the bible is 100% false.
The bible was word of mouth for 500 years until it was finally written. It has also been revised many times and copied down manually by priests whom could have forged their own stories into the book.
But to make such a statement, you have to assume that there is no God working things out for the Bible's creation in the first place.
If God didn't exist, then much of the Bible would of course just be stories.
But if God does exist to ensure the creation of the Bible, then why would you question the Bible in the first place?
You see what I'm saying?
elaborate
what's the point of the change? did you (as a christian in like 1 AD or whatever), all that time, believe that what you were doing was wrong, but did it anyway, because some book told you to? or did you think it was right, until another, similar book told you to stop doing that stuff?
and as a christian in 2016 AD, if the old testament no longer applies, why do you still read it to all your little christian kids? why even read it at all? more importantly, why do you still follow some of its rules?
and beyond that, it has some unpleasant implications, right? your god literally wanted his children to do bad things? being all-knowing, he must have known they were bad, and that he would eventually command them to stop. so, what? he wanted you to do bad things to "set Israel apart from other nations", whatever that means? it just sounds like an excuse to retcon the old stuff cus you realized how awful it sounded
another, only marginally related thing, but why do you trust the bible at all? man is fallible, and god didn't literally strike the words onto the pages himself (why not, by the way? he is supposed to be omnipotent), so how could you know whether or not it's really what god wanted?
The Old Testament absolutely still applies, it is only that we are no longer required to preform all the animal sacrifices and rituals that the Israelites were required to do, and that is thanks to what Jesus did on the cross.
The sacrifices were a mechanism through which God used to not only forgive the sins of the Israelites, but also to help guide them to live a right life. The problem with the animal sacrifices was that they were temporary, and they had to be preformed every year, but they were the best option until it was time for Jesus to come and preform the final sacrifice needed.
Because of Jesus' Death and Resection, the animal sacrifices are pretty much useless, and they need not be preformed. And actually, anyone thinking they still need to preform those sacrifices for forgiveness is mislead, since what Jesus did was lasting and final, and
nothing additional needs to be done but for you to accept his forgiveness as a gift.
Also, just because God is all knowing and created humanity, does not mean he wanted us to sin.
One of God's deepest desires is to partner with us (and that was his original intention for this world, by the way. He intended for us to steward this planet alongside Him). However, to have a partnership, both parties really need to have free will for it to actually be meaningful and fulfilling (would you rather have a mindless robot as your companion, or a very trustworthy friend?)
Having free-will of course also involves being able to refuse the partnership. And God knew that Satin would deceive Adam and Eve, and He allowed it as well. And I think the only reason he did was because he know that waaay in the end of it all, it would turn out better for us who chose to partner with Him. His desire is of course for all to be saved, but He will always respect your free-will (which He gave you) and He will not force His will upon you (except perhaps for when he finally must judge and punish people. We are currently living in a very long grace period).
And the reason to trust the Bible is that God wrote it through the hands of those following and trusting Him. He did it that way because of His preference to work with and through people, as I mentioned before. On that note, He DID write the ten commandments on the stone tablets Himself, so there's that.
Lack of evidence
Actually if you know where to look, there is tons of evidence. I can try and round up some if you want. A lot of it I'd have to dig up or spend time explaining, and this post is already getting pretty huge.
contradictions in the Bible
Examples please, if you don't mind.
problem of evil
I kinda addressed that above in reply to Fox.
omnipotence paradox
Wouldn't God be able to create an impossible task and be able to be both unable to complete it while being able to complete it?
Keep in mind, God is outside of time and is beyond our dimensions of space.
I dunno, I'm not the best person to discuss this particular line of thought, to be honest with you.
God doesn't really seem like a benevolent figure based on biblical passages
Examples please, if you don't mind.
many religious people are anti-science
Yes and this is very unfortunate. The Bible does not contradict science, and science is technically the study of God's creation. The more Christians that understand that, the better. Rule-of-thumb, don't be dissuaded from pursuing a better understanding of Christianity just because people mess up.
conservative traditions that I don't agree with
I would ask for examples, but this seems to be a rather personal topic.
some morals from the Bible are backward
Examples please, if you don't mind.
nonsensical and many other philosophical and logical arguments that conflict with Christianity and other religions that I'm not currently thinking of.
I kinda want examples but this sounds like a huge and complex topic. I probably am not the best person to discuss it.
Poll