jimmiles.org

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever”

“For I am the LORD, I change not”

There is a logical contradiction in the beliefs of Christians, especially those who accept the whole Bible as their authority, not just the New Testament. But even those who lean heavily on the New Testament Jesus must cope with the connections Jesus himself made between himself and the Old Testament God.

There’s a certain frustration I have with apologists. They retreat to the following defense at times.

• When the critic of Scripture says, “If this is accurate, such and such part of the Bible says something unacceptable;” the apologist cries, “Vague! Ancient! this all occurred so long ago, and was written so long ago, that we just can’t know everything about it! We must just trust!” 
• And when the critic of Scripture says, “the Bible was written so long ago, and its events so long ago, we cannot trust its claims about anything and everything, especially not for modern people,” the apologist switches to the opposite side, and cries, “Inspired! Infallible! God knows all and guided his word to be the perfect view-port into God’s will for humanity! We must just trust!“

This is an extended comment I made in a Facebook discussion in June and July of 2013. The people whose names are occasionally mentioned were the other participants in the discussion. It appears here for future reference since I deleted my Facebook account in April of 2018.

If God has revealed himself in the entire Protestant Christian Bible (as I used to believe, and spent a teaching career convincing teens to believe), then He must answer for his horrible behavior. Otherwise, reasonable people cannot be expected to respect him as a moral leader. Regardless of whether or not he is truly a savior of sinners, the fact remains that after being saved, a person would then be expected to live in close proximity to God and be eternally known as officially endorsing everything ever done by this person who claims to be a legitimate king.