I apologize in advance for the LLOONNGG parethesis.
There is no positive evidence of God's existence.
There is no positive evidence for his nonexistence either.
Even if God did exist, there is no proof that the Bible is his word and not just some book.
Ditto above
As far as the rest. If God is the one who grants life, he does have a right to take it away also.
God has the ability to know the heart of man. Only God is just, and only God has the right to judge a human being. Remember. It's his creation. He can alter it as he see's fit.
I should have said perhaps that Man has a right to not be agressed against by a fellow man.
As far as Leviticus goes, Homosexuality, Adultery, etc. Jesus changed all that with his perfect sacrafice and resurection from the cross. Talk to any Christian Jew, and he/she'll be able to better explain it better then I can. But God made a new covenent with us. One based on forgiveness.
I'll try to explain.
God can only allow moral perfection in his kingdom (heaven)
The Isrealites needed to be cleansed of their sin. The sheding of blood is how that's done. This is because, "The Life, is in the Blood." (By the way, it was the discovery of this verse, by a doctor -- I forget his name -- in the middle ages, that stopped the practice of leaching. This Doctor thought, "If the life is in the blood, we shouldn't be taking it out, we should be, if anything, be trying to figure out how to put more in.") So they gave animal sacrifices. But because the sheep, lambs, and whatever else wasn't perfect, they didn't count for much. which is why they had to continue to do it.
See in the Begining, Adom had sinned. God had given him free will. And Adom chose to disobey God. This is the doctoran of original sin.
But God wanted to give humanity another chance to choose to follow him. Jesus was that 2nd chance. Read the book of Romains, in the Bible. Paul talks about Jesus being that 2nd Adom.
Anyway, because Jesus was morally perfect, he was that perfect sacrafise. So we wouldn't need to bound by the old Jewish LAW. So now we live under a new convenent with God. One based on forgiveness. and Love. We can now be purified by His blood, instead of needing to coninually sacrifise and do good works, etc.
So most of the Levitician law is no longer valid. On the other hand, it's still good advice. It's good advice to eat healthy, and not eat animals that eat garbage (like Pigs, and stuff) Adultery
is harmfull to your wife and kids. Homosexuality
is harmfull to your self and others. (Now I know that's not a popular stance with many PC libertarians, but AIDS started out as GRIDS, and Gay Related Rectal Syndrome, and other health problems are caused by the practice of male homosexuality. A good book on the Subject is called
The Comming Plague -- It's Actually Not about AIDS or homosexuallity in particular, it's simply a long book about epidemics. But the last few chapters talk about the origins of AIDS.)
While I would never advocate Government to enforce morality, (This is not Christlike. The message of Christianity is one of love, and forgiveness. Not locking people up for every sin they commit. Because frankly, if that's the way it was, we'd all be dead. We all have sin. I'm not better then anybody else. In fact, as we've seen on this board, I said some pretty mean things to people at times, that I shouldn't have said, that I need to apologize to people for. I'm far from morally perfect. And now because Jesus Blood has been able to cleanse me, I can still enter his place of moral perfection, instead of facing eternal death.),
Morality still exists.
(So lets not have anybody calling me a theofascist now
)
By the way, this is what I meant when I was talking about natural moral law to Morpheus a while ago. Simply, if you sin, there will be natural, unpleasent consequences to your actions, simply as part of the way God designed human nature. It's best if government gets out of the way, so people can experience those consequences themselves so they can figure out the best, moral way to live for themselves, instead of difusing the cost of those consequences out on the rest of society (Like the current welfare state does).
But back to the topic at hand.
As Jesus said in one of the Gospels, "Let he who is with-out sin, be the one to throw the first stone."
Only he who is with-out sin has the right to judge another human being. Jesus is the only one who was with-out sin. And he forgave her. However, he then told her, "Go and sin no more."
Anyway, It's perfectly moral for God to judge others.
And now since we have a direct line to Him, the Priesthood was abolished. This is why I believe we don't need government anymore. Anarchy has been a moral Christian alternitive since "the veil was ripped in two."
I would suggest you actually read the Bible, and Some of the Gospels in the New Testement (The gospel of Mark is short and quick. The Gospel of John's a pretty easy read too. ) instead of relying on other people to tell you what to think about it. Go to the soarce. Then decide for yourself :-)
(with Apologies to our Yacht faring friend Robert) Don't trust me, or the Late Scholastics, or C.S. Lewis, or those sites you're quoting, RythemStar or Bill, or anybody else to tell you about what the Bible says, or what Christianity is all about. Find out for yourself what you think about it.
