Well my problem with the whole Jesus, and bible thing is the bible is 50% violence, god acts like Zeus, and war, and the other is ok, but that 50% I cannot accept.
I know what you mean. I was only a little girl, attending church when the Abraham/Isaac story was read. I thought how can God demand a man kill his own son??? On top of that, all the animal sacrifices didn't go down well with the young animal activist that I was. It literally made me veer from God, and pushed me along the path toward atheism.
But the Bible must be read in order, from beginning to end. Because that is the best way to hear a story, and to read a story, to understand it. We need the context of the OT before we can truly place the NT in its proper place.
Reading the stories of war is difficult to understand. One thing that must be kept in mind is that men ruled the day. Anywhere men go, war is left in their wake. There are some times God prescribes annihilating a certain peoples, but usually that is when the people were such bad idol worshipers that there were hardly any who even believed in God. So that the Chosen Ones could prosper and survive, God felt in those cases it was a necessary sacrifice. He never likes to destroy His creation. It's always a last resort. Most of the time, however, in the wars of the OT, it is the kings who are hungry for more land or power or have vengeance in their heart. Even if they query God whether to go to war or not, it is still their idea and their action that wages the war and are responsible for the resultant destruction of peoples.
I have made peace with the story of Abraham and Isaac because I have lived something similar. Anyone who continues walking with God and getting closer to Him, will face these exact same challenges! Maybe not killing your child, but certainly being faced with two roads: clinging to an earthly object or even loved one, or clinging to God. God ultimately wants to test us to know we would be willing to put Him first. But that is only after a long road of growing closer and closer to Him. His tests get harder and harder as you grow with Him, but also more meaningful. And just like a long-term relationship, these tests and trusts make us bond more with our Creator. Our Master.
This is a good way of putting it. Religions that believe in reincarnation sometimes teach that suicide is just a way of avoiding whatever lessons this life has to teach you. If you don't work through the lesson in this life, you will see it again in the next. Sort of a metaphysical analog of history repeating itself.
Thank you. I really have to say I believe Hell is this. It's earthly existence among each other, and the resultant evil tyranny that manifests among non believers and disbelievers, and the brew of our human natures.