[TheRealThing]

Morning Granny, it's Football season!

I think you more than most on here know what kind of person I am because we have had several off site interactions.

I will try to touch on your points quickly.

1. Right vs Wrong - This is always a hard thing to explain to those who are not an atheist. Most Christians feel they get their morals from the Bible but I don't believe that is necessarily true. I believe right and wrong are a part of us from birth. Take my children for example. My wife (who believes in God and prayer) and I came to the understanding long ago that for our marriage to work we would not ridicule each others beliefs, nor would we raise our children under either banner. Even at early ages they displayed the basic knowledge of right and wrong. They realize they need to treat others how they want to be treated based upon their interactions and emotions. It's been amazing to watch two children with hearts of gold develop in front of my eyes.

2. Reconcile Spiritual with Reality - this subject I tried to be vague on in my first post because its the one spot that my atheism can get a little on the offensive side. I'll put it this way and hope it is at least slightly understood. I could not reconcile why it was so imperative for a God who loves everyone to only accept those who have been saved or that a Vengeful God who was supposedly omnipotent and infallible from the Old Testament became the loving God of the new testament, to me it made the God I believed in fallible and that is where I began to question things. (The elaboration on this would take paragraphs)

3. Judgmental Christians - I agree with you 100% on this one. It's the same on my side of the street. Angry attacking atheists give us a bad name and often get us a negative association. Just like ISIS and the 9/11 terrorists give Islam a bad name. All sides have their radicals and they give us all a bad rap.

Respectfully--- let me see if I can say this right. God created man to basically share eternity with. However, owing to the perfect nature of God, that being one incapable of sin in any capacity, meant He needed to provide a mechanism by which man could choose to be with Him for that eternity. As God would have it, that seemingly small matter of choice then, bridges the great gulf between man and God and becomes the main reason we are here on earth. He chose us first, so that all that remains is for us to choose Him back. All any man really is in both the spiritual and secular senses, is the sum of his choices. In any event, God will allow a very orderly and respectful existence for those who deny Him during their lifetimes here on this earth. There will be blessing, love and many times happiness in spite of the gnawing of the truth within them.

The relationship we have with God is a mirror of the institution of marriage. The groom (Christ) chooses his bride (those who make up the Church). However, as is the case in this world, if the bride is reluctant or otherwise coerced into the relationship, it will not be a good one. Therefore, God is not willing to force anyone to be with Him. It must be our own choice. You would not have wanted to have resorted to threatening to do great harm to your prospective wife in order to force her to marry you. However, as is the relationship between the Church's act of choosing Jesus Christ, her act of choosing you back was sweet beyond words, and made your union a blessing for your entire lifetimes. The same is true with God, He will not force us, but in choosing to bow before Him, repenting of our wrongs and relying 100% on the finished work of Jesus on the cross, we are saved.

I said there is a mechanism by which all men choose, and that mechanism is sort of preloaded in the favor of men. Further, that mechanism consists of two bodies, for lack of a better term, of knowledge or states of awareness which are innate and undeniably discernible within us all. In fact, God has said that he put the very awareness of His existence within the breast of every last human on this earth; First point of inner knowledge is as follows---Romans 1:19-20 (KJV)
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

The verses above paraphrased then, say that everything that can be known of God is manifested in mankind, for He has shown Himself to them through His creation. Even His limitless power and the Godhead, so that they are without excuse to say otherwise. And then there is point number Two;
Ephesians 2:7-9 (KJV)
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

These verses state that man is saved by grace through faith, and that said faith is the gift of God and has nothing to do with works. So, we see that in each man and woman God has planted the foundational necessities of salvation from birth. The knowledge of His existence is part of our very being and as an added bonus, the gift of faith to believe and accept Him is ours to be had for the asking.

So you see, eternity is for those who choose to be there. God doesn't want preprogrammed robots with which to spend eternity. He wants people who choose to be with Him. That's all this earth is here for and it is the things of this earth which form the basis of the choice. The choice is between the goods, power and glitter of this world (that is all Satan had to tempt the Lord Jesus with at the end of His 40 day fast in the desert) or the world to come. Of course we are to live a grand life here as well. Family, and fame and fortune are equally as attainable for the Christian as the non-Christian. As I mentioned, eternal life with God is very much the same as the picture of marriage. Mutual choice between two parties.

And lastly, there is no difference in the Character of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The difference in the fact that His Son came to earth in the New Testament which, started the age of grace. Up until that time (the days of the Old Testament) men had to fulfill the law to the best of their ability and make a yearly sacrifice consisting of an animal sacrifice upon the burnt altar. The blood of the yearly sacrifice temporarily hid their sin from the eyes of God until such time as the Lord Jesus died His voluntary and substitutionary death on the cross. His shed blood then hides the sin of all men, those who lived before He came to earth and those who lived after, for all eternity.

If any man denies the deity of Christ and rejects Him, only then will God be forced to banish him from heaven to another place. There are varying degrees of suffering in Hell, depending on the life that was led. Ultimately the choice boils down to life forever with God, or eternal separation from Him. Those are the only two options and no man can dodge making the choice. You have on the one hand great reward, and you have on the other great disappointment and regret. But, make no mistake. God loves every one of us or He would have never allowed His only begotten Son to die for us.