1. What makes you turn to God?
What makes mostly everyone in this planet to do so. Suffering.
2. What difference does it make if I am a good person with morals but I don't believe in God? If I am a Buddhist monk that heals local villagers for free, I am still a sinner by traditional Christian values since I worship weird idols? Or is that tolerated nowadays? If so, isn't the change contradictory to the Bible? Who decides these changes are acceptable? For example the Church has again and again conceded on fundamental grounds of Christianity, most notably the Earth revolving around the Sun thing, as well as the existence of microbes. Is the Bible/scriptures still credible if parts of it can be taken out? What else is there to fall upon as solid teachings?
According to my beliefs, religion is completely irrelevant. What you do, think and say throughout life will dictate what awaits you after this incarnation.
3. What makes you think God showcases goodwill to us? To me, he doesn't boast a good track record at all. If God exists, why does He allow the clergy to abuse their power by such a shocking extent? I have seen firsthand a priest molesting a boy, and it disgusts me so much it was one of the factors I have distanced myself from religion. Similarly, if the Holocaust, wars and massacres were God's will, then I cannot but feel He holds some serious malice towards us, for causing billions upon billions of death and destruction. I don't think anything can balance that out.
God can control man but he won't do it in the current time in this planet. Right now, we're going thru a period of total free will. Of course, you have free will but not the tools to live it entirely. You're also living in a time in which other men are exerting control over many of us. But we still chose to be here.
4. The Bible, especially the Old Testament, sounds evil, illogical and inconsistent at times. Tempting Adam and Eve with the fruit, killing people if they manage to see God's face, striking down the Tower of Babel all sounds like dick moves to me, to name a few. If He doesn't us to see His face, just don't bother showing a physical figure to us then, I'll take a glowing orb of light too, why even bother tempting us? Also Jesus is leaving a big banana skin on the ground for Judas if the betrayal was all scripted and foreseen, guy's been despised for 2 millennia. And it's not really a betrayal if Jesus knew all along, right? He basically consented to it, isn't that more like turning himself in?
The bible is a book that should have had severe reformulations long ago, same as with the Koran and any other "holy books" that were written by primitive men and cultures.
5. Explaining everything by saying it's God's unfathomable plan is no longer a good argument. It might work 2000 years ago, but it's not a convincing explanation in itself anymore once the Enlightenment hits.
This world is his plan, our behavior here isn't.
6. I also hate the idea of original sin. Bearing responsibility for another doesn't seem right to me.
Another bible allegory. Although it refers to some of things that happened during the rise of the Adamic race.
7. What's your take on some of the archaic rituals they used to do? If Christianity condemn premarital sex, we might as well observe Sabbath too. Why observe some but discard others? What are the standards?
Most of these rituals are stupid. The Sabbath was the way they found to make sure man didn't work all the time and always took time to remember his faith. Trying to control sex couldn't be more obvious, considering all the implications it has.
