[quote=Protagonist]1) I'd slightly disagree. I'd say the bible states that he's neither all-forgiving, nor is he vengeful, but rather trying to balance the two out. If he was one or the other, he wouldn't ever interact with humans (he'd just have destroyed humanity by now or abandoned it). My interpretation is that God is motivated by his love of humanity as a whole (in the sense that he desperately wants to see it improve. He's not particularly fond of the current human condition), To this end, he will do absolutely anything necessary. As such, he's aggressive when he considers it necessary, but wouldn't go out of his way to be cruel either.As for the desert people 2000 years ago argument, that can be turned on its head. The fact that it's ancient is actually part of its appeal. The fact that it's been unchanged for thousands of years makes it more "timeless" rather than "outdated". If you compare it to music, it's kind of like classical vs. pop music.

2) Obviously, Atheists don't percieve Jesus as perfect, but they do tend to perceive him as very good. And I have seen non-Christians argue that Christians should be more like Christ/consider Christians a misaimed fandom of Christ. To the extent that one considers Jesus to be good, the more valid my statement is.[/quote]

1) But then there's cases such as rewarding daughters as essentially sex slaves, the drowning of all of humanity save for a small handful of souls, the death of every 1st born infant as a way to intimidate a pharaoh (one he purposely made stubborn). None of these look like acts of a God that cares about the wellbeing of people.

And for the desert people, yes there is an appeal to unchanged things. There is an enjoyment of ancient culture to be seen in that, but that doesn't mean taking their beliefs and systems to heart and applying to modern world. I mean, a lot of people probably love Japan culture back during the time of the Samurai, but I doubt anyone wants to see Japanese laws and beliefs during that time to be followed and carried out today. We might like the look/feel of old english monarchy, but we don't want to suddenly operate the way England did in the medieval days.

Humanity improves over time, our technology improves, our culture improves, our laws improve, our understanding of the world around us improves. The Bible however, doesn't improve outside of OT to NT, which is still 2000 years behind.

2) Once again, if you find someone to be religious but a very moral person you can wish for people to be more like them morally without agreeing with their religious stance.

[quote=mdk]we've been through this, Magnum, a lot actually, and a smart person would stop and consider what it is that's keeping him from hearing (and thus, from considering) the other side of the coin.[/quote]

I did plenty during my time as a Christian, I ultimately found what was stopping me was that God didn't exist in the first place.
That being said, I'm not immune to the idea of there being a God. But proof and evidence does need to be provided, scientific proof and evidence.