Very Nice post takes me back to the very infancy of my own faith all the why's whats can shake a person. Some would rather you not ask but just continue blindly following I am glad to see that God has inspired you to seek the truth
I see lots of answers from people and think they have done a good job answering and offering ideas. I would like to offer mine just for the mix.
A The Flood issue.
Genisis 6:5 And God saw the Wicked ness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth
and it greived him at his heart.
God felt grief pain anguish I dont take this verse lightly My StepDad recently passed after a long illness on machines that were keeping him alive in the phyisical but not in the way anyone consideres life my heartaches with the decision we had to make to remove life support and let him pass I loved him so much. I cant imagine the absolute grief the Loving God we serve must have felt having to make this choice. He was fortunate enough though to be able to scour the earth and find one small spark of good just that one little man and his family was enough to hope for a better tommorrow. God know if my family would have seen one little spark in my dad we would have kept hope in his life and still be praying ove him today. I feel sorry for what God had to go through at this time I cannot even imagine the pain.
B I will keep this brief I believe God did make man right the first time around it was all perfect before we chose the knowledge of both good and evil. God already knew evil knew its outcome knew what it brought I believe He Hoped we would not chose it.
2 The Bible doesn't contradict its self here I have several children diferent types of personalities. One I shows a deep respect and daily does the things I see as good with no rules ever spoken. The other is a constant "son you have to do this, stay out of that etc. etc. etc." It does come down to faith in Jesus but one child can have faith and be righteous with no rules Another will build faith thru Following the rules. How do you feel closest to God what makes you feel faithful?
3 Jesus last word are very dificult and hard to build doctrine off of the word used for forsaken in greek has many different meanings. For instance it also means remain over My God My God wilt thou remain over me. Calling on God to stay with Him in this time of distress.
I AM NOT SAYING THAT IS WHAT HE SAID but simply saying it is one of those things I can wait to ask Him
I do know there is a similiar line in a hebrew psalm and he could have been quoting scripture.
4 It is completely possible to live under the law and survive just not many willing to be that devoted Going Back to the Story of Abraham we see an example of love and obedience. Abraham when tested showed that he was willing to sacrifice his most precious thing his son. You think how hard that would be to gather sticks and build an alter with your son Know it is his life that would be taken on it, all for a show of true love. Awesome, a father willing to sacrifice a son willing to give his life. Forever setting the standard that know one would doubt the depth of that love. God stopped abraham just short and provided a sacrifice for him. God did not stop short when proving his love for us He Gave His Son and His Son was willing, taking away all doubt of His love for mankind.
Gods mercy is beyond our ability to measure I have no right even thru study of the Bible to say who will be saved and who wont. To do so puts me in a very dangerous place I dont want to be.
Every man is supposed to work out his own salvation it cant be purchased we know that I struggle every day to answer questions in my life some of the same you have. I myself try to shake off the doubt and go back to the simple Do I love God and Does He love me . I dont dare put a limit on what God is able to do. The Bible in some spots seems to do this I know (as far as who will be saved). But I as of yet read nothing that Gives me the right.
5 I am not sure God battles satan like we would define battle If he did (or if he does) I would not want to buy tickets to that fight one round over before the bell stops ringing. He has a plan I am willing to trust Him to be right.
I cannot answer this question anyway that seems right it is beyond my ability but would like to share a verse that further adds to the question
Proverbs 16:4
The Lord hath made all things for Himself :
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
I as of yet have no Idea how to put that verse into the context of what I believe. Word for Word it changes the whole concept of free will ?
6 Man is perfect we are in the image of God we have the Knowledge of Good and evil. It seems we just dont know how to deal with that knowledge maybe that is what this little thing we call life is teaching us
7 There could be any of 100 reasons or more for the time of when and why the gospels were written. One thing I would like to point out tho is the scripture we are instructed to study to learn of God was not a letter written to a young man named Timothy or a letter written to a group of believers in Corinth. This doesnt mean not to study the Gospels and use them as a guide and it also doesnt mean that if you find other writings that edify your heart that they are not inspired. I believe the closer you draw to God the easier it will be to decearn what is truth and what is not.
The Jewish religion (I believe) by design did not recognise Jesus as the messiah
Muslims as I have been told Hold him in High regard but you would need to ask a muslim those details
8 This was done in error was wrong and I believe
9 There is no clear answer as to why it started when it Did I fell it was in part for the fulfilment of prophecy second all the players had to be in place for everything to come to pass. Second His home town he could preform miricales in but didnt " A prophet is without honor in his home town" my family and friends are often the hardest to preach to or convince of new things. They see me as a carpenter (Yes I am a Carpenter) not a scholar and have little respect for my beliefs.
10 This is a question that I am asking myself another one is why now when we have our own bible and a world of information at our finger tips do we blindly follow traditions of men. I cant say the motive of creating feast days that line up with pagen holidays just to "convert" people. I cant see changing the word of God just so it sounds more politicly correct as being anything other than wrong. Martin Luther took a stand against such things but stopped way short for what reason I dont know. Reform is needed I believe there is truth out there but because of the choices made in the past by leaders with questionable intent we have to search for it ourselves.
Maybe that too is part of Gods plan
11 I have a problem defining faith as the absence of truth ?
An old man once explained faith to me like this ... He asked me to sit in a chair I did: then he asked if I had given thought as to how the chair was built I of course hadnt. I sit down having complete faith that it would support me
That to me is human nature to have faith first to check the facts later and then only if it is something we deem important enough
Peace
