How Should I Answer This Atheist?

Help me out, O readers–how should I answer an atheist who says God is cruel and unjust, on account of all those innocent people He kills off in the Old Testament–and that the Bible is not the “good book,” but the bad book?

I think his arguments are sophomoric and inane, and hardly deserving of an answer. But answer them I must, because I don’t know who else might be reading: it may be someone who very badly needs an answer.

To avoid the risk of misrepresenting my opponent, you can read his comments and mine on the “Playground Player Chessforum” at http://www.chessgames.com . Scroll down to the menu at the bottom of the page, click “Chessforums,” and then look for the little green dinosaur and “playground player.”

Adam, of course, was the first to blame God for his own sin: “The woman that you gave me, Lord, made me eat of the forbidden fruit.” (Genesis 3:12). So if we want to deny free will, which we do at our peril, we can say it’s all God’s fault for making us the way we are. It would be hard for any eight-year-old to come up with a more persuasive argument.

We might want to ask, If God is cruel and unjust, then how can Jesus Christ, God’s Son, be any better? “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) But who can point to anything cruel or unjust done by Jesus? Either He truly represents the Father, as He says He does, or He doesn’t, and must therefore be a liar.

Antichrists great and small want to get rid of the Bible so they can do whatever they please without being judged for it. But if they hadn’t, in their secret hearts, already judged and condemned themselves, they simply wouldn’t care about the Bible. They would not protest so much unless they knew they were guilty. Otherwise their behavior makes no sense.

I don’t expect to convert the atheist. God has tapped me to perform this service, and I must do the best I can.