jerrythegenius

ok

https://www.bibleref.com/Exodus/21/Exodus-21-20.html , https://www.bibleref.com/Exodus/21/Exodus-21-21.html

Allowing corporal punishment of slaves as long as they don't drop dead.

from here

The Jewish authorities appear to be right in referring this law, like those in Exodus 21:26-27, Exodus 21:32, to foreign slaves (see Leviticus 25:44-46). The protection here afforded to the life of a slave may seem to us but a slight one; but it is the very earliest trace of such protection in legislation, and it stands in strong and favorable contrast with the old laws of Greece, Rome, and other nations. If the slave survived the castigation a day or two, the master did not become amenable to the law, because the loss of the slave was accounted, under the circumstances, as a punishment.

And as for this

Perhaps that god has decided to personally curse you, because not only weren't you born among the billions of human beings that aren't Christian, but you were raised as a Christian with the capacity and will to get yourself involved in theological discussions, which in your view, brings you ever closer to the knowledge of your god, and therefore increases your responsibility to behave as you think is moral, even if it brings you pain, doubt, heartbreak or confrontation with your neighbours, your community or your congregation. Why should you be loaded with this responsibility, out of the millions of people who have lived more comfortable lives, with more capacity to raise their own status over the abuse and exploitation of others, many of whom didn't even have the responsibility of being Christians, and didn't have to deal with the challenges and difficulties of your own life? It all sounds to me like you're grasping a burning nail for the flimsy chance that an omnipotent being that could and should treat you better does actually really exist.

I'm glad I know these things and am able to debate them. Yes, I'll be held to a higher standard, but I know Jesus and I can introduce other people to Him. I live in australia, so it's all legal but even if it weren't, I'd still be with Him. I have missed out on things before (not very often, but mostly due to things being on Sabbath) but I'm prepared to give up more. Jesus never said it'd be easy (He said it'd be hard), but with His help, imma do what He says.

It seems to me that the both of us have our own beliefs and that neither of us are going to change our mind. Could we agree to disagree?

Jesus accounts for everybody, including those who lived and died before He came here. That's what the animal sacrifices were for, they were a symbol of what Jesus was going to do. God didn't create evil, evil is a natural byproduct of free will. Yes He created us and He created that tree, but we had a choice. When you speed and get a fine, is it your fault (because you did it) or is it the car company's fault (because they made a car that can go that fast and then sold it to you)? Heaven isn't just about living forever, it's mostly about being with God forever, and if you want to be with Him for all eternity, why wouldn't you want to be with Him now? Hell isn't a place of eternal suffering, it's being apart from God forever. Everybody has plenty of time and chances to make that choice, and everybody is judged only by what they can do.

But He hasn't neglected us. That's the beauty of what Jesus did-- He came down to us. He become a human, experienced all of the normal suffering, and then died by crucifixion, the cruelest and most barbaric method of execution ever invented. God shared in our suffering. He knows pain. He also offers an escape to a place where there'll be no suffering, pain, hurt, death, or any of that stuff. God didn't create evil. Evil isn't a "thing", it's a natural byproduct of free will. If someone is really, truly, free to choose what they do then they can choose to disobey God and do other things. Yes satan is evil, but he isn't the embodiment of evil, it's something he does. And someday, God will destroy satan and the demons-- that's what hell is originally for. Satan didn't want to be with God, but he didn't just do that. He wanted to be God. And when he fell he convinced a third of the angels to come with him, and he later convinced humans as well. And your right, God is largely beyond our understanding, but maybe we shouldn't completely understand Him. It's like we're a bunch of three-year-olds. The three-year-olds shouldn't know everything.

(I know you're partly joking, but imma take you seriously for a sec since this is a good point)
Just because someone says that God told them something doesn't mean that God actually told them. These things should always be checked against what we already know He said, we shouldn't just believe them.

While it's true that some denominations have slightly different canons, they all still have the same set of core books. As for the other books, you need to see if it's consistant with the others. There's some that are fine, there's some (ie the gospel of thomas) that are partly fine but also have some serious crap , and there's some (ie the gospel of judas) that are full of crap.

How come that plenty of its meaning got lost across plenty of languages if there was divine help? How come that an English Bible and a Russian Orthodox one may say substantially different things, merely due to translation divergences that piled on during centuries?

This why new translations should always be translated from the original languages. Yes, sometimes there was no access to the original-language versions, in those cases good on 'em for doing the best they could with what they had.

why doesn't God correct the record to make sure the hundreds of millions of Christians through the world who are following wrong ones aren't led astray?

Not everybody is held to the same standard. If you do something wrong and you don't know any better, it doesn't count as a sin until you know. And being a Christian isn't about what you do, it's about who you know.

He is omnipotent, he can simply forgive us without our involvement. Or allow forgiveness after death, because death is an arbitrary cutoff.

He could, but that wouldn't be consistent with His character. It'd involve Him overriding the free will that He gave us. If you don't let Him forgive you He won't.

Or provide more obvious evidence he exists instead of giving children cancer.

There's plenty of evidence. He's not really hidden, but if you don't want to find Him there's a fair chance you won't. And God doesn't give kids cancer, this world is broken and fallen. This isn'y how it's supposed to be.

The meme is applicable to your beliefs as well. Guess correctly in ~100 years of life or be denied paradise for eternity.

It'll be paradise, but only for those who want to be with Him. If you don't want to be with Him, why would you want to be with Him for eternity? Everyone has a choice, you can be with God forever or be apart from Him forever. He'd rather you choose to be with Him, but He won't force you to be with Him. There's no eternal suffering in hell, it's just nothingness, eternal separation from God.

I disagree, I think there's plenty of evidence for God (if there weren't, I might not be a Christian). As for balancing God's omniscience/omnipotence with our free will, I think that's just something you have to accept. Many people who are much smarter and wiser than me have tried to come up with a solution, but here's what I think. I think that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but he "offloads" some of that power and decision-making to us. I'm really not sure of a metaphor that would work for this, I could say that it's like He's reading a book and can flick back and forth to see what happens, back that wouldn't work because the book's already been written. I could say He's writing a book but that wouldn't work because the writer has complete control over everything the characters do. I could compare Him to a human king, but kings don't know everything that happens and they don't care about everybody.

I might not be understanding the nuances here, but from what you say even an Unforgivable Sin is "punished" by oblivion in the death-sleep, no?

That's about it really, just the death-sleep is forever

So I gather then that you don't really fear hell, although not-hell would be preferable?

I don't have any need to be afraid of hell, I'm with God. But even then I don't fear death-- there's nothing in it for me to be afraid of because if I were to drop dead right now, I'd be dead (death-sleep, but this one's temporary) and the next thing I'd know would be Him coming back

They better be careful, they might get sued

It's false advertising really