Quote Originally Posted by ermitonto
Well, we humans didn't choose to all be sinners by nature, did we? No, if God created us and we are all sinners by nature, it must be God's fault for the design flaw, and thus all sinners would be really innocent.

I gave the idea of God a chance. I really did. For the first 13 or 14 years of my life I was a Christian. But I failed to find any sign of God. He failed to answer my prayers. He failed to show even the slightest sign of his existence. This, combined with the wacky tall tales and outright contradictions found in the Bible (see http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.co...a/by_name.html) caused me to reject the Christian dogma much of my society expected me to unquestioningly accept. Believe me, this was not an easy or impulsive decision (it's hard to tell your parents you no longer believe in their deity). It involved a lot of careful thought and a long period of trying and subsequently rejecting various rationalizations for God's existence. But in the end it was apparent that Christianity had as much proof of its veracity as any other religion did, i.e. none at all.
Once again, read what I wrote before.

"Why did God even allow us to screw up so badly? Well because if he had not, and made us incapable of making descisions, then we would be drones, robots, with no free will. So giving us that free will, we were able to do what we want."

Were we damned to fall in sin to begin with? Perhaps, surly God knew what we would choose. Its possible (which I can't with 100% surness) that God created us in this physical world so that we can by choice, overcome sin and be reborn into the perfect human later. (In the new Heaven and Earth)

It's unfortunate that this list of "contradictions" convinced you to quit. Most of them are just commonly misunderstood (ie: Why so many people find it necessary to go to Church) Either you were unlucky enough to grow up christians who cannot answer questions, or you simply did not care to try anymore. God works in diffrent ways and I know that you have been told that before. But, the bible also does explain that not everyone could be saved (which would seem like another "contradiction") because how a person can truly believe in him, the same goes for the opposite. Absolutly despise him, or rather the christians which they can see. This is our choice, it's not like its impossible for everyone to be saved but it is pretty much impossible by works of man at this point.