[quote]First of all, the Bible claims that God cannot lie (unless by proxy with angels), does this not violate the idea of omnipotence? Also, does he not tell Adam that eating the fruit will kill him? Which it didn't. [/quote]No where in The Bible says God can't lie. And God didn't tell Adam that the Fruit of Knowledge would kill him, he said it would compromise his immortality since that was Adams contract with God. Adam was to be the keeper of the Garden for eternity as long as he obeyed the rules God gave out, and Adam broke that contract when he ate the fruit of knowledge (typical how a woman ruined mans perfect life right?). [quote]Secondly, if God created everything, he must've foreseen the War in Heaven, Judas's betrayal and other pivotal points. All of these are integral to the faith, so, is Satan not carrying out the will of God? The more obvious example is, how is it fair that Judas should be driven to suicide and generations of Jews persecuted for something (the romans did) that was central to God's plan?[/quote]Gods "Divine power" is widely debated as The Bible widely contradicts itself on Gods abilities. As such, it's pretty given that the God in Jewish/Christian canon isn't all powerful, but pretty close. Enough to know when someone tells a lie (the death of Kane), or enough to create the universe but needs to rest afterwards on the seventh day. [quote]Finally, how is scapegoating moral? How is it fair that someone else can die and take away your responsibility? Nobody can take away your responsibility. Also, how is it fair that it should be forced upon us, in this day and age, when we had no hand in his execution - which was, again, part of God's plan? [/quote]Except the responsibility isn't taken away, the eternal consequence is. You must still wise up to your wrong doings and why they were wrong, but as long as you accept Jesus you will be forgiven for them. It's good to accept his REAL teachings as well. And by real I mean the stuff he actually said and wanted his followers and worshipers to do. Like to love your brothers and sisters even if they're evil, sinning, heathens, you still love them.

This set of questions presupposes that the Christian theology isn't full of philosophical holes. But I'll give you the presupposition and answer the questions from the perspective of the fundamentalist. 1. [i]the Bible claims that God cannot lie (unless by proxy with angels), does this not violate the idea of omnipotence?[/i] "Cannot" is a vague term and can simply refer to His unwillingness, not His inability, to lie. In other words, God is capable of lying, but He will not, because He is perfect good, therefore the question is irrelevant. 2.[i]does he not tell Adam that eating the fruit will kill him? Which it didn't. [/i] (Assuming I am presupposing that the Creation story is true, [which educated people understand is impossible] and not taking it as a metaphor) Again, "die" is a word with a double meaning. Adam, Eve, and mankind "died" to God in sin and were forever separated from Him in the Christian mythos. 3.[i]if God created everything, he must've foreseen the War in Heaven, Judas's betrayal and other pivotal points. All of these are integral to the faith, so, is Satan not carrying out the will of God?[/i] All things work towards the will of God, the final victory is already known. So yes. The key variable not being noticed here is free will - Satan must be released into the world to give the created man a choice. 4.[i]how is it fair that Judas should be driven to suicide and generations of Jews persecuted for something (the romans did) that was central to God's plan?[/i] Judas' death is actually one of the discrepancies in the Bible. Matthew 27 shows Judas as a guilt-stricken man who commits suicide by hanging himself (which is a personal choice, by the way). The book of Acts says that Judas used the thirty pieces of silver to purchase a field, where he fell over, died, and his guts spilled out on the ground (no guilt present). I've never heard of a Christian claiming that the Jews were persecuted because they crucified Christ. The anti-Semitic feelings in Christianity are drawn from Jews being represented as the Pharisees in the Gospels (you of course know that Jesus repeatedly rebuked them). Blame Constantine for everything. 5.[i]how is scapegoating moral? How is it fair that someone else can die and take away your responsibility?[/i] It's not. The argument is that Christ loved you all so much that he chose to take it all himself. But unfortunately, that opens up a lot of problems with the modern day Christian belief system. 6.[i]how is it fair that it should be forced upon us, in this day and age, when we had no hand in his execution - which was, again, part of God's plan?[/i] Again, it's not. To put it bluntly, you have been created sick, and you must now choose to be well, or else burn in fire for eternity. The method of getting well is closing your eyes and telling Jesus you accept his gift, by the way. People all over the world who have never heard of Christianity, good people who just don't buy stories with logical canyons carved into them - they all burn forever and ever because they didn't just accept that Jesus died for them. God is Love. Yia sou.