The Schizophrenic Nature and Character of God

In this article we will discuss what the Bible has to say about its contradictory things—The Schizophrenic Nature and Character of God. You'd think the Bible could at least get that right, right? Well, guess what... That's not true either. It constantly sends contradictory messages about the nature and character of God. As I said, there is no exception to the rule, and the teachings reads in the Bible will result in contradictory messages. One can't say anything with certainty. Bible believers would insist that you can—but only when u read it with tunnel vision—if you just focus on what you like and what you want the bible to teach—you'll find stuff in there that will support that and you will have to ignore all the other things that contradict that, and thats all bible believers ever do. 

Is God Omniscient?

The Bible portrays Yahweh as being all-knowing (or omniscient). Nothing, it is claimed, can avoid his notice:

• “…for God…knows all things.” - 1 John 3:20. 
• “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” - Matthew 10:30.
• “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.” - Psalm 147:4.

He not only knows all at any given moment, but he is also believed to know the future. All the while, though, we find several occurrences in the Bible where he does not appear to know the future at all. Genesis 6:6 tells us that, after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he lamented his creation of man: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” So the question is, why would an all-wise and all-knowing god, who knows the future, create man in the first place if he knew he was going to later regret having done so? Or, better yet, if he knew what the outcome of the tempting serpent would be, why allow him to tempt, or why place the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” in the Garden of Eden to begin with? The Genesis record says that he put that tree there himself, knowing full well in advance that Adam and his wife were going to eat from it, and thereby bring all manner of evil and suffering into the world. Not only did Yahweh not do anything to prevent this fall, but he actually set up the criteria for it. Think about it. Could we not rightly label this as entrapment? Be aware that this is the Bible’s explanation for how all the misery, suffering, death, murders, rapes, slavery, and everything else detestable in this world had come about. Yet, it turns out that the blame for it all must ultimately fall in the lap of this professed all-loving and all-knowing god. And when you come right down to it, how offensive was it, really, for Adam and Eve to have eaten a piece of fruit? Was that really enough to warrant countless thousands of years of human suffering, involving untold billions of people? Does the word “arbitrary” come to mind here? How about “tyrannical”? In any case, the best you can say about a god who would operate this way, and still legitimately maintain his label of “all-loving,” is that he must not be all that omniscient after all.

In the story of Passover we find another example of Yahweh’s lack of omniscience. Exodus 12:23 has him telling the Israelites: “When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the [firstborn among the] Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.” So Yahweh would not have known whether to kill the firstborn in any given residence unless he saw blood on the doorframe? Another affiliated issue is the fact that Yahweh is portrayed as knowing the hearts of men:

• “Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men.” - Acts 1:24
• “Thou [Yahweh] knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.” - Psalm 139:2, 3. 
• “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.” - Psalm 139:4.

Now scan these contradictory passages: 

• “The Lord, your God, proveth [tests] you, to know whether ye love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul.” - Deuteronomy 13:3.
• “The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove [again, test] thee, to know what was in thy heart.” - Deuteronomy 8:2. 
• “For now I [Yahweh] know that thou [meaning Abraham] fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son [Isaac], thine only son, from me.” - Genesis 22:12. 

In view of texts such as these, is it possible to still hold the idea that the god of the Bible knows the future? Why would he have a need to test people to determine their devotedness if he supposedly already knows where they stand?

Is God Omnipresent?

The Bible also portrays Yahweh as being everywhere present at all times (or being omnipresent): 

• “The eyes of the Lord are in every place.” - Proverbs 15:3.
• “Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” - Psalm 139:7-10. 
• “For his [God’s] eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.” - Job 34:21.

Contrast these references with the antagonistic ones that follow: 

• “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower.” - Genesis 11:5.
• “And the Lord said, ‘Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and, if not, I will know.’” - Genesis 18:20, 21. 
• “And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, amongst the trees of the garden.” - Genesis 3:8.

From these passages we can surmise that there is something desperately wrong with the notion of Yahweh being omnipresent.

Is God Omnipotent?

It goes without saying that the Bible also teaches that Yahweh is omnipotent—that there is nothing he is unable to do, since he is the “Almighty”:

• “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for me?” - Jeremiah 32:27.
• “With God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26.

We receive a completely different message, however, when we read passages like Judges 1:19: “And the Lord was with Judah, and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.” So chariots of iron presented an obstacle for the “Almighty”? Would you not agree that we have a huge discrepancy here with the notion of this god being omnipotent? Can this book called the Bible get anything straight? 

It would appear that Yahweh later figured out how to overpower those formidable iron chariots, for look what we find in Joshua 17:18: “Thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots…” If this was not so pathetic, it would be laughable.

Look at this curious contradiction regarding Yahweh’s “almighty power”: First we are told this about Yahweh, in Psalm 136:4: “To him who alone doeth great wonders.” But then we read this about the so-called coming Antichrist, in 2 Thessalonians 2:9: “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders.”

Is God Unchangeable?

Reading the next several passages would give us the firm impression that the god of the Bible is unchangeable:

• “With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” - James 1:17.
• “For I am the Lord; I change not.” - Malachi 3:6.
• “I, the Lord, have spoken it; it shall come to pass, and I will do it. I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent.” - Ezekiel 24:14.

But quite a contradictory message is sent in this next grouping: 

• “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not.” - Jonah 3:10.
• “Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, ‘I said, indeed, that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever; but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me....Behold, the days come that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house.’” - 1 Samuel 2:30, 31.
• “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, ‘Thus saith the Lord, set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.’...And it came to pass afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, ‘Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, thus saith the Lord,....I have heard thy prayer,...and I will add unto thy days, fifteen years.’” - 2 Kings 20:1, 4-6. First “the Lord” told Hezekiah that he was about to die. But then he changed his mind and decided to add fifteen years to his life.
• “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Depart and go up hence, thou and the people....For I will not go up in the midst of thee.’...And the Lord said, ‘I will do this thing, also, that thou hast spoken....My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.’” - Exodus 33:1, 3, 17, 14. Yahweh first told Moses that he would not accompany him, but then he had a change of heart. Is this what James meant by God having no variableness or shadow of turning? 

Does God Lie?

Numbers 23:19 states: “God is not a man, that he should lie…” Concurrently, Proverbs 12:22 says: “Lying lips are an abomination to Yahweh…” Titus 1:2 further declares: “…God…does not lie…” And finally, Psalm 101:7 has Yahweh saying: “He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.” These passages state, as one would expect from a deity ostensibly dedicated to truth, that Yahweh does not lie or approve of others lying. But the Bible elsewhere says otherwise:

• “Yahweh has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these your prophets.” - 1 Kings 22:23. 
• “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” - Ezekiel 14:9.
• “Alas, Sovereign Lord! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem…” - Jeremiah 4:10.
• “O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.” - Jeremiah 20:7.
• “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie…” - 2 Thessalonians 2:11. 

Can a god who says he is against lies be trusted when he says he deceives? Jesus said that when the devil lies, he speaks of his own (in other words, lies are of the devil). John, in Revelation 22:15, tells us that among the ones who will be kept out of heaven will be those who love and conjure up lies. Yet we discover that the “God of truth” deceives. Something is desperately wrong here.

Is God the Author of Evil?

While the Bible tells us that it is Satan who is the source of evil, it also assures us that Yahweh is the fountainhead of all that is good: “A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” - Deuteronomy 32:4. But the Bible does not consistently paint this picture of Yahweh. In Isaiah 45:7 he is portrayed as saying: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” The “God of righteousness” admits that he creates evil and darkness? Here are some other passages like this:

• “Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good?” - Lamentations 3:38.
• “Thus saith the Lord, ‘Behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you.’” - Jeremiah 18:11.
• “Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?” - Amos 3:6.
• “…evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.” - Micah 1:12.

We hardly need to speculate as to whether or not this deity is evil when we see that he himself places this very label on his own head. 

Is God Kind and Merciful?

Most people would never think of questioning the idea of the god of the Bible being kind and merciful, as these verses indicate:

• “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” - James 5:11. 
• “For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” - Lamentations 3:33.
• “For his mercy endureth forever.” - 1 Chronicles 16:34.
• “‘I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,’ saith the Lord God.” - Ezekiel 18:32. 
• “The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.” - Psalm 145:9.
• “Who [God] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” - 1 Timothy 2:4. 
• “God is love.” - 1 John 4:16. 
• “Good and upright is the Lord.” - Psalm 25:8.

This all sounds great. But these next several scriptures send a thoroughly conflicting message: 

“‘I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’” - Jeremiah 13:14. Keep in mind how we just read, in Lamentations 3:33: “For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.”

• “And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them.” - Deuteronomy 7:16.  
• “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.” - 1 Samuel 15:3.
• “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! And if they say to you, But where can we go? tell them, This is what the Lord says: Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity. I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,’ says the Lord. ‘I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.’” - Jeremiah 15:1-4. 
• “Because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand, and three score and ten men.” - 1 Samuel 6:19.
• “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire.” - Deuteronomy 4:24.
• “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would [heed] none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.” - Proverbs 1:26-30.
• “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.’ He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” - Psalm 2:1-4.

All the while that Yahweh says he will laugh at the suffering of the heathen, look at what Solomon told his readers: “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth.” - Proverbs 24:17.

Does God Dwell in Light or Darkness?

The Bible seems emphatic that Yahweh constantly dwells in brilliant radiant light. In Revelation 21:10, 11, 23 we read: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, [New] Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal….The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” Paul also said that Yahweh “alone is immortal and…lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see…” - 1 Timothy 6:16. But then we have passages like these:  

• “The Lord said he would dwell in thick darkness.” - 1 Kings 8:12.
• “He made darkness his secret place.” - Psalm 18:11.
• “Clouds and darkness are round about him.” - Psalm 97:2.

Not only do these conflicting passages provide further confirmation that the Bible contradicts itself and thus cannot be relied on, but they also show us that the god of this book is, at best, bipolar. 

Does God Hold Sons Responsible for the Sins of Their Fathers?

You would think that the answer to this question would be a resounding no! And there are certainly passages in the Bible that concur: 

• “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.” - Deuteronomy 24:16.
• “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.” - Ezekiel 18:20.

This seems all fine and dandy. But what about these next few contradictory passages? 

• “You shall not bow down to them or worship them [idols]; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” - Exodus 20:5. Here we see that, not only does Yahweh make children bear the guilt and punishment for the sins of their fathers, but that this curse is to carry over for several generations. 
• “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.’” - Exodus 34:6, 7. 
• “Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants.” - Isaiah 14:21. 

These are major, major problems that we are dealing with here, and they force us to ask the hard question: What kind of God are we dealing with here, anyway? 

Does God Get Angry?

The Bible tells us that anger is a vile evil—one of the “works of the flesh” that will presumably keep people out of heaven, as we see from Galatians 5:19-21, where Paul wrote: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

We also find passages in the Bible which reveal that getting angry is not God’s thing: 

• “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.” - Psalm 103:8.  
• “His anger endureth but a moment.” - Psalm 30:5.

Strange that the Bible would say that Yahweh could get angry at all, since anger is labeled as a “work of the flesh.” But nevertheless, his anger in these last two passages is said to be short in duration and difficult to arouse. But then there are these contrasting passages:

• “The Lord is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and wrath. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and furiously destroys his enemies!…Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence.” - Nahum 1:2, 6. Speaking of Yahweh taking revenge, it is important to point out here what Paul wrote about revenge: “See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:15. Likewise, Peter wrote: “Don’t repay evil for evil.” - 1 Peter 3:9. Not only did Yahweh like to personally get revenge, but he also compelled his warriors to do the same: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites...’” - Numbers 31:1, 2. 
• “And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed.” - Numbers 32:13. 
• “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Take all the heads [leaders] of the [Moabite] people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.’” - Numbers 25:4. 
• “For I have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn forever.” - Jeremiah 17:4.

This god does not sound very slow to anger, and his anger certainly is not short-lived, according to what we just read. So something is fundamentally wrong with this deity. 

Was God in Favor of Wife Beating?

Several places in the Old Testament feature Yahweh likening the rebellious Israelites to an unfaithful wife, and in this context Yahweh often made some very disturbing comments: 

• “But [you, Israel, act] as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers [other gods] instead of her husband!…[Therefore] I will judge thee, as a woman that breaks wedlock…I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy….They [Israel’s enemies] shall…bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords…and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot.” - Ezekiel 16:32, 38, 40, 41.
• “They [Israel’s enemies] shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom…” - Ezekiel 23:26, 27.
• “…for she [Israel] is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery.” - Hosea 2:2-4. 

Symbolic as this may be, just look at the message it sends about wife beating. What kind of example was Yahweh setting here? 

Did God Command, and Take Pleasure in, Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices?

The proceeding group of passages indicates that Yahweh did indeed both command, and take pleasure in, such things:

• “Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement.” - Exodus 29:36. 
• “On the tenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” - Leviticus 23:27.
• “And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar;...it is a sweet savor; an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” - Exodus 29:18.
• “And the priest shall burn it all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.” - Leviticus 1:9. 
• “‘Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and my name is to be feared among the nations.’” - Malachi 1:14. 

Now contrast these last several references with the ones that follow: 

• “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.” - Jeremiah 7:22. 
• “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.” - Jeremiah 6:20.
• “Will I eat of the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most high.” - Psalm 50:13, 14. 
• “You [Yahweh] do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.” - Psalm 51:16, 17. “‘Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot [stand them] away with [them]; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting....To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?’ saith the Lord. ‘I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand?’” - Isaiah 1:13, 11, 12.

And then there is this gem: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” - Hebrews 10:4. For centuries on end sacrifices were demanded by Yahweh, and now we find out that the whole charade was for nothing?

But just consider the whole concept of animal sacrifice. What kind of a god would require or even accept such a thing at all, and on such a massive scale like what we read about in this next verse: “They [the Israelites] sacrificed to the Lord that day 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought.” - 2 Chronicles 15:11. A total of 7,700 animals were sacrificed that day? Picture that scene, and then ask yourself if you can respect (let alone worship) a god that would require or even tolerate this type of thing. 

There are yet more inconveniences for Bible believers regarding the biblical concept of blood sacrifice. We learn from Hebrews 9:22 that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [of sins].” Similarly, Leviticus 17:11 carries this message: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement...” Exodus 29:36 further says: “Sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement…” Forget what we read a moment ago about it being impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. We just saw here that animal sacrifice was necessary for forgiveness and atonement, at least in Old Testament times. Yet the Old Testament sent out another message, quite contrary to this one: 

• “If my people…pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then…I will forgive their sin.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14. 
•  “Through love and faithfulness is sin atoned for.” - Proverbs 16:6.
• “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” - Psalm 32:5.
• “If a wicked person turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him.” - Ezekiel 18:21, 22.

What a dizzying carnival ride the Bible is. But there is still another incoherency regarding blood sacrifice that must be brought to light here: The book of Hebrews reveals that Christ’s alleged “sacrifice” on the cross is the ultimate, final, and only true atonement for sin: “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” (10:10). Because of verses like this, Christians believe that there are to be no more sacrifices for sin—that Christ’s sacrifice ended forever the whole sacrificial system. However, according to Jeremiah 33:17, 18, the sacrificial system was never supposed to end: “David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.” As you ponder such agonizingly opposing messages in the “word of God,” just remember: “God is not the author of confusion.” - 1 Corinthians 14:33. 

The final blood sacrifice anomaly we will look at, which we briefly touched upon earlier, pertains to two goat ceremonies that were performed every year in ancient Israel, on Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement.” Yahweh thusly explained to Moses how these ceremonies were to be carried out: “He [Aaron] is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat [Azazel]. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.” - Leviticus 16:8-10. What this is saying is that, in addition to all the animals that were slaughtered on a daily basis for sin, on Yom Kippur a special sacrifice was offered for all the collective sins of the people for the previous year. One can only guess as to why this was necessary. But there are two other major problems raised here for Bible believers (particularly Christians):

1. According to Christian theology, who was this scapegoat supposed to represent? The goat that was sacrificed is obviously assumed to stand for Christ, who ostensibly died for all the sins of mankind. But what about the scapegoat? The above passage clearly states that this goat was also to provide atonement for sin. Yet this goat was not slaughtered. Instead, after having the people’s sins confessed over its head, it was led out into the wilderness and abandoned there. How does this symbolism fit in with the context of Christ’s atoning sacrifice? Forget consulting the New Testament for some insights into this matter, because no mention is ever made of it therein.  
2. Why were lots cast to determine which goat would be sacrificed and which one would be led out into the wilderness? If the goat-slaying Yom Kippur ceremony was supposed to represent Christ’s ultimate atoning sacrifice, why was the selection process of this goat left to chance? This whole scenario makes absolutely no sense when viewed in light of the so-called “sacrifice” of Christ.¨

In case you are still not comprehending how schizophrenic and downright psychopathic Yahweh is, compare what he said in these next two verses: 

• “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” - Jeremiah 31:3.
• “Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.” - Psalm 50:22. 

And then there is this charmer:

“Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you [if you disobey him]. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.” - Deuteronomy 28:63. Now compare this with what is said, once again, in Lamentations 3:33: “For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.”