Why I Do Not Believe in the Mischaracterized Version of God (Which Most Atheists Reject)...But, I Do Believe in the God of the Bible.

Answers to Objections: Does God Exist? Are Miracles Possible? Is God a Murderer? 

Atheists, people who deny the existence of god or any spiritual dimension at all, often claim to be experts at science, which is debatable.  However, it is clear that most atheists, even those who claim to have been Christian do not have an accurate understanding of theology, especially the attributes of the God of the Bible.  Therefore, I have noticed from observing atheists' arguments against the existence of any god on several Facebook groups, that even though they usually think that they arguing against the existence of the God of Bible that they are not in fact arguing against an accurate representation of the God of Bible.   It seems that they misrepresent the God of the Bible and then argue against the misrepresented view of God which they themselves created.  This is know as the straw man fallacy.  

On the other hand, I co-authored a book, entitled Christianity: Reasons for Faith  (the only general apologetics book ever written in the Cambodian language) with a medical doctor/missionary who also earned a Bachelor’s in Biblical Studies and Theology.  Currently, my friend is a professor at the University of Cincinnati Medical School.  I also helped found a Christian school with another medical doctor/missionary who also earned graduate degrees in theology and served as the director of a Bible school in Cambodia for many years.  Both of these men were both experts in science and theology and so they were committed believers and effective missionaries.  

The “god” which the atheists argue against is infinitely smaller, weaker, less intelligent, and is never given the benefit of the doubt on any question of goodness or character.  They spend a lot of time lambasting God’s “cruelty” in the Flood and the Canaanites.  They automatically deny the possibility of miracles because miracles, according to them, violate the laws of physics.  Of course when Christians point out, that if there are “laws” of physics that there  must be a “lawmaker.” they usually get angry.   We also need to point out that scientists only discovered the laws of physics, they did not establish them. 
Let’s take a look at the main attributes of God which Christian theologians have known about for more than a thousand years from intensive Biblical study.  Heres is an adaptation of a summary by the Christian Research Institute. 
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1. Self-Existent: God has no cause; He does not depend on anything for his continued existence.  (Exodus 3:14, John 8:58, John 5:26, Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, and 48:12, Revelation 1:8, 1:17, 2:8, 3:14, 21:6, and 22:13)
2. Transcendent: God is entirely distinct from the universe as a carpenter is distinct from the house; pantheism (God is in all) is rejected and animism (everything is a god) is also rejected). (Isaiah 66:1-2, Acts 17:24, Psalms 102:25-27; 1 John 2:15-17, Genesis 1:1, and Isaiah 42:5).
3. Immanent: Though transcendent, God is present with and all the world; excluding deism (God is out there but not here). (Deuteronomy 4:7, Jeremiah 23:23, Acts 17:27, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:24, and Acts 17:28)
4. Immutable: God is perfect in that He never changes nor can he change with respect to His being, attributes, purpose, or promises.  This excludes process theology and the LDS doctrine of eternal progression. (Psalms 102:26-27, Isaiah 51:6, Malachi 3:6, Romans 1:23, Hebrews 1:11-12, James 1:17, and Hebrews 13:8, Exodus, 32:9-14, Psalms 18:25-27)
5. Eternal: God is perfect in that He transcends all time and temporal limitations and is thus infinite with respect to time.  (Psalms 90:2, 90:4, 93:2, 102:12, Ephesians 3:21, 2 Peter 3:8, Hebrews 1:2 and 11:3)
6. Omnipresent: God is perfect in that He transcends all space and spatial limitations, and is thus infinite with respect to space, with His whole Being filling every part of the universe and everything that exists both inside of the universe and beyond the universe.  God is present everywhere (not diffused through the universe, but present at each point in His fullness).  1 Kings 8:27, Isaiah 66:1, Acts 7:48-49, Psalms 139: 7-10, Acts 17:28, Matthew 18:20 and 28:20, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Ephesians 1:23 and 4:10, Colossians 3:11)
7. Omnipotent: God is perfect in that He can do all things consistent with the perfection of his being. God cannot do the self-contradictory (for example, make a rock He cannot lift) nor can He do that which is contrary to His perfect nature (for example, He cannot change, He cannot lie).  (Genesis 18:14, Jerusalem 32:17 and 27, Zechariah 8:6, Matthew 3:9, Job 42:2, Psalms 115:3, Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 1:37 and 18:27, Ephesians 1:11, 2 Timothy 2:13, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18, James 1:13)
8. Omniscient: God is perfect in that He knows all things , including events before they happen.  (Job 37:16, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Chronicles 28:9 and 17, Psalms 139:1-4, Jeremiah 17:10, Isaiah 41:22-23, 42:9, 44:7)
9. Incorporeal: God has no body or parts, and is immaterial, being a simple and infinite being of spirit. This excludes the LDS doctrine that God is an exalted man. (John 4:24, Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29)
10. One: God is a perfectly unique and simple being, existing as one infinite Being called God. There is therefore only one God, who is called Yahweh in the Old Testament, and who reveals Himself in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the New Testament. This excludes polytheism, tritheism (belief in three gods), and subordinationism (belief that Christ is a lesser god subordinate to the Almighty God). (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 44:6-8, 45:5-7, 21-22 and Zechariah 14:9, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Galatians 3:20, Ephesians 4:5-6, 1 Timothy 2:5, James 2:19, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, Exodus 4:16 and 7:1, Psalms 96:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:20, 2 Corinthians 10:20, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Philippians 3:19, Psalms 82:1, 6, John 10:34-36, Genesis 2:4, Deuteronomy 4:35 and 39, Psalms 100:3)
11. Creator: God is the One through whom all things have come into existence, by His unbounded power and knowledge He created finite existence ex nihilo (from nothing) and formed the universe as it now is.  (Genesis 1:1, Psalms 33:6, 102:25, John 1:3, Romans 11:36, Hebrews 1:2 and 11:3, Isaiah 44:24)
12. Personal: God, as the author of personhood in the created universe, cannot be lass than personal Himself; thus He experiences relationships with other persons, or self-conscious beings. God may be more than personal, indeed, His infinite nature suggests that He must be.  (Genesis 1:3 and 26,  Hebrews 1:1-2, Exodus 3:14)
13. Incomprehensible: God is incomprehensible, not in the sense that the concept of God is unintelligible, but in the sense that God cannot be full and directly known by finite creatures, because of His uniqueness and His infinitude. (Exodus 8:10, 9:14, 15:11, 2 Samuel 7:22, 1 Chronicles 17:20, Psalms 86:8, 1 Kings 8:23, Isaiah 40:18, 25, 44:7, 56:5, 9,  Jeremiah 10:6-7, Micah 7:18, Ezekiel 1:26-28, Revelations 1:13-16, 1 Corinthians 8:2-3,  John 1:18, Matthew 11:25-27)
14. Morally Perfect: God’s moral nature is perfectly unified, with no tension between His wrath and His love.
    1. Good: God is morally excellent and does only good (Genesis 1:31, Deuteronomy 8:16, Psalms 107:8, 118:1, Nahum 1:7, Mark 10:18, Romans 8:28)
    2. Holy: God is morally transcendent, utterly separated from all evil, and perfectly pure. (Exodus 3:5, Leviticus 19:2, Psalms 5:4-6, 99:5, Isaiah 6:3, 8:13, Habakuk 1:12-13, 1 Peter 1:14-19)
    3. Righteous: God is perfectly moral in all that He does, doing everything right (Isaiah 45:21, Zephaniah 3:5, Romans 3:26)
    4. True: God is perfectly truthful, and cannot lie (John 17:17, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18)
    5. Loving: God’s moral character is pure love, sacrificial giving for the true benefit of another (Deuteronomy 7:7-8, Jerusalem 31:3, John 3:16, Hebrews 12:6)
    6. Wrathful: God’s moral perfection requires Him to show displeasure against anything which seeks to act contrary to its moral purpose, to judge that which rebels against His authority as Creator and Lord (Psalms 103:8-9, Romans 2:5 and 11:22, Hebrews 10:31)

Once we have an accurate understanding of God’s attributes we can answer many of the objections against God, which atheists raise.

Objection #1: There is no direct scientific evidence that God exists.
Answer:  God is entirely distinct from the universe as carpenters are distinct from the houses which they build.  God has no body or parts, and is immaterial, being a simple and infinite being of spirit.  Therefore, there is no scientific instrument that could detect such a being.  For example, if you only have a radio with an AM receiver which has a range of 100 kilometers, could you deny the existence of AM radio stations on the other side of the planet?  Could you deny the existence of FM radio stations, television stations, or WIFI signals?

Objection #2: Miracles are not possible. 
If the God described in the Bible exists, (see Objection #1 above) then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, eternal, the creator of all that exists, and more.  The biggest reason why secularists and atheists deny the possibility of miracles is because miracles supposedly “break” the laws of physics and nature.  However, we need to remember that scientists do not set the laws of physics and nature, they only discover them.  God, the creator, is the one who set or made the laws of physics and nature and He exists both, outside of, and superior to them.  Just as human governments set laws such as speed limits and traffic laws and then exempt their police officers from obeying those very same laws, God and anyone He designates can be exempted from the laws of physics and nature according to God’s will.  

Objection #3: God is a murderer.
To answer this objection, we need to first define the term, “murder.”  According to www.oxforddictionaries.com murder is, “The unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.”  1. God is not a human.  2 Jesus Christ, during his time on earth in human flesh never murdered anyone.  3. God, as the morally perfect creator, is the one who created all of the moral laws, which humans, His creations, live by.  There are many governments around the world, which have laws against murder and also have laws requiring that criminals who are convicted of crimes, such as murder, receive the death penalty. 

The moral gap between humans and God is much greater than the gap between humans and their government.  The gap is even greater than the gap between a baker and a loaf of bread.  In the case of God commanding the Israelites to kill the Canaanites and other groups in battles (Deuteronomy 20:17), let’s imagine the following scenario in a bakery:  A baker, bakes a baguette (Israelites) and a croissant (Canaanites etc.).  The baguette is good quality.  The croissant is bad quality.  The baker uses the baguette (Israelites) to sweep the croissant (Canaanites) into the trash can.  In this case the killing of the Canaanites was not “unlawful” because God, the creator, has the right to set all laws and to punish (or dispose of) those creatures who disobey His laws.   We may not like the fact that God is of unequalled power, but in the words of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, “He isn’t a tame lion (Aslan=God). …But He is good.”  

Source:  
https://www.equip.org/article/the-attributes-of-god-what-are-the-attributes-of-god/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxw3DC_faQA