hmmm...

OK, I've managed this long without divulging too much into my confused religious beliefs. Until now.

Basically, I've started reading the Bible. I'm not sure why, I just thought it would be a good idea since so much of this world bases their faith/life on what is written in it.

So far I have read the book of Genesis, and the start of Exodus. And I just don't understand all of it (not content wise, I can obviously understand what is being written, but I don't understand all the hypocrisy and lack of continuity). I don't understand why people would base their blind faith on what is written in it...? There must be more information that I'm just not getting from what I have found there. The stories are haphazard and contain minimal information - how is that enough? It seems that people build the stories up to mythic proportions, so now that I am reading them they seem a lot less significant. What time period are these supposed to be set in? Etc etc etc.

Here are some of my main questions so far:

With Moses and the freeing of the Israelites: why does God harden the heart of the Pharaoh in order to "prove" himself to the people by inflicting plagues upon plagues, therefore harming/killing many Egyptians? Why is it OK for the Israelites to have slaves, but not the Egyptians?

Why does God feel such a need/desire to prove himself?

I feel I can answer this one with the fact that the Bible was written by males, but why does God continually promise men "children as abundant as the stars in the sky" when he wants them to do something?

Why does God favour some groups of people over others - weren't they all created in his image from the single entity of Adam?

Why would God care that males are circumcised or not?

Why is it OK for a man to have sex with a prostitute, especially one which turns out to be his daughter-in-law, but God kills a man who "pulls out" during sex?

Well, that's enough for now....more to come!