[font=Arial]Generally I prefer to refrain from necromancy, but I just can't resist. 4give me, y'all.
[quote name='Sabre']The Bible was compiled by the council of Nicea around 325AD, about the time Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Constantine. While it is thousands of years old, it's content wasn't altered, either at the council of anytime since. The recently discovered "Dead Sea scrolls" pieces of the Old Testament found after being buried for thousands of years, are the same passages we have in the Bible today, give or take a few differences in punctuation.[/QUOTE]
The Bible was compiled arbitrarily at Nicaea -- there were a bunch of books they tossed out because they were believed to hold heretical or unflattering teachings/accounts of Christ's life. What criteria of judgment were employed, and who determined these criteria in the first place? Were these the judgments of man, or of God -- and if of God, how can you determine this?
Further, the synoptic gospels have parallel but [i]troublingly contradictory stories[/i] of Christ's life, persecution, and death. If these books are supposedly divinely inspired, how are there such glaring inconsistencies? Let's be honest, brother, the Bible is far from bulletproof.
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synoptic_Gospels"][B][link][/B][/URL]
[QUOTE]I guess having nothing but empty space to keep you company can be pretty lonely, I would think that God wanted companionship.[/QUOTE]
If we hold that God is fully perfect [insofar as he needs nothing else to complete himself, as he is complete -- an attribute of perfection], why would he need or even desire to create something outside of himself? Indeed, through the very act of creation, God necessitated the suffering of humanity whereas without this act, there would simply be perfection. Which universe would you prefer?
To be honest, I don't think we would get anywhere if I addressed other points made in your post. This is simply because we have such fundamentally different worldviews (and have a radically different set of axioms), it would be nigh impossible to even use the same vocabulary necessary for meaningful/intelligible dialogue. And questions of free will always get a bit sticky. :p[/font]