Sorry to drag this up again, but I've had a thought- my more learned Christian friends would tell me that as a non-believer, I will simply not go to heaven. Presumably you've all read the bible. What am I meant to make of such vagueness and ambiguity over this point, I am confused by the message the bible gives us, which surely can't be right for the perfect Word of God.

I mean, the bible tells us that slavery is ok (Leviticus 25, Exodus 21- God says to Moses, "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property."- and even Jesus says it's okay to beat your slaves, in Luke 12).

There are also a lot of instances where God says it's acceptable to kill a man for certain reasons, e.g. if they hit their parents (Exodus 21), adultery or homosexuality (Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy 22), atheists or people who believe in other religions (2 Chronicles 15, Deuteronomy 13- this passage even states you should burn down whole towns which contain even one non-believer!), or even working on a Sunday (Exodus 31). Isiaiah 14:21 also tells us it's okay to slay the children of people who have done wrong. God also says that if a man rapes an unmarried woman he must pay a fine, and that they must get married.

These morals are taught along with the 'standard set' that Christianity is meant to stand on- they're from the same books- but are, strangely, ignored. I am muchly confused about the message of the bible, and how you have to cherry-pick it for it to seem 'right'.