^{Your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear the words you say.
Ralph Waldo Emerson}

^{We often hear religious people say, “God is love”. Why do they say this? Presumably they are repeating the several scriptures that say those words – scriptures that were allegedly written by divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16). If this is true then this is God telling us that God is love. But in all other aspects of our lives we would never accept that someone was "love" just because they said so. What if the writers and/or translators of the bible were mistaken? What if god is not love? Whether we are looking at a human being or a God, surely the only way to make a rational assessment is to use our (god given?) powers of reasoning to examine their actions. Don’t actions always speak louder than words?}

^{Let’s begin this assessment of God's love by looking at his actions in the Garden of Eden. Imagine that you are Adam or Eve and you are told by God that you have free reign in the Garden, you can do whatever you want, except eat the fruit of one tree. As soon as you think God’s back is turned what do you do? Of course, you seek out this tree! You are human and curious, and you eat the forbidden fruit. If you were God should you have been surprised or even disappointed?!}

^{Let’s accept that to eat this apple really was a terrible crime and that Adam and Eve deserved to be put to death. How could a “loving” God also condemn all of their descendants?! If someone committed a terrible crime against you, would it be right to transfer their guilt onto their descendants?}

^{Some religions explain God’s actions in the Garden of Eden by pointing out the challenge to his authority from the fallen angel, Lucifer (later renamed Satan). But if you were the all-knowing, all-seeing supreme power, the creator of the universe, why would you ever feel a need to prove anything to anyone!? And even if you did want to assert your authority over an errant angel, if you were the epitome of the word “love”, why would you involve innocent third parties in your dispute?}

^{We are told by many religions that when we die we are judged by God on how we lived our lives on Earth. If we were good we get to go to paradise (usually in heaven) but if we were bad, or even just not very good, we go to hell – where we suffer in torment for eternity! Presumably, Adam and Eve have already suffered a few thousand years in hell, but their punishment has only just begun! During a brief life span on Earth, how could anyone do something so bad as to warrant an eternity of punishment? And how is punishing someone for eternity, “loving”?!}

^{Some religions rationalise this by saying that the whole book of Genesis is symbolic and not meant to be taken literally. But symbolic language is always open to different interpretations - and if Genesis is symbolic what about other parts of the bible? How are we to know what is meant to be taken literally and what is symbolic?}

^{Still other religious people dismiss either the whole book of Genesis or even the whole Old Testament. SMART people say uh, uh. You can’t have it both ways. Either the bible, the whole bible, is the inspired word of God, or none of it is. If you are going to cherry pick which parts you are going to believe, then other people have that freedom too. How can you then criticise someone who rejects the parts that you believe, and believes the parts that you reject?}

^{If God was clever enough to get people to write His bible wouldn’t He have ensured that it was unambiguous, accurate and complete?}