To prove a point. This is why God does many things, to teach a lesson. In this case, the Jews were chosen by Him to demonstrate His capacity to love them. They turned away from Him time and again and were generally a really pathetic chosen people, but He never changed His attitude towards them. Also, implied there is that 'could' means 'should', which is not the case. God could have just told everyone in the world in detail what His plan was, sure, but He didn't, meaning that He shouldn't have. And I said 'in detail', because God has already revealed Himself to everyone in a way. Everyone knows innately that there is some higher power, and they try to explain it, but the enemy often manages to twist them from the right path. Why must people who have never heard the gospel go to hell? It is required, because they are sinners and the only way to be forgiven is to ask. That said, the Bible indicates that their punishment will not be as severe as those who have heard and refused to believe. Quite frankly though, I can't say exactly why God chose to do things this way, but as the standard, everything God does is fundamentally right.
Again, this isn't what I'm talking about, but all right. It is true that hope is a unique feature of Christianity, and this is not by accident. Many, unfortunately, reject that hope. As for the exploiting part, it must be admitted that this does occur, but the Bible condemns it very strongly and emphatically warns believers not to fall for such false teachers.
Correct. You must accept by faith that reason is a valid method of proof, which is no more and no less valid than Christians accepting by faith that God is the standard for proof. Another thing: for one to judge Christianity, one must assume a moral standard by which to do so, which necessarily rejects Christianity already. The only way to invalidate Christianity is to find that it contradicts itself, which has never been done despite humanity's best efforts.
I repeat, those who exploit others are not followers of Christ. If anything, they back up the Bible's prediction because Christianity is arguably the most attacked and betrayed religion in the world. And the Bible and myself both agree that church leaders are not necessarily to be trusted, for just that reason. The Bible is the only absolutely concrete source on Christianity, and all other teaching is to be judged based on it alone.
This doesn't really make sense, even from an outside perspective. In the first place, never is the reader given to understand that God does not care, or that He condones certain actions. The Bible in the old testament is in large part a historical account, so authorial commentary is mostly excluded in favor of simply recounting events. What you can see from this account, though, is that God's plan is bigger than any single incident, as illustrated by the case of Joseph. Joseph had a rough time at first, but time told that it was all for a bigger purpose, and an illustration of how God can turn evil intent into a good outcome. If your plan is to just accept Christ when He comes, you won't. When He comes, it will be in judgement, and all who have rejected Him will no longer have a chance. But who knows; you might just get one last chance when the end begins. I can only agree with the last phrase; the end certainly doesn't seem far off.
