I've been speaking with an atheist friend of mine, trying to straighten out miscinceptions about Christianity, but he keeps coming with an argument that disturbs me and I really could use help.
He says that he believes that God is responsible for evil things!! and he justifies this by bringing up old stories from the Old Testament like the Flood. Obviously women and children perished in the Flood along with wicked men. He brings up incidents where God tells Israelites to decimate villages and towns in Cannan.
He also brings up the story of Abraham who was going to sacrifice Issac because God told him too. He felt that this was a sick thing for God to tell someone to do.
How should I respond to these arguments?? Our God is great, He sent Jesus to save us. He is very loving. He was done wonderful and merciful things in the old and new testaments. But a handful of unusual stories from the old testament challenges this image for very objective people like atheists.