Why do atheists have a problem accepting the bible as the word of God? I think one example is the story of Noah and the flood. Now I am not a big reader of the bible. I know for some atheists reading the bible was the catalyst that drove them to nonbelief. I am not as familiar with the bible as most so if I misunderstand the story of Noah feel free to correct me.

To summarize, for those even less familiar then me, God looks upon the earth and sees too much wickedness. He warns Noah so he can build an ark and save his family and some of the animals from God’s wrath. People make fun of Noah. Forty days of rain later and the earth was covered in water. Noah and the other ark passengers wait for the water to reside and then repopulate the earth.

I know there is a lot of thous and thees, but that is the gist of the story. So from a rational point of view I can only come to one of three possible conclusions:

1. This was a fable. The lesson of which is; listen to God or else. The basic premise of many God tales. Fear. Those in the story that were wicked perished because they did not follow the imaginary being known as God. Noah listened, obeyed, and was saved.
2. God is wicked. Being an all-knowing and all-powerful being he created everything. Even the bad people that did not listen to him. This is where someone will remind me of Free Will. However an all-knowing and all-powerful God would have known they would not have listen to him. God made them that way, on purpose. He knew the outcome before it happened. So he drowned every last thing. Think about that. There were children; some only minutes old that were drown because God had a temper. I would classify any one who would drown children as wicked (as well as other things, like mentally unstable).
3. That wasn’t God. If God did not know that his creations would be bad then he was not all-knowing. If he could not save the innocent children of the world then he was not all-powerful. If the God character in the story was not all-knowing or all-powerful then why call him God?

So what are my choices as a rational human being? If that wasn’t God then the bible is not the word of God. So why buy into the religion? If God is wicked then he is not the loving God the church portrays him as. So why worship such a wicked character? If this is a fable, my favorite of the three as it has no supernatural elements and seems the simplest explanation, and then the bible is not the word of God and trying to live my life according to a fable whose true lesson is worship or else seems asinine.

Is there any other conclusion one could draw from this story that encompasses every component of the story? Think about it.