Questions that makes Christianity hard to swallow

[drakim]

Short answers are fine but I might ask you on specific details :D

Why does preventing evil remove the free will of humans? I'm not talking about removing the choice of evil, but just like, stopping earthquakes and preventing tidal waves.

Is it possible to sin in heaven? If no, does that mean there is no free will in heaven? If yes, doesn't that collide with the whole "You need Jesus blood to wash your sins away for you to be able to enter heaven" thingy?

Why does God appear to change so much throughout the timeline of the Bible? Why does he drown just about every human on the planet for being sinful in Genisis, but die on the cross for each and every one of us in the new testament?

Why does God exist? This is in essence the "why is there something rather than nothing" question. Why does God exist rather than there just being vast emptiness? Are we simply lucky that there existed a God to create us?

Why is God love? Why isn't God hate or apathy? Again, are we merely lucky that the emotion God corresponds to is love?

Why did God wait so long before sending Jesus? Why didn't God send down Jesus the minute Eve bit the apple? Why wait so many thousand years before saving the world?

Why are miracles so rare and hidden despite promises in the Bible? One would think that just once, just once, somebody would record a miracle of some kind. You know, a wound disappearing, a broken bone suddenly being okay, etc.

Why does God only heal some problems? I've heard hundreds of Christians talk about how the cancer of a family member was healed after prayer. Great, but cancer is very unstable and can at times disappear by itself. I've never ever once heard of a permanent problem, like having lost a limb, being healed. I take it it's not outside God's power?

Why does God play hide and seek? To me, it seems reasonable that if there were a God, it would be completely obvious. No, I don't mean "search your heart and you will find God" obvious. I mean as obvious as finding out which color the sky has. No need for wishy washy arguments with tons of strange definitions and logical conclusions. It's simply not like that in our world. There are tons of different religions, and tons of different opinions on who God is.

[drakim]

How come the transformative power of Jesus is so hard to spot? Christians often talk about how Jesus changes people. In my experience, Buddism is a lot better at changing people into living moral nonviolent lives. A big portion of Christians behaves just like everybody else. I've yet to see a Buddist gunnut who talks about how the poor gets too much money.

Why is Christianity so different from the things Jesus talks about? It would be nice to hear about somebody who actually did as Jesus said and sold his possessions and gave everything to the poor. But no, every single Christian I meet says "Jesus hasn't called upon me to do this". Jesus rarely seems to call upon people to do things that are too inconvenient these days.

How come so many Jews remain unconvinced? I mean, if we look at the Christian theology, it's easy to see how God kept his people safe throughout history and then sent the savior as promised. Yet, many Jews remain unconvinced. Seems kinda strange. Were many Israelis unconvinced by the second set of ten commandments that Moses brought them?

How come so many other religions experience God despite not being Christianity? There are tons of Hindus which can talk about experiencing their gods. Muslims are very into talking about experiencing Allah and seeing his miracles.

How do you know that the miracles of Christianity are true? There are claims to miracles in other religions than Christianity. Muslims claims that Muhammad split the moon into two and then glued them together. How would you explain this and yet maintain that nobody could be fooled by a fake resurrection?

[drakim]

Edit: Nevermind, the spam was deleted

[Mary G.]

Spammer blah I printed out your questions and have been going over them carefully, Drakim. I will reply in the next few days.

[drakim]

Great, looking forward to it.

Here are some more:
Why isn't even half of earth's population saved though Jesus? Christians talks about God's mysterious grand divine plan, which he has had from the moment he said "let there be light" to this very day. But how come his plan resulted in so few being saved? Surely an omnipotent being could have cooked up a plan that doesn't end up most of his children in hell?

Is free will worthwhile if means you end up in hell? For the people who end up in hell, wouldn't it have been a better deal if they were robots from the start and went to heaven? Is 70 years of free will on earth really worth an eternity of pain and anguish?

Could God have done things differently? Throughout the Bible, God often comes up with various solutions to help humanity. He helps his choosen people out of egypt, he sends his son down to die and provide a path to heaven for us. But, do you personally think it would be possible for God to have picked another solution? Could he have saved humanity by some other means than Jesus if he wanted to?

If you are a creationist or follow Intelligent Design, how do you explain stuff like HIV? Why did God decide to carefully design a virus like that? Why did God design the black plague virus? It's one thing to not save people who gets struck by a natural disaster. It's another entirely to use a biological weapon to kill them!

How do you know that when you feel the presence of Jesus or the holy spirit, it's not just the demon of another true religion like Hinduism? I've often seen Christians argue that then other religions feel the presence of God, it's the result of demons. Well, what if the reverse is true?

Do you think that Jesus resurrection proves that he is God? A lot of Christians have told me that Jesus resurrection was proof that he was indeed the son of God. Personally I'm kinda confused. If he resurrected, couldn't that just mean that he is a very powerful wizard? Surely great power doesn't stop you from being a liar?

[Paul A. Kaiser]

Great Questions!

They actually point our some of the fallacies of many "professing christians" and show how Gospel ignorat some really are..

I"ll get to a few of these this week... By the way do you do facebook?

[drakim]

Oct 11, 2009 23:05:11 GMT -5 Paul A. Kaiser said:

Great Questions!

They actually point our some of the fallacies of many "professing christians" and show how Gospel ignorat some really are..

I"ll get to a few of these this week... By the way do you do facebook?

Great!

However, nope, I don't use facebook, sorry :/

[meiday04]

These are my own views. I attempted to explain things in a way that is harmonious with the teachings of scripture, but if I have made a mistake, I apologize!

Why does preventing evil remove the free will of humans?
1. I'm not sure what this means. Natural Disasters? They are the result of the fall. Sometimes God prevents them, sometimes He uses them to judge. I'm not sure how that relates to free will.

Is it possible to sin in heaven?
1. No. Better than I could say it: www.desiringgod.org/Blog/970_does_heaven_destroy_liberty/

Why does God appear to change so much throughout the timeline of the Bible?
1. The God of the Bible does not change. The way different churches present him is what changes. Churches may seek to be more politically correct, or 'seeker friendly', and speak on the love of God, but avoid talking about the justice of God. The 'fluffy' God presented may places today does appear in stark contrast to the God of the Old Testament, because churches are proclaiming this the loudest, to a disadvantage, I believe.

Why does God exist?
1. You're presupposing that God did not at one point exist, and then existed. If God is eternal, as He says He is, He has always existed. That is something we cannot grasp, because everything in this universe has a definite beginning and end.

Why is God love?
1. God by His eternal nature lacks nothing and needs nothing. He is self-existing. He has no faults. Therefore he is the measure by which everything else must be judged, i.e. He is holy. Humans are fallen, and therefore can imitate God, or commit actions that lack godliness. This lack of godliness is where evil comes from, just as cold is a lack of heat. God is love because God is holy, but he is not only love. He is also just, merciful, wise, etc.

2. Question Redirected: How can an atheist explain the presence of actions deemed evil and good that trancend culture and language. Ex: A man may have many wives or one wife, but adultery is always bad. No cultures embrace cowardice, rape, disrespect, selfishness, etc.

Why did God wait so long before sending Jesus?
1. The easy answer is that God chose too, haha. He can choose like any of us. I would say he wanted to use prophecy to prepare the way, so that this would be an indication of the arrival of his Son. For examples of some, See: www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/messianicprophecies.html
(Notice #18 on this list deals with your issue of Jews rejecting Christ...)

Why are miracles so rare and hidden despite promises in the Bible?
1. There are miracles reported throughout the world, especially where Christianity is being persecuted. Usually these claims are ignored. See: The book called 'Heavenly Man'. It is a story of a Christian pastor in China, who accomplished amazing things, including merely walking out the main gates of a high-security prison. I'm sure these claims would be scoffed at by many.

Why does God only heal some problems?
1. Even when Jesus was on earth, he did not seek to heal every sick person in the community. Healing the physical body will only delay death, as every body fails the person (soul) eventually. Christ came and he recovered the blind their sight, and helped the lame to walk, etc. I can see this a paralleling how spiritually he enables the blind to see the things of God and enables us to walk in the newness of life that he has given us.

Why does God play hide and seek?
1. There are not 'tons' of different religions. And all of them save Christianity (with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church... but that's another issue...) are about people doing good things to get to heaven. Protestant Christianity is about how God has loved us and shown mercy on us. He lowered Himself to redeem us. This is distinctly different from any other religion. Show me any religion that has this message. I would also say, the diversity in religion is proof that human beings know that they are fallen, but have rejected the knowledge they had of God in the beginning and substituted another prophet or system they liked better.
The Bible says that God has revealed Himself to all men in nature. (Romans 1:19-20)

2. Question Redirected: When Darwin proposed his theory, he had a ridiculously limited view of how the cell functions. The fact that scientists find increasingly complicated forms of interaction at molecular levels, coupled with a complete lack of transitionary forms of life before and after the Cambrian Explosion to me point to a creator. If life is so simply explained by evolution (i.e. natural selection) why is the fossil record so lacking? Why can scientists not explain molecular evolution or re-create life in a laboratory? Why is DNA so obviously a code to communicate information?

[meiday04]

How come the transformative power of Jesus is so hard to spot?
1. I think this is a subjective question. I can say from personal experience that I can usually tell a person is a Christian because I can see they have a different kind of joy about them. Obviously this isn't true for all. Neither is it true for all Buddhists. (I live in Thailand, I see it everyday.)

Why is Christianity so different from the things Jesus talks about?
1. This is in part related to a question you already asked. Christians, although now believers, can still act un-Christlike. And there are false teachers in the Church, and people only claiming to be Christians causing trouble. I've traveled a lot, and in the countries I've been to and the believers I've met from different countries, there is certainly a uniform body of Christ that is unaffected by culture or language that imitates what Christ taught. But this is another subjective question.

How come so many Jews remain unconvinced?
1. The Old Testament Jews thought a messiah was coming to free them from Roman rule. They thought he would be king in the earthly sense. When he arrived, many did believe, but many would not accept him. They constantly said "Isn't this that guy from Nazareth? How can he be the messiah?" Paul is broken over this topic, to the point of saying he wished he could be d**ned so that his people could recieve Christ. (Romans 9:3) You can see this in Paul's letters to the Romans and the Hebrews.

How come so many other religions experience God despite not being Christianity?
1. Anyone can create an emotional response in a person. Play the right music, have an emotional example, etc. It has to be coupled with knowledge. That is why the Protestant Christian community tries to educate believers on the history of the Bible, and theology. We want Christians to know why they are Christians. Of course, this is subjective, as I cannot know how another person feels, and vice versa. Their experience could be completely different than a Christian's experience.

How do you know that the miracles of Christianity are true?
1.We have the Bible, and we have other works dated around that time that point to the authenticity of scripture. You have to look at the evidence supporting a scripture or book, and decide for yourself. Obviously I've looked at the evidence, and believe. But you have hopefully looked at the evidence and are skeptical. I would recommend Lee Strobel's book "Case for Christ". It talks about an atheist's/agnostic's (I'm not quite sure which he was...) journey to prove Christianity false, because he assumes it must be easy. There is definitely some meat in that book.

2. Question Redirected: How can you disregard what the writers of the New Testament have to say, when other secular sources support it, and the Bible proves to be one of the most accepted historically accurate books?

[meiday04]

Why isn't even half of earth's population saved though Jesus?
1. Matt. 7:13-14. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

2. Question redirected: Why do only 0.4% of Americans claim to be atheists? Why are there so few atheists around the world if the evidence is so clear?

Is free will worthwhile if means you end up in hell?
1. I don't believe people have true 'free' will. We have a will that is determined by our nature and our ability. It is not my will to die, or get sick, or lose in sports. Many things effect and limit my will. That said, we do have the ability to chose actions. We could say that a 'being' is an entity which can take action, while a non-being cannot. Acts 2:21 "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." No one has to end up in hell.

2. Question redirected: Is living a life of rebellion towards God worthwhile if you end up in hell?

Could God have done things differently?
I would say yes. Of course, with questions like this, everything is guess-work. We are looking at one history, and we have the Bible as one revelation. God has chosen to interact with us in this way.

If you are a creationist or follow Intelligent Design, how do you explain stuff like HIV?
I've seen that these viruses usually (I can't say all, I'm not a biologist...) have a part to play in the ecosystem. Here's a good article I found: www.trueorigin.org/virus.asp

2. Question redirected: How do evolutionists account for the incredibly complex interactions of the cell, DNA, and protein strands?

How do you know that when you feel the presence of Jesus or the holy spirit, it's not just the demon of another true religion like Hinduism?
This is subjective, in that I can't know how another person feels. Many things can trigger emotional response. I would say some Christians take the time to look into the evidence for the person of Jesus, that he existed, was crucified and resurrected, the validity of scripture, etc. Hindu scriptures are accepted as being more like stories to glean insight from. Other religious texts that claim historical accuracy such as the Qur'an or the Book of Mormon can be studied, and one can see their inaccuracy.

Do you think that Jesus resurrection proves that he is God?
God initiated a covenant known as the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament.(Exodus 24) This law covered all aspects of life. Of course, people could not fulfill all of the law, so Jews would go to the temple to repent and sacrifice bulls, goats, or lambs, representing the fact that the consequences of sin is death. (Leviticus 4) Even so, God did not delight in the killing. (Isaiah 1:11)

When Jesus came and died, he established a New Covenant. (Luke 22:14-20) He came, lived a sinless life thereby fulfilling the law, and then gave his life as a sacrifice for his people to atone for them what they could not do themselves.(Hebrews 7) Through his death, and then subsequent resurrection, he showed that he had conquered death and his people were no longer under the old Law. Christ atoned for the sins of his people. In baptism we are 'buried in the likeness of his death, and raised to walk in newness of life'.(Romans 6:3-11) Christ achieved atonement for us, so that through faith in him, we as sinners can be reconciled to God. This is why he said he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His death and resurrection are the hope that Christians have toward reconciliation to God.

2. Question redirected: Have you taken the time to consider the evidence for the validity of the Resurrection, and how that directly relates to your life?