Tough Questions Christians Fear
One who has tough questions should never ask them of those who fear the answers.
— Xenocrates
Taking my elders to task on tough Bible questions.
Have you ever had one of those moments growing up when you were presented with an idea that you immediately accepted, but deep in the recesses of your mind, something didn’t add up? That was my entire childhood really. That’s basically how I grew up with religion. This post is for all the younger folks out there who have questions they are either afraid to ask or were given circular, useless answers. Read on to see what all your church elders were so afraid of.
■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com
Categories: Apologetics, Religion
Adam and Eve, Agnosticism, atheism, Babylon, bible, christianity, Creation, death, Evil, faith, forbidden fruit, fornication, Garden of Eden, god, homosexuality, Islam, Jesus, Job, Joshua, judging, Lucifer, miracles, Muslim, Old Testament, Omnipotence, Omniscience, prayer, Religion, resurrection, Satan, sin, Tyre, Tyrus, Yeshua
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Wow I feel sorry for the person who wrote this. You had every right to question your elders… but obviously your elders knew less than they thought which I can tell by the last statement made by one of the elders. “Too smart for Christianity”. But it looks like you haven’t studied the bible at all. Your answers are off based. Don’t get me wrong some of these are very good questions and I raised an eyebrow a time or two. It just seemed that you really weren’t looking for answers and that you wanted to prove something or have a battle of the wits so to speak. But when you are ready for some real answers… they will always be right here. But then again how do you intelligently argue with someone with who thinks what you believe in is foolish and nonsense and wouldn’t believe it even if you gave them proof? God Bless you!
Hi Dauan,
I find it amusing that someone sold down the river on a worldwide delusion would feel sorry for me. That’s the equivalent of an alcoholic feeling the need to pity someone who isn’t drunk. That’s nothing short of hilarious. Buy you know what? I’ll bite.
To answer your concerns, I was looking for answers. However, people in the position of my elders are usually not used to being pressed for them. I presume that you too are also in the same position by virtue of the fact that you haven’t tried to offer your spin on possible answers for the questions you thought raised an eyebrow.
Very nice, bro. (Of course, I’m being sarcastic).
I’m always ready for real answers. It’s the people who believe in this religion who aren’t prepared to provide them. If you feel you have answers that I don’t, then please feel free to furnish me with them.
Do you actually think you have proof? If so, lay it down my brother. I’m always ready and willing to be proven wrong — but you will forgive me if I don’t get my expectations up.
Cheers,
Xenocrates
if im looking around, at the universe, about Solar systems, human anatomy, all animals, plants; all living things.. Fascinating!
I came into conclusion that it was happen/exist because “Something/Someone” has made it or manage it that way.. and which modern ‘Evolutionary theory’, ‘Big Bang theory’, ‘It just there theory’ cannot explain it well (too many false assumptions, missing links, etc)
About “His” motives, methods, intentions.. Honestly i have no idea.
im an Asian, Catholic, at least in my ID Card.
p.s
If i have a choice between islam and atheism, i go Atheism!
Some of these questions are more interesting than others. I’m going to pick and choose.
“Fornication is not forbidden in the ten commandments, so what’s the big deal?”
If you really want to tie these people in knots with that question, then back it up with God’s very first words to man, appearing in Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful, and multiply…” What, if not sex, could such a command possibly imply?
“Why is there no compelling evidence outside of the Bible about the existence of Christ?”
Surely these people tried to describe the writing of Josephus to you? Josephus was a Hebrew historian in the mold of Thyucidides. Both of them sought to record the objective facts of history, without giving it a mythical gloss or bending facts in order to demonstrate a philosophical or religious truth. Before Thyucidides, no one had tried to write history in that way. These days, such strictly factual history has been the standard for so long that most people do not realize that there was once a different way of doing it. Ancient “history” books, including the Bible, get trashed today for being “inaccurate” by people who misunderstand the standards to which they were written.
Anyway, Josephus was an ancient historian in the modern sense of the word, and he documented Jesus’ existence. I’m surprised the elders didn’t mention him to you.
“If God so loved the world, why would he punish homosexuals who want to serve him?”
Couldn’t you replace the word ‘homosexuals’ with ‘murderers’ and make the exact same argument? or ‘thieves’? or ‘blasphemers’? or ‘alcoholics’? Aren’t we all sinners of one stripe or another? Isn’t the gap between our sin and God’s love the reason why Jesus needed to die in the first place?
“If God is omniscient (all knowing), then what would be the point of prayer?”
If God is omnipotent, what is the point of doing anything? You are defined by what you do. Some pray, some don’t. Which are you going to be? And which gives God an opportunity to respond? See also http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%205:24-34&version=NIV1984
“What about all the people who have died in these places before ever hearing of Jesus’ name?”
That line of questioning gets into something called decision theology, which certain denominations buy into, and others don’t. It sounds like you should be knocking on the doors of those others.
“In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to exterminate many tribes in what could be considered Genocide. Doesn’t one of the ten commandments say “Do not kill“?”
I don’t really understand it myself. And evidently, neither did these elders. If they didn’t know the answer, they should have said so. Why do people have such a hard time with the words “I don’t know”?
“Speaking of Job, doesn’t the fact that the devil couldn’t act without God’s approval mean that the Devil is also God’s servant?”
I think you ought to read Jack Miles’s book, “GOD: A Biography.” You would get a lot out of it, I think.
“Why didn’t God just create the universe initially to be the blissful paradise that heaven is supposedly going to be and leave it at that?”
Yeah! That’s what I say!
But I wonder… what would that creation process look like, if you were experiencing it from the inside?
Those are all good points, but the another question I asked (and never got a straight answer) was:
Many people in my church believe that the people of the antediluvian civilization were not only evil, but lived to thousands of years. Had man not sinned, we would live for eternity on this Earth in harmony.
…Um. Yeah.
Sorry about the earlier comment; I wrote the link incorrectly. I think what I meant Is Christmas Pagan?
Ha! About time you post this! (just at the time were my parents are afraid to send me off to college due to the fact that I’m most likely to denounce the SDA church and go about my heathen ways)
About a month ago, I got into an argument with my family. We were, like you, having a bible study. The topic happened to be the ancient wars between the children of Israel and the pagans around them. My argument was that the only reason they had such “strength” was that:
A.) They, like the current Muslims, were so engrossed in their belief that their unity brought them to victory after victory (not that it meant much since they killed woman, child, and animal.)
B.) They were highly organized due to their belief in A.
The result of that argument? Xen, you know the rest.
Christmas is now just around the corner. I ask you of a simple favor, Xen. Can you comment on your thoughts on my post here: URL Tags