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Christains who are truly witnessing for Christ get asked many questions about our faith.In this section you will find links to Bible based christain resources on how to witness to cults. You will also find a list of real questions and real answers (and real spelling mistakes) from a message board called the midest tribune. As you read thru these answers (not all of them are mine) think thru how you would answer it. Ask yourself did the author answer all of the non believer's objections? Did they quote scripture either by actually naming the verse and chapter or by telling about it? Did the author miss a point? Answer the questions yourself (use your bible, study it, find the answer, Do not quote someone else's answer, & pray about it) be sure to quote the question, email them to me and I will look it over to see if you followed the guidelines (they are in the ()..)and if they do I will add them to the question's answers.
one more time, who created satan? who is supposed to be "All knowing" and would
have forseen what satan would do? so your saying god deliberatly created satan
KNOWING what he would do? that means he willingly created evil andd therefore
is evil and good! there is no way around this, and to reason it with "spiritual
logic" is hopeless because, in the end, you don't know anything for sure, and
all you really have is the logic of man, which says your religon is flawed, and
frought with contradiction and just plain bronze age spooky talk, i belive in a
higher consiousness, but i belive we are all part of it, not that it is some
dictator sitting up somewhere playing mindgames with the little humans. answer by Civ 2 Junkie
Yes God created Satan knowing that he would do evil. If God created every
being without the ability to choose right and wrong then we would be forced to
love Him, not have our own free will. The world that does not have a personal
relationship with God has only his own logic to go by; Christians have the
ability to have the wisdom of God (and I know that is a blanket statement but
I'm trying to make a point) if they choose to make that relationship with Him
grow. God does not play mind games; He's already told us what to do and who He
is by giving us the Bible and not just to reveal Himself through nature.
Again, the problem is one of submission to Him.
BUT WHERE DID EVIL COME FROM? spare me the bible logic, god, if he did create
all, is evil and somewhat cruel for putting us into his game, and thats all it
appears to be, a game between dieties, and hell is a creation of god, so he
would send us there because we are unsure of it's "Will" , if your religon is
true, god is not only evil, but cruel and uncaring, look at the logic, the
bible spells out a viscious game, and we are the pawns, belive what you want, i
won't play. answer by Civ 2 Junkie
Your logic is from a man's point of view. As Sheryl mentioned, God did not
create evil but Satan exercised his will to try and be like God. That is just
the plain and simple fact. If you're going to try and explain the spirit world
by earthly logic, then you're going to be disappointed, mainly because you have
already made up your mind that you're going to find inconsistancies. There
have been plenty of people who have started out trying to disprove the Bible
and end up becoming Christians because they were trying to find the truth. Yes
you can take Scripture out of context and make it say anything you want, and
there are plenty of religions that have done that. But Jesus said that there
was a narrow way into heaven and there are few that find it; not because it's
hard, but because people's pride keeps getting in the way. That is the thing
that is going to keep anyone fom understanding what God is doing or has done.
God is not going to force Himself on you; that is not His way.
"which comes to the last and final contradiction in christianity,
this is the big paradox, ready "GOD IS EVIL" who created satan? who is all
knowing? who knew when he created satan what would happen? and if satan came
from god, then god created evil, and has ultimate evil in him in order to
create it," answer by sheryl (me)
Have you ever had a remote controlled car? A remote controlled car gets told
what to do via a electronic signel and it obeys all the time as long as it's
batteries are charged. It has no free will. If God wanted a sin free creation
then He would made all of us without any free will. We would worship because we
had no choice. God did not want a bunch of mindless robots worshiping Him He
wanted creatures that would love Him and worship Him because they wanted to and
love Him. You can not have free will without a choice of some sort. Giving His
creatures free will meant that they could choose to love Him and worship Him or
not. It was and still is our choice.
Take angels for example. They were created with the knowledge of good and evil.
They were perfect in every way. But they too have free will and some choose not
to serve man but instead make man serve them. They could have followed God's
wishes but instead they choose not to. Man on the other hand did not originally
have the knowledge of good or evil. We were like animals being totally innocent
not knowing good from evil. We had a free will of sorts and we were given a
choice like the angels. Either obey God and do not eat the fruit of the tree of
knowledge or eat of it. They chose to eat. Did God know this was going to
happen? Yes. Did God allow it to happen? Yes. Did God create sin, evil etc. No
God created free will. Then angels and us created sin and evil when we choose not
to obey God. You have that choice also. You can either believe and be saved or
not believe it is your choice. So in conclusion God created free will, He gave
us a choice. We created sin when we chose not to obey Him.
I guess my main problem is i don't trust the bible,it has a few hisatorical
accounts but for the most part it was written by writers in times of distress,
human tendency is toward the dramatic flare, especially under opression and
violence, and i belive the bible to be a collaberative effort that is
incomplete and edited more than any other book in history, there are omissions
and "Adjustments" and anything that has been through the vaticans hands is
untrustworthy, just because of their history, in fact i belive that the story
of jesus has been severely exaggerated, especially by the "Roman" catholic
church, and was used as a form of mass control in times of misinformation, i
belive jesus was a great man, and perhaps a great manipulator,either way the
government of his time was threatened by his message, so he must have been a
radical with much influence, i also belive that jesus was a bhuddist, and that
bhuddist philosophy was bent into christian by the romans, if you think this is
crazy, there are many links to inda in the story of jesus, in "The Gap" between
14 years old and 31, it has been noticed that around the same time there are
reports of a jew in india(when pakistan was india too), he appears in a few
carvings and writitings of the time, and is said to have been instructed in the
ways of bhudda, after the time of jesus, an arab came forth with the same
fundamental philosophy, but this time it was directed at the europeans and
their jesus-inspired killing of the non-belivers we call the crusades, this
arab was called muhammed and his story has been twisted to fit todays U.S.
domination of the world, so it is just a human habit, and should all be taken
with a grain of salt, It is my opinion that to see god, you should look out
your window. answer by Civ 2 Junkie
The Bible is a book that covers about 4000 years, 66 separate books written by
over 40 authors from all walks of life, and yet they wrote and agreed on the
nature of God, His attributes, and the list goes on. The Bible says that all
Scripture is "God-breathed" meaning that God told men what to write. Try to
get just ten people today to agree on the nature of God and you won't get 100%
agreement. God also promises that His Word would never pass away. If you say
that is just a book that has passed down from man to man and it has changed
over the years, etc. etc., you don't understand the Jewish mindset in the
preservation of the Scriptures. They were very meticulous in copying the
manuscripts, throwing away any that had even one mistake because did revere
God's Word so highly. Christians also copied the Scriptures knowing that if
anyone added or took away the things that are written in the scriptures God
would pronounce jusdgment on him (Revelation). The Christians throughout the
years have always loved the Bible and were carefull to pass it down to the next
generation. For example, the 1611 King James (which was translated by his
translators, not by himself; he just authorized it) had three printings that
had the word "he" instead of "she" when talking about Ruth in the Book of
Ruth. The printers caught the mistake and took off the "s". These three Bibles
became known as the "He Bibles" (Our college has two of the three). So we're
talking about one error concerning whether a word had a s or not in front of
it.
To be honest, I grew up Catholic and so I'm familiar with their doctrines and
history, and I can tell you that I was not a Christian even though I practiced
their beliefs. If you have a religion that teaches that there is no salvation
outside the church and by doing good works, that goes against what the Bible
teaches in that salvation is a free gift through Jesus. The Catholic
organization can clothe their language in Christianity but it doesn't make one
a Christian. The Crusades were started by the Catholic Church so it was not
God-sanctioned war. That is why so many people are confused about Christianity
because they look at the Catholic Church and what it has done. I don't hate
the Catholic people, but truth has to be told according to the scriptures, not
man's traditions. And you're right; the Catholic Church was transformed from
pagan religion by the Romans.
Lastly, you can't say that Jesus was a great man because He was either who He
said He was, or the biggest liar in history. If He lied, then He is not a
great man. If He is who He said He was (the Son of God, mankind's only
salvation, He would rise from the dead, etc.) then it would behoove us to
believe in Him and receive slavation.
"i was forced to go to a huge pentacostal church
weekly,now i know they don't represent all christians, but they are a good
example of a thread that runs through the modern church, that being spending
money on entertainment(sound systems, radio stations, lights, tv shows
etc.) "sell all you own and follow me" said jesus, not "buy all you want and be
well entertained" jesus would walk into any church in america today and be
outraged that such needless things are squandered on when there are people
starving sometimes less than a block away" answer by sheryl (me)
Again I agree with a lot of your points. I also have some problems with
some churches spending money on the church building and pastor's wallet. I also
do not agree with alot of what some churches believe and do as far as being
flashy etc. There are bad churches just like there are so called "christains"
who act anything but like a christain. You do not need to go to a church to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All you need is a bible and a willing heart to believe
and change your mind and actions about the things that you feel guilty about. It
helps to go to a church where you can get others support and insight into the
Bible but you can get along without them if you really need to. Alot of false
churches and false christains have soured the name of God to many people. But
that is the work of satan, A very beautiful (unlike in the movies) and
rebellious angel who deciede that he was better than man and did not have to
serve him. His pride causeed him to fall from grace and condemn himself to
eventual seperation from God, punishment and death. He hates God, the jews (the
mother of the christain churches, Jesus, and christains. IT says over and over
that satan would sow weeds amoung the wheat of Gods crops (christains being the
wheat and false christains and false churches being the weeds) So I do not blame
many people who hate the churches and it's followers. Satan, and man himself
have done a excellent job of soiling Jesus Christ's good name. My point is this,
don't throw the whole barrel of apples away just because some of them are
spoiled. Why not try to read the bible yourself all the way thru at least 3
times and then deceide for yourself.
IN ADDITION, JESUS would not build huge churches with elaborate bands, have
bake sales, or push himself on anyone, I have read the bible, and jesus was a
hippie, plain and simple, do you remember how he tore up that bazarre in
jeruselem? why do you think he would condone any of us and our wasteful greedy
ways? he lived in dirt and said "Sell all you own and follow me" i don't think
most christians are prepared to TRULY follow jesus, they just like a reason to
look down on others,
most christians have self esteem problems or are fearful of the unknown, so
they are bought and sold by
simple nonsence rhetoric that is based on the ramblings of bronze age radicals
who were opressed and poor, and stated as FACT, sheesh.? answer by sheryl
In answer to your question, yes I am prepared to go with my Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ all the way, even if it meant that I would lose my life. Did Jesus
really benefit the world? Well if you knew what "civilization" was like during
that time you would not have to ask yourself that question. Romans were
notoriously cruel. The believed in gods who were angry and that acted like
spoiled children. Children were often sold off as slaves to repay debts and
those same children were often forced to endure horrible mistreatment. Some
countries even practiced killing their own babies. Even after the fall of rome
the cruelty did not leave overnight, it took centuries to change peoples minds
about what was and wasn't right. Jesus not only saved us from our sins but He
introduced a new and radical way of thinking one that brought humane treatment
to millions. As far as Jesus tearing up the bazarre in the temple, if you knew
jewish law you would realise that what the sellers were doing was against laws
that were written in the old testament. You were supposed to bring a first born
lamb or goat from your flock, unblemished and untarnished, to be a offering to
God to cover your sins with. That is why Jesus is called the lamb of God. As He
was a first born son of man and God, Holy and without sin, tempted in the same
ways we are, and sent to die on the cross for our sins once and for all
fullfilling God's requirement for a sacrifice for sins that was enduring for all
time. A sacrife that would never have to be repeated for the covering up of any
ones' sins. Adam brought death to the world by sinning. The punishement for that
sin was death, spiritual, phyical death to to man and all of creation. The
sacrifice of the lamb was a temporary sin offering for their sins. It was a
imperfect one because the penalty was death of all mankind, forever seperated
from God and eventually suffering the 2nd and finial death which destroys all
things, hell, death, satan and the fallen angels, sinners, everything that is evil.
The only
loophole in that penalty of death was if a sinless man willingly died for all
of mankinds sins. Who amoung you can say that they have lead a perfect life from
birth to death? No one can! But Jesus, God's only begotten Son, did. and by
willingly sacrificing Himself, as His Father, God wanted Him to, He was able to
pay for all of our sins once and for all. Just as thru one man, adam, brought
death to the world, so did one man, Jesus bring life to the world. But if you
die with your heart hardened against Jesus's gift of life, then there is no
other sacrifice can be made to save you.
The final statement I wrote was very true: so called christians have caused
more war and killing in the history of the world then any other religion,
period. I had hoped I wouldn't have to be so blunt but check the history. and
Civ if present day Christianity came from god then why so many different
forms, different understandings of the bible, different Bibles, different days
of worship, different understandings of texts, (each religion in christianity
says their interpretation is absolutely correct), different litergies,
different ways they address their leader. different ways they accept
minorities, different ways they believe in displaying the cross, different
ways they deal with sexuality, different ways they deal with killing and war,
different ways they treat women, different ways they clothe their leaders,
different ways they look at the Gospel, different ways they deal with
government, different ways they support religious freedom, different ways they
deal with abortion, different ways they deal with monetary support for their
churches, different ways they believe in predestination, different ways they
deal with the state of the dead, different ways they deal with sin, different
ways they deal with marriage, different ways they deal with education vs.
public school, different ways they deal with non-combatency ie. conscientious
objection, different ways they deal with capitalism, different ways they
belief about hell, different ways they believe about wheather other Christian
beliefs will go to heaven or not, different beliefs in works vs. "just
believe" and I could go on almost forever. If this is the God you say created
Christianity and now say it is the only way to live, either God is very
confused or the followers can't make up their minds or the followers don't
really know what they believe. Seems there is just as much confusion in the
Christian world as in any other of the worlds religions and don't say your
belief is the more correct because I can find a thousand Christians of
different persuasions that would heartily disagree with you even so much as to
tell you that you will go to Hell if you don't believe their way. answer by sheryl (me)
Hi Dan,
While I agree with your views concerning america I have to disagree on your
views concering God and the Bible. I have been to many different denominations.
I know about most of the different views and I have found that most disagree on
minor points of the bible. Ones that do not determine salvation, although some
might disagree with me. But they all agree on the main, most important truths of
the bible. That important truth is that God sent His only begotten Son, being
fully human,fully God and without sin to die for our sins and fullfill the laws
requirment for death.That God is a triune God having 3 seperation roles, one as
Father, Creator of all of creation, one of being the only begotten Son, and one
of being the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit.That Jesus died, was buried,
and was raised again from the cross.And that we are given a mission to go out
and preach to the world the good news. Any thing else is disputable and does not
get or prevent one from going to Heaven and Being saved. There is one sin talked
about in the bible as being unforgivable and that sin is refusing to accept
Jesus's sacrife for our sins even until death. Jesus died for our sins, it is up
to us if we want to believe in him, repent (which simply means to change one's
mind about something) and ask for forgiveness.Refusing to do so is our right but
if you die refusing to do so then there is no other sacrife that can be made to
forgive you and for you to be saved. That is the unpardonable sin talked about
in the bible.
Another arguement on our Lords existance.
As it is always any answer that I have given comes from the Holy Spirit and not me so that I cn not take credit for it and become puffed up and proud.
personl720
Thu 3:11 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2300
for those of you who believe in god, think about this- isn't it hippocritical to believe that all logical and physical truth comes from a god that you cannot logically prove?
personl720
Thu 3:21 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2301
and for those of you who are bent on the proof "god must exist because the odds of a universe so complex existing by accident are so microscopically small..." consider this->
where did god come from? we have 3 options to choose from:
A: another God, B: Nowhere, he just came to be, C: Impossible to prove his existance.
all monotheistic religions belive that there is only one god, so god cannot have come from another god. that cancels out A. B: if a universe so complex would require a being equally or more complex to create it, and this being just 'came to be out of nowhere', then why can't a complex universe just 'come to be'? That rules out B. C: the monotheistic religions believe that all truth comes from god, so if they cannot prove him, as i said above, it is hippocritical to believe that all provable truth comes from him. that cancels C.
personl720
Thu 3:24 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2302
the most logical solution is agnosticism. agnostics believe that since they cannot prove or disprove god, they will forget about religion alltogether, and live their lives otherwise.
personA
Thu 6:08 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2303
Have you looked into Gnosticism?
---Also: "where did god come from? we have 3 options to choose from: A: another God, B: Nowhere, he just came to be, C: Impossible to prove his existance."
exchange the word God with Singularity and you have the unknowable creation myth of the science reli- er- 'community'. Exactly the same as the Xians- funny that.
and: "isn't it hippocritical to believe that all logical and physical truth comes from a god that you cannot logically prove?"
When talking about a being that hypotheticaly willed the universe to exist linear rationale counts less than many other subjects. For example: one might think the universe is God going insane (uber-schitzophrenia) or passing time to ease the dullness of infinitude and eternity so that under these belief sets literally nothing God does is impropper, even creating a universe and hiding from its inhabitents... sort of... Why? Because it is the daydream of that thing and as you might picture a character in a story you were working on as having no clue that you exist, is it not you that drives it and it's world? If with the character, you write in suspicion that YOU exist would that make him a hypocite? What about later when he is certain he is a being in a story written by YOU?
Another angle on the concept: if you have terrible things happen to your characters in said book does that make you a cruel sadist? The same can be said of the divine.
sheryl
Thu 8:28 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2304
well it is just as logical to assume that if God did not exist how did such complexity occur over the relativly small amount of time that life has existed compared to the time of the rest of the universe's existance?
sheryl
Thu 8:30 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2305
we are just bateria living in a ocean and trying to understand the ocean from our surroundings. It is impossible to logically explain anything from that standpoint because our knowledge is too limited.
sheryl
Thu 8:33 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2306
so since logic can not explain where it all came from then what are we left with? We are left with faith. Science's faith is that their theories are sound and true. Peoples all over the whole world have faith that their beliefs are true. so how can one justify their belief over another? We can't so again what is left is faith.
sheryl
Thu 8:38 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2307
what is faith? It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence not seen. So which is better to hope that after we die all things will be beautiful and full of joy, love and hope or to hope for a simple end to our existance with no hope of there ever being anything better?
sheryl
Thu 8:42 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2308If we hope for a simple end to our existance then why not make merry and do what we want until we die. But if we hope for something better after death then we have a reason to continue on living better lives for the sake of others. Faith makes laws and goverments existance able to withstand. Lack of faith in anything would ultimatly end in chaos because there is not a sound reason for not doing what we want, when we want, regardless of the outcome. Because if we die and nothing is left then why not do what we want because in the end we die anyway.
personB
Thu 11:07 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2309
"Lack of faith in anything would ultimatly end in chaos because there is not a sound reason for not doing what we want, when we want, regardless of the outcome. Because if we die and nothing is left then why not do what we want because in the end we die anyway."
I don't believe in anything, but I still wouldn't commit any criminal acts, even if I'd want to.
I mean, robbing a bank would get me into jail. Using violence would hurt someone (=feeling like a horrible person and so on). Using drugs would lead to an addiction and withdrawals and other nasty things.
I'm sure a lot of other people are like me. It's not exactly about the after life, it's about the tomorrows.. and not wanting to hurt other people.
personC
Thu 11:12 AM May 12, 2005 Message: 2310
As a Taoist, I always find 'religion as restraint' arguments amusing. Our own true nature is one with Tao, so surrendering to our true natures makes the Tao active and alive in the world. Of course, then we have all the people who have cut themselves off from their true nature...
Can I prove Tao exists? Well, everything has its own tao. A coffee cup pushed off a table will fall to the floor; that is its tao. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall and regrow them in the spring; that is their tao. The Tao is simply the sum of every smaller tao. I don't 'believe in' Tao: I experience it in each and every moment.
Is Tao the same as God? I can't claim to know for certain, but I suspect there is a deep connection.
*passes the soapbox on to the next writer*sheryl
Thu 1:05 PM May 12, 2005 Message: 2311
well of course there would be natural consequences for certain actions but why not still do what we want when we want for tommorrow we may die. Using the logic that we somehow sprung up from a series of events that led to simple celled life does not explain why we as humans have a sense of good vs evil. Why would a impartial universe create beings that know the difference? Why would we even have religions if it were all because of a series of lucky events. Has anybody even calculated the odds of humans becoming self aware? Or has anyone calculated the odds of life springing up at all? Why did order come out of a chaotic mass of energy and molecules to form galaxies, and planets and suns and life?
sheryl
Thu 1:08 PM May 12, 2005 Message: 2312
I could go on and one but I am betting that the odds would be next to nothing. We know so little about this vast universe that it is illogical not to embrace any possiblity.
ladydyke
Thu 1:17 PM May 12, 2005 Message: 2313
And because of this I choose to believe that there is something better waiting for us on the other side. That somehow a greater intellegence was behind it all. A intellegence that would be impossible for us as its creation to understand. I choose to believe the christain sect of the jewish faith to explain the universe in terms that I can understand. Why? Because the principle outlined in the Bible really does lead to a happier more fullfilling life if we practise them in all of our affairs. kinda like certain self help groups out there. I have tried other faiths and even once believe in science to prove things but none of those things led me to a happier life. None of those religions led to filling the emptyness inside my life. Only until I accepted the message of the bible did I actually begin to grow and change my defects of character. Only then was I able to evolve as it where to a person that could actually care about someone other than myself. and that is the end of my arguement. The defense rests your honor.
how do you explain omnipitance and benevolenence and the current state of the
world? answer by Civ 2 Junkie
If you're asking how an all-knowing God can allow so much trouble in the world
if He is in control of everything: He doesn't want all the trouble that is in
the world, but the trouble wasn't His fault to begin with. It was ours. And
He's not going fix things like a magic genie because then we would keep right
on doing things wrong and we would never come into a relationship with Him. He
is a holy God who cannot allow sin in His presence (or else He wouldn't be
God), and they only way to remedy the situation would be to come to Him asking
forgiveness through His Son. Again, He is not going to force Himself on us.
The Bible says that He not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentence.
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