WHY THIS DIVISION?

There are many questions and accusations concerning the Bible for which it's nice to have answers. I don't have answers for everything, but for these I do.

The categories:

1. The Bible
2. The Character of God
3. The existence of God
4. Faith, reason, and belief
5. Hell
6. Jesus and miracles
7. Lifestyle
8. Religion and Christianity
9. Salvation
10. Science and evidences

(Click on any statement or question to go to the answer)

 

about...The Bible

1. The Bible doesn't have a monopoly on success (or failure) as a delineated moral standard.

2. We're not really being asked to trust God, we're being asked to trust the human authors of the Bible.

3. If one has to make decisions about what or what not to accept in the Bible, then how can it be trusted as authoritative?

4. What happened to Judas - hung himself per Matthew 27, or bought a field and fell per Acts 1?

 

about...The Character of God


1. How could a "merciful" God order Israel to destroy certain peoples and cities?

2. The God who blessed armies and sent them out is the same God who gave us his son?

3. Does God curse people for the sins of others?

4. Does God change his mind like the Bible says?

5. If God is omnipotent, couldn't he have found a less horrific way to carry out his plan than the cross?

6. How loving is a God who would tell Abraham to sacrifice his son?

7. What about all those laws that were to be binding for all time?

8. My conception of a divinity resists that of a God who exhibits anger or vengeance.

9. If the glory of God is so great, why can't I see it?

 

about...The Existence of God

1. Until seeing pink unicorns, we assume they don't exist. So until seeing God, how can anyone assume that he does exist?

2. Who's to say God wasn't created by some yet higher God?

3. Religion is neither provable nor disprovable, so God has no place in the scientific method.

4. You can't start with the hypothesis that God exists.

5. I have far more powerful fears than fear of God because I find them so much more credible.

 

about...Faith, reason, and belief

1. Doesn't "believe" mean hold as true without proof or logic?

2. Aren't people punished for using reason or questioning the faith?

3. Atheists and atheism have nothing to do with hope.

 

about...Hell

1. An eternity in hell is "fair" punishment?

2. If after a person exerts their sincere best efforts to believe the Bible but cannot accept it, do they still deserve to burn in hell?

3. If a non-believer dies, but they're a good person, are they going to hell?

 

about...Jesus and miracles

1. It's one thing to say a man was crucified; it's another to credit him as being divine.

2. Even if I were to accept that a miracle happened, I'm not sure it would persuade me of anything.

3. Occam's razor says to accept the simplest explanation, and resurrection from the dead is not it.

 

about...Lifestyle

1. You don't have to believe in God to make the world a better place.

2. I try to live by the values I've learned with malice toward none and charity for all.

3. Like it or not, morals are relative.

4. Why does the Bible condemn things people enjoy?

5. What does the way I live have to do with loving God?

6. I can't change who I am!

 

about...Religion and Christianity


1. Isn't religion to blame for most of history's killings?

2. Who are the ones getting cheated by televangelists?

3. Some Christians are so heavenly-minded they're no earthly good.

4. Most Christians in the old South thought slavery was a pretty good idea.

5. Is religion necessary to live a virtuous life?

 

about...Salvation

1. Why can mass-murderers go to heaven, but unbelievers cannot?

2. If God really wants his children to be saved, why make salvation contingent upon belief in a document as complex and disputed as the Bible?

3. What about people who lived and died before Christ?

4. Can someone be saved who never had a chance to hear about Jesus?

5. If there's no free will, does that mean God has created some people to go to hell?

 

about...Science and Evidences

1. Wouldn't the discovery of life on other planets totally destroy the Bible?

2. Histories, as we know them today, never existed even as late as the New Testament; only collections of mythmaking.


 


* See INTRODUCTION for additional criticisms and accusations.

** See HISTORY for the same concerning the Crusades, Inquisitions, and more...

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

- Aristotle

"Blowing myself up is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden."

- Palestinian boy, age 14
March 24, 2004

"Even though Christmas is a federal holiday, we can't really be discussing the meaning of the day because of sensitivity concerns. Is this insane or what?"

- Bill O'Reilly

"A problem well stated is a problem half solved."

- Charles Franklin Kettering

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things."

Rene Descartes
Discours de la Méthode, 1637

Printing Tips, Contact, Search,
Links & Bibles,
The Gospel
Objections
Introduction
Integrity
Veracity
Divinity
Authority
History

 

 

 

 

 

"Audi Partem Alteram"
(Hear the other side)

- Augustine