Questions for Christians

[Lullaby Chainer]

If you're an atheist..

Pose hard hitting questions to Christians.


If you're a Christian..


Try to answer these questions.


Why?

There's a lot of "5 questions all atheists should answer" type videos on youtube.

Mods, if this for some reason isn't a suitable thread for this section, I'd be fine with it being in the atheist group section.

[Lullaby Chainer]

What I've got so far, after 5 minutes of brainstorming..

Why won't God heal amputees?
Yet supposedly heals anything
that can by itself heal
naturally?

How can a mother enjoy
Heaven knowing her atheist
son is suffering in Hell?

Why do good moral atheists
go to Hell and evil immoral
Jesus-accepting-Christians
go to Heaven?

Why is God obsessed with
testing our faith when those
fond of skeptical inquiry
will all be led to Hell?

What finite sin deserves
infinite punishment?

Why do we deserve Hell for
something Adam and Eve did?
Should we charge grandchildren
with the crimes of their
grandparents?

Why do we deserve Hell for
not being as perfect as Jesus?

Why does the creationist
account of the creation of
the earth contradict with
all of science?
Is a test of faith worth
the damnation of those
deterred from God because
of this fact?

Why would an omniscient author
create such a barbaric and
scientifically illiterate
book with all the knowledge
he could provide.

Why would God create the gays
when he finds gay acts
abominable? Homosexuality is
usually biological deduced
from the fact that there are
many biological differences
between homosexuals and
heterosexuals.

What about animal sacrifice
entices God so intensly as
to have pages and pages
on how to do it?

Why is religion so demographic?

[Lullaby Chainer]

More so far..

Why do people of all religions
claim God speaks to them if
there's only one God? Is
God speaking to Hindus? Isn't
that misleading for God to do?

Why does God want us to stone
our rebellious children?
He specifically says his
words are perfect and should
never change.

Why did God drown innocent
babies in the Great Flood?

Why does God want us to stone
non-believers and worshipers
of other gods?
He specifically says his
words are perfect and should
never change.

Why doesn't God want women
to talk in church?
He specifically says his
words are perfect and should
never change.

Why does God want us to stone
people who work on Sundays?
He specifically says his
words are perfect and should
never change.

Why did God demand so much
killing and destruction?

[HelioPrime]

Why won't God heal amputees?

Why should he heal amputees? If his power was clearly evident then what would the purpose of heaven and hell be. If we all knew God was clearly present then where would judging souls after death come into play. Everyone would be good little christians.

Yet supposedly heals anything
that can by itself heal
naturally?

See above. The body can heal wounds naturally? How is that a problem with religion. Good intended design I'd say

How can a mother enjoy
Heaven knowing her atheist
son is suffering in Hell?

Since nobody has come back to tell otherwise we don't know who goes to heaven / hell. Her son could have just been an atheist to be different or be cool. Perhaps he repented right before his death.

Why do good moral atheists
go to Hell and evil immoral
Jesus-accepting-Christians
go to Heaven?

Have you forgotten about purgatory? It's the fires of hell sort of but with the ability to leave once purified. Those unbelievers who lead a good life could spend time there before gaining entry to heaven

Why is God obsessed with
testing our faith when those
fond of skeptical inquiry
will all be led to Hell?

Who knows. Why does that bother you so much? Must a god make perfect sense in human terms to be believable? Why do you need a god that fits your personal viewpoints, when its humans who should modify their views to better fits with God's will.

What finite sin deserves
infinite punishment?

Well with the new covenant of treat others like you would want to be treated I guess any actions that you wouldn't want done to yourself. Murder, unwilling rape, etc.

Why do we deserve Hell for
something Adam and Eve did?
Should we charge grandchildren
with the crimes of their
grandparents?

Your not going to hell over what they did. If it weren't for them anyhow you wouldn't exist in the story.

Why do we deserve Hell for
not being as perfect as Jesus?

You deserve hell for failing to live a good life. Um... lets see if you don't match up to the highest grading criteria you'll never get into Harvard. So unless your near perfect you'll never attend that school. Is that a problem for you too?

Why does the creationist
account of the creation of
the earth contradict with
all of science?
Is a test of faith worth
the damnation of those
deterred from God because
of this fact?

Unknown. Genesis seems to be the oddball addition that just might have been thrown in there because early writers wanted to make God out to be more powerful as a way to instal themselves as power figures.

Why would an omniscient author
create such a barbaric and
scientifically illiterate
book with all the knowledge
he could provide.

Human's wrote the bible as they received the inspiration. Years and many translations later things could easily have been changed.

Why would God create the gays
when he finds gay acts
abominable? Homosexuality is
usually biological deduced
from the fact that there are
many biological differences
between homosexuals and
heterosexuals.

People are born with mental illness, etc, etc. Homosexuality is no difference. In time we could discover that problems like these are have an ancient cause in genetic inbreeding many generations prior. Your mentally retarded child today could be the result of sister and brother sinful sex generations ago.

What about animal sacrifice
entices God so intensly as
to have pages and pages
on how to do it?

Pages and pages? Really.

Why is religion so demographic?

Altered by culture. I think Islam is the same religion just interpreted differently by the humans who wrote the Quran.


As for the rest of the questions, why, why, why.... please. Why do you need an absolute answer to everything?

Why to unicorns have one horn instead of two? Shall we make a thread to discuss why this is? Why is there life on earth instead of on mars or venus, why didn't life naturally adapt as you say to conditions there? Is there life on other planets, does math probabilities really determine the chance of life developing? Are you so certain of this? If life can form on its own why can't we reproduce the results? Lots of questions.... many people who demand all the answers.

When a mother tells a child don't stick your head in the oven because its dangerous should you only listen to her if she explains out in detail why and provides clear examples?

[Lullaby Chainer]

Quote by: HelioPrime Why should he heal amputees? If his power was clearly evident then what would the purpose of heaven and hell be. If we all knew God was clearly present then where would judging souls after death come into play. Everyone would be good little christians.

If God is real, wouldn't that be a good thing?

See above. The body can heal wounds naturally? How is that a problem with religion. Good intended design I'd say

It's a problem of suspicion.

Since nobody has come back to tell otherwise we don't know who goes to heaven / hell. Her son could have just been an atheist to be different or be cool. Perhaps he repented right before his death.

Completely ignored the question. God, according to Christianity, tells us how to get into Heaven. There is no way to do any of those things as an atheist. And saying "well uhhh maybe he repented" is retarded and a complete cop-out.

Have you forgotten about purgatory? It's the fires of hell sort of but with the ability to leave once purified. Those unbelievers who lead a good life could spend time there before gaining entry to heaven

Purgatory is a really just a Catholic thing and very very vaguely implied in obscure ways only.

Who knows. Why does that bother you so much? Must a god make perfect sense in human terms to be believable? Why do you need a god that fits your personal viewpoints, when its humans who should modify their views to better fits with God's will.

People going to Hell concerns me, yes. It doesn't concern you?

Well with the new covenant of treat others like you would want to be treated I guess any actions that you wouldn't want done to yourself. Murder, unwilling rape, etc.

Raping someone deserves infinite punishment? That's retarded.

Your not going to hell over what they did. If it weren't for them anyhow you wouldn't exist in the story.

Actually, Helio, because of them we all now "deserve" Hell, according to the Bible.

You deserve hell for failing to live a good life. Um... lets see if you don't match up to the highest grading criteria you'll never get into Harvard. So unless your near perfect you'll never attend that school. Is that a problem for you too?

Perfect is a impossible.

Your analogy is pathetic when you actually stop and think about the two possible outcomes. Blissful Heaven or a Hell of suffering. The problem is that God deems us deserving of Hell for not being perfect.

Unknown. Genesis seems to be the oddball addition that just might have been thrown in there because early writers wanted to make God out to be more powerful as a way to instal themselves as power figures.

Well, as an atheist I can't say I disagree..

Human's wrote the bible as they received the inspiration. Years and many translations later things could easily have been changed.

Translations may effect wording and add and minus some parts but overall, the Bible is still full of barbarism and nothing regular people couldn't know without omniscient help.

People are born with mental illness, etc, etc. Homosexuality is no difference. In time we could discover that problems like these are have an ancient cause in genetic inbreeding many generations prior. Your mentally retarded child today could be the result of sister and brother sinful sex generations ago.

Homosexuality is not a mental illness, nor is there any evidence that it's the result of inbreeding, so I fail to see what you're talking about.

Pages and pages? Really.

I'm pretty sure the total sum of stories about animal sacrifice and what not produce pages, yeah.

Altered by culture. I think Islam is the same religion just interpreted differently by the humans who wrote the Quran.

And by each interpretation, the others go to Hell. According to Christianity, as my questions refer to, Muslims go to Hell.

As for the rest of the questions, why, why, why.... please. Why do you need an absolute answer to everything?

Why, why, why, not? They're interesting questions that I like to think about. Sorry to offend you?


And c'mon Helio, these answers were pathetic..

[Lullaby Chainer]

I'm slowing down on these questions! I need some help!

Why did God enlighten only
one specific small area of
the world? Did he no forsee
the immense conflict this
would bring?

Why has God planted so much
evidence of evolution and
a non-designed world?

Why would God combine our
breathing and eating channels
into one single orifice?
Think of the lives this
slipshod design has cost.

Why do so many creatures have
completely useless features
that evidence evolution?

In natural disasters, many
people die before having
accepted Jesus. Why strip
their chance to get into Heaven
so visciously?

Why do we still have gurus like
Jesus today tricking people
into believing they can perform
miracles? Why should atheists
disregard these gurus yet
accept Jesus as the only true
miracle worker?

Why does God condone slavery?

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Lullaby Chainer If you're an atheist.. Pose hard hitting questions to Christians. If you're a Christian.. Try to answer these questions. Why? There's a lot of "5 questions all atheists should answer" type videos on youtube. Mods, if this for some reason isn't a suitable thread for this section, I'd be fine with it being in the atheist group section.

1. Why does the Bible say that God would direct a Holy War, and the murder of millions of people. And yet condem mass murder as morally incorrect?

2. Why did God only inform Christians about "the truth" and not everyone else?

3. Why would God allow atheists to ask you a bunch of questions that you cannot answer, how can you save souls without the right answers to give them?

4. Why would God have Adam marry Eve who is his own daughter and then later make it immoral to mate with your own off-spring?

5. Why would God create the sun at the end of the week after he created the difference between night and day?

6. Why would God allow Darwin followers to discover all those millions of fosils which can be used as evidence to disprove the storyline of his authorized book, the Bible.

7. Why is the earth no longer square shaped.

8. Why did God not give us the free will to be perfect Christians without lieing about it?

9. Why did God not trust women to head up and to lead his early Christian churches?

10. - Why did God call Paul to replace Jesus and his teachings, is it because Jesus did not communicate the message clear enough?

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Lullaby Chainer If you're an atheist.. Pose hard hitting questions to Christians. If you're a Christian.. Try to answer these questions. Why? There's a lot of "5 questions all atheists should answer" type videos on youtube. Mods, if this for some reason isn't a suitable thread for this section, I'd be fine with it being in the atheist group section.

PS - perhaps the Mods would view athieism as a philosophy. But good point. Can we have a Religion, Philosophy, and Atheist forum?

[Lullaby Chainer]

Quote by: Technosoul PS - perhaps the Mods would view athieism as a philosophy. But good point. Can we have a Religion, Philosophy, and Atheist forum?

uh.. i was talking about the private atheist and agnostic group that we already have.

[HelioPrime]

The common theme of every critic of christianity is taking a similar form:

(atheist) doesn't agree with (Insert issue) because it doesn't make sense or seem fair to me.

Does christianity have to fair to everyone? I don't think thats listed anywhere. Life often isn't fair. It seems atheists have this complex where they can't imagine a hell. God has to be either all loving or non existent and must conform to their own personal views of things.

God already set a pretty good idea of the confirmation of heaven and hell. Punishments and trails show that God doesn't always act in accordance to always being good. The early bible writers weren't stupid. Do you think they didn't notice they mentioned God as all powerful and punishing at the same time? They clearly didn't have any issues understanding the simple fact. In accordance with Jesus's coming a new covenant was set.

-Treat others fairly while believing, go to heaven.
-Treat others fairly while not correctly believing, go to purgatory. (perhaps heaven?)
- Disregard, sin, and don't believe, enjoy hell.

Why would a loving God punish people? Well because we don't know the will or mind of God (assuming God must think like humans is folly)
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

And what about those who don't worship the Biblical God?
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:14-16)

The bible gives evidence for judging men(women) based off the actions of their hearts even if you don't know the exact law or concept of the christian God. Pretty good evidence that even those of other religions can enter heave if they are able to still follow the basic rule of treating others fairly.

[ShadowFox]

1. I'm a bit confused on this. If Adam and Eve had 2 children, both male, how did the rest of us come to be?

2. Why does a "loving" god have an obsession with stoning people, his creation, to death?

3. If we were made in god's image, does that mean god suffers from disease? Or is disease something god uses as punishment? If so, why do people of all faith whether or not they are good or bad suffer from disease?


that's all i got for now, ill get more later.

[ShadowFox]

a few more:

- were the people who died before Christ was born all sent to hell?

- If you stone your disobedient child to death, did you sin for murder? Or do the right thing?

- If the Earth is only about 6,000 years old, why have we found human records of civilizations and cultures that are older than 6,000 years?

[HelioPrime]

Quote by: Halofan48 1. I'm a bit confused on this. If Adam and Eve had 2 children, both male, how did the rest of us come to be? 2. Why does a "loving" god have an obsession with stoning people, his creation, to death? 3. If we were made in god's image, does that mean god suffers from disease? Or is disease something god uses as punishment? If so, why do people of all faith whether or not they are good or bad suffer from disease?

1) The creation of the garden of Eden never refers to creating the whole world at the same time. It only mentions the garden (we can assume the earth exists). It also never states Adam and Eve were the first humans. It just states man and women were created.

Since one of their sons was killed they either would have had more children, or there were already people existing elsewhere, or perhaps there is more to the tale never brought to print.

2) Have you ever punished someone you love? Loving does not equate to protecting from all harm.

3) People suffer from disease because diseases exist. This once again stems from the popular myth supported by atheists that God much be perfect and create a perfect universe. God is never called all powerful, the direct translation is God Almighty. The bible specifically states man cannot fathom the will and intent of God.

[HelioPrime]

Quote by: Halofan48 - If you stone your disobedient child to death, did you sin for murder? Or do the right thing?

Refer to the new covenant made. The golden rule in treating others. So no stoning isn't really that fair.

[Lullaby Chainer]

Quote by: HelioPrime Refer to the new covenant made. The golden rule in treating others. So no stoning isn't really that fair.

Context Helio.

Stoning your children was under the category of parental family values.. not what we should do in regards to other people outside disciplining our families.

[Flip Jackson]

Well, Lullaby, this would be significantly easier if there weren`t so many open questions at the same time. But I`ll take a stab at some of them. Mind you, my answers could differ a lot from many Christians.

Here are your answers first, Halo.

1.) Adam and Eve had more than two children. If you keep reading in Genesis, you will notice that they had a number of children. We don`t have any of the womens` names, but that is probably due to the culture of the time. Women weren`t usually mentioned unless they had a special role.

2.) Stoning people wasn`t a normal practice. Often you will notice that is was used against religious advocates, not by them. I could elaborate on why stoning occured, but it would be a long response.

3.) We are made in His image. Disease has nothing to do with God`s image. Disease comes from other sources. And death and disease did not occur until after Adam and Eve had eaten the Fruit.
The purpose of disease is more complicated. Sometimes it is a result of our neglect or poor choices. If we stay out in the sun without sunblock, we could get skin cancer. If we fool around with a lot of people, we could get STDs. I don`t call them punishments, just consequences.
However, often disease is just a part of life. To really appreciate life, we must experience both sides of it. To really be happy, we must have some knowledge of sadness. To appreciate family and friends, we have to feel lonliness. After being ill, we take advantage of our health. Why complain about all our difficulties? It is through them that we grow. You don`t have to be religious to realize that.

4.) Of course the people born before Christ were not all sent to Hell. They will be judged just as we are. The same mercy availabe to us is availabe to them.

5.) Of course killing your own kid is wrong, no matter how bad they are. I no know Christian or Biblical teaching that would advocate such a thing. If your child does something horrendous, such as serial killing, he could be killed after being judged for it, but you have no right to be the judge, jury, and executioner. We have a whole legal system for that.

6.) No Christian can say for sure that the world is only 6,000 years old. Time only began to be measured after Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden. We have no idea how long the creation took, nor how long Adam and Eve remained in the Garden.

[Flip Jackson]

Alright, Techno, you are up.

1.) This is a difficult question based on a very small amount of information. The Old Testament covers thousands of years of history and is definately lacking information. However, let`s look at our own laws to understand this idea. In the US murder is wrong. However, if someone should break certain laws or commit certain crimes, a judge can sentence them to death. Couldn`t a prefect judge do the same while telling us not to take judgement into our own hands?

2.) Let`s imagine that belief in a Messiah started with Adam, since he walked and talked with God. We as men have a tendency to twist things to our personal views. Though history could have started with only one true religion, over thousands of years teachings could be distorted or ignored, and thus many religions are formed and continue to change in time. So all religions probably had one source, but changed with time. People like Christ came to correct these false ideas. Everyone had the truth, but not all of them held to it.

3.) I can answer all of your questions without breaking a sweat. Though I know God hasn`t given me all the answers. We learn little by little. No one can fathom everything, no matter how in tune you are with God. We just don`t have that kind of capacity.

4.) Who said Adam was Eve`s father? I`ve never heard that.

5.) This is another complicated question due to the fact that the book of Genesis is really old and no longer contains it`s original information. Besides, who said the sun is the only source of light? The Universe is pretty big and is full of luminous objects.

6.) How do fossils disprove the storyline of the Bible? That depends entirely on how you understand the Bible and what fossils mean. As far as I can tell, it is perfectly possible for fossils and the creation to co-exist. God just tells us what happened. Trying to explain how would blow our minds.

7.) Who ever said it was square? I don`t recall that being in the Bible. It was just poor understanding of our planet at the time. It never was square.

8.) I`m not sure I understand this question. You might have to adjust the wording for me. We have the agaency to do whatever we want. I can be a good Christian without lying about it. I can`t be perfect though. None of us can. We have the agency to be perfect, but not the ability.

9.) I don`t believe it is a trust issue. Men and women have different roles in life. Are you saying you wish there had been more female martyrs? Because that is what it meant to be an early Christian leader. Perhaps He didn`t want His daughters to be subject to that kind of treatment. Ever considered that?

10.) Actually, Peter was called ot be the head of the church after Jesus was ressurrected. He was given the keys to lead the church under divine inspirarion. Peter and the other apostles actively taught Christ`s very clear teachings. However, early Christians were heavily persecuted by both Jews and Romans. Their leaders were killed in a number of ways: stonings, crucifictions, beheadings, and the like. The people were not prepared to accept Christ or His teachings, so after Peter another authorized leader could not be called until the people were ready to hear.

That`s it for now. I gotta go. I`ll get to yours later, Lullaby.

[HelioPrime]

Quote by: Lullaby Chainer Context Helio. Stoning your children was under the category of parental family values.. not what we should do in regards to other people outside disciplining our families.

Then you would have to take the stoning case by case. Stoning a child to death because the child delved into the occult, pact with the devil or other such nonsense.

Well obviously if the child was really guilty of such then stoning in that ancient time would have been the appropriate punishment. If the child was innocent and falsely accused then clearly the stoners or accusers would be the sinners and suffer eventually for it.

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Lullaby Chainer uh.. i was talking about the private atheist and agnostic group that we already have.

Hmm, I started typing some questions but then noticed that only the atheist and agnostic people were invited to post such questions. Well, that leaves out. Being I have no titles and do not belong to any kind of group.

[Chris]

If "God" is such an intelligent designer, why would he design in humans, and animals a hole in which we eat and drink, - be the same hole that we breathe out of. And how many people including infants and toddlers die each year from choking? Is this the plan of a loving God?

If God is such a loving God why does he allow 26,000 children to starve to death each day here on earth?

If God is such a loving god why would he purposefully design a cruel system of killing. Predator and prey, parasite and host?

If God is such a loving God, why would he create an innumerable amount of creatures that all will die, when he himself cannot die. Is this his sadistic nature?