15 Questions

 

15 Thought-Provoking Questions Atheists Often Wish Christians Would Answer, Story by Joy Fadogba

 

1.       Why does an all-loving God allow suffering and evil in the world?

2.       Why did God have to sacrifice Jesus instead of just forgiving humanity directly?

3.       How can you believe in miracles when science explains how the world works?

4.       Doesn’t evolution disprove creationism and the Bible’s origin story?

5.       Why are there so many contradictions and immoralities in the Bible?

6.       How can you take the Bible literally when it’s been translated so many times?

7.       How can you believe in something with no scientific evidence?

8.       Why are there so many religions that contradict each other?

9.       Christians committed atrocities like the Crusades – how is that moral?

10.   Why would a loving God send people to hell forever?

11.   If God is all-knowing, how can we have free will?

12.   Why did Jesus have to be crucified in such a cruel way?

13.   Why are many intelligent people turning away from religion?

14.   How can you pick and choose what parts of the Bible to follow literally?

15.  How can God be Just, Merciful AND a Jealous God who demands worship?

Five of the “thought – provoking questions” affirm the existence of God. “Why does … God?” “Why did God…?” “Why would a loving God…?” “If God…?” “How can God…?” Why are Atheists concerned with the God they do not believe exists?

 

1           God created humans giving them the freedom of choice, he placed them in a paradise surrounded by abundance. God planted only one tree that bore the fruit Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. There is no record of any other restriction placed on Adam and Eve; that one rule supported their free will. There was no suffering, sorrow, pain, or death in paradise. The garden contained a variety of fruit trees, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands? how many we do not know, but we do know that there was only one tree bearing the forbidden fruit. The odds favoured Adam and Eve’s success having everything they needed. However, Adam and Eve exercised their choice and ate the forbidden fruit. They were banished from paradise; suffering, pain, and death became their new reality. God is not to blame for suffering, it resulted from the exercise of human choice. God does not kill babies; he did not create disease; he did not plan for people to get old; the curse of mortality with all its constituents came by human choice.

2         At the time God cursed the earth and banished Adam and Eve from paradise, he made a promise to Eve that one of her descendants would be victorious over Satan. The apostle Paul wrote, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” The reason Jesus had to die to forgive sin is given by the author of Hebrews, “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The scripture says, “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” As to why sacrifice was required, I do not know more than what is revealed in scripture, I do know that human ways are not God’s ways. God is holy, and humans are not. The prophet who questioned God after listening to his response declared “the Lord is in His holy temple let all the earth be silent before him.”

3         Science does not explain everything. Science cannot explain how ancient megaliths were constructed, nor can they accurately determine the extent of space. Recent discoveries are challenging older theories of evolution. Sometimes a miracle is the timing of a natural event. For any theory to be true it must satisfy all standards of scientific proof: Empirical Evidence, Reproducibility, Peer Review, Statistical Significance, Falsifiability, and Transparency and Documentation. The theory of evolution fails in more than one of these standards.

4        “Doesn’t evolution disprove creationism…” Evolution is not a proven theory; it is at best a hypothesis. Evolution is based on faith not fact. There is no proof supporting evolution as there is no proof of the existence of God; both are faith-based theories. Evolutionist believe the world came into being suddenly from an explosion of “existing” gases. Or something else happened to start the slow process of change from a microscopic organism into the perfectly designed human being. Evolution requires that design developed out of chaos. The process of evolution:

Ø  Prebiotic Chemistry: The process starts with the formation of simple molecules, potentially in early Earth’s primordial soup, which produced more complex molecules, including amino acids, nucleotides, and lipids?

Ø  Abiogenesis: The emergence of life from non-life, where simple molecules transitioned into self-replicating structures, likely in…?

Ø  Prokaryotes: The earliest forms of life, consisting of single-celled organisms without a nucleus. These could have been simple bacteria or archaea…?

Ø  Cell Division: Reproduction through binary fission or budding in prokaryotes allowed genetic variation through mutations…?

Ø  Endosymbiotic Theory: Eukaryotic cells (with nuclei) arose from a symbiotic relationship between different prokaryotic organisms…?

Ø  Multicellularity: The emergence of multicellular organisms from colonies of single cells…

Ø  Cambrian Explosion (~541 million years ago): A period of rapid diversification of animal life, with the appearance of most major animal phyla…?

Ø  Development of Body Symmetry: Early animals displayed radial symmetry (like jellyfish) or bilateral symmetry (like worms, which became dominant in the evolution of complex animals)?

Ø  Hard Parts: The evolution of hard body parts like exoskeletons (e.g., in arthropods) and shells (e.g., in mollusks) provided new ways to survive and adapt to environments?

Ø  Vertebrates and Invertebrates: The split between vertebrates and invertebrates…?

Ø  Natural Selection: The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment…?

Ø  Genetic Drift: The random fluctuation of allele frequencies…?

Ø  Mutation: The occurrence of random genetic changes in DNA…?

This is quite a list and there is still much more; I do not see any logical continuity in the process, I do see there is an enormous amount of speculation and chance in each of the steps. I recognize that the level of faith required to accept so many conundrums is much greater than mine; I believe in God. A question for Atheists – why do people believe in evolution when the abundant evidence of design demolishes the unreliable chance process it relies on?

5        “…many contradictions and immoralities in the Bible.” There are no contradictions in the Bible even though it is a library of sixty-six different books written by different people at separate times through fourteen centuries. As for immorality, why wouldn’t it be in the Bible as in any other record of human history? The failures of God’s people were not hidden, the sinful behaviour of those he chose to lead Israel were exposed and denounced. The scriptures are not novels they are factual accounts and accurate descriptions of people who lived in ancient times. If you want fiction and embellishment look at the scriptures of Islam. Compare biblical religious practices and teaching to the teachings and practices of other religions. Go to India and see the plethora of idols and creatures worshipped by Hindus.

6        Not all translations of scripture should be trusted. The Catholic scriptures include books that the protestant Bible does not. The New World Bible was translated by the Watch Tower organization and is biased. Religious preference has influenced translations. Interpretation of scripture must follow the laws of hermeneutics (1) understanding the historical and cultural context, (2) understanding the literary context, (3) making observations, and (4) drawing application. The scriptures are a record of God’s relationship and dealing with people. The scriptures are the account of God’s plan, process, and fulfilment for reconciling people to himself.

7         How can you believe in something with no scientific evidence? There is far more evidence for a creator than haphazard evolution. In studying the pyramids of Egypt scholars can follow the stars and determine the constellations which coincide with the positioning of the pyramids; that is not a mistake. I suspect that H₂O has always been water, and other elements have been what they are. God “did not leave Himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons” – that is design. The scriptures are not scientific documents and yet revealed scientific information hundreds or thousands of years before people knew what they were reading, “He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.” “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth.” “…what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” Faith and true science are not in conflict. Faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This definition applies to both believing in God as well as the theory of evolution.  

8        “Why are there so many religions?” I expect because there are so many people. People cannot agree on what the scriptures say, or which scriptures apply to religious practices. The fault is not with scripture or with God, it is the result of human proclivity. People see what they believe or want to see. The smorgasbord of “Christian” religions is antithetical to the teaching of Jesus. Jesus did not speak of an institutionalized religion; he spoke to people about their personal attitudes and behavours. The multitude of denominations reflects humanity’s vanity. The word of God has been highjacked and distorted. God said if you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life; that has nothing to do with belonging to a religion or going to Church. Churches spawn Churches, God gives believers life.

9        Christians committed atrocities like the Crusades…”  Yes, they did and still do. That is what happened  when institutional Christianity became politicized. There was and is no justification for such activities in the teaching of Jesus. He taught a vastly unique way of life, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” People are imperfect, they do stupid and horrible things to each other. How is that moral? – it’s not! Atheists, pagans, Moslems, and Christians all commit atrocities; it’s definitely not only Christians who do horrible things. Unlike those who do not believe, Christians trust in the grace of God for forgiveness, and receive it. The Christian hope is not based good behaviour or merit of any sort, it through faith in Jesus the Son of God. It would be great if Christians and Atheists alike were to live in peace with all people. How did morality and love evolve through survival of the fittest?

10    “Why would a loving God send people to hell forever?” God does not send people to hell; he provided an escape from hell through the death of his son. He warns people that hell is a place where people who do not believe in Jesus choose to be. People in hell will be there by their own choice. God loved the world so much he sent his son to die on a pagan cross. The sacrifice of Jesus reconciles believers to God. People who reject God and refuse his urging to come to him through Jesus are putting themselves in jeopardy. Atheists choose to deny God and thus determine their own destiny; God does not force anyone to do anything. Humans are free agents, time to stop blaming others for your own choices. The apostle Paul wrote: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternity in God’s love is the best option; the choice is ours.  

11    “If God is all-knowing, how can we have free will?” What does God’s knowledge have to do with human free will? God knew that Adam and Eve would exercise their free will and eat the forbidden fruit. He did not force them to eat it. He provided an over abundance of delightful fruit to the one forbidden fruit, but he would not force his will on Adam and Eve. Humans are different from animals which have inherent programing, we can choose our behaviours. What God knows does not affect human free will. We can exercise our free will by choosing to believe in Jesus which secures us a place in God’s family. The question is odd; Atheists do not believe in God, so why are you worried about what he knows? I believe in God and believe he is eternal; he created all things; I have a home with him in eternity.

12    “Why did Jesus have to be crucified in such a cruel way?” The scripture specified that Jesus came to earth at the right time. The end times of Israel and the first covenant which was during the period of Roman rule. Crucifixion was the Roman method of execution of criminals and any who challenged Roman authority. The Jewish scriptures say, “anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse.” Paul quoted that phrase when writing “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'” The reason why Jesus died was to save people from sin. King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream revealed that the of God would be established in the time of the Roman Empire, the Romans used crucifixion as a death penalty and deterrent.

13    Why are many intelligent people turning away from religion? I do not know that intelligence is causing people to turn away from religion unless it is Hinduism or Islam. Jesus prayed, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” Jesus knew that self-important, intellectual, and rich people would not accept him as Messiah. Common people accepted him as a prophet, as one who spoke with authority, and one who did the work of God. I assume Atheists mean people are turning away from Christian Churches. It has nothing to do with intelligence but thousands of believers have left institutional Churches, some to associate with small groups, others have no religious affiliations, yet the majority of them retain their faith in God. Christians have become disillusioned with institutional Christianity, seeking a more personal relationship with God. Churches which focus on spiritual growth and encouragement are doing well.

14    “How can you pick and choose what parts of the Bible to follow literally?” People do not get to “pick and choose” what parts of scripture they accept. The context determines which parts are literal and which parts are symbolic or allegorical. The protestant Bible is a compilation of sixty-six books, all of which are important providing examples and principals to live by, they reveal God’s interaction with people. The scriptures reveal God’s plan of redemption and his desire that all people come to him. The Bible is not a textbook for Church activity. It is not a catalogue of rules. It is the history of God’s relationship with humanity. We need to treat the scriptures as letters written to someone else. We can learn from them, but the laws are not for us.

15     “How can God be Just, Merciful AND a Jealous God who demands worship?” The prophets describe Israel's unfaithfulness and idolatry as spiritual adultery. God's jealousy underscores his righteousness and the consequences of breaking his covenant. God eagerly wanted to restore his relationship with Israel despite their unfaithfulness. Consider God’s words in Hosea:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.” 

Yes, God said, “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.” God disciplined Israel as a father would his child. His jealousy and discipline demonstrated his love for Israel. The scripture records that God is not pleased when the wicked die, but rather that they change their ways and live. In his letter James wrote, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.” Atheist, Agnostic, or believer, God wants all to be in his family. The question implies the attributes of God are contradictory; in the context of God’s relationship with those he created they exhibit his love and desire for them to avoid disaster and share in his glory. For those who have a problem with God’s behaviour Paul has this advice: “Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?”