Tract #23: Tough Questions for Christians
Published June 23rd, 2009Tract #23, Tough Questions for Christians, is ready for you to download and review. Download it, see page #3 for printing instructions, and let me know your comments! Thanks!
023_questions-for-christians.pdf
Tough Questions for Christians
It’s possible to be both philosophically rigorous and a Christian, but far too many Christians have not asked themselves enough tough questions about their own beliefs to make sure that they are indeed rigorous. Here are a few they might consider:
- Does God have free will? Could He choose to do evil?
- What crime deserves an eternity of punishment?
- What does it mean when you say that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one? Can you form an analogy to make this more clear?
- Some Christians pray to Jesus in the hope that he will intercede with God. Does this make sense if Jesus and God are the same person?
- If human evils must be allowed so that we can have free will, why did God also create natural evils, like floods and disease?
- You believe in the supernatural. How do you know when to reject supernatural explanations for things like UFOs or spontaneous human combustion?
- How can you tell false and true religions apart? Where do false religions — including false Christian sects — come from?
- What is a Christian? Are there any groups of people who call themselves Christians that are not really Christians?
- If God sometimes interferes in human events, why didn’t he either prevent the Holocaust or arrange for it to end sooner?
- If prayer can help someone get into Heaven, does this mean that someone who went to Hell might have been saved if someone had prayed for them? Is that fair?
- If God told you to kill a child, would you do it? If God told someone else to kill a child, would you interfere?
- If you believe homosexuality is wrong, would you encourage Christian girls to marry gay men and end their lives of sin?
- Why aren’t amputees ever miraculously cured?
- Why are modern-day miracles less impressive than those in Biblical times?
- Does God value faith more than He values belief based on evidence? If so, does that make sense?
- If you pray for an answer to a question, how do you know when God answers? Could it be that you are being deceived by a demon?
- How can you tell the difference between a prayer that’s been answered by God and a coincidence that happens to coincide with your desires?
- If some of your beliefs are based on what you feel in your heart, do you accept as true what others feel?
- Did all of the people who lived before the time of Jesus go to Hell? Is that just?
- Can people who never hear about Jesus go to Heaven?
- If God gave us intelligence, wouldn’t he want us to examine our beliefs with reason?
Godwin on June 25, 2009
The “tough” questions you wrote about Christianity are not “tough” at all!
Yes God has free will. Yes he could choose to do evil, but he wouldn’t because he’s infinitely good.
Rejecting God deserves an eternity of punishment?
God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are like the cab, trailer, and wheels of a truck, separate but all one.
Praying to jesus is the same as praying to God.
Natural evils are corruptions of the earth after the fall.
Supernatural thing that do not agree with the Bible do not exist.
Christianity is the only true religion. False ‘Christians’ don’t agree with the Bible.
A Christian is someone who follows the teachins of Jesus. Mormons and Catholics are not really Christians.
God doesn’t interfere with free will.
Prayer can’t help someone get into heaven.
God would not tell soemone to kill a child.
Homosexuality is wrong. Homosexuals should be cured.
God could cure an amputee.
After the miracle of Jesus, God has given us all the evidence we need.
Faith is the ultimate expression of trust.
You know in your heart when God speaks to you. Atheists wouldn’t know this. A real Christian can tell when a demon is trying to deceive.
You know in your heart when God answers.
I accept what other people when it agrees with the Bible.
It is just that unpunished sin is punished in Hell.
Everyone has an opportunity to accept Jesus.
Christianity is totally compatible with reason.
That was easy, I’ll do the bible one next.
theblackbook on September 2, 2009
“Christianity is totally compatible with reason”… well, since you say it, it must be true (saracasm).
Rudeness aside, another question: How can God be both omnipotent and omniscient? “There is a glaring contradiction in the Christian belief in Satan. Satan destroys the supposed monotheism of Christianity. The Christian God is supposedly one God. The One True God. (Aren’t they all?) Christianity purports to be monotheism all the way. No pantheons like those pagan Hindus. No siree. At the same time, the Christian God supposedly has three distinct “personages”—the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, commonly called the Holy Trinity or the Triune God. (Commonly called the One-Sided Triangle by me.) This single God purportedly has three different personalities—like The Three Faces of Eve. Or like Certs—It’s a breath mint! No, it’s a candy mint! It’s TWO mints in one!
Christian theology credits Satan with amazing powers over humans, sometimes known as “Satanic Curses.” His sole motivation is to ensnare and capture our immortal souls so he can watch us scream and writhe in agony as we roast in the blazing inferno known as Hell. Forever. Nice guy. But nice or not, if this is true, then Satan must be granted the status of a deity. He is not just another strange guy in a red suit. He is a supernatural entity with powers equal to or greater than God’s. This must be the case or else the supposedly all-merciful God would not “allow” Satan to direct his dastardly deeds toward us—we who are God’s beloved creations.
This brings up the enigma known as “The Question of Evil.” It has never been solved, and never can be. It has plagued theologians of all faiths for centuries. The reason for this is that their own definitions of God have backed them into an impossible corner. They have created their own conundrum by insisting that God is simultaneously omniscient, omnibenevolent and omnipotent.
Theologians must agree that, by definition, an omniscient (all-knowing) God would have known that ultimately evil would stalk the world he was creating. There can be no doubt that evil is here; so God must have foreseen it. Theologians must likewise agree that an omnibenevolent (all-merciful) God would never inflict pain and suffering on his own purportedly beloved human creations. And finally, they must agree that an omnipotent (all-powerful) God would have had the option of creating a world with no evil in it. Nothing in the entire universe could have prevented him from doing whatever he wanted, since he is omnipotent. So, how did evil arrive on the scene?
Blaming humanity’s “free will” won’t work. An all-knowing God would know exactly where that “free will” would lead—to evil. So if he didn’t want evil to exist, he shouldn’t have created free will. There’s no getting around it. If God did not know evil would be in the world, he could not be all-knowing. If he knew there would be evil and chose to allow it, he could not be all-merciful. If he knew there would be evil but could not do anything to prevent it, he could not be all-powerful. If you insist on insisting that God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent, you must then also insist that there is no evil in this world—which of course is nonsense. True Believers are stuck with this insolvable problem. The Question of Evil single-handedly destroys the argument that posits an all-powerful, all-merciful, all-knowing god.
If I were an omnipotent, all-merciful God, Hell would be empty! Indeed, there would be no Hell. Does this not stand to reason?
And this brings us back to our friend, Satan. People blame Satan for the evils of the world, but blaming Satan won’t work since an omnipotent God could have created a universe with no Satan in it. God is omnipotent, remember? So Satan’s origins are as impossible to explain as evil. For Christians, though, the problem is multifaceted. The concept of three beings equaling one God is murky enough. But if you then throw Satan into the mix you’ve got a real mess. If Satan is a supernatural power, and I think it’s fair to say that sponsoring something as spectacular as Hell qualifies someone as a supernatural being, then here’s the problem. If Christians claim Satan exists, they have only two choices:
(1) They must grant that Satan is a deity, bad-ass or otherwise, meaning they no longer may lay claim to monotheism. It’s a (minimum) Two-Deity Universe.
(2) They can add Satan to their Holy Trinity, as a Fallen Angel or a Bad Seed or whatever, making their already crowded Trinity burst its seams and sprout a fourth side. A 4-sided triangle.
There are no other options if Satan is deemed to possess the awesome powers Christians assign to Him. And Satan’s fearsome credentials are firmly established. He is a (most inconvenient) deity in an ersatz monotheistic Christianity. Making things worse, and another factor overlooked, is that Satan has a companion in his sadistic voyeurism—God. Knowing/seeing all things, God will surely witness the same screams of anguish from the souls in Hell that the Devil will witness.
The theological tangle that arises inescapably from the proposition that both God and Satan oversee the unimaginable, endless torment of human souls, is quite real and quite insolvable. Which is why it is tippy-toed around by Christians. When challenged on the point, they are likely respond with something like: Satan enjoys the human agony, while God laments it (sniff, sob, tears) so the two are not companions in sadistic voyeurism. Sorry, but that dog won’t hunt. Satan is necessary if you are going to try to reconcile a loving, all-powerful God with an evil world; but God still has to take the heat (sorry) for the existence of Hell. And to frighten little children with such an abomination as Hell is a form of abuse. Trust me—I’ve been there. Anyone who preaches such horrifying garbage deserves nothing but contempt and scorn.
If this rant seemed rather harsh, don’t blame me. The Devil made me do it.”
http://www.thehappyheretic.com/10-99.htm You’ve got to love Judith Hayes.
Brian on September 14, 2009
“God would not tell someone to kill a child.”
Godwin; June 25, 2009
I don’t claim to be a Christian and to read the Bible, but even I know this statement is wrong. Godwin, don’t you remember Abraham and his son? God told him to kill his son. Abraham was at the point of thrusting a knife into son, when an angel interrupted him to explain that it was only a test from God (which is unfathomable for God to do in the first place).
Research, research, research.
Xjak on September 14, 2009
*And the “Christians” stand in awe….*
yo on September 14, 2009
THE GUY UNDER ME IS COMPLETELY F###ING STUPID, THERE IS NO GOD
yo on September 14, 2009
YOU GUYS ARE F###IN STUPID RACIST, NARROW MINDED DOUCHES, THERE IS NO GOD, WHERE IS HE? THERES NO PROOF
bob on September 15, 2009
These questions are silly. I am an atheist, none of these questions would stump any christian. Questions asking “why God does something” are dumb. Questions using logic to analyze something that uses no logic, but faith, will never get an answer.
Yo Yo on September 15, 2009
@yo
Faced with such an erudite argument such as “YOU GUYS ARE F###IN STUPID RACIST, NARROW MINDED DOUCHES, THERE IS NO GOD…” the simplistic, feeble minded, masses must cower before the power of your overpowering intellectual powerfullness. For better or worse I believe the article is attempting to use the illogical statements of the Christians – and the contradictory conclusions they logically lead to – to beat them to an intellectually bloody pulp.
I don’t think this will have any more success than it ever has, but I can guarantee it will be more persuasive than even your powerfully persuasive observations – true as they may be. The problem with pointing out that the religious actually ARE stupid, racist, narrow minded and extremely absorbent, is that they will feel quite righteous in ignoring you – and your powerfully argued position.
Unfortunately they seem impervious to logic as well.
Kevin on September 15, 2009
Let me say up front that I’m a Christian. That being said, let me point out that I don’t belong to ANY sect of Christendom. Having studied the scriptures for nearly 30 years, what I can say is that mainstream Christianity is so far off track that it’s ridiculous. I don’t make any claims about knowing it all. Far from it. I’ve still got a lot to learn.
I think that I can understand how Atheists come by their system of beliefs. Most come by it honestly when using simple logic to try and answer the questions that they’ve had about certain aspects of mainstream Christianity. Mainstream Christianity makes no sense. It never has, and I can say with confidence that it never will. Reason being that the heads of these mainstream sects are simply too damn stubborn to change their minds, to admit when they’re wrong.
Now, if you’ll grant me an audience, I’ll see if I can answer a few of the questions that were posted here originally.
*Does God have free will? Could He choose to do evil?
God certainly has free will. The second part of the question is a tough one. I’d have to claim to know the mind of God, and that’s a mistake.
*What crime deserves an eternity of punishment?
It depends on what you mean by punishment. The concept of a fiery hell simply doesn’t exist in the scriptures. Please understand that most mainstream Christianity is derived from the King James Version of the Bible, and that version has over a half a million mistakes in it that have been confirmed by scholars translating from the original Greek and Hebrew scriptures. To put it more simply, the concept of hell as a fiery place of eternal torment simply doesn’t have any scriptural basis.
*What does it mean when you say that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one? Can you form an analogy to make this more clear?
The scripture in the New Testament that claims that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one is spurious. It was created out of whole cloth. Had the so called “trinity” actually existed, they would have been well known in the Old Testament, correct? And if the “trinity” was known in the Old testament, then Judaism wouldn’t exist, would it? It states quite clearly in the Bible that Christ is the SON of God, and that Jesus answers to God. Not the other way around.
*Some Christians pray to Jesus in the hope that he will intercede with God. Does this make sense if Jesus and God are the same person?
No.
*If human evils must be allowed so that we can have free will, why did God also create natural evils, like floods and disease?
Wow. Good question, and one that would take a long time to answer in a satisfactory manner. So here’s the short version. God doesn’t have a lot to do with the Earth right now. Satan is the God of this world (it says so right in the Bible, a curious fact that is often overlooked), and as such, He is responsible for the woes of this world.
*You believe in the supernatural. How do you know when to reject supernatural explanations for things like UFOs or spontaneous human combustion?
Everyone believes differently. Personally, I believe that God is the Creator of the cosmos. I’m a firm believer that we aren’t the only life that God created. It wouldn’t make sense to me. As far as other phenomena is concerned, I don’t believe or disbelieve.
*If prayer can help someone get into Heaven, does this mean that someone who went to Hell might have been saved if someone had prayed for them? Is that fair?
Prayer can’t get you into Heaven. As an example, in Revelation it states that there are only going to be 144,000 people in Heaven, who will rule as kings over the Earth. Now, every “Christian” that has ever been saved feels like they are going to Heaven. This is due to their confusion over two words; Heaven and Paradise. Two completely different places. One is indeed Heavenly, the other Earthly. The vast majority of people who are truly “saved” will be in the Earthly Paradise. The earthly Paradise will kind of be like Eden, but not confined to one small place. It will be planet-wide.
*Why are modern-day miracles less impressive than those in Biblical times?
Maybe because they aren’t performed by God. The last true miracles were performed in the time of Christ, and died out when the last Apostle passed on. It’s kinda like “talking in tongues”. A lot of so-called “Christians” believe in it wholeheartedly. I’ve personally witnessed this many, many times. That being said, if you go back to the scriptures, it states that when people speak in tongues, at the same time a “flame” will appear over their heads. The flame is the holy spirit. Speaking in tongues and flames over their heads while they’re doing this go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.
I’ve yet to EVER witness flames in association with this, so I must assume that the “speaking in tongues” that is being presented by modern day Christianity is patently false.
*Did all of the people who lived before the time of Jesus go to Hell? Is that just?
I should have written this earlier, but the Bible states that “hell” is simply mankind’s common grave. So. yes, in a matter of speaking, we all go to hell at one time or another. If you’re a mere mortal, then I’m afraid that it’s inevitable.
*If God gave us intelligence, wouldn’t he want us to examine our beliefs with reason?
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? However, this is clearly not the case with the vast majority of Christians. Open wide and swallow whole.
ELBSeattle on September 15, 2009
Godwin loses big time.
“Homosexuality is wrong. Homosexuals should be cured.” If homosexuality is wrong, why has it existed since the beginning of recorded history? If it ’should’ be cured then why are the ‘cures’ touted by ex-gay ministries such miserable failures? Why is it that the AMA, the APA and dozens of other scientific organizations denounce such attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality?
“God could cure an amputee.” Really? But God chooses not to? Why? I thought we were supposed to ask for anything in Jesus’ name and God would grant it.
“After the miracle of Jesus, God has given us all the evidence we need.” This is the coward’s way out. There is no proof of any ‘miracle of Jesus.’ There isn’t even any proof of the existence of Jesus. Sorry, bub. But any divine being that wants me to fall on my face and worship him has got to show me a little more than just a collection of badly-edited fairy tales written over 2,000 years ago and a highly divisive body of believers that worry more about where man puts his penis than feeding the poor.
FAIL
Ben on September 15, 2009
yo, did you just call yourself completely f###ing stupid? (your own post is below your post)
Whilst I agree that there is no god, your later assertion that the one and only christian that posted here, as well as any future Christians supporting their own faith are racist, narrow minded, and are used to clean out the vaginal canal, is rather bigoted and narrow minded in its own right is it not?
Based on situations like this in the past, I would guess that you are a troll. A christian who has posted in an attempt to besmirch the face of atheism. Regardless I suppose there could really be an atheist as generally unlikeable as you, which is unfortunate considering we already have such a bad public image.
wolf on September 15, 2009
I think you’re giving Christians way too much credit for their faith when you ask questions that assume there might be even a trace of truth in their belief: by asking whether God or Jesus would do this or that, you’re basically acknowledging that at least they might exist.
Far better to ask questions that leave the Christian myths, and instead focus on their scripture and beliefs without dragging their mythical creatures into the equation. For example, you might ask how Christians are able to decide that some sections of their scripture apply while others don’t. For example, the section from which the Ten Commandments are distilled include references to slavery, which for some reason is ignored whereas the remainder of the scripture is considered a model truth. Do this enough, and some of them will eventually admit they’re interpreting their scriptures–that is, they’re deciding what their God thinks–as they go.
Christina on September 29, 2009
Does God have free will? Could He choose to do evil?
Jeremiah 26 (21st Century King James Version)
Jeremiah 26
1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying,
2″Thus saith the LORD: `Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.
3It may so be they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent Me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.’
Jonah 3
8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Exodus 32
13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
1 Chronicles 21
15And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and He repented of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed, “It is enough. Stay now thine hand.” And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Not everyone was so lucky.. he wiped out whole towns and supposedly even the whole world with the flood.
Which begs the question: If God is all merciful, if God is love, if God is all good, then how can he even THINK of doing evil unto his people?
Ivan on October 17, 2009
Religion is poison. Thanks to Christianity we have been destroying, killing each other. Enjoy nature and be compationate with each other, Then we can build a civilized society.
Sarah on December 8, 2009
http://www.thedoorpost.com/joy/claytonsstory
http://claytonsstory.com/
It’s the internet, and I doubt many people are going to be persuaded by the ten pages I could write in response to that, just like none of your responses are persuading me.
This is just a testimony of a boy named Clayton who actually lived life.