When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
—1 Corinthians 13:11
Having doubts about God and Christianity? Me too.
I think that’s how it starts with many ex-Christians. Just as children grow in knowledge and begin to uncover reasons to doubt the existence of Santa, some adults likewise begin to have doubts about the existence of God or the stories found in the Bible.
For children, doubts about Santa begin to manifest with rational questions like:
- How can Santa visit billions of kids in just 24 hours?
- Does Santa really have elves that build toys?
- Can reindeer really fly?
- How can Santa climb up and down all those chimneys?
It’s through asking questions that we uncover the greater truth about our world. Sure, some adults will continue to offer excuses in defense of Santa, and this may keep the child content for awhile, but eventually knowledge, experience, logic, and reason will move them past such magical thinking.
Questioning Faith
Similarly, doubts about God and Christianity begin to manifest with questions like:
- Was there really a talking snake?
- Did God really flood the entire world?
- Did Joshua really make the sun stand still?
- Did Jonah really spend three days inside the belly of a whale?
- Does God really have a reason for allowing children to suffer?
- Does God really know who’s been naughty or nice?
These doubts lead some of us to Google, where some Christian sites like AnswersInGenesis or GotQuestions.org keep our doubts at bay for awhile (especially if we stop there). But do these answers really represent the most reasonable world view? Are are they just intelligent-sounding explanations for magical thinking? And will they hold up to criticism?
The Questioning of My Faith
My personal faith began to wane one Sunday morning as I reread the first few chapters of Genesis. I’d been a fundamentalist Christian for over 30 years, as much as I loved God, these stories I’d read a hundred times began to seem far too much like a fairy tale. Talking snakes? Talking donkeys? It was too far removed from the reality of the world that I knew. It was as if my knowledge, experience, logic, and reason had finally grown to the point where I could no longer read the stories the way I did when I was younger.
The next Sunday I stayed home from church. I realized I’d never get both sides of the story from the pulpit. My whole life I’d only ever listed to one side of the debate, and I knew it was because I didn’t want to believe anything else. But still… what did the opposition have to say? I had little idea, but I was pretty sure they were deceived.
I began researching the answers to my questions, mostly by watching debates, so I could hear both sides of the story. There was such a wide chasm between my creationist world view and the natural (agnostic/atheist) world view, that I though surely there would be far more evidence on one side than the other. I believed the Christian worldview would emerge victorious, but as much as I wanted to be proven right, I wanted to know the truth even more. I only had one life to live, and I didn’t want to waste it believing in something that wasn’t true.
The Origin of 500 Questions
A few Sunday’s later, my pastor came to visit. We talked, I confessed my concerns, and he fed me the usual explanations I’d fed to others my entire life. He returned the following week, and in-between his visits I would write down a few questions as they came to mind, or as I discovered new things.
I began re-questioning everything I’d ever assumed, even silly little things like “Why do we eat?” And weighing the Christian explanation against the natural one.
I discussed these things with my pastor, and eventually we reached an impasse, and went our separate ways. While my pastor stopped coming, the questions did not. If I was about to risk eternal damnation for rejecting Christ, I’d better be darn sure I wasn’t mistaken.
So I began taking these questions one at a time, spending several days, weeks, or even months researching one and pondering the results here. I find the exercise therapeutic, educational, and even a bit reassuring. I hope you will also find the questions and ensuing conversations entertaining, educational, and occasionally humorous.
Update
Now that I have been writing here for several years, I must confess that my faith as waned further and my confidence in a natural world view has grown. While it’s true my bias has changed, I remain open to new evidence that might change my mind. Just as I was willing to change my conclusions based on new evidence (as difficult as that was), I’m willing to return to a Christian view should strong evidence to the contrary come to my attention. These questions still remain intriguing to me, and I will continue writing until I reach my goal of 500 questions… or I die… or I get bored of the topic… whichever comes first.
Sincerely yours,
500Q
500 Questions about God & Christianity 
Hey! I just found this site via a post you made on CNN (about being religious vs. education level).
First, I hate you because I have spent the entire afternoon reading nearly everything you have posted. Second, I love you for everything that you have posted! I feel like I’m talking to myself, which is nice, because I find myself fascinating!! lol
My question: is there a way that you can post an RSS link for this website? Can you already do this somehow? I’m just learning how to use them (I know, I know) and think it would be great to be notified that I had another article to read (and another afternoon to kill).
Keep it up! Please increase the frequency if you can! (although my post script question will help to this…)
Bigsby (aka, Brian)
ps. I didn’t see a bio outside of the questions to your pastor. It would be cool to see how similar/different we all are with respect to everything else besides our questioning of faith. Me? I’m a 38 year old white male, working as an automotive engineer in a suburb of Detroit, with a house, a wife, a 2 yr old girl, and a dog. I spent 4 years in the Marine Corps, I like guns, freedom of choice, old cars, and identify with Humanist views. Want more? Just ask. Take care.
Hi Bri’,
First, I love you too. Thanks for taking time to post. I’m always surprised when someone takes the time to read my stuff, especially with so much other interesting stuff on the net. I try hard to be brief but interesting.
Second, I don’t know about the RSS feed, I’ll check into it. I know you can subscribe to the post, and WordPress will drop you an email whenever I have something new to say. You can join my growing army of followers (well… “follower”… I’ve only got one so far, lol).
Third, I’m working on a couple more posts coming very soon — I’ve gotten wrapped up in researching this next question about evidence for the spirit, really fascinating stuff! I tend to re-write posts about 100 times to make sure they’re perfect and I’ve offended absolutely everyone, so sometimes that takes a while.
Fourth, Ya, I need to work on the Bio (so much to do). Me? I just turned 40, work as an IT nerd in N. California, with a house, a son and daughter (8/7) and a dog. I was too much of a
pussypacifist to join the armed forces, but I did fire my first AK-47 recently! I like romantic walks on the beach (not really), Deloreans, mountain biking, any movie with aliens in it, spending time with my wife and kids, pondering the universe, and identify with Michael Shermer and the golden rule.I hope you’ll join us to chit-chat about some of these questions (or previous ones) and we can learn from each other. One of these days I’ll have to set up a related Facebook page as well.
Thanks again!
Hey 🙂 I found this blog through reddit the other day and I think it’s very interesting! I personally was raised a christian but never really believed, and I spent this whole last year in Australia living with a religious family, going to a very evangelist church that takes the Bible completely literal. It really kind of bothers me how people can just blindly believe what the Bible says without using any kind of reasoning, and it made me think of a lot of gaps in the Christian view of the world. I’m just too much of a wuss to actually confront people with these questions! One thing that’s really been bugging me lately is that if people can only go to heaven through Jesus, than who went to heaven before Jesus came to earth? Just the Jews? But those same Jews won’t get into heaven these days, since they don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Kind of unfair to just change the rules of heaven like that. The one day you’re allowed to go to heaven, the next day – BAM – Jesus is here, no more heaven for you.
Also, the whole ‘the earth is 6000 years old’-thing makes me want to facepalm every time I hear it. My host brother once asked his mum why so many people believe the world is older than 6000 years. Her answer was, ‘Because they don’t know any better. But the Bible says it’s true, so it is true.’ It’s quite depressing how people just refuse to believe that there is actual evidence – and a lot of it as well – the world is older than those 6000 years…
Anyway, sorry for the rambling, what I really just wanted to say is that I love your blog, keep up the good work!
Astrid
Hi Astrid, pleasure to meet you.
My hunch, and it’s just a hunch, is that religion pushes a lot of emotional buttons, much more so than science and reason, though there is just enough reason behind creationist arguments to keep them seeming plausible.
“I’m just too much of a wuss to actually confront people with these questions!”
I think that’s normal, no one wants to be the one to tell the emperor he has no clothes. And a simple objection can lead to a complex debate that often leads nowhere.
My kids are homeschooled (though not for religious reasons) and some of our homeschool friends teach a very literal Biblical history to their own kids – global flood and all. I have to cringe and hold my tongue whenever I look at their homework. These poor kids are really only hearing one side of this debate.
“…if people can only go to heaven through Jesus, than who went to heaven before Jesus came to earth? Just the Jews? But those same Jews won’t get into heaven these days, since they don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah.”
My mom used to say that the Jews didn’t accept Jesus because God had blinded them. Still… it’s a bit odd of God to send a people to hell after making it difficult for them to see the truth.
Acts 17:30 says “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” So it looks like everyone pre-Christ just got into heaven because they were ignorant, but that still begs the question, “Why did Jesus come if we were all getting into heaven?” That makes it sounds like we had a pretty good thing going… until Jesus came along. But if they all went to hell pre-Christ, that’d be wrong too. So I’m not sure what the answer is. 😦
As for the earth being 6,000 years old, there are some surprisingly compelling arguments for it, especially if you’re already a believer. I no longer agree with them, but history does seem to get its “start” about that time (or at least writing does). But really, I’ve found that anyone can come up with reasonable sounding argument for just about anything… if they try hard enough.
“I really just wanted to say is that I love your blog, keep up the good work!”
Thanks! I usually add about one a month, but you’re welcome to chime in on any of them if you have anything to add.
Keep thinking!
First let me say that I am thoroughly enjoying your entire web-blog. You are obviously a very intelligent writer and inquisitor 500Q. If I may, I’d like to share my first SERIOUS question of Christianity’s viability. I hope this won’t be inappropriate or too time consuming; if so 500Q, you’re welcome to delete it. 🙂
When this significant doubt arose, I was a deacon in a large PCA church (Presbyterian Church of America), in my 3rd year on the job at a psychiatric-A&D hospital, in my 3rd year of graduate school at a nationally-recognized seminary acquiring my master’s in Marriage & Family Therapy, and the Single’s Ministry Co-Director and its Outreach Programs (evangelism). My under-graduate degree was in Humanities with concentrations in Bible, history & philosophy. All of these made up 4/5’s of my life for almost 10 years. Naturally, Christian apologetics had been a significant part of those years. All these tasks and responsibilities made me a solid active Christian fundamentalist, to say the least, until one day a good soccer friend asked me one simple question.
He asked “What was Jesus doing between the ages of 12 and 29?”
Twenty-two years after that day and question I’ve since learned that 95% of Christians, and 100% of Christian fundamentalists simply do not care in the least what the true answer is to that question or its implications. I am utterly dumbfounded as to why, and as such now fully understanding the super-power of pure “faith” and how it consumes people’s intellect.
Here’s my now Free-thinking Humanist answer to the question and why I could never return to Christian-believer/follower. A major portion of sound Christian apologetics is the ‘evidential support’ of Jesus Christ of Nazareth being the one and only true Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament scriptures. Further support of this title are the “miraculous” odds of his post-natal, youthful survival, the “miraculous” events of Jesus’ birth, and the extraordinary ‘cosmic’ events and prophesies from foreign lands (3 wise men). In other words, the New Testament goes to unremarkable lengths to emphasize God’s intervention into mankind’s demise through this ONE man, this ONE Savior of the world. Remember, during Jesus’ life there had been & were many false claimants to Messiah. Authors of the canonical New Testament HAD TO make Jesus of Nazareth completely legitimate!
How can a person of that magnitude, already performing extraordinary feats, and escaping Herod’s sword, suddenly drop off the face of the planet for a full 17 years without ANY type of non-Christian hint of his whereabouts?
Conclusion: It is NOT possible.
Implications? Vast.
But hey, nothing wrong with believing in Mother Goose or Santa Claus either. They’re wonderful stories.
Fascinating, it never occurred to me to even ponder this question or its implications. One would imagine the Bible would have much more to say about what would happen to him during these years. I may have to add that one to the list, if you don’t mind. 🙂
Don’t mind one bit. Use away! The New Testament says very, very little about his whereabouts; and what it does say/imply comes nowhere close to explaining how the one and ONLY Son of God — of unimaginable intellect, teachings, and miracles to and for the world — is never noticed or glimpsed upon by non-Judaic or non-Christian sources. Utterly baffling. This lead me through decades of searching for independent NON-Christian sources of Jesus/Yeshua and subsequently led MY intellect further away from the Roman-Greco hijacking of Jewish Messiahship.
Hi there, thank you for posting this as im really trying to find help in my faith and not sure where to start, Im a newby in christ, I was bought up culturally as a christian but not practising one.
I have only turned to Christ recently out of fear of God, having stumbeled across some sites that led me to christ I didnt realise you needed to ask for salvation and walk with the lord…
So being new, I thought i found a great church that teaches what is scriptual, after 2 meeting with the pastor whom I thought was doing a lovely job, I have walked out feeling crushed about my faith, firstly being new its already a challenge to understand god and to build faith is not done over night, but twice in 2 different meetings, out of the blue the pastor mentions that “You can talk till the cows come home and fool him that I have faith, but only God knows my heart and if Im true to him”, I thought this was uncalled for, why would you just pluck that out of nowhere and accuse me like that? not just make assumptions but why test my faith like this? im new here!! After hearing this I wanted to clarify that I am building my faith and wanted to share a story about something someone did in time of need but spoke to me as though it was god speaking thru them, that message/gesture that I recieved lifted my faith as I just new it was god, so I shared this story with him and he shoots that down too, saying that is not God!!!
Ever since then, I have had serious doubts, fearing ill burn in eternity and why would someone esp a pastor go out of his way to squash my hope? he is supposed to be a man of trust, its been ruined!! any help on this would be great :(((
Hi M CCLL,
Ya… I have no idea what’s going on in his head… unless he believes in predestination of the soul and doesn’t think there’s anything you can really do, and that everything must be done by God. The idea of praying for salvation is actually an early American idea, though I forget the exact name of the Protestant pastor who first started it.
Anyway, the Christian side of me would say, “It doesn’t matter what one man thinks, the only thing that matters is what God thinks.” The skeptical side of me would say, “What evidence have you been given that makes you think hell even exists? Sure, it’s a scary idea, but Muslims also claim you can spend an eternity in hell for not believing in the the prophet Muhammad. The threat of hell itself actually doesn’t prove anything, it just scares people to action. Religions could say ‘If you don’t believe, you will die tomorrow!’ but since this would quickly be proven false, the threat must be put off until afterlife. Meanwhile, here on earth, God doesn’t appear to have any interested in judging the wicked at all. The wicked prosper while the innocent suffer and die. If a moral God existed, perhaps we’d see judgement in this life… not one that may never come.”
Hi, thank you for your reply. However I dont agree with the reply, sorry I thought i sumbled on a site that was referring to having doubts, but getting back on the horse again… Even though im new, I know well enough how the spiritual realm works, and satan has definately pulled the wool over your eyes. This is the fallen world, not the perfect world, which is Paradise/Heaven, we are only here passing thru, its only a probabtional period, and we are all going to be tested, while satan still reigns, everyone will have tribulation. We are living in end times, if you dont know your bible well enough, i suggest you start reading revelation, as this is why god has awoken me…We are all going to go thru a generation of Satan and Gods wrath, and its only around the corner. I was awoken to pay attention to prophecy, and Im only telling this to you because I feel lead to make sure you get back on the path, you dont want to miss your chance of Eternal Reward, Id rather have faith and hope for this reward rather than the punishment.
I wouldnt worry so much about the evil ones prospering, I always had the knowledge that there is a reason for this, A) they have made a pack with satan, B) Even if there Atheists, they still fall in the Dark Kingdom, so Satan isnt so worried about giving them as much grief as a true believer, we are more of a threat, and the closer you get to god, the more satan will try to make you fall, which you have.
Dont give up, please dont get encouraged by dis-believers, because all will soon be going thru greater tribulation as we head into end times, the spiritual warfare will increase, and you have to have the faith to go thru it, remember we are all being tested, and we all will face Judgement day, dont make this wrong decision.
I know see the pastor i was seeing had a different spirit than me, Im obviously a threat and therefore he wanted to discourage my faith, I wont be walking back into that church again.
Id be happy to help, if you would like to, pls just take a moment to absorb and digest this, The enermy will do anything in his power to keep the veil over your eyes.
Remember “The first will be the last and the last will be the first” dont come under this catagory please!!!
God bless
I have a great topic you can add to this list. How about the bible claims that individuals lived for 900 + years. This should make for an interesting write up.
It is very interesting… but can it ever be proven that it did or didn’t happen? I think it’s just one of those things you have to take on faith (or assume the numbers had some kind of special meaning, but weren’t literal). Hummm.
if u ask me, there has got to be an ultimate being out there somewhere. I mean Just look around. look at the stars and the billions of galaxies. look at that sun, and moon an earth, everything is just too perfect for all of this shit to be an accident. how did it get here, o the big bang someone might say, well what created the big bang, and the subatomic pieces. they didn’t just make themselves. I get deep into thought too, I wonder who made god and where did he come from and what do we really understand about time and space. I will tell u what I really think. I look at it like this, don’t nobody know anymore than I do and I mean no one. if being dead is anything like being asleep, it cant be that bad, it would be just like it was before we were born. We wouldn’t know a thing. if god knows everything in the beginning and the end, why go though the trouble why all this, why test us, u know we gona loose anyway.
Dear 500 Questions,
Thank you so much for this site! I too am questioning the Christian faith I was raised to believe in. I’ve read your entire page on children suffering which is where most of my questioning began, and I agree with all of the answers and refutes that you thoughtfully give. I see there is a lot more to your site with many other questions I have as well.
I am 33 years old was raised in the Baptist church. I attended Christian school as a child as well as a Christian college so I was indoctrinated very well from a young age on up. I never questioned God, the Bible, or my faith until the day my son was born 2 1/2 years ago. My son was born with multiple birth defects to include a spine defect causing scoliosis, a minor benign heart defect, a transverse liver, and accessory spleen, and intestines on one side of his body. These are all non life threatening conditions and my son is otherwise happy and healthy and is the light of my life. They do not in any way compare to the sufferings many children endure which are discussed here. But this is what started the unraveling of my faith. I began to question everything. If the Bible is true, the verses that say He knit me together in my mother’s womb, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, etc…this would mean that God purposely created my son with these problems and defects. Why would he do that? What am I going to tell my son when he asks me why God made him this way? I also suffered two miscarriages as you and your wife did before having my now 2 beautiful children. The was also something I struggled to explain away and eventually came to the conclusion that its all Biology in work.
From this point on I noticed every case of children suffering that crossed my path. My neighbors child with Downs syndrome, the child on the news that was raped and murdered…the starving children around the world…the little boy from my hometown dying of leukemia. The most recent happens in the news that come to mind are the girls held captive in Cleveland and the tornados in Oklahoma. The girls’ families prayed and held vigils for their safe retun and I’m sure the girls themselves prayed every day for a rescue. So why would a loving God allow them to go 10 years suffering in the way they did…surely an all powerful God could have set events in motion to make this guy slip up and allow the girls to get away..in sooner than 10 years time. But he didn’t. And this same all knowing God that created the laws of the Earth could have a created laws that would not have allowed tornadoes to form and kill so many people.
After 2 years of questioning I came to the conclusion that either God does not exist or just is not involved with his creation personally. Right now I’m somewhere along the lines of a Deist and agnostic. I am having a very hard time letting go completely of the idea of God…I still look at nature and the beauty of our world in awe and feel there must be a master creator. When you have believed in something your entire life its hard to let go and I have not told a single person including my husband and family what I believe. My brother is a Baptist preacher and my parents very committed Christians and growing up in that I know full well how they view unbelievers. Atheists are viewed as “bad” and people who need to be prayed for. Basically I don’t want to deal with what would come from voicing my views. So I am in the closet with all this. And I struggle everyday with what I’m going to teach my children. I believe Christianity has alot of good things to offer in how to live. I want to raise my children to be loving, compassionate, productive and successful adults who contribute to their world in a meaningful way. I am also homeschooling and not for religious reasons. So it is up to me to teach them….and right now I cannot imagine teaching them anything other than Christianity but I want them to make up their own minds as I have. I also enjoy very much the traditions of Christmas and Thanksgiving, Easter etc and can’t imagine not raising them on these traditions. So I struggle. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on where to get support for these issues? Or even your own personal story may help. Thanks in advance!
Hi Rachael,
First of all, I’m sorry to hear about your son, but glad that he’s doing okay. For whatever reason, the question of childhood suffering is one of the top questions visited here. Out of all the problems of evil, I think this one stands out as the most obvious. It’s hard not to look at innocent people suffering and not conclude that such treatment is morally and ethically wrong.
I know, as a Christian, how Christians see non-believers. My mom was a believer, and my dad wasn’t much of one, and I know how she always saw him as “faulty.” You can never be “whole” until you are saved. I ever considered faking it for the rest of my life just to avoid being seen by my wife, friends and family this way. But this didn’t seem very honest, so I eventually did come out as a skeptic, and it hasn’t been easy. My wife doesn’t share my love of curiosity (she’s still a Creationist), but I respect her right to believe (and to teach our kids about what she believes) so long as I don’t believe they’re being seriously taken advantage of. (By the way, we also home school our kids!)
I still teach my kids the bits of the Bible I agree with, there are some good lessons in there, such as the golden rule — it’s just logical. We SHOULD always treat others the way we want to be treated. And we still celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. But these holidays have become secularized anyway, so they’re a lot of fun even without the religious connotations.
But I’ve made it clear to our kids that 1) even though mom and dad disagree on some things, it doesn’t mean we don’t love and respect each other, 2) I don’t care what they believe, I will love them either way, and 3) they should question everything and decide for themselves, because even adults disagree on these difficult questions.
Still, they tend to side with mom because: 1) they’re around her more, 2) she claims to “know” the truth while dad expresses uncertainty, and 3) they might fear she won’t love them as much if they didn’t believe, while dad could care less. Also, I don’t spend every weekend trying to indoctrinate them.
But doubting faith, especially after believing for so long, isn’t something that happens overnight (and frankly, I’m surprised it ever happens at all!). I think it requires some serious doubts and a strong curiosity, otherwise it’s just easier to go with the flow.
If you have a chance, I found Julia Sweeney’s “Letting go of God” to be one of the most honest and moving testimonials about what it means to doubt (Netflix has it on DVD, audio version is available on YouTube). You might also check out videos from “The Clergy Project” on YouTube (former Minister Jerry DeWitt, especially). And, of course, there are a lot of great ex-Christian websites out there.
But I don’t want to steer you away from religion, either — I may be wrong. Listen to both sides, think these things through for yourself, be aware of your own biases (on both sides), and trust no one – not even me. 🙂
I like your thinking. I have read most of your comments, and if I did not know better, I would think that you are ME! My name is Gene Smith, a 59 year old former Catholic, now haven’t been to my Methodist church, that my pastor visited me(Ya! Just like you). I gotta lot of comments I’d like to share with you. So please email me at: essmith53@comcast.net OK, so let’s start. God put EVIL LEADERS in power and we must obey them or “face the wrath of God”. So, next week the EVIL LEADERS demand that we “bear the Mark of the Beast” of face the”sword of the leaders” You know either way this will NOT END WELL. Kinda like the old saying: DAMNED if you do, and DAMNED if ya don’t. So if you obey the EL’s(by the way,EL is a Name O God)and got the Mark, off to the PIT you go. And if you are Faithful and True and Refuse the MARK o da BEAST, The LORD GOD says to you,”YOU VILE CREATURE, YOU FAILED TO OBEY YOUR (EVIL) LEADERS THAT I HAVE PLACED, SO, OFF TO THE PIT WITH YOU. BY THE WAY, I DO THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!
Your writing is thoughtful and entertaining. I stumbled upon your blog when I Googled conjoined babies. I am a strong believer in God, and consider myself to be a born again Christian. That being said, I have never bought that the Bible was anything more than an anthology of stories written by men. It is simply illogical to believe the Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, and similar stories.
Here is what I believe: God is real. We have free will, and make our choices. Beyond intelligence creation, God does not substantially interfere. Although I am a born again Christian, I believe that all righteous people who follow their God will be provided with salvation.
Of course, one could poke holes here and there in my beliefs. My beliefs are based upon my faith. I do not possess all the answers nor do I claim to.
I look forward to reading further additions to your blog.
Thanks George.
Although many Christians, as was myself until recently, are baby believers at best some are dedicated disciples as I have become. Many of things I viewed and expressed mostly could no be validated nor answered from a biblical example simply because I knew only what I was taught; mostly just accepted what I was spoon feed. But after having a great encounter with God I can honestly and firmly express that He is Who He claims to be. You are correct in stating that other belief systems can cause one to be convicted of impurity which is largely just a derived system of morality from Jesus teachings. But the ball drops here because righteousness comes only through the Son of God because He is the One Who took on the sins of the world. I have believed in God for 24 years but have only gotten to truly know Him personally over the last few years and learned to valuable lessons. My freedoms from sin is not just some good sounding parable but it really is the power of God to set us free from bondage. Secondly, never have I experienced not understood the amazing importance and gravity of His love for us. I always knew that in reading but until I experienced great tribulation did I start to see miracles, know the voice of God, and realize how deeply He loves us. Seek the Kingdom of God first and His righteousness will be added unto thee.
Can you kindly help me to understand, “Son of God because He is the One Who took on the sins of the world”. How? When?
Found this site when looking for answers on a question brought up recently.I havnt read all your posts but I am loving them.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks. 🙂
Kindly get these basic questions answered, first set though.
GTF(God Thee Father) is perfectly merciful and perfectly just! this real, but for different people, at different time, Very merciful when you deserve it, but very very just, for others who deserve judgment!
As we will be punished if we sin, that’s the bottom line, and we are seeing this every day, punished for generations!
We can blame God for being just, but can’t control our senses!
Jesus can in way is paying the price for our transgressions?
That is just an eye wash; we all know the wages of sin is death! We are dying even after Jesus died on cross? Why? What is the difference?
Facts:-
1. Jesus, is not only the son of God, we are also.
2. He was conceived by power of the Holy Spirit, to show, Our GTF’s miraculous power. So he is not son, then who is mother God? (Human thinking)
3. He did lot of miracles, but it based on the faith of the healer, He could not do in many occasions as they lacked faith.
4. He was also tested like us, which he passed.
5. He died on cross, as a normal human.
6…If the disciples really saw him alive again, do you think they would have continued to hide? Would they not come in open to proclaim? As God was with us them, why would they fear humans who can kill only the body and not the soul!
7. The belief is, He was sacrificed for our sins? Read it again, for our sins! Was it for people who lived before him or after him? What is the validity? As it is now 2014 year after his death! Will this lie continue? Are we given a card to swipe whenever we like?
8. To who was he sacrificed? As proclaimed till now, Is it for our GTF (God Thee Father)? What a lie!
Which father on earth, itself will accept his son as a sacrifice to forgive someone else sins forever? Is it not a lie, told for centuries? And we are still believing this naked lie!
9. Jesus ascended into heaven is recorded in Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:36-53, Acts 1:6-12, and 1 Timothy 3:16, then, how and where was he sacrificial lamb? Is it the way he was killed? Then John the Baptist wins, as his head was cut!
Which is more severe? Nailing or cutting the throat?
10. The whole world saw him crucified, but after resurrection he was seen only by his close disciples? How/why?
11. After his death and resurrection, He was with his body as recorded, when he came to meet Thomas the doubt, then… What would have happened to his body in Heaven where we will be his body among the spirits/souls? Which assumption is wrong? Will our body rise again, when we go to Heaven/Hell?
12. He is coming again is story to keep us in good conduct? Then from his death till now, where are all dead body souls waiting?
13. We are seeing that those who have as sinned suffering or their children suffering for what their parents did, as told in the commandments!
We know to blame God when we see children in the world suffer, but never blame their parents, who brought this misery to the children? New true concept.
Now most important question, how was the world saved or is being saved by Jesus? We are having same death, misery, suffering all in a better package, then what was before Jesus came, then what is the contribution of Jesus?
Correct me, Trinity concept was introduced,as confusion had started and Nicene-Constantinopolitan wanted to save his kingdom, so each of the protesters can worship, as they want but his post, as a King will be intact?
At least now… can we go back to our GTF (God Thee Father) accepting/adoring Him as our only God!?
Reblogged this on bbnewsblog and commented:
This is absolutely one of the best blogs – dealing with topics like “Is there a Creator God somewhere in the sky” and “Can we trust all the miracles and promises that can be read in the Bible”? – I’ve encountered on the Internet. I strongly recommend both believers and non-believers to follow this 500 Questions about God & Christianity blog!
Hi from Australia. Call me cynical or just a grumpy old man but since retiring recently and having time on my hands I am doing my part in our small community by replying to a weekly SDA column in our local newspaper called ‘food for thought’. To my mind it was a deliberate exercise to attempt brainwashing the general public into the Pastors way of thinking. Things he attested to being Gods work I found needed just a little bit of alternative thought on the subject. Apparently my following is steadily growing so I needed some quick way to rationalise my own thoughts and get some facts behind my arguments. Your site was literally the answer to my prayers (Ha Ha)
I also happened to mention my membership in the Church of the flying spaghetti monster which now being a registered religion, carries as much weight as conventional institutions. (legally anyway) My email box was immediately inundated with locals wanting to find out how to join. In reading through some of your articles I was impressed with the article describing the correlation between falling numbers of believers as against the rise in intelligence. Couldn’t have put it any better myself and may include a reference to this fact in my next article. Sure to excite a serious response in the Letters To The Editor section. Thanks again. Terry
G’Day Mate!
The “invisible pink unicorn” offers a similar analogy. Wherever someone says ‘God,’ in an argument, if you replace it with “The Invisible Pink Unicorn” or “The Flying Spaghetti Monster,’ there really is no good evidence that exists to prove one over the other.
500Q
Hi. Why are there only 65 questions and not 500?
This is just the beginning…wait till we reach 500 but what is your real doubt? or question?
ok just asking. and why is the website name 500 questions?
Hi Zakria, it’s a work in progress. I had a very long list of questions when I started (over 500!) and I’m gradually working through them. 🙂
ok
Can you explain why the early christians gave their lives for christ if they already knew Jesus did not rose from the dead. Can anyone be willing to die for a lie?
Hello Juan,
Could a charismatic individual convince 12 (or so) men they should die for his cause? It’s certainly not unheard of.
In recent history, Marshall Applewhite (leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult) convinced 39 people to die for his cause; David Koresh convinced 79, and Jim Jones scored over 900.
Keep in mind that none of the above men did anything truly amazing, like raising the dead or walking on water. But the apostles supposedly DID witness these kinds of things, and were still unwilling to die defending Jesus when the Romans came. The crowds that lived at the time also preferred to release Barabbas over Jesus.
2,000 years after the fact, it’s difficult to ascertain how each apostle died, and what they had seen (or believed) at their time of death. Even the gospels themselves disagree over who witnessed the resurrection and when.
But if we are using death counts to measure truth, we might want to take a closer look at the beliefs of Jim Jones…
Take care,
500Q
Hi 500Q,
I am almost 70. I was an atheist/agnostic for the first 35 years of my adult life. My friend of almost 50 years was always yapping at me about “religion.” About 15 years ago my wife and I went to an Answers in Genesis week-long conference on Creation, the Flood, and so – on. I swallowed their teachings hook, line and the proverbial sinker. (I originally went so I could see what the “other side ” was doing so I could debate with my friend.) I became on fire for Christ! We joined a church. We donated $10,000. The pastor absconded with our money and other’s. We weren’t fazed. We joined a different church and attended adult Sunday School. ( Before I retired I taught H.S. biology for 43 years.) Before I knew it, I was teaching the class of about 40 adults. The youngest was about 40, the oldest in their 80’s. The first question I asked on the first day of teaching was “Why are you a Christian?” I asked of each person as I went around the room. I was astounded at their answers! Not one person knew the reason! They looked dumbfounded when the neophyte told them the answer – “You’re a Christian because you don’t want to die and be tortured for eternity! You want to live forever!” Over the next few Sundays some people left but others joined. I didn’t want to teach verse by verse of different Bible books so I made up topics based on letters of the alphabet: A – Apostles, B -Blood, and so on. Being a science teacher I brought as much science into my lessons as possible. Being on fire for Christ I put about 20 hours of time into research and preparation for each 45 minute class. Attendance grew. I started to notice things – some Christian beliefs weren’t Biblical and Christians lived in a bubble. Most of those in my class were clueless as to the basis of their beliefs. You can guess what happened. Our church got a new gung-ho pastor who was only interested in indoctrination, not in teaching. ALL SS classes were cancelled. We left that church and went to others but my skepticism grew and continues to grow. I am now an unbeliever. The funny thing is my 50 year friend told me that I was going to “study myself into unbelief.” Which I have and continue to do. I want to believe but I can’t. Great site, btw. I come here frequently. Thanks for your hard work.
Hi Jeff,
What a terrific story, thanks for sharing.
I think it is possible to “study yourself into unbelief,” and I can think of several occasions where I was “indoctrinated” into one way of thinking, only to change my mind upon challenging those assumptions. But that really is key. If I’d never challenged my assumptions, I would’ve continued believing them. It’s through challenging our assumptions that we gain or lose confidence in what we’ve assumed to be true.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” — Prov 27:17
500Q
Why did you stop writing? I noticed this blog only goes to 66 topics, not the promised 500.
(Is this like the “100 Names of God” that Muslims tell us about? Once you ask them all, the world will end?)
Hi SwingCorey,
I’m still around, and still responding to comments and preparing the next post as time allows. But this Summer has been particularly busy. 🙂
500Q
Is it possible to contact you by skype ……I have lived in the US for most of my life and recently moved to Cambodia…….I have some questions I would like to ask you and also would like your view on something that happened that you might find interesting……I have waited a long time to finally find someone who makes a lot of good since on the question you have answered in your post.
Hi Joe,
You can email me at fivehundredquestions@live.com if you like.
500Q