O
I've noticed a lot of these floating around lately, so I figured I'd take a shot at answering them. Some people feel that it is bad to go seeking the truth of God, which involves facing some of these seemingly difficult questions; actually, the Bible says to " test the spirits," to see if they are from God:
I believe that this is vital for the spiritual situation we are facing today; that is, tons of false prophets, different teachings, and different Biblical interpretations. To just settle for " just believe," seems to make us give in to whatever false teaching may come our way. Actually, this is the fuel atheist use in their rebuttles to Christianity, by exposing the lingering falsehoods that have poisoned Christianity after the death of the last apostle.
The goal of these questions is to cause one to doubt God, and to put Christians on the spot for being " illogical," for our seemingly fallible faith. In my church right now, we are learning how to defend our faith, because in doing so, it will help younger / newer members to get a deeper understanding and " hold onto their crown," as the Bible states it.
The assumption that has been made, is that God left us completely abandoned, without logic or an accurate path to salvation. Looking at the modern Christian world, it does seem like God is MIA, as no one can confidently identify the true path to God, amongst the millions of different trails that have been carved by mankind's established traditions.
God is not MIA, and left one incredible way for us to discern God's established truth, from the falsehood that has been brought on.
Atheist or non - believers, are always asking for some physical proof of God; well God left physical proof - you can touch it, see it...even eat it if you want. It's nothing new except what has been revealed in it -
That is, The Bible.
1.) Why would God place a forbidden tree in the garden so close to his innocent creation and allow Satan to tempt them into eating from it, all the while looking on without doing a thing to prevent it?
Genesis 2: 17
" but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die."
A common response is that God placed the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden, to give mankind freewill. Freewill was actually already inherently given after the creation; Adam and Eve were not puppets or manipulated; they freely did as they wished in the Garden of Eden. What God gave Adam and Eve, was a commandment - a simple one, do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; they were even warned by God, what would happen if they ate of the tree anyway, and that was death.
Both Adam and Eve knew the consequences beforehand, and had the freedom of will to obey or disobey. However, this is not a matter of freewill; God intended for Adam and Eve to eat from the tree, or else it would have never been placed in the garden. God knew way ahead of time that they would eat of it; God knew the Devil would tempt them...God created the Devil. God was in control of this entire enfolding of events and still is.
Some may think God cruel, but actually God began his perfecting of his creations the moment we, ( Adam and Eve represent the sinners on Earth metaphorically,) sinned. But why did God intend for us to consume the fruits of good and evil?
For our own understanding.
Take a look at life on Earth; my roommate is an Atheist, and she even noticed that the Earth consist of two outstanding forces; Good and Evil. Evil cannot be identified without Good, and Good cannot be understood without evil. Had the " tree" of knowledge never been consumed, how ignorant would we have been to everything? The Devil even toyed with Adam and Eve by making it seems as if God was hiding something from us; God wasn't hiding anything, God wanted us to gain the knowledge so we could be made into wholesome beings. We would have been like robots, forced to love God even though we could never truly understand love, for we never would have understood God's good, without witnessing the Devil's evil, which brings us to the next question;
2.)Since Adam and Eve didn’t know right from wrong before eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why did God then punish them for something they didn’t understand they were doing?
Okay, using this atheist's " logical" thinking -
Doesn't it mean that every single parent who has ever scolded, spanked, or punished their young child for doing something wrong, before that child knew it was wrong - is a wicked evil person? Mr. Atheist...your mom is so cruel for smacking you on the hand the first time you did something wrong. How dare she scold you and punish you so that you can gain the wisdom and insight to discern what is good and what is evil.
Worst mother in the world.
God is our FATHER / MOTHER, meaning PARENTS. We are spiritually children; Galatians, John, 1 John - tons of books in the Bible call God's people, " God's CHILDREN," and children need praise ( blessings,) and refinement ( punishment,) in order to be shaped into decent functioning beings. We do not get angry at the human parents who put their child in time out for bad behaviors the young child does not understand at first - so why is everyone trying to huff and puff at God for treating God's children the same way?
Had God not punished Adam and Eve - figuratively whom are the sinners on Earth; how would the sinners have known sin? How would we have known wrong and right? Good and Evil? We would have never known, which there would have been no point in our existence if all God wanted were brainless robots who cluelessly bowed down to a God they never could understand. God just allowed us understanding; is that really a terrible thing? Or a very necessary thing?
Notice to, that the forbidden tree was called, " The Tree of the KNOWLEDGE of Good and Evil."
Do you believe it was a coincedence that we come to learn of Good and Evil during our trial on earth, and the " tree " was named for this circumstance? Really...think about it...why are we really here on this planet...?
3.)If every complex design requires a designer, who designed God?
" If every complex design requires a designier -" Who's philosophy is that? Mankinds. We are truly limited by the bounds of our humanity if we so allow. To us, everything needs a start, everything needs a " designer," but how can we say that this is the same for God? God is on an entirely different level; God's ways are not our ways - thus we can not enforce our own perspective of " every design requires a designer," to a reality we have yet to fully understand.
This thinking is similar to how wars and feuds start because people get all arrogant in thinking that their particular way, is the only possible way of realism. Who are you to make such a statement, but a mere being built up of major subjective thinking?
4.)The Bible tells us that God isn’t willing that anybody should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but his holy word has been corrupted through the ages by mankind, so doesn’t that mean that God either allowed it to be corrupted, or he was unable to keep it from being corrupted?
A lot of people try to use this type of question to put God in a negative, contradictive light. What is not understood though, is that the Bible was directed for the understanding of a specific people; God's children. This spiritual " advice" that God gives through his word, are for those who are trying to make their way back to heaven. God does not want any of his children to perish, which is why the verse goes on to talk about God's patience before bringing destruction to the earth, in which those whom do not make it, will perish. God takes no pleasure in destroying people, but like learning the knowledge of good and evil, destruction is necessary for the refinement of God's children.
What if a parent tells their child not to do something; the child does it anyway, but faces no repercussions for the bad behavior? Or how about if a mass murderer goes around killing many people, yet there is no law to punish him? Spiritually, destruction is like the " spanking," or the " life - sentence," that sets a boundary for order and structure.
God created some people for destruction; this was done to show God's power, mercy, and love, for those he created to be God's children. But how can a child understand a parent's love, unless they experience a time in which it has gone away? This world HATES God, and the Devil is the god of this world. Only when you see your parent's authority, do you understand it; only when you are refused their love, do you really desire it.
God was not cruel for creating the reality of evil, wickedness, and the wicked whom face destruction in the near future; this was all done for the benefit of those who will get to live, who will gain knowledge and understanding. Some find it cruel that there are a good amount of people who will perish - but the truth of everyone's spirit will be and currently is being exposed. Do not test God by thinking, " Well I'm a child of God so I'll be saved no matter what," or " Well I was made to burn in hell, so there's no hope."
Actually, we have no idea who is who until the time comes when you'll be faced with judgement; and I'm not talking about Judgement day. Just think though;
God has done nothing wrong nor cruel, except be beaten, spat on, and brutally hung on the cross to suffer for our sins; God has done nothing wrong except breathe life into us so we even have the chance to live.
God has done nothing wrong except allow us to become knowledgeable and insightful - knowing in a way similar to God as a child learns from it's parents.
God has done nothing wrong but allowed us to inherit heaven and eternal life.
God has done nothing wrong as God -
Yet there are millions of people who hate God for no clear reason - they don't believe in God's authority, so many false prophets of the churches go against teachings in the Bible - enforcing their own faux " Christian but not Christian at all," celebrations like Christmas and Easter, which have no relevance to God, except what the faux Christians have buttered it up with.
But aren't Christians suppose to be the Children of God?
Not necessarily. This is why God will expose who is really who, because anyone can proclaim they are a child of God, and not be one at all.
The Devil is in the churches. Just a heads up.
5.)If God is all-just, why does he punish/kill massive amounts of people throughout the Bible for the sins of one?
To clarify, " the sins of one," WE ARE NOT BEING PUNISHED FOR ONE MAN, ADAM'S SIN.
Adam and Eve is a parable - a very deep profound parable; each element is representative of something else revealed by the Bible:
We are being punished for our own individual sin we committed against God in heaven, before the earth was made ( Ecclesiasies 12:7, you can't 'return' to somewhere you've never been.)
Adam and Eve = Sinners on Earth
Death is a reality of Earth, as in heaven there is everlasting life. According to le Bible - death had to " come " to mankind, meaning it wasn't there before. It came through sin, and thus all had to sin at some point, in order to receive death as a reality.
Eden = Heaven
God was talking to the King of Tyre, a physical king who lived on Earth years ago, because he had become arrogant due to his power. In this passage, God says he was anointed as a " gaurdian cherub." A cherub is an angel. How could God anoint the king as an angel? Angels only live in heaven.
You can begin to put two and two together; really it's not that hard of a concept that we were thrown to the earth, from heaven, for sinning against God.
Better yet, why not ask yourself why everyone is born with " original sin" ?
How unfair would it be of God, to just make us all born with sin, and then kill us for not repenting. We had to commit original sin at some point in time, and the only other time we were with God, was in heaven. The Bible is full of accounts of this...and it logically makes sense.
What I enjoy about this question, is that the Atheist guy who asked it, bit his own tongue when he said; " God is all - just."
Justice means that there will be punishment for the offenders correct? People tend to get caught up in this lovey dovey, fantastical image of God that Christianity has mutilated pretty well.
God is a Judge, meaning God will convict when its time. People have convinced themselves that " love " means " no rules," in this over - liberated society. True freedom comes with true boundary; no one is free in anarchy, and spiritual anarchy has made us slaves to sin.
To sum up this question - God is not bad for punishing people; and so far God's been absolutely correct in doing so. What I don't get, is if we understand this, then why do people keep pushing God's buttons? Just let God be God; the only reason God is doing any of these actions, is ultimately for our benefit anyway.
1 John 4:1
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
I believe that this is vital for the spiritual situation we are facing today; that is, tons of false prophets, different teachings, and different Biblical interpretations. To just settle for " just believe," seems to make us give in to whatever false teaching may come our way. Actually, this is the fuel atheist use in their rebuttles to Christianity, by exposing the lingering falsehoods that have poisoned Christianity after the death of the last apostle.
The goal of these questions is to cause one to doubt God, and to put Christians on the spot for being " illogical," for our seemingly fallible faith. In my church right now, we are learning how to defend our faith, because in doing so, it will help younger / newer members to get a deeper understanding and " hold onto their crown," as the Bible states it.
The assumption that has been made, is that God left us completely abandoned, without logic or an accurate path to salvation. Looking at the modern Christian world, it does seem like God is MIA, as no one can confidently identify the true path to God, amongst the millions of different trails that have been carved by mankind's established traditions.
God is not MIA, and left one incredible way for us to discern God's established truth, from the falsehood that has been brought on.
Atheist or non - believers, are always asking for some physical proof of God; well God left physical proof - you can touch it, see it...even eat it if you want. It's nothing new except what has been revealed in it -
That is, The Bible.
Questions Christians Can't Answer
1.) Why would God place a forbidden tree in the garden so close to his innocent creation and allow Satan to tempt them into eating from it, all the while looking on without doing a thing to prevent it?
Genesis 2: 17
" but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die."
A common response is that God placed the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden, to give mankind freewill. Freewill was actually already inherently given after the creation; Adam and Eve were not puppets or manipulated; they freely did as they wished in the Garden of Eden. What God gave Adam and Eve, was a commandment - a simple one, do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; they were even warned by God, what would happen if they ate of the tree anyway, and that was death.
Both Adam and Eve knew the consequences beforehand, and had the freedom of will to obey or disobey. However, this is not a matter of freewill; God intended for Adam and Eve to eat from the tree, or else it would have never been placed in the garden. God knew way ahead of time that they would eat of it; God knew the Devil would tempt them...God created the Devil. God was in control of this entire enfolding of events and still is.
Some may think God cruel, but actually God began his perfecting of his creations the moment we, ( Adam and Eve represent the sinners on Earth metaphorically,) sinned. But why did God intend for us to consume the fruits of good and evil?
For our own understanding.
Take a look at life on Earth; my roommate is an Atheist, and she even noticed that the Earth consist of two outstanding forces; Good and Evil. Evil cannot be identified without Good, and Good cannot be understood without evil. Had the " tree" of knowledge never been consumed, how ignorant would we have been to everything? The Devil even toyed with Adam and Eve by making it seems as if God was hiding something from us; God wasn't hiding anything, God wanted us to gain the knowledge so we could be made into wholesome beings. We would have been like robots, forced to love God even though we could never truly understand love, for we never would have understood God's good, without witnessing the Devil's evil, which brings us to the next question;
2.)Since Adam and Eve didn’t know right from wrong before eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why did God then punish them for something they didn’t understand they were doing?
Okay, using this atheist's " logical" thinking -
Doesn't it mean that every single parent who has ever scolded, spanked, or punished their young child for doing something wrong, before that child knew it was wrong - is a wicked evil person? Mr. Atheist...your mom is so cruel for smacking you on the hand the first time you did something wrong. How dare she scold you and punish you so that you can gain the wisdom and insight to discern what is good and what is evil.
Worst mother in the world.
God is our FATHER / MOTHER, meaning PARENTS. We are spiritually children; Galatians, John, 1 John - tons of books in the Bible call God's people, " God's CHILDREN," and children need praise ( blessings,) and refinement ( punishment,) in order to be shaped into decent functioning beings. We do not get angry at the human parents who put their child in time out for bad behaviors the young child does not understand at first - so why is everyone trying to huff and puff at God for treating God's children the same way?
Had God not punished Adam and Eve - figuratively whom are the sinners on Earth; how would the sinners have known sin? How would we have known wrong and right? Good and Evil? We would have never known, which there would have been no point in our existence if all God wanted were brainless robots who cluelessly bowed down to a God they never could understand. God just allowed us understanding; is that really a terrible thing? Or a very necessary thing?
Notice to, that the forbidden tree was called, " The Tree of the KNOWLEDGE of Good and Evil."
Do you believe it was a coincedence that we come to learn of Good and Evil during our trial on earth, and the " tree " was named for this circumstance? Really...think about it...why are we really here on this planet...?
3.)If every complex design requires a designer, who designed God?
" If every complex design requires a designier -" Who's philosophy is that? Mankinds. We are truly limited by the bounds of our humanity if we so allow. To us, everything needs a start, everything needs a " designer," but how can we say that this is the same for God? God is on an entirely different level; God's ways are not our ways - thus we can not enforce our own perspective of " every design requires a designer," to a reality we have yet to fully understand.
This thinking is similar to how wars and feuds start because people get all arrogant in thinking that their particular way, is the only possible way of realism. Who are you to make such a statement, but a mere being built up of major subjective thinking?
4.)The Bible tells us that God isn’t willing that anybody should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but his holy word has been corrupted through the ages by mankind, so doesn’t that mean that God either allowed it to be corrupted, or he was unable to keep it from being corrupted?
A lot of people try to use this type of question to put God in a negative, contradictive light. What is not understood though, is that the Bible was directed for the understanding of a specific people; God's children. This spiritual " advice" that God gives through his word, are for those who are trying to make their way back to heaven. God does not want any of his children to perish, which is why the verse goes on to talk about God's patience before bringing destruction to the earth, in which those whom do not make it, will perish. God takes no pleasure in destroying people, but like learning the knowledge of good and evil, destruction is necessary for the refinement of God's children.
What if a parent tells their child not to do something; the child does it anyway, but faces no repercussions for the bad behavior? Or how about if a mass murderer goes around killing many people, yet there is no law to punish him? Spiritually, destruction is like the " spanking," or the " life - sentence," that sets a boundary for order and structure.
Romans 9:22
" What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction?
What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory."
" What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction?
What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory."
God created some people for destruction; this was done to show God's power, mercy, and love, for those he created to be God's children. But how can a child understand a parent's love, unless they experience a time in which it has gone away? This world HATES God, and the Devil is the god of this world. Only when you see your parent's authority, do you understand it; only when you are refused their love, do you really desire it.
God was not cruel for creating the reality of evil, wickedness, and the wicked whom face destruction in the near future; this was all done for the benefit of those who will get to live, who will gain knowledge and understanding. Some find it cruel that there are a good amount of people who will perish - but the truth of everyone's spirit will be and currently is being exposed. Do not test God by thinking, " Well I'm a child of God so I'll be saved no matter what," or " Well I was made to burn in hell, so there's no hope."
Actually, we have no idea who is who until the time comes when you'll be faced with judgement; and I'm not talking about Judgement day. Just think though;
God has done nothing wrong nor cruel, except be beaten, spat on, and brutally hung on the cross to suffer for our sins; God has done nothing wrong except breathe life into us so we even have the chance to live.
God has done nothing wrong except allow us to become knowledgeable and insightful - knowing in a way similar to God as a child learns from it's parents.
God has done nothing wrong but allowed us to inherit heaven and eternal life.
God has done nothing wrong as God -
Yet there are millions of people who hate God for no clear reason - they don't believe in God's authority, so many false prophets of the churches go against teachings in the Bible - enforcing their own faux " Christian but not Christian at all," celebrations like Christmas and Easter, which have no relevance to God, except what the faux Christians have buttered it up with.
But aren't Christians suppose to be the Children of God?
Not necessarily. This is why God will expose who is really who, because anyone can proclaim they are a child of God, and not be one at all.
The Devil is in the churches. Just a heads up.
5.)If God is all-just, why does he punish/kill massive amounts of people throughout the Bible for the sins of one?
To clarify, " the sins of one," WE ARE NOT BEING PUNISHED FOR ONE MAN, ADAM'S SIN.
Adam and Eve is a parable - a very deep profound parable; each element is representative of something else revealed by the Bible:
We are being punished for our own individual sin we committed against God in heaven, before the earth was made ( Ecclesiasies 12:7, you can't 'return' to somewhere you've never been.)
Adam and Eve = Sinners on Earth
Romans 5:12
" Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because ALL sinned."
" Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because ALL sinned."
Death is a reality of Earth, as in heaven there is everlasting life. According to le Bible - death had to " come " to mankind, meaning it wasn't there before. It came through sin, and thus all had to sin at some point, in order to receive death as a reality.
Eden = Heaven
Ezekial 28: 13
" You were in Eden, the garden of God;
(14)
You were anointed as a gaurdian cherub -"
" You were in Eden, the garden of God;
(14)
You were anointed as a gaurdian cherub -"
God was talking to the King of Tyre, a physical king who lived on Earth years ago, because he had become arrogant due to his power. In this passage, God says he was anointed as a " gaurdian cherub." A cherub is an angel. How could God anoint the king as an angel? Angels only live in heaven.
You can begin to put two and two together; really it's not that hard of a concept that we were thrown to the earth, from heaven, for sinning against God.
Better yet, why not ask yourself why everyone is born with " original sin" ?
How unfair would it be of God, to just make us all born with sin, and then kill us for not repenting. We had to commit original sin at some point in time, and the only other time we were with God, was in heaven. The Bible is full of accounts of this...and it logically makes sense.
What I enjoy about this question, is that the Atheist guy who asked it, bit his own tongue when he said; " God is all - just."
Justice means that there will be punishment for the offenders correct? People tend to get caught up in this lovey dovey, fantastical image of God that Christianity has mutilated pretty well.
God is a Judge, meaning God will convict when its time. People have convinced themselves that " love " means " no rules," in this over - liberated society. True freedom comes with true boundary; no one is free in anarchy, and spiritual anarchy has made us slaves to sin.
To sum up this question - God is not bad for punishing people; and so far God's been absolutely correct in doing so. What I don't get, is if we understand this, then why do people keep pushing God's buttons? Just let God be God; the only reason God is doing any of these actions, is ultimately for our benefit anyway.
"And you're little Sam Harris, too!"
