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Below is a list of topics. Clicking a topic will open a list of questions/comments on that topic. Clicking one of these will open my response to that question/comment.
Keep in mind that these can go back a few years.
Abortion
Global Warming
God - Christianity
| Q |
Why doesn't God save everyone on Earth if the Bible is true?
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Let’s say you are a helicopter pilot and live near the coast. One day you see a plane go down just offshore. All the passengers have survived and are using floatation devices. You get in your chopper and go out to rescue all of them if possible.
Some people welcome your help and some turn you away. Those that accept you are saved. Those who deny you are lost. Are the lost your fault?
God provided the means of rescue for all of mankind Himself. He sent His Son Jesus. All we need to do is accept rescue through Jesus. Those who deny God’s gift take sole responsibility for their own destiny.
So you see, God already made His move. His job is done, the salvation of every human being has already been secured, His gift has been extended to everyone. The rest is up to us. Some will accept His gift, some won’t.
Does it make sense to turn away a gift and then blame the fact that you don’t have the gift on the person who offered it to you in the first place?
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| Q |
Is the concept of 'Hell' based on reality or is it a product of our imagination or upbringing?
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It is reality. Those who claim the Bible does not talk about hell are in denial.
Also, contrary to what some folks will tell you, hell was not created for man. It was created for the fallen Lucifer and those angels who followed him. Heaven and hell are the only two possible destinations after this life. Related to mankind, we get to live with whoever we are following when we leave this earth.
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| Q |
Why don't today's Christians believe Jesus when He promised to fulfill everything under the law (Matt 5:17-18) that includes OT prophecies and what He said when walking the earth (Gal 4:4)? Why are some awaiting OT prophecies to be fulfilled?
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Here is Matt 5:17–18 (NIV): "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."
Here is Gal 4:4 (NIV): "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law"
The Matthew verse refers to the fact that nothing, not one letter, will disappear from the law until heaven and earth disappear. The Galations verse refers to Jesus coming at exactly the prescribed time. I don't see where either of these indicates that everything has been fulfilled. A number of OT prophesies were fulfilled by Jesus, which is truly amazing and lends credibility to scriptures, no doubt about it. But Jesus’ second coming is also predicted in scripture, and this plus the fulfillment of all that follows is what most Christians look forward to.
So, Christians DO believe Jesus fulfills prophecy, they just don’t believe He is done yet - the best is yet to come.
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| Q |
Why do so many people espouse the doctrine of free will when it is obviously false given God's nature as omniscient and the ultimate Decider of all fate?
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If you could travel back in time and went back to 6AM on Dec 7, 1941, knowing that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor very soon, does this mean you were responsible for the attack just because you knew it was going to happen? Are you saying that because you knew about it that the Japanese were forced to attack?
God is eternal, and therefor sees all of time all at once. He does, however, still give us free will, even if He knows ahead of time what decision we will make. In other words, God does not in any way decide our fate. Each person chooses for him or herself what their fate will be.
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| Q |
Jesus was perhaps the most anti-religious person to impact life on earth. How is it that he is the joint epicenter of a religion he did not ask or instruct to be in? Is the real Jesus really in Islam or an imposturous religious convenience?
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Not sure where you got the idea that Jesus was anti-religion, but in Matthew 16:18 He prophesied that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. In my mind, that makes Him the ‘epicenter’ by His own command. The Book of Acts tells us how His church began in Jerusalem and spread to the ends of the earth.
Jesus would not have hand-chosen 12 leaders (the apostles), and then appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, setting him on a path to become the greatest evangelist in history, if He was against the spread of His teachings. Whether this is called ‘religion’ is merely a matter of semantics.
The ‘real’ Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the only path to salvation. This is made clear by His own words in the gospels, so surely He would have wanted this knowledge to be spread to the far ends of the earth. What better way to do this than to have organized outposts (called ‘churches’) all over the world to promote this.
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In my pursuit to learn I came across the word Panentheism which is defined as: The divine pervades and interpenetrates every part of the universe AND also extends beyond space and time. How is it possible to extend beyond space and time?
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Space and time are finite, they have a beginning and therefor can have an end. The divine is eternal and therefor has no such boundaries. Space and time are just a tiny blip in the immenseness of eternity.
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Isn't the idea of a god irreducibly complex? Is it really possible to postulate the existence of an omnipotent being without invoking special pleading?
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We don’t need to postulate the existence of God any more than we need to postulate the existence of the sun in the sky. The difference is that the sun in the sky can be seen with physical eyes while seeing God requires spiritual eyes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes once explained his powers of observation to Dr. Watson by saying “you see, but you do not observe”. Evidence for God is ‘seen’ with physical eyes all around us, but it is not ‘observed’, and therefor recognized, until we open our spiritual eyes.
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| Q |
Why do Catholics think they need to do sacraments to be saved when in the Bible it doesn’t say that? The man next to Jesus accepted him as his savior and Jesus told him he will be with him in paradise. |
| A |
Sacraments do not provide salvation, faith does, and sacraments are a way of growing in, and confirming, our faith. The Bible says we are 'saved by grace and not by works so that none may boast'. In the early days of Catholicism works were deemed the way to salvation, but Martin Luther (who was a Catholic priest before finding the truth of the Gospels) changed all that. Interesting that it took so long, considering that Paul had written in his letters (which together with the Gospels make up the bulk of the New Testament) about salvation by faith through grace very early in the formation of the church.
I was Catholic until about age 46 (and was a catechist, teaching 6th grade religious education), which was long ago now, so this focus on works may not be as rigorous now as it was back then.
In the end, it totally depends on one’s relationship with Jesus. And that will never change.
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| Q |
John, I’m thankful for your testimony. Can you help me? I do not understand when you say the “sacraments are way of growing in our faith”. Honestly I do not understand.
Blessings, my friend.
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| A |
Thank you for your positive response. To answer your question, the sacraments are a way for us to ‘partner’ with God. It’s not just the sacrament itself, but also the learning that happens in preparation for the sacrament. He likes to do things ‘for’ us, but prefers to do things ‘with’ us. If you think about a relationship with a friend, it isn’t one-sided. You do things together and your relationship grows. The same with God. Other ways we grow in ‘partnership’ with God is through prayer, being in the Word, using our gifts for His glory, and treating each other as He has asked us to do.
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| Q |
If the Bible clearly tell us there's only one God, why do Christians worship Jesus?
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John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…". Then in John 1:14 we find, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Clearly, John 1:14 indicates that Jesus is the Word, and John 1:1 indicates that the Word is God.
The God of the bible is worshiped as a triune God, the Godhead, or Holy Trinity, three persons but still one God. This is confirmed in John 10:30 where Jesus says "I and the Father are one", and in the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-4. In verse 3 Peter says to Ananias that Satan had "filled Ananias’ heart to 'lie to the Holy Spirit'" and then in verse 4 said that Ananias had 'lied to God'. Peter was clearly stating that the Holy Spirit is God.
So praying to any of the three persons of God is praying to God.
Keep in mind also that in John 14:6 it is written that Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." This and other verses clearly indicate that the way to the Father is through the Son and with the aid of the Holy Spirit.
A beautiful example of the three members of the Holy Trinity being together yet distinct is at Jesus’ baptism (Mark 1:10–11). As Jesus comes up from the water, the Spirit descends on Him like a dove while the voice of the Father is heard from heaven saying that He is pleased with His beloved Son.
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| Q |
Why didn't Satan simply create his own planet and humans instead of tempting Eve?
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The Angels were created by God before the creation of the universe. This is supported by the book of Job where God says “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation … and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4,7), implying that the Angels were there during God’s creation. We can also say with some certainty that Lucifer had fallen and had become Satan at least before Man was created because Satan tempted Eve in the garden of Eden.
God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere at once). God had specific plans for creation, so an Angel trying to duplicate His work (if He even gave the Angels that kind of power in the first place) would most likely be counter to His will and would be stopped immediately. Who knows, maybe this is one of the things that contributed to Satan’s downfall.
Because God is the only one to have actually created anything from nothing, it’s very likely that Satan could no more create a planet, or people to populate it, than you or I could.
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| Q |
Why would a good God create a coronavirus?
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God created all that would be created (matter, space and time) long long ago, to His own specifications, then set his creation in motion. God did not make things bad, but all things He made can go good or bad on their own (just like He gave us free will to choose our own path, he also allows nature to take its own course). When bad things happen He also can use them for good, even though we don’t always understand His goals or intentions in complete detail. And, just like in the Bible, when we ask Him in prayer He will sometimes intervene in a bad thing on our behalf because He wants to interact with us and for us to make Him part of our lives. In the end, when He takes back full control of His creation, He will right all the wrongs of history and ensure that bad things will no longer happen to anyone - at least for those who follow Him.
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| Q |
If God created everything, and He knows everything ahead of time, why did He create Satan?
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God didn’t create Satan, God created Lucifer. Lucifer got his ego up and decided that he was so perfect that he should be God. God smacked Lucifer down and permanently banned him from heaven. In other words, Lucifer became Satan by his own actions and through his own desires.
Now, having said that, God does use Satan to determine who is with Him and who is against.
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| Q |
If the "Son of God" was rather the "Daughter of God", would it still be possible to start the same world religion, by worshiping a female divine character? What if God had twins?
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If God had twins, the bible would have said so - and how would they have decided who would die on the cross? Flip a coin?
In addition, Jesus said "The Father and I are one", so they must be the same gender (this is different from the marriage of a man and a woman, who according to scripture are 'joined' in marriage. The Father and the Son were never 'joined', they were always one and are eternal). The Father referred to Jesus as 'the Son in whom I am well pleased' and Jesus referred to his 'Father in Heaven'. Obviously these are both male references. To imply differently borders on blasphemy.
God is three persons in one being. The Hebrew word Elohim is used, which is a plural noun, which implies three distinct persons in one single being. For example, Jesus said that He does not know when is the last day, only the Father does, which indicates that while They are one They are still distinct, as is the Holy Spirit.
We’ll never fully understand the Holy Trinity in this life. I’m not claiming to know all the answers, I’m just saying that calling themselves ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ implies maleness.
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| Q |
Catholics believe that man was made in God's image. We also believe God created everything there is. Why wouldn't God make aliens, also in his image?
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This brings up some interesting lines of thought. I am also a believer, and have considered this question myself.
God certainly has the ability to create other inhabitable planets if He wants to, and to populate them with people made in His own image. However, I think there are a couple things that indicate that He built an inhabitable environment in only one place - planet Earth. Using the Bible and Jesus as references (a Christian belief in God makes both of these relevant), here’s why.
The Bible is written specifically for this planet. It’s not just the book of Genesis that makes this quite clear, the entire Bible references this planet. Does He have a separate bible for each planet then? If so, what do the other planet’s Bibles say about Jesus? Did each planet have a flood, each had an Abraham, each had a Moses, etc. etc.? Doesn’t seem logical for a God who did such an amazing job designing what we see around us.
I think it boils down to Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, and that He died once for all. This being the case, there was only one sacrifice to pay for our sins. So if there are other beings in the universe then our Jesus died for them as well. It seems to me that for Jesus to have died for people on multiple planets, and for this to have been ‘once for all’, and being that it happened on this planet, and to ensure that all people on all planets know of the gift of His sacrifice and resurrection, then we’d all have to know about each other. God would never allow His Son to make this kind of sacrifice without ensuring that ALL His people were aware of it.
So I came to the conclusion that God’s people are all on this planet and, since God created all beings in the universe, He placed no people on other planets.
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| Q |
Hell is a human construct, it’s not mentioned in the Bible at all. There is that Lake of Fire but that was added back in the third century for control of the masses.
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The word 'hell' is sometimes used and sometimes just one of hell's descriptions, like 'lake of fire', 'realm of the dead', or any of the various uses of the words 'eternal' and 'everlasting', such as 'eternal damnation', 'eternal death', 'eternal suffering', 'eternal punishment', etc.
Here is a list of some of the places where the bible does mention hell.
Psalm 9:17
The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God.
Proverbs 15:24
The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below.
Matthew 10:28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 13:42
They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 16:18
Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means 'rock'), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
Matthew 25:41
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
Matthew 25:46
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
2 Thessalonians 1:9
They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
2 Peter 2:4
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
Jude 1:7
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Revelation 19:20
But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Revelation 20:13-14
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
Revelation 21:8
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.
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| Q |
Historically the book called the Bible was written many hundreds of years after the death of jesus from stories and myths. Hardly the same as dictating to your friends. You know your friends. The authors of the various books in the bible never met jesus nor were they his contemporaries.
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Much of what is in the new testament of the Bible was written within 1 lifespan of when Jesus was on earth and was written by people who actually knew Jesus. Much of the old testament was written close to the time the events occurred as well. These documents were pulled together into what we know as the Bible hundreds of years later, yes, but that doesn’t change the authenticity of the original documents.
Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly confirmed the authenticity of the Bible. There are many examples of the Bible stating something first and then archaeology coming to agree after the fact. For example, the Gospel of John mentions Jesus healing a cripple next to the Pool of Bethesda. The text even describes the five porticoes, or walkways, leading to the pool. Scholars didn't think the pool existed, until archaeologists found it forty feet below ground, complete with the five porticoes.
Here are a couple links to sites that talk about the history and authenticity of the Bible:
Why You Can Believe the Bible
Ancient Evidence for Jesus from Non-Christian Sources
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At least I don’t believe something because my parents said so, or a man in a funny outfit reading from a storybook (referring to the Bible) says it’s so.
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Well, we’re the same in that respect then - neither do I. I believe it because it explains all that we see and agrees more with science than non-believers care to admit. It tells me that all the bad we see here is only temporary. It provides for me the secret to eternal life.
And, believe it or not, there have been many times in my life that I felt an angel on my shoulder or have felt the presence of something beyond what we can directly see or touch.
I can’t directly see my bones or my brain, but I know they are there because they manifest themselves in my life every day. A blind person can’t see anything, but they feel the manifestation of the things around them - like the sun on their face or the wind in their hair or a loved one touching their hand or kissing their cheek.
Just because we can’t see or touch something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
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Response to a statement that a supreme being cannot exist.
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To be able to convincingly state that something does not exist you need to be cognizant of all that DOES exist - and no human being qualifies in that regard. You also then need to provide proof that it doesn’t exist. Do you know all that exists, and can you provide proof that God can’t exist?
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But man created the book from which you quote! Sounds like nonsense to me.
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If you were to do your autobiography by dictating your life experiences to a few friends to put down on paper for you, does that mean you don’t deserve any credit for the book?
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The question 'Why do people get angry when Jesus is mentioned' was asked and one response was regarding the fact that many Christians do not act Christian. This was my response to them.
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I agree that there are Christians who act just as you describe, but many are simply sharing their faith. In that light, I’d like to offer two thoughts.
1) Reading the rules in no way implies that one is perfect at playing the game.
If you and some friends were learning a new board game and you were chosen to read the rules would it be OK with you if they all accused you of being unworthy to read the rules because you are not perfect at playing the game? I know a LOT of Christians, and not many of them think they are any more free from sin than anyone else (there are some, I admit). Most Christians who point out things that are contrary to the Bible are just reading the rules, not claiming superiority.
2) Throwing away a treasure map because you don’t like some of the other people using that map is pretty shortsighted.
Let’s say you came across a treasure map that, based on some research, appeared to be legitimate. Let’s say in addition that you encounter others following the same treasure map. One day one or more of those folks say something that makes you mad or is contrary to the map. Do you now discard the entire treasure map? Or do you continue your own quest for the treasure regardless? I’ve known people to shut out Jesus just because someone claiming to be a Christian said or did something un-Christian. Seems a bit shortsighted to me.
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Response to a comment that religious people believe in 'magic'.
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You seem to believe that anything extraordinary must be magic. Seems like pretty limited thinking to me.
When man landed on the moon, was that magic? No?
When in the last battle of the war of 1812, the battle of New Orleans, a small group of American patriots defeated a British army of over 10,000, was that magic? No?
When an ordinary human lifts a car off of a loved one using strength beyond their own (and this has been documented several times), is that magic? No?
I could provide other examples, but you get my point. It by no means requires ‘magic’ for the stories of the Bible to be true. It requires only a being with powers beyond our understanding, and we are not qualified to deny what we cannot understand.
The more science learns, the more it sees intelligent design, at both macro and micro levels. You refer to human intellect. True human intellect doesn’t come to a screeching halt when a line of inquiry goes in a direction outside current understanding, and it certainly doesn’t just toss the idea into the ‘magic’ barrel.
Many highly intelligent people (including hundreds of PhDs) have said that they do not believe that what we see around us came into existence on its own. If not, then who put it here? That’s a valid question, and it has nothing to do with magic.
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What proof do Preachers have that they have God's approval to tell others what is right?
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I can’t speak to non-Christian preachers, but I can suggest an answer related to preachers that follow Christian teachings.
Christian preachers teach from the Holy Bible, which tells us not only what the truth is but that we should share the truth with love. The Bible also tells us how the spread of belief in Jesus began and how the early churches were established, including the first teachers and pastors who led those churches. Today’s pastors are following in the footsteps of those first teachers in spreading the good news of the Gospels.
So, the Holy Bible is the proof of their teachings.
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Do you believe God created humans?
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Yes.
The complexity of a single living cell, to say nothing of an entire human body, indicates to many, including experts in their respective scientific fields, that humans were no accident of natural selection.
I think most folks would agree that the human body is more complex than anything else on Earth. A person who believes that life appeared completely on its own and evolved to the complexity we see all around us completely by accident must then also believe that any object we see around us could appear on its own and evolve to any other type of object if we just wait long enough.
Now, if I put a go-cart in my driveway, how long do you think I need to wait before it evolves into a Rolls-Royce all by itself?
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How would someone who believes in God's sovereignty explain human choice?
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Sovereignty is described as 'Supreme power or authority'. This does not prevent Him from giving us free will.
God has the sovereinty to allow us to make our own decisions, which is what He did. He also has the sovereignty to punish or reward us based on the decisions we make. And He has the sovereignty to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can be with Him forever despite our inability to perfectly follow His laws.
Then He has the sovereignty to right all the wrongs that we have committed while on the Earth, rebuild the heavens and the Earth, and give all of it to us as an inheritance.
All we have to do is believe His Word and accept His Son Jesus as our saviour, and then try to live like we believe it. That’s it.
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Why do people say "We are all one" or "We are all connected", but then they see everyone as an individual with their own rights and not as part of a collective whole?
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Aren’t the colors in a box of crayons all one box of crayons? Aren’t they all connected by the fact that they are created the same way and for the same purpose? Aren’t they part of a collective whole?
Aren’t they also still individual crayons, unique in their own way and their own color?
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If God tells Satan to jump what's Satan gonna do? If he can't disobey God how did Lucifer fall from heaven in the first place? Why does he follow orders when God tells him to punish the evil souls in hell?
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First, if God could tell Satan what to do then Satan would still be with God instead of where he is.
Secondly, Satan certainly can disobey God because he, like the rest of us, was given free will. To borrow a phrase from ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’, he chose poorly. Lucifer fell from Heaven because he thought that he should be the head honcho even over God.
And finally, Satan certainly does NOT follow orders from God, and God does not TELL him to punish anyone. Satan is an evil, hateful, lying piece of…well, you get the idea. He is jealous of God and wants to get as many of God’s people to turn away from God as he can. God doesn’t need to tell him to punish us, Satan WANTS to punish us because we belong to God and Satan HATES God and all He stands for with a fiery unquenchable passion. He knows how much God loves ALL of us, and how much it hurts God when anyone of us turns away from Him.
All of us, just like the angels, have free will to choose who we will stand with and what path we will take. Satan made his choice, along with a number of angels who followed him right into hell, and they are now condemned for eternity. We, God’s people, are allowed that same choice for our own eternities. We decide for ourselves whether we will be punished or not, and Jesus made it easy by providing a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card. It’s not His fault that so many turn down that free gift.
God did not choose Lucifer’s path and He does not choose our path - we choose our own.
Choose wisely.
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How do we know that the Bible is a history book?
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It does contain accurate accounts of history, but there is much more to the Bible than just history.
As related to history, the Bible matches our sense of the passage of time after the creation verses. During the actual creation, we were on God’s time - the passing of time as we know it did not start until after that.
There are many sites out there that discuss the historical accuracy of the Bible, but I’ll mention two.
The first is this one:
15 Historical Proofs of the Bible
Besides noting what The Smithsonian Department of Anthropology said about the Bible and history…
"Much of the Bible, in particular the historical books of the old testament, are as accurate historical documents as any that we have from antiquity and are in fact more accurate than many of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, or Greek histories. These Biblical records can be and are used as are other ancient documents in archeological work. For the most part, historical events described took place and the peoples cited really existed. This is not to say that names of all peoples and places mentioned can be identified today, or that every event as reported in the historical books happened exactly as stated."
(Link to PDF)
…and noting that the staff archeologist for National Geographic, Dr. George Stuart, has said that…
"…archaeologists do indeed find the Bible a valuable reference tool, and use it many times for geographical relationships, old names and relative chronologies."
…they follow with a list of proofs with references.
The other one is National Geographic. There is a list somewhere on their site (I can’t find it now) of many articles concerning discoveries verifying events discussed in the Bible. Maybe start here:
history and the bible - National Geographic Search
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| Q |
If God is eternal, is his act of creation not eternal? Then everything must be either infinite, or also be eternal if this process started eternity ago. How does that make any sense?
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God, being eternal, can eternally create whatever He wants. But that doesn’t mean his creations must themselves be eternal. They are what He wills them to be.
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How do you undo the damage God has done?
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At least you acknowledge that He exists (someone who does not exist cannot do damage).
What damage has God done? You mean when He created us and placed us in a place specially designed for us?…oh wait…that’s not damage.
You mean when He gave us free will to run our lives as we see fit?…this has had its issues, but all of the issues are our fault, not God’s.
You mean when He placed Himself inside a human baby and lived a normal human life so that we could relate to Him better?..oh wait…that’s not damage either.
You mean when He suffered and died an excruciating death on a cross so that we could be with Him forever regardless of our ability to follow the rules?…oh wait, that actually sounds like a gift to me…definitely not damage.
You mean when He promised to prepare a place for us to live eternally, a place that is more luxurious than anything that could be constructed by man, and will give even the poorest person who ever lived a better existence in eternity than even the richest person who ever lived on Earth?…oh wait…that doesn’t sound like damage either.
You mean when He promised that all wrongs done on Earth will be set right by Him personally when judgement day comes?..oh wait…that isn’t damage either.
You know, I can’t think of a single thing that God did that I would consider 'damage'. The fact that He gave us free will allowed mankind to do a lot of damage, but without free will we would just be robots.
And God did NOT want robots.
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Is it possible that there is a god who created our universe, but he doesn't care what we do in it or outside of it?
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| A |
There is a God who created our universe, and He DOES care what we do in it. In this life we can't go outside of it. He gave us free will to do with it what we will.
Think of it this way. Say you had children and you gave them some toys to see what they'd do with them and some rules to follow. You’d want to let them play without interference from you as much as possible, you'd want to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves, and you’d want them to know that they can come to you with questions or for help at any time. If you were planning to reward those who followed the rules and played nice, you’d also be interested in how they interacted with each other while playing.
While this is woefully simplistic as compared to our relationship with God and His relationship with us, the concept is similar. He cares a great deal what we do in this universe, and what we do with and to each other. He won’t force us to do anything in this life because that would violate our free will. But He WILL deal with us accordingly when this life is over and we move into eternity. The 'free will' part is important, because we then have no grounds for complaint if we end up somewhere less than desirable. We will know EXACTLY why we were sent to wherever we end up on judgement day.
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| Q |
Do you think God will still acknowledge someone if they claim he exists but have not accepted him in their hearts?
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| A |
Claiming existance and accepting are two completely separate things. One can acknowledge that something exists and then dismiss its importance, or even see it as evil.
Also, saying God exists is not enough. Even Satan knows God exists. God reached out to us first. If we don't reach back, then this is our failure, not God's.
God even supplied a 'get out of jail free' card. His name is Jesus. Anyone, without exception, regardless of what they've done in the past, can reach God by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Anyone. |
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| Q |
Do most Christians believe Christian God is the only real God, or do most understand that the Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and science are all describing the same thing?
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| A |
The God of the Holy Bible is the true God. Both Christians and Jews believe in that God - well, sort of. Not all who call themselves Christian or Jewish believe in a Triune God. Which is interesting related to Christians, because if Jesus Christ is not divine (part of the Holy Trinity) then there is no foundation for Christianity and it has no meaning. Who would follow a spiritual discipline that has no meaning? Beliefs outside of Christianity and Judaism are NOT describing the same God.
To be a true Christian, one must accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Being our Lord and Savior means that Jesus is divine, and by extension a manifestation of God Himself (the second person of the Holy Trinity).
There are other 'gods' in this world, considering the number of individuals and things that people have worshipped throughout history, but none but the one true God has any eternal meaning or can do anything for us now or ever. Some of those who are still held up today as gods by various religious disciplines did impart positive life principles, and some of what they taught can be used to improve one’s outlook, but none of those had any more ability to give us eternal life or bring us to the true God than you or I have.
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| Q |
Even if God created many versions of the universe, it remains questionable what is beyond all that. And if God created any universe, wouldn't it have required a more superior entity to have created God? Is there a Super-God out there?
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| A |
An entity capable of creating a God that could create a universe could just create the universe himself. A middle-man (or middle-god, as it were) would not even be necessary.
God is eternal, the universe isn't. For an eternal being with eternal powers, there is no problem creating a finite universe.
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| Q |
Are religious people sure that god is love, and they have found the right one because their (sic) are many?
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| A |
Yes, God is love. Consider that we can’t hope to be perfect on our own. It’s literally impossible. But He wanted everyone, without exception, to have the opportunity to live with Him in glory for all eternity. He needed for two key things to happen: 1) He needed for us to live our life, and to KNOW how we lived our life, so that our destination is not arbitrary but based on our own decisions, and 2) He needed to provide a way for us to get to eternity despite our inability to get there on our own power.
So He (the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity) came here Himself and lived a complete human life, from conception and birth to childhood, then adulthood, then death on a cross, then rose again, all to give us a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Now all we have to do to live forever (yes the body dies, but the spirit, if you belong to Jesus, never dies - the body is later reunited with the spirit) is to accept the gift of salvation offered to us by the grace of God.
So each person decides for him or herself where they will spend eternity. God does not decide for anyone. But His love is there for anyone who reaches out to grab it. If you don’t, that’s not God’s fault. It’s yours.
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| Q |
Someone took exception to my reply to the previous question with comments about having "...4 children, and each one was a perfectly wonderful human being..." and "...You further compond the insult by saying 'It's literally impossible'..." and "...old testament - the God so described is anything but love. It is a cantankerous old git who couldn’t organise a barn dance in a brewery..." and "...What sanctimonious drivel...". This was my response.
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| A |
I have 2 children, and it was the 2nd most amazing thing in my life to be in the delivery room when each of them was born (the 1st was seeing my wife walk up the aisle at our wedding). I was allowed to cut their umbilical cord and give them their first bath. Unforgettable experience.
But I also knew that they, like my wife and I, had inherited Adam and Eve’s original sin. Inheritance of a trait is a funny thing. If my family has a history of heart trouble, for example, it is very likely that I will have heart trouble - and it doesn’t matter how cute I am or how nice I am or how perfectly wonderful I am. Likewise with original sin, except in this case every human being inherits it.
But God supplied a complete cure for original sin, and that is Jesus. Through Jesus we completely escape ALL of our weaknesses, including original sin.
BTW, the definition of 'sanctimonious' is 'making a show of being morally superior to other people'. That’s the thing about Christianity. Any real Christian knows that they are not morally superior to anybody, that we are all in the same moral boat, and the only way out is through Jesus. For example, Ephesians 2:8–9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
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