What is your one question about Christianity?

Arkanjel

Arkanjel

New Member
I know this is quite a loaded gun to be handling, so I would please ask that you just ask one question at a time. This is mainly for the non-believers who have questions about the tenenets of Christianity, and hopefully the believers will be able to answer your questions. I would also like to ask those supplying answers that you please include at least 1 verse of scripture to back up your answer. We as Christians should know where to look for the answers we seek, and we should also be able to provide scriptural proof for the answers we give. If you cant provide a clear and concise answer, then please dont respond with nonsense that can lead people astray. One last thing I would like to say to both believers and non-believers alike. Our job as Christians is not to get people saved by arguments and strong words, rather it is to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and then work on the hardend hearts of the individuals who are lost and seeking answers. Let God do the saving, you just provide the light for which to lead the way. O, and please lets not get this thread bogged down with neverending stalemates. Just questions and answers. If the answer is not one that fits your taste, then ask for a second opinion, but dont debate it until the core meaning is lost in the jumble.
Thanks,
-Arkanjel-
 
I'd say the biggest question in Christianity is "Why do it this way?". Christianity is one of the very few religions that claims to have an omnipotent and omniscient deity at its head - and yet it does exactly the same poor job at shielding us from what increasingly appears to be a cold and uncaring cosmos.

Whenever I see a Mass Grave, a torture victim or an abused child I have the same question. So much suffering is so stupid and avoidable and unneccessary.
 
I'll take Mr. Bill's question.

Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6

So, though there may be many ways to get to Jesus (many different denominations), if you believe in the literal veracity of the Bible, the only way to "come to the Father" is to have Jesus as your intermediary. Some denominations (most notably, Catholicism) take certain passages as literal and certain passages as figurative, but I'm not aware of any Christian denomination that believes this passage is figurative.
 
So your answer is that some guy called John said that Jesus said that to some other guy once?
 
I was not referring to the different Christian denominations so much as the different religions of the world, although I suppose in principle the question is identical. Regardless though, let me clarify:

How do you know Christianity is the only "correct" religion in the world? Why not Islam? Buddhism? Upon what do you base your faith in Christianity?
 
My question is in the bible adam and eve went against gods wishes and ate the apple. So if god gave everyone freewill just like adam and eve, how do u know the men that wrote the bible didn't try to embellish their stories. U know make it sound more grand, or even try to twist it to suite their ow personal agenda. I'm not talking about translation because thats aother story, but how are u sure it is right.
 
THe question of free will verses the sovreignty of God is a divine paradox. Man has free will, yet their decisions happen right on schedule with God's plan. He is the sovereign God and He will preserve His word. Psalm 12:6-7 says:

"The Words of the Lord are pure Words, they are like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You will keep them oh Lord, you will preserve them from this generation forever."
 
How do you know Christianity is the only "correct" religion in the world? Why not Islam? Buddhism? Upon what do you base your faith in Christianity?
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No other religion offers a 100% guarantee of where you will end up, when all is said and done. Even with Isalm, it is up to Allah to decide if you have been good enough. With Christianity, that is not a concern. Going into the relationship with God, I know I am not good enough to go to heaven. But my Father made a way for me. It is 100% sure.

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So if god gave everyone freewill just like adam and eve, how do u know the men that wrote the bible didn't try to embellish their stories. U know make it sound more grand, or even try to twist it to suite their ow personal agenda. I'm not talking about translation because thats aother story, but how are u sure it is right.
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Here are a couple of points. I am going to limit myself to those versions of the Bible that come closest to the original text. As one may understand that certain things may be lost in converting text from one language to another, but all in all, there are a couple translations that match the original text better than the others. I agree though, a topic on translations is best kept for another thread, other than to answer a basic question or two on them.

1. It has not changed in 2000+ years. The message is still the same, the challenges are still the same and the ultimate goal is still the same. A book that is written by man will not stand the test of time over such a period.
2. The Bible was written by over 40 authors over 14+ centuries. How could so many men write books that have such a consistent theme without divine direction? It is hard to pass one sentence around 40 different people, let alone multiple pages.
3. Historical events listed in the Bible have been matched by other documents.
4. The Bible itself says that it is the inspired of God. To lie about itself would negate the whole Book and religion
5. God commands to not add or subtract from it. "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you" (Deuteronomy 4:2). Quite frankly, that whole curse section on curses (as opposed to blessings) is a pretty big deterrent for not changing it

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Eon said:
So your answer is that some guy called John said that Jesus said that to some other guy once?
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This dead horse has been beaten quite substantially already in the short time I've been coming to these boards. You can choose to believe that the Bible is the true word of God or not. Based on the preponderance of archaeological evidence, I have chosen to believe that the Bible is indeed God's true word to us. So have many former atheists and agnostics. This is not a far-fetched concept.
 
I'm sorry - but simply repeating it does not make it so!

Much of the bible is wholly unsupported by current scientific understanding - despite the vested interests and best efforts of the status quo to make it otherwise.

The first half of the bible is a tribal history of a specific tribe in a specific part of the world - many of these histories turn out to have more truth to them than we expected (thinking them to be highly apocryphal and mostly allegorical). Witness digging up ancient Troy. Witness the huge city present at the former site of Babylon. Witness the discovery of the lighthouse of Pharos, Library of Alexandria, Collossus of Rhodes etc.

The fact that it pinpoints the historical positions of some settlements in no way makes the whole thing accurate.
 
Eon said:
Much of the bible is wholly unsupported by current scientific understanding - despite the vested interests and best efforts of the status quo to make it otherwise.
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Please give an example? The bible said the world was a sphere and that light was energy long before any man understood anything like that. It describes the water cycle perfectly. The reason it is not replete with scientific truths is because it is not a scientific treatise.

The first half of the bible is a tribal history of a specific tribe in a specific part of the world - many of these histories turn out to have more truth to them than we expected (thinking them to be highly apocryphal and mostly allegorical). Witness digging up ancient Troy. Witness the huge city present at the former site of Babylon. Witness the discovery of the lighthouse of Pharos, Library of Alexandria, Collossus of Rhodes etc.
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You'd think that 2,000 years of people varifying and re-verifying the Authority of scripture would prove more than any anthropological evidence. The truth is, the Bible is composed of four types of literature: Historical, Poetical/wisdom, prophetic, and instructional. The fact that three of these sections, two taken literally (H,I) one dealing with philosophy and human emotional experience (P/W), are perfectly varifiable and accurate should lead us to assume that the fourth spiritual section is bang on. Much of the prophetic literature has been varified in the birth/death/life of Jesus and other happenings besides. The only thing left to be proved in the Bible is eschatological prophecies, and these are semi-confirmed by the Gospel-Age patterns which are laid out in revelation that we can see happening in the world around us (persecution, false religions, state of the churches, wars, famines, etc.). The Bible is proven whether you like it or not.
 
Jericho_falls said:
The truth is, the Bible is composed of four types of literature: Historical, Poetical/wisdom, prophetic, and instructional.
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Good point, and therein lies the problem. What is Historical and what is Poetical?

Was the Garden of Eden figurative or literal?

Was the Flood story just that, a story?

Before you answer keep one VERY important fact in mind. If Christianity as a whole cannot agree on a unified answer, how do you know YOUR view is correct? Moreover, how are we, as non-Christians, supposed to filter out contending Christian viewpoints?
 
The largest problem with the Bible is that to prove one word of it wrong is to discredit it's adherents most cherished belief.

And it's so easy to do.
 
I have considered it before accepting Christ. I long held to the tennet that Christianity was not the one true religion. It was only after much study that did I change my mind on it. And I guess, technically all of other religions are true religions in the sense of the word religion, but there is only one that will lead to the true God.

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Again, none of the other ones offer 100% guarantee or claims. Only Christianity.

I have posed the question before, and again, please show me 1 other that offers the same assurances.
 
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