Ten Thought Questions for Christians
None of which should be ignored
Most Christians, and in fact, those of most religions, define their god as all loving, all knowing, all powerful, and perfect in all aspects. Try to reflect on the following as objectively as possible and see if your definition really stacks up.
1. Why would a perfect loving God enjoy the smell of smoke that comes from butchered animals being roasted?
Over forty verses refer to the “soothing aroma” that God enjoys and also demands. Here are three of them.
Leviticus 8:21 After he had washed the entrails and the legs with water, Moses offered up the whole ram in smoke on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma; it was an offering by fire to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Leviticus 1:17 Then he shall tear it by its wings but shall not sever it. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar, on the wood which is on the fire; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.
Numbers 18:17: But the firstborn of an ox, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the Lord.
More to the point…would a good and loving god ever create a food chain whereby the vast majority of his creatures would be required to kill and eat each other if they desired to live and/or feed their babies? Would it not have been a simple thing for a kind and smart god to just place solar panels in their ears to provide the necessary energy each animal and insect would need? And, if He really enjoyed the smell of the smoke, could he not have made it from a different source? After all, smell is basically nothing more than an arrangement of molecules in gas form.
Assuming he has the power to stop watching animals kill and eat each other such as his parasitic wasps who devour their hosts from the inside out, (some of their victims remaining alive for weeks as the heart is often programed to be the last part that is eaten…thus keeping their food nice and warm) why doesn’t he? Why would he intentionally allow this mass and unnecessary suffering to untold millions of innocent creatures every day to continue? Why did he ever allow it to start in the first place?
2. Is the story of the three Magi which is found in Matthew 2 a cruelty that any good and intelligent god could have easily prevented? According to Matthew 2, we see that the three “wise men” followed a star which obviously was of supernatural origin. But instead of it leading them to the child Jesus who was in Bethlehem, it led them directly to Jerusalem and King Herod. Because of this visit with the three, the King felt it necessary to slaughter all boys two years old and younger. The star later corrected course and led them to where they had originally intended to go.
3. Did Mary have amnesia? Or maybe a part in a made-up story?
Luke 2:48–50 When Joseph and Mary saw Him, they were bewildered; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for You!” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” And yet they on their part did not understand the statement which He had made to them.
Mark 3:20–21 And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. And when His own people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” (verses 31–32 clearly shows that His mother was included.)
How is it possible that any woman who gives birth to a child, while knowing full well that she is still a virgin and who had been visited by angels who clearly explained to her that her child would actually be the son of God and would rule a kingdom without end, respond in the matter that the Bible records?
4. How can the Bible be justified for teaching immoral things? The New Testament calls Lot “righteous” after impregnating his two daughters (this after he had recently offered them to a gang of sex craved men to whom he told that they could do to them whatever they desired.) Here it is word for word from the NASB if you don’t believe me.
Genesis 19:8: “Now look, I have two daughters who have not had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
In Deuteronomy, we see God decreeing that when a young virgin is raped, upon the rapist paying her father fifty shekels of silver, she must become his wife. Again, here it is word for word. Deuteronomy 22:28–29: If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and has sexual relations with her, and they are discovered, then the man who had sexual relations with her shall give the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he has violated her; he is not allowed to divorce her all his days.
Deuteronomy 21:10–13: ”When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her (that means to rape her) and be her husband and she shall be your wife.” (Rape and kidnapping were not only approved by the Bible, but they were expressly authorized as part of God’s Law)
While never preached in church, the Bible literally teaches that God expressly says he will cause children to be eaten. Just one of them is Jeremiah 19:9: And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.” (Several others can be found in Leviticus 26:27–29, Deuteronomy 28:53, Ezekiel 5:8–10, Lamentations 4:9–11, among others)
The Bible teaches Jesus is actually God who never changes nor repents. Is it honest to suggest that the New Testament did away with the Old? Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.”
5. Is not the belief in anything without evidence pure and simple, blind faith? Is there anything at all that one could not believe in? Was it not blind faith that gave rise to the thousands of previous gods and goddesses, many of whom had numerous devoted followers? If any holy book demanded we believe something, but it contained contradictions and obvious mistakes, could the author possibly be a perfect and all knowing god?
6. Does the lack of a historical record of Jesus compared to thousands of other famous people who lived much earlier, pose a problem given the fact that all you know about Him is from the Bible? Would your answer be the same if you determined that the Bible did in fact contain contradictions and mistakes?
Outside of the New Testament, nothing whatsoever is known about the life of Jesus. Even the year of his birth is given in the Bible as 4 BCE and 9 CE. There are thousands of historical people who lived centuries before, many of whom we not only know the dates of their birth and death, but also the names of their spouse, children, servants, and others who were involved in their lives. Yet outside of the Bible, there are no reports or historical accounts concerning Him that have ever been found.
Here are just a few of those who lived many centuries earlier that we have considerable information about.
Djoser was the Pharaoh of Egypt in the Third Dynasty and reigned in 2686–2649 BCE…a whole 26 centuries before the New Testament.
Khufu reigned in the Fourth Dynasty…2589–2566 BCE.
Hatshepsut, the second woman to rule as a Pharaoh, reigned from 1478–1458 BCE. Thutmose II was her husband who died in 1479 BCE and left a son two years old.
Thutmose III (whose step mother was also a Pharaoh) reigned from 1458–1425 BCE.
Amenhotep III reigned from 1388–1351 BCE. He is well known as being a great diplomat and for his advances in architecture.
Ramses II ruled during 1279–1213 BCE. He had a minimum of ninety-six children with Seti I being the most famous. We even know the names of more than fifty of them.
Remember that Egypt was just a “rock throw” from Jerusalem. They had no difficulty being able to keep a reasonable historical record many centuries before who some say is the most important person to ever walk on the face of the earth.
A few other well known individuals from centuries before include Cyrus the Great 600–530 BCE, Siddartha (Buddha) 563–483 BCE, Confucius 551–479 BCE, Socrates 469–399 BCE, Aristotle 384–322 BCE, Alexander the Great 356–323 BCE, Archimedes 287–212 BCE, and Julius Caesar 100–44 BCE. Important people and major events had a way to get recorded. Let us not forget the great Hippocrates 460–380 BCE or Pythagoras 570–495 BCE either.
Sargon the Great ruled as King of the Akkadian Empire in 2334–2279 BCE. His birth story is so similar to that of Moses that most scholars view it to have been the source of the Moses story. Sargon was known throughout ancient history as the King of kings. He of course was probably the most famous person in Babylon…the place where the story of Moses and the Pentateuch was finalized during the captivity by priests who were trying to unify the Jewish captives, most of whom had been assimilated into the Babylonian culture. (Most refused to return to Jerusalem when Cyrus the Great granted their freedom) To motivate the people, why not give them a remarkable story about a deliverer who they could identify with, especially given his birth story was the same as the great King of kings? Tell them a story about a great supernatural deliverance from slavery but with the threat of severe punishment should they not follow and obey (and fear) the god who so miraculously had delivered them. Why not even incorporate the sacred sabbath day directly into their creation story?
The following translation of the legend comes from J.B. Pritchard’s The Ancient Near East, Volume I, pages 85–86. The inscription was discovered in the Assyrian city of Nineveh in 1867 CE by the archeologist Sir Henry Rawlinson who was excavating the site. The first part follows:
Sargon, the mighty king, king of Agade, am I.
My mother was a changeling, my father I knew not.
The brother(s) of my father loved the hills.
My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates.
My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me.
She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed
My lid.
She cast me into the river which rose not (over) me,
The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the
drawer of water.
Akki, the drawer of water lifted me out as he dipped his
e[w]er.
Akki, the drawer of water, [took me] as his son
(and) reared me.
Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener,
While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me (her) love,
And for four and [ … ] years I exercised kingship,…
Thousands of people much earlier than the first century are found throughout the pages of history. Why would a god block out from history the one and only person that many people claim we are required to know if there be any hope of escaping an eternity in a burning hell?
7. Can you reasonably accept part of the Bible as true if it contains many contradictions and major errors regarding science and history? Just a few: The earth being created in seven days, roughly 6,000 years ago; the sun stood still for an entire day; women were made from the rib of a man; humans existed before plants and other animals (Genesis 2); and 2,500,000 slaves out ran the entire Egyptian military (in one day) and existed in the desert for 40 years without leaving a single trace of evidence that they were ever there.
8. Would it be disconcerting if the New Testament taught that Jesus actually believed that the story of Adam and Eve was a historical fact in addition to other events that are clearly debunked mythologies?
Jesus taught as history the story of Moses and the manna that fed the children of Israel while in the desert thus having Him ratify as historical fact the Exodus as described in the Torah (2,500,000 slaves out running the entire Egyptian military and then lived in a desert 40 years without leaving a single trace of evidence); He also taught the story of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4–6) as true history in addition to the story of Noah’s world wide flood (Matthew 24:37–39 and Luke 17:26). Among other things, he taught that blindness and epilepsy are caused by demons and that you did not need to wash your hands before eating.
9. Did you know that the New Testament ratifies the Old Testament over two hundred times? This point is included because many apologists and preachers would have you believe that the New Testament did away with the many cruel and immoral things of the Old. Where is the love and mercy in the New Testament when it ratifies and praises rather than rebukes any of the terrible things taught in the Old Testament? How about the teaching of an eternal hell fire that even the Old Testament never mentioned?
We can not simply ignore the fact that the New Testament accepted as historical truth the Old Testament’s stories. The leaders of those events are repeatedly honored and praised in the New Testament without one word of rebuke. The fact that it is not possible to separate the New Testament from the Old becomes even more evident when we count the number of times that the key characters in the Old Testaments are mentioned in the New: Moses 79 times, Abraham 70 times, David 54, Adam and/or Eve 10, and Noah 8 times.
The New Testament clearly ratifies the Old and often uses the Old Testament to explain the New. Again, it is just plain wrong to claim that the Old Testament was done away with, especially if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever and was a key player in many Old Testament events as Christians claim He was.
10. Most Christians are taught that there is only one way to be saved. However, their source for this, the Bible, actually records more than twenty diverse ways, many of which are clear contradictions. What basis did you use to pick yours?
Paul says in Galatians 2:16 & Romans 3:20 that it’s by faith alone. James 2:21–24 states that it is by works. Acts 2:21 & Romans 10:13 says to just call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved, HOWEVER, Matthew 7:21 states that not everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Matthew 25:34–46 teaches that heaven is obtained only by helping the poor and needy and without doing so, one is eternally condemned.
Romans 8:29–30 & Romans 9:15–16 makes it very clear that salvation is only the result of election and predestination by God regardless of what anyone does. Yet, in the same book we are instructed in Romans 10:9 that we actually must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord AND believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead. Can someone truly believe something that they have no evidence for? Is believing in Jesus any different than the billions of other people who believed in one of the other thousands of gods that history informs us of? Almost all believers of any religion simply believe that what their parents and culture taught them was true. Pure and simple.
Mark 16:16 declares you must be baptized, but then in 1 Corinthians 1:14 we hear the great missionary Paul thanking God that he didn’t baptize any of them, except for one or two. Romans 2:13 teaches that you must keep the law. Then we have Matthew 10:22 & Mark 13:13 saying that only those who endure to the end will be saved. Philippians 2:12 warns the reader to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling while John 3:16 says all you need to do is believe. James 2:14 makes it clear that faith alone is of no value while Galatians 5:4 says you are damned if you do not use faith alone.
John 6:53–54 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” And yes some, mainly Catholics, take this verse as literal.
Here are a few links to expanded articles regarding many of the things briefed above:
Ten Bible Stories Never Preached in Church
The Reasons why the Bible’s Story of the Exodus is not True
Why do so many People still believe that Adam and Eve were Real?
