Ask Your Big Question here
Thanks very much for all your questions and do keep posting them. We really want this blog to continue growing. We’ve answered a good number of your quesions and are working on the others. Please do come back to us with any responses/ things you don’t agree with etc.
Questions we’ve answered
- There are some really explicit parts in the Bible. What do we say about these? See Mike’s response.
- Can you be a Christian and believe in evolution? See Mike’s response
- How do we know the Bible is God’s word? How can we trust the Bible? The Bible is surely out of date – things have moved on. See Simon’s response…
- What makes Christians right and all other religions wrong? Why don’t Christians support other religions? Don’t all religions worhip the same God but in different ways? See Steve’s response…
- How can we know that God exists? See Wolfi’s response
- Where is God in all the world’s suffering? See Steve’s response…
- How do Christians justify past wars? Is the world better off without religion? See Steve’s response
- Don’t all religions lead to the same God? See Steve’s response
- How could a good God send people to hell? see Carol’s response
- Why do you need to rely on a higher being to get through life? God is for weak people who can’t face what the world is really life? it is a wish fulfilment. See Steve’s response
- In the Old Testament there is so much war and violence sanctioned by God. Is this the same God portrayed in the New Testament? See Steve’s response
- If I just live a good life and am a good person isn’t that enough to get me to heaven? See Carol’s response
- How can you believe in religion which is based on blind faith? Science is based on facts and truth. See Steve’s response
- Is there such a thing as destiny? Or do we control our own fate? See Steve’s response.
- What is the best way to get justice in the world – through political or spiritual means? See Steve’s response.
- Isn’t Christianity just the retelling of ancient myths? See Steve’s response.
- Why do we have to go to church to be called a Christian? Why do we have to follow church rulings to be called a Christian? See Carol’s response.
Questions we are working on
- What happened to all all the people who dies before Jesus was here?
- Why give money to church? Shouldn’t we give it to charities because they do more good with it?
- Why are we here?
- How can we trust that the Bible was written down accurately?
How do I know that the Bible is the word of God?
Why does your breath always smell so bad after being in an airplane?
Dude, where’s my car?
Will I ever see the things I dream of actually happen?
Where have all the leaders gone?
What makes christians right and the others wrong? (Buddists, Islam, Kaballah etc). Don’t they all have a book! Question from a non-christian
Why does everthing in life change. Just as soon as you get used to something it changes again. WHY???????
Why are christians right and other religions (Islam, Buddest and Jewish) wrong??? They all have a book!!! (question from non-christion)
i get asked bY non-christians- ”Why do you give A 10th of your income to church?” ”The church does nothing for this world! rather give it to a registered charity where you know what they do with your money…and that don’t spend it on expensive building rent etc” WHAT DO I ANSWER??
Why don’t christians retake Israel as there are churches and christians and have been for far some amount of tome as jews?
Why do christians not support other religious groups?
How can modern day christians justify past and present religious wars (e.g Iraq war) as been right?
Muslims, Christians and Jews, don’t they all worship the same God but in different ways?
Email from my colleague
Here’s my thoughts about God and questions – I just want to say these are my opinions and I don’t mean any of them to offend anyone
Do I think God exists?
Yes but I don’t know if I believe things in a traditional sense. For example, I don’t go to church because I don’t really agree with everything in the bible. I’m not even sure I believe in the bible to be honest. I have to admit there are a lot of things I don’t understand but I question how a book that was written such a long time ago can still be relevant today or whether the things written in it are actually accurate and written as they were intended. Chinese Whisper’s for example or the way two people can interpret the same situation differently.
Also I believe God is a good force, like a higher being but not something that should be worshiped as such, more something that should be respected.
What I believe about God and the many questions I have:
I do think there is a God – but I don’t necessarily think there is just one god. I think one of the Ten Commandments is to believe in only the one god (if I’m correct???). One question I would have is why? Who has the power/knowledge to say that there is only one god and that their religion is right and all the other religions are wrong. Why can’t there be lots of Gods who co-exist together?
I believe that if you live a good life and you’re kind to people, respect them and treat them as you wish to be treated then this is how God would wish you to live your life – in this way I agree with some of the points in the bible (respect parents, no murder, no steeling, no adultery).
Someone who is very religious once told me I had to go to church if I believe in God – why? If God is everywhere and sees all, why do people have to go to a certain building to prove that they believe in God?
Would God really want people to live by rules in the bible in today’s society? Are some things out of date? E.g. 60 odd years ago our country viewed race, gender and sexuality in a very different way but it has progressed now. Can a book that doesn’t progress with society reflect God’s wishes?
Why are there lots of strands of the same religion? i.e. if there is one God, why are there Catholics, Baptists etc etc who believe very different things?
If God exists why is there a hell? I don’t really believe in hell because I don’t think a God that encourages forgiveness would punish someone in hell. I think God would teach a person where they went wrong so that they could truly understand and repent.
I have various questions but the main one is similar to one asked above. If an individual does not follow your church rulings, why are they deemed not to be a Christian? What happens to all the people in the world who were born before Jesus was born, all the people have no idea that the bible was written or know of Jesus, all those people who follow other religions?
Is there a heaven and a hell?
If so where and how is the line drawn between these?
Email from my colleague
Why do people think about God only when they are in trouble?
Question from my colleague, Jenny
Is the route to eqaulity and justice through political means or spiritual means or both?
why do people have to rely on some sort of higher being (god) to help them through life. can they not make their own decisions?
If Jesus impregnated his lover and she desired an abortion, would Jesus support her?
This is a tough one asked by a guy I work with who is an athiest.
If the bible is the word of god delivered through man why did god need to go into such detail in the following extract from the bible?
Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her paramours whose members were like those of donkeys and whose emissions was like that of stallions.
[Ezekiel 23]
I was asked, actually more like told, that Christianity is just a mordern version of Ancient Egyptian theology. He was well versed in all the evidence, for example how an version of the 10 commandments was found on the walls of chambers in the pyramids, the idea of Jesus as the son of God was similar to that of the Ancient egyptian gods, and how the Cross copied from the Egyptian ankh.
I was stunned, what is the answer to something like that?