I ask a series of questions to Christians and get the same tired responses that rely not on reason, but on the bible. It’s funny watching them try to contort logic to fit inside the giant holes of the bible. The last time I asked these questions, I got a 33 page response littered with bible verses. I decided to answer my own questions using REASON and DIRECT EXPERIENCE as my guide.
Christianity would crumble if the story comes out that Jesus was not the (only) divine son of God, and that he wasn’t born of a virgin, died on a cross, and rose the 3rd day. Your faith in God would be shaken to the core and would crash to the ground if there was no Jesus and no bible to prop up your beliefs.
Oh ye of little faith.
If it turns out that the bible is simply a book of stories of insights to help you find true, lasting, love of God, my faith would remain… because I know God through direct experience.
I sought God and God showed me the way and continues to draw me nearer. Through my mind, my heart, my body, and the spirit within that guides me, I come to experience my divinity. I need nothing to back up my beliefs… even if an army of men or 2.1 billion people (Christians who believe that I am not with God because Jesus is NOT my personal savior) are against me, I KNOW that everyday I walk with God. We are one.
THE CHRISTIAN QUERY and MY OWN NON-CHRISTIAN ANSWERS
1. Is God powerless, apathetic or abhorrent? Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami, starving children in Ethiopia. We’re told that God has a plan for all of “his” children. Why would he allow these terrible things to happen? Why would he allow children to be molested and wives to be beaten?
This is a trick question. By being given the choice of three adjectives, you are influenced to choose one. God “allows these terrible things to happen” because God is the ultimate Creator/Destroyer. In both creation and destruction, the power and beauty of God is evident. If no one died during events such as the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, would we not all stand in awe of the absolute power of nature’s (God’s) force? Just as we marvel at volcanoes, geysers, and meteor showers, we would do the same at such huge things as a tsunami… if only there weren’t so much death. (Actually, if we didn’t romanticize “life”.)
Although these occurrences are destructive, the beauty of them can easily be seen. And what’s even more beautiful is the way these events bring out the humanity in other people. During the Tsunami and Katrina, there were people risking their lives for their neighbors. There was gratitude for family members and friends thought to be dead but later found. An outpouring of empathy and love in the form of vigils and monetary gifts to survivors were sent from all over the world. TRUE humanity… that is the purpose of destruction.
When wives are beaten, it is sad. When children are molested, it’s sad. But when people survive these things, and continue with their lives afterwards, their resilience strengthens them and others around them. They are able to empathize with the plight of other people. Through their experiences, ALL of our experiences combined, we are able to evolve as a people.
2. Why would he create “the devil” (and since God created everything, it follows that God created the devil) whose main job is to torture and torment people? Either he didn’t create the Devil (and allow all of the other atrocities) and he is not the Almighty creator of the Universe, or he is disgusting and uncaring – unsympathetic to the suffering of his people.
Again, another trick question.
If you are a Christian, or a part of one of the Abrahamic religions, you subscribe to the idea of a “devil”. Nowhere in texts which pre-date the bible is there anything about the “devil”. (And note – the first remains of humans were found from around 300,000 years ago, way before the torah, bible, and koran were created after 1250 BCE. We’re talking about no “devil” for 298,750 years.)
From Wikipedia: “Originally, the term [devil] was used as a title for various entities that challenged the religious faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible. Since then, the Abrahamic religions have used the name ‘Satan’ as a name for the Devil.”
Because I don’t believe the bible as the “absolute” word of God, and because I think that stories of the bible are just that – stories, I do NOT believe in some being named Satan/Devil that goes around tormenting people.
3. How does Jesus dying on the cross have anything to do with ‘OUR” sins?
It doesn’t have anything to do with OUR sins.
If I were to take a “stretch-guess” as to the purpose of the death of Jesus on the cross, through the lens of a bible-reader, I would think that Jesus died not FOR, but BECAUSE of the sins of people in that day. Big difference. “Because” of the sins refers to the fact that someone as purely spiritual as Jesus was seen as threat to people around him. He was a constant reminder of the fact that they were not taking advantage of all of their talents/gifts and that their relationships with God (through insane rituals and going to the churches) were shallow.
4. If God sent him to die, does that mean that God killed Jesus (against “his” own commandment – thou shalt not kill)?
God sends us all to die. We will return back to God when our work on earth is done.
5. Since Jesus died, doesn’t that mean that you can sin all you want and you’re forgiven because he already paid the price?
Of course not. There is no “price” that can be paid by one person’s sacrifice. But we all pay the price when one person is sacrificed.
The bible (through the words of some guy named Paul) says in Romans “23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Note, it doesn’t say “except for Jesus”.) Every time we sin – by the way, let’s take a moment to look at the root of the word “sin”
In the biblical Hebrew, the generic word for sin is het. It means “to err, to miss the mark.” It does not mean to do evil.
In later times, when the dictionary was created, it meant “something that offends one’s sense of propriety, fairness, or justice”
- Anyway, every time we “SIN”, we are deprived of the glory of God. Have you noticed that every time you “miss the mark” you receive some sort of punishment (consequences)? It’s the nature of sin… you make a mistake; you pay for it… one way or another. The death of Jesus had nothing to do with OUR personal sins.
6. Did Jesus really rise again on the 3rd day? Where did he go and what did he do then?
Quite possibly. A part of me thinks that there may be some sort of reincarnation into another dimension, another world. I’m not sure if this other dimension can make contact with our world…but since Jesus was pretty cool and pretty close to God, I think it’s plausible that Jesus could have been taken to another dimension – a next level – and given the right to visit earth in spirit. As for where he went after the 3rd day (according to the bible) – I have no idea.
7. Was he given a new body or did he still have the thorn marks on his head and the puncture wounds on his hands/wrists?
This is a funny question and it doesn’t deserve an answer.
8. Is Jesus divine?
Sure. Since I believe that every human being is divine, I think that if Jesus existed, he was divine, too.
9. How come there has never (ever in the history of mankind) been any other virgin births?
Actually, there have been more than 20 “birth-death-resurrection” stories from various religions – many predating Christianity.
Eighteen hundred years before Christ, King Amunothph III
Roman/Greek: Demeter and Persephone, Rhea and Zeus, Apollo
In Egypt, Horus
In Phrygia, Attis
China, Fohi
In Siam, Codom
Buddha
In Greece, Plato
Adonis
From the Americas, Quetzalcoatl told by the Aztecs and Mayans.
Mithra was a Persian god who was also a virgin birth
The prophet Zoroaster was also born of a virgin.
Perseus and Hercules all experienced virgin births after being fathered by gods.
A Roman savior Quirrnus was born of a virgin.
In Tibet, Indra was born of a virgin. He ascended into heaven after death.
In India, the god Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki.
Virgin births were claimed for many Egyptian pharaohs, Greek emperors and for Alexander the Great of Greece.
***Know your history***
Check out the History of Religion map to see the progression of Christianity… way after many of these other religions.
9a. Was Mary the only one? How is this possible and what does it prove?
As already evidenced, no, she wasn’t.
If Jesus was divine and the son of God, and we are all the sons and daughters of God, doesn’t that mean that we are all divine?
Yes. We are all the divine sons and daughters of God… but many of us haven’t figured it out yet. Probably because we’re too busy praising some guy who didn’t want our praise, when we could be enjoying a relationship with God and realizing our divine right.
9b. What makes Jesus different?
He understood the personal relationship with God. He personified it. He taught other people how to achieve it. He was an example. Again, too many people are on their knees praising him while they should be on their feet doing as he did.
9c. …And what happened in Jesus’ life from his birth until age 30?
Who the hell knows? He was probably spending lots of time questioning, making mistakes and finding his way to God. He was a pretty smart dude… I’m sure he rationalized, loved and lost, and messed up BIG, before he realized his oneness with God. That’s the most logical guess I can come up with because that’s what I did from birth until age 30.
10. Where is heaven located? Where is hell located?
The bible says that the “kingdom of God is within you”… I agree. Both heaven and hell are within you. When you experience love, joy and peace, you are in heaven. When you experience anger, depression, and misery, you are in hell. Both are within you.
11. Prove that:
Jesus is divine/the Son of God
God created the universe
Christians will go to heaven
We are living in the last days
The bible is the word of God
…WITHOUT using the bible as evidence.
You can’t… except for one.
Jesus (if he ever existed) was the divine son of God because I am the divine daughter of God… so because I am divine, and I am human, and Jesus was/is human, it reasonably follows that Jesus was also divine… as is every other human on this planet.
How do I know that I am divine? – Because I don’t use the bible as evidence of my divinity and because god “told me”.
While we are on the subject, let’s define “divine”. From dictionary.com:
DIVINE
Adjective:
1. of or pertaining to a god, esp. the Supreme Being.
2. addressed, appropriated, or devoted to God or a god; religious; sacred: divine worship.
3. proceeding from God or a god: divine laws.
4. godlike; characteristic of or befitting a deity: divine magnanimity
Noun:
1. A cleric. (a member of the clergy)
2. A theologian. (a person versed in theology, esp. Christian theology; divine)
I am all of the above.
12. Jesus was clearly against the state, and in those days the leaders of the state were the religious elders/kings (by “divine right”) etc. Because Jesus spoke out against these people – challenged their authority and their supposed “god-given right to rule”, isn’t it more plausible that this is the reason why he was killed?
Since he was labeled as the #1 enemy of the state, doesn’t it make sense to believe that the rulers would have him publicly killed so that no one else dared to be revolutionary?
Absolutely! Good reasoning using the bible as evidence!
13. The fourth commandment says “remember the Sabbath (7th) day to keep it holy”. Are we breaking God’s law by going to church on Sunday? …the first day of the week? And is breaking this commandment as serious as killing or stealing?
Commandments are for people who need laws to dictate their behavior. They haven’t moved through the moral stages of development so they need laws to keep them in line.
In the bible, Moses was just trying to lay down some basic laws of behavior because people acted as people do – lawlessly. In the absence of individual relationships with God and realizing that other people are also God (what you do to them, you do to God and yourself) people need laws to dictate their behaviors and punish consequences. It remains the same today… sadly.
14. If someone has never heard of the bible or of God, how can they go to heaven (without being given the choice)?
You can go to heaven because you are capable of experiencing life as a human. Heaven is simply a close relationship with God that comes when you do God’s will. Go there whenever you want.
15. If God wanted to show that “he” was real and that Christianity was right, why create other books (like the Koran) which confuse people?
God attempts to show its face through EVERYTHING. All religious books and non-religious books are inspired by God. All ideas, songs, essays, anything humans create, are inspired by God. Our existence and its remnants are all the manifestation of God on earth.
16. Why is God the “father”? Women are more creative, nurturing, loving, etc. Doesn’t it seem a bit wrong to not have a feminine presence in creation? …Especially because women are the ones who give birth – life! Before biblical times, Greeks and Romans had gods and goddesses. Why did Christianity fail to acknowledge the feminine (besides Eve’s blunder and Mary’s lie about her impregnation)?
You have to realize the time frame that you’re talking about here. At the time of the bible, there was no SCIENCE. People didn’t understand how or why women got pregnant and gave birth.
Can you imagine how scary this was? …and how strong the survivors of birth had to be? Before the bible, women were revered for their “strength”… fertility was “strength”, but birth showed women’s “power”… enough to take a seat next to men as Goddesses.
Men could not show their strength besides smaller shows of physical strength like lifting, carrying, or fighting. Women, on the other hand, were seen as much stronger… a body came out of their bodies! …No matter what age – 12, 13, 25! This scared men.
In order to take charge, men had to prove their strength by saying that God was masculine. God is neither or both masculine and feminine. This follows my idea of God being the Great Creator/Destroyer. This also follows my idea of the trinity (Mind (male), Body (female), and Soul (spirit – no gender).
Christianity failed to acknowledge the feminine in order to control the bodies of people, especially women-people. The story of Adam and Eve is evidence of people not understanding science…which is okay, because we can now look back on it and see why they made this mistake. Like all stories in the bible… the story of Eve coming from the rib of Adam was probably a parable, fable, or allegory, showing that women were to stand by the side of men.
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I don’t claim to know all the answers, and the ones above are subject to change as I continue growing… I’m not dead like some changed-a-billion-times-and-written-after-the-fact book.
Be well.
