20 Questions Christians Can't Answer!

Originally posted by Cuervo
Adam and Eve's god is talking to other gods saying that he's afraid of how powerful Adam and Eve are now.

The only thing I could find in Genesis that might even tenuously link to this is:

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Do you mean the 'us'?

Could this not be a mistake in the passing on of the story over the hundreds or thousands of years it would have taken for Noah's kids to get around to building Egypt, enslaving the offspring of Joseph's 70 family members, them multiplying to around 600,000 and then their leader, Moses writing it down?

Whoever told Moses the story could have said 'Behold the man, is just like us (you and me, Moses), and now knows good and evil?

Plus aren't there hints that Moses borrowed part of his creation story from the Egyptians before he started speaking to God in the Mountain?

reply to post by johnwilkesbooth


Le sigh, le moan. You answered those questions without answering them, good sir. You completely dodged.

3. Since Adam and Eve didn’t know right from wrong before eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why did God then punish them for something they didn’t understand they were doing?

He told them to not eat from that tree. He made it known, thus temptation was created. They knew.

He was omniscient. He knew they would be unable to resist the temptation, and he knew "Satan" would provide the temptation. Despite this, he not only created the tree and put it in the garden, he also allowed "Satan" entry. He wanted them to disobey. There were a thousand ways to prevent the opportunity from ever arising, but literally, there was only ONE WAY the opportunity could be created. And somehow, some way, all the pieces fell into play in a garden created by an omniscient omnipotent being who knew everything that would ever happen inside of it and had the power to change the course of its existence at any given moment.

And things went that badly? No. Stop selling me taurine feces. He knew it would happen, and he allowed it to. And if he was really that upset by it, Adam and Eve would never have survived that situation. Eve would have died the moment her lips touched the fruit, and Adam would have gotten a new woman.

No, there's only one explanation: "God" wanted them to fail so that they would gain the ability to emotionally judge their reality. They would be able to label something as "good" or "evil" based on how they felt the situation or object affected their existence, based on how it appealed to their hearts. You cannot learn without making a mistake to learn from, and this was his way of enabling them to make mistakes. Otherwise, they would have been both immortal and completely retarded, ignorant of the world he created. They would have been unable to play with it or experience it.

Yeah, that's exactly what a father wants, right? Lock his kids in the basement from the day they are born until the day they die? No, he was a conniving old gaffer. He set them up for experiencing the world in the only way they could learn the way they needed to, and the fruit gave him an excuse to both enable them and set them free, because he probably didn't want them to ever know what he had done.

But that's just my theory on that story, and the story is probably a metaphor of a completely different situation that happened along the same lines.

That's my view of the story.

4. Why would God place a forbidden tree in the garden so close to his innocent creation and allow Satan to tempt them into eating from it, all the while looking on without doing a thing to prevent it?

He gave them a choice. He couldn't just put a bad tree there and just command them not to eat from it, the temptation would be useless. He gave them free will, that was what they chose. Satan was just more temptation. God was testing them, they failed.

Yeah. That's incorrect, for the reasons listed above.

There you go, from a Pagan.

You know. I'm a little disappointed. I suppose I shouldn't be, because I have met a BLONDE Pagan who probably could have told you everything I just explained above. She's an amazing person. and completely disproves every blonde joke you've ever - anyway, I hope I cleared matters up.

If you can somehow logically and rationally debunk the theory I've outlined above, and prove my reasoning to be erroneous, then please point it out to me. I'm more than willing to discuss. Still won't change my opinion that "God" is a lying douche though.

Originally posted by Beavers

Do you mean the 'us'?

I asked that to one of my christian friend. He said the "us" is refering to God, his Spirit and his Son (or something like that, you know, the Trinity). So... No big mystery here...
Sorry, mate.

Originally posted by Deetermined
reply to post by Cuervo

 

So Genesis can't be understood "correctly" without reading another book?

Was Jesus also sent to Earth to act as a publishing editor?

The Word isn't understood without reading ALL of the Word, and the Holy Spirit works as the publishing editor to confirm the Word.

But "ALL" of the word wasn't always written. What were people to believe before it was "all" written?

reply to post by namine


I think the mistake that most make is taking the bible in a completely literal sense. I think it needs to be treated more as an allegory if you will. I could be wrong...I don't consider myself a Christian. I believe in a creator but not necessarily a tangible creator...maybe it's just a force? Or maybe I'm deluding myself into believing that there is a greater force at work here than just pure chance.


I'm confusing myself

Ahhh...the mysteries of the universe. There's no better way to mind f**k yourself than to ponder how and why we exist.

reply to post by Cuervo

But "ALL" of the word wasn't always written. What were people to believe before it was "all" written?

Before it was written, you still had the spoken Word and God interacting with Moses to deliver messages to the people if they had questions.

Plus, people had twenty six books of gospel written by the time Jesus came along to answer their questions.

Originally posted by Beavers

Originally posted by Cuervo
Adam and Eve's god is talking to other gods saying that he's afraid of how powerful Adam and Eve are now.

The only thing I could find in Genesis that might even tenuously link to this is:

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Do you mean the 'us'?

Could this not be a mistake in the passing on of the story over the hundreds or thousands of years it would have taken for Noah's kids to get around to building Egypt, enslaving the offspring of Joseph's 70 family members, them multiplying to around 600,000 and then their leader, Moses writing it down?

Either there were mistakes or there were not. If you go down the road of defending your position by saying your own source is possibly flawed in translation then that allows everybody to say that about everything else in the bible.

Originally posted by Beavers
Whoever told Moses the story could have said 'Behold the man, is just like us (you and me, Moses), and now knows good and evil?

So... Moses is a peer to the Christian god? Moses would have to be a god for that to work.

Originally posted by Beavers
Plus aren't there hints that Moses borrowed part of his creation story from the Egyptians before he started speaking to God in the Mountain?

That creation story goes back much farther than that, actually. Before there was a patriarchal theocratic hierarchy, there was a creation story. Many of these creation stories predate the Abrahamic ones.

Originally posted by schuyler
1. Kangaroos getting to Australia.

This isn’t a “Christian” question. It comes from the Old Testament that is shared by Christians, Muslims, and Jews. It also assumes a fundamentalist interpretation of a Biblical story. It may surprise you to learn that most “Christians” are not fundamentalists and are willing to take a more metaphorical interpretation of Biblical stories. Overall a very stupid question that shows the naïveté of the questioner.

2. Tar covering the seams making it dark.

Total conjecture on part of the questioner. The Bible does not say the ark was air tight. Besides, boats float. There is no reason Noah couldn’t have “opened the window” any more than you couldn’t open the window of a sailboat while sailing in the rain. Not an overly bright question.

3. Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge.

An easy answer is that God punished them because he had told them not to eat the apple, period. Adam & Eve did not require the knowledge of good and evil. They violated a direct order. Once again, of course, most Christians take this story as a metaphor for leaving innocence behind and learning the realities of the world. And, once again, this is an Old Testament story that really has little to do with Christianity as a whole.

4. Why did God stand aside and let Satan mess with the kids?

I dunno. Ask God. It’s not an issue Christians need to worry about. It’s just an Old Testament story. God was “testing their faith.” They lost.

5. Jesus tomb stone rolled away?

Congrats. The fifth question at least has something to do with Christianity. Answer: The angel moved the stone, maybe, depending on which of the four gospels you believe, each of which tell a different story.

6. How many women went to the tomb?

Once again, depends on the gospel.

7. Paul believing creation stories were historical fact

Paul’s Epistles are an important indication of the workings of the early church. They don’t need to be “thrown out” any more than stories of Zeus need to be thrown out. But at least here you finally agree that Christians see some Biblical stories as allegorical. Good job!

8. How many donkeys did Jesus ride?

Ah, so you actually know there are differences in the 4 main gospels! Good for you! We don’t know which gospel is historically accurate. They were all written many years after the events. Like any stories in oral traditions, there are bound to be differences. They are not particularly significant as all 4 tell essentially the same story.

9. Who was Joseph’s father?

I dunno. Is that important?

10.When w as Jesus crucified?

John is different than the other three gospels. Not surprising. It’s the youngest gospel, and the “most different” than the other three. It was written well after the other three when everyone who had seen Jesus alive was long dead.

I’m not going to bother with the next ten as these are sufficient. People who “question Christians” in this manner obviously feel their questions are “Gotcha!” questions that somehow prove the falsehood or contradictions found in Biblical stories. Christian scholars have gone far beyond these naïve attempts to answer what “really” happened many years ago. In other words, they are way ahead of you. And so is Bertrand Russell, by the way. His “Why I am not a Christian” is much more erudite than these overly silly examples.

The interesting thing these questions say to me is how naïve they are. In fact, it looks to me as if anti-Christians are way more fundamentalist than Christians are. I don’t know very many Christians who even believe Noah’s Ark happened at all. They dismiss it as a Sunday School fairy tale they learned as kids, and don’t give it a second thought.

The whole issue with the gospels is beyond disappointing. Do you think Christains are unaware that the four gospels sometimes contradict each other? Do you seriously believe that anyone reading them could not figure that out pretty readily? The real question is why you think these minor differences make a difference?

But these “questioners” worry about whether there were portholes in the ark. They are taking it at face value, as if it really happened, when Christians are saying, “You guys are nuts!” So in an attempt to somehow denigrate Christianity, these questioners start out betraying the fact they don’t even know what Christianity is about. Far from making Christianity look silly, it makes them look silly.

Many thanks my friend I wish I could give you more stars

My question to the OP is this, will you be doing a similar thread with questions about other religions or is it just Christians you want to poke a stick at ?

reply to post by Ferryman


Too easy.

Cause he left Noah alive.

And it was to wash away the sin of the angel's #ing humans and creating giants, wasn't it? not all sin...

God's in his heaven all's right with the world -NeonGenesisEvangelion

It's the final countdown! -Europe

SS

If God put the Tree of Knowledge there in the garden, and was watching Adam, and Eve if they both ate the fruit from it, does that mean that God has got a sick sense of humour?. I could imagine God thinking "Go on do it, do it, YES".
If i believed in him, when i die i expect to find him Rolling on the floor laughing. Just saying.

Originally posted by Deetermined
reply to post by Cuervo

 

But "ALL" of the word wasn't always written. What were people to believe before it was "all" written?

Before it was written, you still had the spoken Word and God interacting with Moses to deliver messages to the people if they had questions.

Plus, people had twenty six books of gospel written by the time Jesus came along to answer their questions.

Then why didn't they clarify that part during the "word and god interacting with Moses" period of time? Why did everybody have to wait until John pointed it out thousands of years later?

My point is that if you want people to believe that certain books are not able to be interpreted correctly without the "whole word", then how do you know what you are reading now won't be corrected in the future?

And before you refer to it, that part in Revelations saying that no more should be added, I don't see how that related to anything other than the Book of Revelations.

reply to post by Beavers

Could this not be a mistake in the passing on of the story over the hundreds or thousands of years it would have taken for Noah's kids to get around to building Egypt, enslaving the offspring of Joseph's 70 family members, them multiplying to around 600,000 and then their leader, Moses writing it down?

If Cuervo was indeed speaking about that particular verse (not sure)...

Genesis 3:22

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

This only implies that God had to make good on his promise to remove Adam and Eve from the garden so that they didn't have access to the Tree of Life any longer. If they still had access to the tree, they wouldn't have died a human death like God told them that they would if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.

reply to post by Deetermined

This only implies that God had to make good on his promise to remove Adam and Eve from the garden so that they didn't have access to the Tree of Life any longer. If they still had access to the tree, they wouldn't have died a human death like God told them that they would if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.

And they would also have been stuck in the garden for the rest of their lives. Pretty boring existence for immortality, yeah? What's the point of spending forever in one place? Try reading this:

reply to post by AfterInfinity

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Deetermined

 

This only implies that God had to make good on his promise to remove Adam and Eve from the garden so that they didn't have access to the Tree of Life any longer. If they still had access to the tree, they wouldn't have died a human death like God told them that they would if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.

And they would also have been stuck in the garden for the rest of their lives. Pretty boring existence for immortality, yeah? What's the point of spending forever in one place?

I was going to say that! But you said it better...

reply to post by Cuervo


I think you misunderstood the 'us' part. My fault, bad explanation... I'll try again

When moses was told the creation story, presumably by his Pharaohs royal scholars....someone (not a peer God ) would have said to him.

"Man was made in our image, Moses" or "he knew good and evil, like us Moses"

So Moses wrote what he heard, and added 'like us' or 'our' and intended it to be heard as he heard it.

Any better?

edit:

also

That creation story goes back much farther than that, actually. Before there was a patriarchal theocratic hierarchy, there was a creation story. Many of these creation stories predate the Abrahamic ones.

Yes, the same creation story passed from Noah to his grand daughter Egyptus who went to... well you can guess

reply to post by Deetermined


Yeah I agreee, but I'm trying to find out why he thinks God was one of a number of gods?

I don't see it...

reply to post by Beavers


You should take a look at the post of some guy I know...

reply to post by swan001

reply to post by Beavers


Elohim was a plural word. And "God" specifically makes a reference to "the rest of us", regarding his relief that no fruit was taken from the tree of life.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Beavers

 

Elohim was a plural word. And "God" specifically makes a reference to "the rest of us", regarding his relief that no fruit was taken from the tree of life.

He talked for his fruits?!

lol Okay, it makes sense... but I fail to understand why he would represent his fruits.