Hallway of Questions
[Modified: Dec 2008]
Tough Questions:
Most Recent couple of
postings:
.....................................................................................
Old Testament Issues:
- Questions about the OT/Tanaach as a document (e.g.,
authorship, dating, transmission)
·
Questions
about the character of God
·
Questions
about matters of fact
·
Questions
about possible contradictions
·
Questions
about theology or interpretation
New Testament Issues:
- Questions about the New Testament as a document (e.g.,
authorship, dating, transmission, accuracy)
- Questions about the character of Jesus
·
Questions
about matters of fact
- Questions about possible contradictions
·
Questions
about theology or interpretation
·
Questions
about NT backgrounds
·
Questions
about Paul
- Series: responding to one Muslim piece on Paul being radically 'non-Jesus'
- A large/long series on "Jesus, Paul, and Middle Platonism", including these topics:
- Paul’s references to the ‘brothers’ of Jesus
- Paul’s knowledge (or lack of it) of the
historical Jesus
- Paul’s references to Jesus as “Lord”—were they
really intending to refer to Jesus?
- Paul’s reference to ‘born of a woman’ in Gal
4:4---does it really mean what the English translations ‘sound like’?
- The abnormal growth of Christ Myth-ers
- Earl Doherty’s reconstruction of Christian
origins?
- Paul’s references to incarnation
- Paul the Middle-Platonist?
Post-NT Issues:
- Questions about the Canon
·
Questions
about the early church and its beliefs/praxis
·
Questions
about the social/religious context of the early church
Theological Issues:
- Does God condone slavery in the Bible? (OT)
[and NT there too]
- Would the culpability of human non-intervention in
violent crime imply that God's non-intervention (due to theodicy reasons)
was proof that God was either malevolent or impotent?
- Did God arbitrarily decide who to save and who to
condemn?
- Does being born in a Western culture unfairly
predetermine that you will become a Christian?”
- Does God's judgment in time unfairly compromise
someone's 'free will'?
- Doesn't Paul's argument in Romans 9 pretty
clearly indicate that people's free choices are determined by
God--without consideration of free will, etc.?
- How
did the Gentiles get in the picture if the Jews
were the 'chosen ones'?
- Is
God a self-centered and insecure glory-hog,
because He created an entire universe just to sit around and praise Him?
- Did God make evil? [the tiniest you will ever see
here!]...somebody disagreed
- How do textual errors in modern bibles impact
'inerrancy'?
- "How can God not lie, and still Deceive the
Wicked?"
- "Was Jesus' death a violation of the commandment
against human sacrifice?"
- "But isn’t “Penal Substitution” actually illegal (if
not immoral)??"
- What is the 'right' kind of faith?
- The difference between righteousness and holiness?
- On getting back to the 'primitive church'?
- Does the Bible advocate abstinence from alcoholic
beverages?
- What if Jesus had sinned?
- If God cannot look upon sin, how can the Holy
Spirit be present inside the believer?
- How could Jesus be around sin, as a holy God?
- Is it okay to offer Prayer and Worship to Jesus,
and not just to the Father?
- Why does God not punish people like He did in the OT?
- Are there any limits to the evil a believer can
experience?
- What use was Jesus' death on the Cross?
- If sins are forgiven, how will Christians be judged?
- Isn't
Jesus admitting that the Unpardonable sin could
be committed today?
- Did
Christ die on the Cross for Satan?
- Why can't God just forgive sin, instead of demanding
justice?
- What kind of a choice is THAT--Love Me or Burn?!
- Evidence for the existence of the soul
- What
about Those Who Haven't Heard The Gospel
- are all the past great non-Christian religious leaders
who REJECTED Christ languishing in Hell right now?
- "is
the Bible "as violent" as the
Quran/Hadith?"
- Jesus' Death as God's Small Price to Pay?
- Wouldn't a heresy inside the Bible be a fatal flaw
in the Christian system?
- The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart
- God is Wrathful, Vengeful, Jealous, and Angry every
day--and you want me to have a relationship with Him?!
- Why didn't God stop the process before it started, if
He knew of the massive amounts of suffering that would befall many of His
creatures?? (5 part series)
- What is "repentance"?
- Does female "pain-prone" reproductive
physiology indicate that God apparently hates women?
- Do
evil spirits
come from dead God-haters?
- "Isn't an infinite/eternal punishment for a
finite/temporal sin-crime a bit disproportionate???!"
Philosophical Issues:
- A
major 75+, multiple section document on Knowing the
Truth of the Christian Position--major issues.
- Is there evidence for the existence of 'spirits' and
some 'spiritual dimension'?"
- Do unconscious processes (automaticity) undermine the
Christian faith?"
- Added
part two to "How do
you decide between competing revelations?"
- Why doesn't God give us Proof? (the person to
whom I wrote the response was very appreciative!
I wrote a response to Adam, trying to answer
some of his follow-up questions).
- Does complexity REALLY require a “more complex”
cause?
- "if Christianity is true, why does it need so much
defending? And why doesn't God make it clearer?" (5 parts)
- How can a good God allow Natural Evil?
- "Can you provide any evidence towards the
existence of God?"
- Does being born in a Western culture unfairly
predetermine that you will become a Christian?”
- How could finite language be used of an infinite God?
- Does incomplete knowledge mean God is unknowable?
- If God is infinite, how can there still be room for
us?
- “Isnt
there a “God part of the Brain” that proves all
this Jesus stuff is untrue? (a tiny 7k)
- A 'standard' question on foreknowledge and free-will
- God, evil, and the OK City tragedy
- Why does life have to prey on other life?
- Objections: to disprove is NOT to prove the opposite
- Why can't God just forgive sin, instead of demanding
justice?
- "does the savagery of predation in nature show
that God either isn't, or at least isn't good-hearted?"
- Series:
Most common errors skeptics make in apologetics,
followed by an outline of a piece (VERY incomplete) on Most common errors believers make in apologetics.
- Series:
How I decide between competing claims to religious
truth or competing claims to revelation.
- Understanding "Faith," and
"Believing" our Understanding...
- Series:
'theodicy section':
Other/Multiple-area/Misc Issues:
The
Christian ThinkTank...[http://www.christian-thinktank.com] (Reference Abbreviations)