Need help defending my faith!

JesusRoxForMe87 · #11 26th April 2006, 05:39 PM

Thanks for the help and the warm welcome everyone! Keep the advice coming!

Athanasian Creed · #12 26th April 2006, 06:26 PM

I suggest a wonderful apologetics sites -

http://christiananswers.net/home.html
http://www.tektonics.org/
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/hway.html

It has questions to some of the questions your friends are asking in regards to God and Christianity.

Also, if any mention about the so-called contradictions within the Bible, check out these -

http://www.kingdavid8.com/Contradictions/Home.html
http://www.answering-islam.org/Bible/Contra/index.html

Hope that helps some,

Ray

Splayd · #13 26th April 2006, 08:49 PM

Firstly - I'd consider the motivation behind the questions as well as your motivation to answer them.
Why did he ask them? Is it because he actually wants to know or is it because he wants to stump/discredit/outwit/beat you? If it's the former - by all means endeavour to provide him with carefully constructed answers. If it's the latter be aware that his reception to any answers probably won't be "Hmmm... Now I can believe in God". It will more likely be "Are there any holes in his answer?". If it's a contest/game he'll most likely ignore the good responses and focus on the ones he finds flaws with. They could even lead to a torrent of more questions. I mean, seriously I'm a christian but if it's simply a debate I could come up with question after question if I wanted to "win" a contest of intellect. That's not to say God can't/won't use your responses to speak to him even if his motivation is wrong, but it's worth considering his motivation because
ultimately that's what needs to be adressed. The questions may be symptomatic of something deeper.
Consider also your own primary motivations in answering him. It's easy to say all the right things, but examine your heart. Are you honestly trying to further the Kingdom? Is your true desire to bring glory to God or is it to bring glory to you? Are you engaging in a contest of wits and wills?
None of this is to say you shouldn't answer him. Though you and God can sort out the details there.

As to the answers. A couple of the questions were basically saying that God can't be real or His love for us can't be real because the world's messed up. On a very basic level consider this: If your parents bought you a new Xbox in perfect condition and you threw it against the wall, jumped up and down on it and hit it with a hammer, would you then turn around and say your parents mustn't really love you because your Xbox doesn't work properly? Would you say they mustn't care about you because they didn't repair it straight away exactly the way you want? Would you suggest that the whole mess is their fault because they didn't forcefully step in, stopping you from destroying it?
Of course you wouldn't. Likewise God gave mankind a beautiful world in perfect condition. It's not broken because of poor workmanship or any fault in the design, but because we've smashed it all up. Who are we to turn to God and say "This world isn't good enough so you mustn't really care or exist."

MikeMcK · #14 26th April 2006, 09:31 PM

Originally Posted by JesusRoxForMe87

1. Why would a benevolent God allow people to be born into such vastly different circumstances? Why should one person be born into a loving and caring family while one person be born to an abusive, alcoholic single mother?

Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world, cursed by sin. Some people suffer for reasons beyond their control because the effects of sin are very rarely limited to that person who committed the sin.

2. Why do you have faith in Christianity over everything else? If someone from another planet came to Earth and wished to become religious, how would you convince them that Christianity was the path to salvation and not Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc?

I would explain to him the manuscript evidence, the archeological evidence, the prophetic evidence, the statistical evidence, the secular historical evidence, etc.

I would explain to him that Christianity is the fulfillment of God's plan for the Jews, that the works-righteousness system of Islam is illogical and that Buddhism is simply a set of subjective moral teachings.

3. OK, so must of us can agree that God is omnibenevolent (always kind and just), omnipotent (God can do anything), and omniscient (God knows everything, even before it happens!). These three cannot all be true!

If God is omnibenevolent and omnipotent, he can’t be omniscient because he allows so much evil to happen on Earth. Since he is omnibenevolent, he must want to fix Evil and since he is omnipotent, he must be able to do it. Therefore, he must not know about it. He must not be omniscient.

You're assuming that God has done nothing to stop evil. This isn't true. Christ gave Himself as a ransom on the cross in order to defeat sin and death and to reconcile sinners to God.

If God is omnibenevolent and omniscient, then he cannot be omnipotent. If God knows about evil and wants to prevent it from harming people, he must be powerless to stop it, since Evil is so pervasive in the world.

But remember, the Bible tells us that evil is only pervasive for a very short time, until such time as evil is judged and thrown into the Lake of Fire.

If God is omniscient and omnipotent, he cannot be omnibenevolent. If God knows about evil and has the power to stop it, he must not be caring enough to stop it! At best, God is apathetic about evil on earth, and at worst he is actively malicious and enjoys harming his creations.

See John 3:16 and Romans 5.

4. If God knows everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, how can there be free will? If God knows the future, how can people have free will?

Knowing what will happen does not mean that God dictates what will happen.

5. Why must the non-believers be punished so harshly with eternal damnation in Hell? The evidence for God is so subjective at best, so why is there such a harsh punishment for failure to believe in hazy ideas and millennia old dogma?

People don't go to Hell because they don't believe. They go to Hell because they're seperated from God by sin.

6. What happens to people who never hear of God? What if they have never heard about Jesus and salvation? Do they get into Heaven with no problems or are they damned? If their salvation is determined by their character, why isn’t everyone judged like this?

The Bible tells us that God has made provisions for those who have heard the Gospel to be saved. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that every man has been given two witnesses: the witness of the conscience and the witness of creation. Depending on how a man responds to these things, he can still be saved.

7. Defend your faith from this quotation:

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible
gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
-Stephen F. Roberts

There is nothing to defend. He is welcome to his opinion.

8. Why does God allow such pervasive evil in the world? Why would he allow children to be molested, people to be tortured and murdered, birth defects to happen, etc?

You asked this already.

9. Why does God allow such corrupt people to spread His word? Corrupt people such as Benny Hinn pervert Christianity and exploit it for personal gain. Why doesn’t God strike them down for their exploitation?

The Bible tells us that God is withholding His wrath against these people in order to give them every opportunity to repent, but it also tells us that He won't wait forever and that they will be called to account for what they've done and that their punishment with be severe.

10. If humans have the capacity for evil, isn’t that God’s fault?

God gave us free will. There can be no free will without the ability to make moral choices.

If God is omniscient, he must have known that Eve was going to eat the apple and curse man to sin forever. Since he knew this, why does he become angry with her. She was simply being curious, which is a trait that he gave her! Since he gave her the capacity to be evil, the fault lies in God.

I don't see where in scripture God becomes angry with her.

11. Why did God even bother creating the universe and Earth at all?

Because He is a creative being, He creates.

If he was perfect, why did he bother making such an imperfect, sin-cursed world?

He didn't. He created the world perfect. It wasn't until sin was introduced into the world by man that it became imperfect and "sin-cursed".

He must have known how everything would have turned out!

He did. The Bible tells us that even before the foundation of the world, He forumlated a plan to save man from his sins.

rejectreality · #15 26th April 2006, 11:39 PM

If your classmate only responds to reason, I suggest you introduce him to Pascal's Wager. Though it is complicated and long (I suggest looking it up), basically it says, "It is a safe bet to believe in and follow God. For if I am wrong, then I have lost nothing. But if YOU are wrong, you will lose everything" Undeniable logic. I have used this many a time to the dismay of those who suggest God does not exist.

In regards to #10, Eve didn't eat the apple out of curiosity, Satan tempted her. Thus his argument there, is folly.

I hope God gives you wisdom and strength. God Bless

theend0218 · #16 27th April 2006, 07:48 AM

Being a skeptic by nature I wonder if this is a genuine question or someone wanting to point out how foolish the Christian faith appears in the light of reason? This thread appears from time to time . . .

At any rate, assuming it is genuine, let me suggest that the problem of evil and suffering is an old one. Job is perhaps a great place to start. Life, when viewed from a certain perspective, is absurd. Ecclesiastes addresses this quite nicely. Bottom line: if the God of Scripture exists, we are the work of His hands and He can in fact do with us as He pleases. Not an emotionally satisfying answer to one who does not know Him.

I see little hope in bringing someone to Christ through reason. Reason alone leads us to the conclusion that we do not know a great deal; that we may not, in fact, know anything for certain. I would ask your friend what evidence would satisfy his curiosity as to the existence of "god." What type of "god" could he accept?

I believe Nietzsche raised the issue in another way - how can there be a god if I cannot be one? A. Rice made a wonderful observation in one of her vampire books - the problem of this most modern age is not that we do not believe in God; it is that we believe in God and hate Him.

elijah115 · #17 27th April 2006, 08:40 AM

Ignore the arguments. Show him what it means to claim to be a christian. Obey christ's commandments. I have chosen to give you this advice rather than answer your questions because I think it needs emphasis.

CaliforniaJosiah · #18 27th April 2006, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by JesusRoxForMe87

Hello fellow Christians! I need help defending my faith in Jesus Christ! I have a classmate who constantly attacks my belief in Almighty God and he has even gone so far as to email me this list of questions! Admittedly, several of these questions have stumped me and I need help answering them! Thanks for the help and God Bless!

1. Why would a benevolent God allow people to be born into such vastly different circumstances? Why should one person be born into a loving and caring family while one person be born to an abusive, alcoholic single mother?

2. Why do you have faith in Christianity over everything else? If someone from another planet came to Earth and wished to become religious, how would you convince them that Christianity was the path to salvation and not Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc?

3. OK, so must of us can agree that God is omnibenevolent (always kind and just), omnipotent (God can do anything), and omniscient (God knows everything, even before it happens!). These three cannot all be true!

If God is omnibenevolent and omnipotent, he can’t be omniscient because he allows so much evil to happen on Earth. Since he is omnibenevolent, he must want to fix Evil and since he is omnipotent, he must be able to do it. Therefore, he must not know about it. He must not be omniscient.

If God is omnibenevolent and omniscient, then he cannot be omnipotent. If God knows about evil and wants to prevent it from harming people, he must be powerless to stop it, since Evil is so pervasive in the world.

If God is omniscient and omnipotent, he cannot be omnibenevolent. If God knows about evil and has the power to stop it, he must not be caring enough to stop it! At best, God is apathetic about evil on earth, and at worst he is actively malicious and enjoys harming his creations.

4. If God knows everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, how can there be free will? If God knows the future, how can people have free will? If God knows what you are going to do an hour from now, how can you truly have free will if it is predetermined by the fact that God knows what you are going to do?

5. Why must the non-believers be punished so harshly with eternal damnation in Hell? The evidence for God is so subjective at best, so why is there such a harsh punishment for failure to believe in hazy ideas and millennia old dogma?

6. What happens to people who never hear of God? What if they have never heard about Jesus and salvation? Do they get into Heaven with no problems or are they damned? If their salvation is determined by their character, why isn’t everyone judged like this?

7. Defend your faith from this quotation:

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible
gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
-Stephen F. Roberts

8. Why does God allow such pervasive evil in the world? Why would he allow children to be molested, people to be tortured and murdered, birth defects to happen, etc?

9. Why does God allow such corrupt people to spread His word? Corrupt people such as Benny Hinn pervert Christianity and exploit it for personal gain. Why doesn’t God strike them down for their exploitation?

10. If humans have the capacity for evil, isn’t that God’s fault? If God is omniscient, he must have known that Eve was going to eat the apple and curse man to sin forever. Since he knew this, why does he become angry with her. She was simply being curious, which is a trait that he gave her! Since he gave her the capacity to be evil, the fault lies in God.

11. Why did God even bother creating the universe and Earth at all? If he was perfect, why did he bother making such an imperfect, sin-cursed world? He must have known how everything would have turned out!

Thanks for your help with this! I am really sick of him always attacking me for my faith and I wish to show him why Christianity is the true religion!

MY thoughts...

I'll try to respond to some in the next post, but I just want to say a couple of general things.

1. Been there. Maybe because I'm a PK (Pastor's kid) and because until recently I always wore a cross, it seemed I often got asked questions - sometimes genuine, sometimes not. And when I was active in a Catholic youth group, I'd get "Why do Protestants_________" and then when I was with my Protestant friends, I'd get the "Why do Catholics________." I still get it some because I'm a science major at a secular university and many of my fellow students know I'm a Christian.

2. RARELY, there's a simple, quick answer. NICE. There are a lot of myths out there, a lot of misunderstandings, and sometimes - easily and quickly - that can be corrected. It's nice when it's easy and when there is an "answer." It's very rare.

3. I'm soooooo often reminded that Christianity is NOT a neat philosophical system. It's NOT a system of metaphysics (although it's involved), it's NOT a system of ethics (although that's involved). Christianity is NOT a corpus of Questions and Answers. The Bible is NOT a catechism. Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP. It starts in the heart, lives out in our lives, and may impact our heads. Rarely my head understands what my heart trusts.

4. IT'S OKAY TO SAY 'I DON'T KNOW.' It's okay to say, "I don't understand that either, but here's what I believe..." Not only can this just be the case, but it actually communicates honesty to the seeker. But don't leave it there - move on to talking about that RELATIONSHIP. Both seeker and detractors naturally start with intellectual questions, but that's not Christianity and we need to lead them not to the library but to the Savior, not to a checklist of things the "get" but to the Savior they embrace and are embraced by.

5. "By this will all the world know that you are My disciples, if you have love...." Not, "if you have answers."

MY $0.01...

Share the love!

- Josiah

.

CaliforniaJosiah · #19 27th April 2006, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by Athanasian Creed

I suggest a wonderful apologetics sites -

http://christiananswers.net/home.html
http://www.tektonics.org/
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/hway.html

It has questions to some of the questions your friends are asking in regards to God and Christianity.

Also, if any mention about the so-called contradictions within the Bible, check out these -

http://www.kingdavid8.com/Contradictions/Home.html
http://www.answering-islam.org/Bible/Contra/index.html

Hope that helps some,

Ray

Thanks, Ray.

There are some helpful "apolgetics" websites - and we have a whole forum for that here at CF.

As I said before, SOMETIMES a question is easily addressed - there are myths, misunderstandings and issues we can "answer" and then move to talk about Christianity. We are called to be ready to give explaination for the faith that is in us.

On the other hand, Christianity is not a neat system of Q&A, it's a RELATIONSHIP. Christianity is not a philosophy or science, it's not system of ethics or metaphysics. It doesn't happen in the head, it happens in our hearts and lives. People could ask me all kinds of questions about my relationship to Jennifer (the love of my life) - most of which I could not answer. Not everything in relationships is logical or even explainable.

Constantly focusing on "anwers" IMO actually detours evangelism because it puts the emphasis on our answers instead of God's Answer, our "truth" instead of Christ who is the Truth. MY experience is that as soon as I "answer" a question - here comes another one. Eventually, we need to introduce them to the Savior.

"By THIS will all the world know that you are My disciples - if you have love." In the early church, the secular Roman world often didn't undestand Christian dogma (and often found such strange) but they were attracted because they observed, "how they love." They could see how Christ made a difference in yeilding the fruits of the spirit.

See my post above this one...

MY $0.01...

Keep the faith!

- Josiah

.

christianmomof3 · #20 27th April 2006, 09:48 AM

For someone like your friend who doubts Christianity, answering those questions will not change his mind. He will still find something to argue with. The best thing you can do is to pray for your friend. Pray about how to speak to him. Don't try to argue with him, just pray and read your Bible and enjoy the Lord and if the Lord leads you to share something with your friend then do that, otherwise, just keep praying for him and praying for guidance from the Lord. The Lord will give you the best answers for your friend.