Newly saved...so many questions

[FinallySaved84]

Hello everyone! First I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. This forum has been a HUGE help in bringing me closer to God, building a relationship with Him, and truly accepting Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior.

I'm newly saved. For years I was spiritually thirsty. I always believed in God, but was always trying to "understand" him. I failed to see that a human being understanding God is about as likely as a dog understanding calculus. I fell into Satan's trap and bought into the humanist propaganda that is being forced down our throats by the main stream media and 21st century American society. I dabbled in New Ageism, spiritualism, theosophy, and even certain aspects of Buddhism. None of this "quenched" my thirst, of course.

I lived an incredibly sinful life. The domino effect of sin led me further and further from God. It was a vicious cycle and I was stuck in it.

I got to a very dark place in my life. I was lost, depressed, and basically hated life.

The very night that I hit "rock bottom" was the same night I believe I was truly saved. Even though I had completely shut and locked the door on God, he tore it off the hinges and plowed through!

That was several months ago. Since then I can't get enough. I spend hours every day researching and learning about His word, reading the Bible, and just basically learning as much as I can.

I try to witness to my friends and family, but many of them mock and ridicule me. Because I'm a New Christian, I often stumble when debating some of my non-believer friends and family.

They love to point out contradictions in the Bible. So I am asking for your help in trying to debunk some of their arguments, so that I can be a better witness to them. I love them and want so badly for them to accept Jesus into their heart, but it's hard to do being a novice.

So here are some of the common arguments I've gotten. Anything you guys and girls could contribute to help me it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks guys! God Bless!

(Please feel free to comment on the specific "contradictions" or just on the concept of contradictions in general. They ask me: If the Bible is the word of God, how can there be contradictions?)

Here are a few:
Genesis 1:11-12 and 1:26-27 Trees came before Adam.
Genesis 2:4-9 Trees came after Adam.

Genesis 1:24-27 Animals were created before Adam.
Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 Animals were created after Adam.

Ezekiel 18:20: The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.
The penalty of sin is placed upon only the sinner, not the offspring.
Exodus 20:5: I the lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
The penalty of sin affects generations

Jeremiah 3:12: ... for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever.
God pleads with Israel to repent and return to Him.
Jeremiah 17:4: Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever.
Same book. Also note the previous chapter, where God brings disaster in verse 11: "…it is because your fathers forsook me," generational punishment which again contradicts Ezekiel 18:20

Matthew 27:11: Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge— to the great amazement of the governor.
Jesus doesn’t answer the charges.
John 18:37: "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
Jesus answers the charges.

Matthew 27:28: They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.
Jesus is given a scarlet robe.
John 19:2: The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe.
Jesus is given a purple robe.

 

[Sketcher]

Genesis 1:11-12 and 1:26-27 Trees came before Adam.
Genesis 2:4-9 Trees came after Adam.

Genesis 1:24-27 Animals were created before Adam.
Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 Animals were created after Adam.

Genesis 2 does not claim that plant life and animal life did not exist before Adam. Genesis 2 tells us the creation and purpose of man - two functions being tending plants and naming animals.

Ezekiel 18:20: The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.
The penalty of sin is placed upon only the sinner, not the offspring.
Exodus 20:5: I the lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
The penalty of sin affects generations

In order for there to be a contradiction here, one of these passages needs to say that God will regard the son as guilty for the father's sins. Neither one of them says that.

Jeremiah 3:12: ... for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever.
God pleads with Israel to repent and return to Him.
Jeremiah 17:4: Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever.
Same book. Also note the previous chapter, where God brings disaster in verse 11: "…it is because your fathers forsook me," generational punishment which again contradicts Ezekiel 18:20

In context, Jeremiah 17 does not discount the possibility for repentance. It is part of one of many calls to repentance.

Matthew 27:11: Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge— to the great amazement of the governor.
Jesus doesn’t answer the charges.
John 18:37: "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
Jesus answers the charges.

In both passages, Jesus acknowledges being King of the Jews. If someone says he doesn't answer the charges in Matthew, then he's not answering the charges in John either.

Matthew 27:28: They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.
Jesus is given a scarlet robe.
John 19:2: The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe.
Jesus is given a purple robe.

They're going to have to do better than point out two similar colors if they're going to effectively speak against the content of the message here. This is one of those details that multiple eyewitnesses can differ on, which actually helps the authenticity of both gospels, since if they were too similar the authors would have been accused of collusion.

 

[jannikitty]

With those who insist on arguing with you about your newly found faith in God and His Word it is better not to enter into arguments with them. Just pray for them, bless them, and try to show them by your own example and joy that you are changed. They will be drawn to that and the love you have for God more than any arguments you can make.

When you do get into discussions (and you will) the main thing is the message that comes from the Word. The bible, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit was written by people in different times in different places. They were inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. So you will find some differences in the various stories but the meaning remains the same.

Does it matter if trees or people came first? God is the author of creation and that is the main point.

It will also help you to read over the gospels to see where the pharisees tried to trip up Jesus and how he responded to them.

peace and blessings.

 

[FinallySaved84]

Thank you so much Sketcher and Jannikitty! GOD BLESS!!!

 

[Harry3142]

FinallySaved-

The purpose of the creation story of Genesis was to counter what Moses' people had already been taught while they were in Egypt. The egyptians also had a creation epic, but theirs dealt almost exclusively with gods and goddesses creating other gods and goddesses. You can read it here:

www.theologywebsite.com/etext/egypt/creation.shtml

Note that even the atmosphere was to be seen as a deity in the egyptian creation epic. The sun, moon and stars were deities, the planet was a deity, and even justice itself was to be seen as a deity.

But all of the egyptian gods and goddesses had one thing in common. They could all be represented by some thing, or some animal, that the people saw around them. Genesis put an end to this. It was a demythologization of everything the people had been taught. The sun, moon and stars were merely objects in the heavens which provided them with light, the atmosphere was nothing more than a space that separated the earth from the heavens, and the animals they saw around them were all merely other species of animals, rather than their being representations of deities. The only Being that they were to see as divine was a Being they were also to see as seperate and above all that he had created. His image could never be painted on the wall of an egyptian tomb, and also could never be sculpted out of stone.

As for Jeremiah, that entire book was written as the Babylonian empire was closing in on Judah. Israel had already been destroyed by the Assyrians due to its people's turning their back on God in order to worship Baal. Judah had done the same, so now their time to pay for their disobedience was at hand. Through Jeremiah God gave them one last chance to repent, but their own arrogance caused them to stay on the path that led to the ultimate destruction of their nation.

And in that day worship in a family was united. It actually went so far as to include entire communities. There wasn't the variety of worship that we see today in this nation. Instead, they all worshiped the same being together as a society, which meant that the entire society had gone over to the worship of Baal. So God was telling them through Jeremiah what conformed to the laws of Torah, as well as to Ezekiel. He would destroy the generations of a family due to those generations all having chosen to worship Baal.

As for the color of Jesus' robe, 'royal purple' was in reality scarlet red. In all fairness to your friends, that has caused confusion to many people. And the crown of thorns tells us that Pilate wasn't just a leader who found himself 'cuaght in the middle' between Jesus and the high priests. instead, he had in all likelihood orchestrated this entire scenario. those thorns would have been found in the desert regions of Judea, not the hill country in which Jerusalem itself was located.

As for the conversation which Pilate and Jesus had, we have no reason to believe that Jesus knew enough greek or latin so that he could talk with Pilate directly, and we can be assured that Pilate did not know aramaic or hebrew. So whatever conversation took place was done with the aid of interpreters. Since the apostles weren't there themselves, they would have had to rely on what the interpreters told them occurred. And just as witnesses to a present-day event all have different perspectives which affect how they comprehend what transpired, the people who witnessed what occurred between Pilate and Jesus would also have had different perspectives which affected how they comprehended what transpired.

The truth is this: God saw that we people could never achieve the righteousness needed to obtain salvation if left to our own devices. The chasm between what we are capable of doing and what true righteousness entails is too great. So instead of 'writing us off' as a lost cause, he did himself what we could never do, namely, earn our righteousness. That is why for all the questions raised concerning this-or-that passage of Scripture, the detractors of Christianity cannot separate those of us who have accepted the gift of salvation from the gratitude that we feel toward God for his offering it to us.

 

[gingeandhales]

To Harry:

Thank you so much or posting that interesting information. I am reading the bible for the first time and I feel it is important to experience my first reading without outside influence so I would prefer to not be part of a bible study at this point in time, however certain verses confuse my modern brain. Understanding the context and history surrounding the stories is extremely helpful and the sort of information I am looking for at this point in time.

To the OP:
Why do you feel the need to debate your beliefs? Is it because you are being challenged by friends and family? Is it because you want to share your new found joy and bring them down the same path? If it is the former, don't engage. You don't need to defend your choice to follow a path that brings you joy. Let them know that you respect their beliefs and would like them to respect yours as well.

If it is the latter, than let your joy and your experience lead the way rather than words. The more you debate the more you will push them away but if you follow your path with patience, love, and acceptance and allow your joy to shine they will seek you out when they are ready.

 

[asiyreh]

TubeChop - Randall Younker : The Scholarly Myths of the Double Creation and the Vaulted Heaven (14:00)

The answer to the first one is in here. When God created the world everything was good. Then after the deception he cursed the ground and the weeds grew. It's a mistranslated and weeds are not good. Listen to the video, it's v good took me years to find this so consider yourself lucky I stuck with Christ and ignored the scoffers.

 

[insurchoftruth]

Throughout all the centuries, there have been always true believers, who kept the Word of God in its originality, because they appreciated it, and also feared God.

God cares enough for his Word, to make sure that it is kept in its originality.

The moral law, the ten commandments, are coded on the heart of every man, his conscience. They must be created, from somebody who is moral.

In all of creation, we see expressed a thought, wisdom and purpose, which shows, that there is somebody who thinks – God.

The Bible is a historical book, with recorded historical events.


If Jesus is the Word, how can the Bible not be true?


John 1:1-3, Jeremiah 1:12, Isaiah 55:10,11, Acts – 5:38, 39, 1 Peter 1:23-25, 1 Corinthians 15:5, 6, 30, 31, Matthew 5:18, 24:35, Psalm 119:89, Psalm 138:2, Romans 1:19, 20, 2:14, 15, Luke 1:1-4, 2:1-3, 16:17, Revelation 22:18,19, Matthew 2:6, 4:24,25, 7:16-20, 9:26,35, 11:20-23, 12:33, 12:40-42, 19:4-6, Luke 6:43, 44, Ezra 1:4, Hebrews 2:3,4, Acts 2:22, 14:3, 16:26-30, Mark 16:17, 20, John 2:11,23, 3:2, 4:48, 6:2, 10:25, 38, 11:45, 14:11, 20:30,31, Luke 10:13, 11:30-32,51, 12:1, Deuteronomy 28:64