The following are responses to the most common questions, challenges and confusing issues regarding Christianity and the Bible that I personally encounter when talking to people about Jesus. In addition, you will find a link to a very good web site, which has done a job of providing answers to a wide array of potential questions with answers available in 50+ languages! If you have friends from other counties or know college or exchange students here from other places, please direct them to the following website it is VERY good and doctrinally sound:

 

 

Additional answers are available in English from their main home page as well at:

 

 

Most of the English answers given at the site above also are available in several other languages listed below the English response. You will then know what you are sending your non-English speaking friend before you link them up to it.

 

 Here are my responses to some of the most common questions I personally encounter from people who are having difficulty in believing. If you see one that interests you, scroll down to find the response written out below. If the response is not there, check back in a few days as much of this site is still under construction.

 

 (Scroll down for responses to these questions written below)

1)      Why is God referred to as ‘He’?

2)      Why did God forsake Jesus on the cross?

3)      Why does God have a problem with homosexuals?

4)      More people have died in wars over religion than anything!

5)      If God is love, why does he allow suffering and natural disasters? Sometimes I see things like that and just can’t believe God is fair or just.

6)      The Bible is full of errors and contradictions. The Bible was written by men it is NOT the inerrant ‘Word of God’.

7)      Do Christians really believe that ONLY believers in Jesus go to heaven?

8)      I have trouble with the Bible saying people lived over 900 years in the book of Genesis. That just doesn’t make sense to me.

9)      Why does the Old Testament God seem so different than the New Testament God? Are they really the same?

10) Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Wasn’t he acting childish?

11) Why does God send murderers and pickpockets to the same hell? Shouldn’t ‘Big’ sins be punished differently than ‘Little’ sins?

12) I believe that everyone who is sincere and does his or her best will go to heaven.

13) I don’t believe in hell. I think it was made up just to scare people into believing.

14) The Church is full of hypocrites!

15) I hate organized religion. I worship God in my own way.

 

 

 

 

 

1---Why is God referred to as He? ---- Many languages are gender specific. Spanish, French, Arabic, Farsi among others are extremely gender specific, as is Hebrew. In Hebrew it is easy to explain the basic idea of Cause or Initiation as ‘male’ and the idea of reception as ‘female’. The pen could be referred to as ‘He’ because it initiates or causes the writing. The paper responds to or receives the writing and could be referred to in the ‘feminine’ gender as ‘She’. It would not sound strange in Hebrew to say something like, “He is such a nice pen and she is such lovely paper.”

  

   The English translation follows the original language, which refers to God as He. The idea has nothing to do with God having a male anatomy. It has to do with the fact that God is the supreme initiator of all things. He is the cause behind the effect of all that he has created or caused to be.

 

   Many of God’s divine qualities and attributes that stem out from His nature and Character are actually referred to in Hebrew in feminine terminology. Divine wisdom for example is referred to in feminine terminology in the book of Proverbs chapter 1 verses 20-33. She (God’s Wisdom)goes out into the street to plead with those who are foolish to change their ways and listen.

 

   Physical males are of course physical males, and physical females are physical females. Ruth Wakefield invented the extremely valuable and earth changing ‘Chocolate Chip’. She was a physical female so the Bible would still refer to her in female gender terminology, however, in this respect; she was the ‘father’ or ‘initiator’ of the chocolate chip.

 

   Jesus said of God the Father that He is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth. (John 4:24) God is not father by virtue of His physical appearance. He is Spirit by the definition of His place and role in His universe as the Supreme Initiator of all His creation.

 

2---Why did God forsake Jesus on the Cross-? One of the most excruciatingly painful utterances ever recorded are the words of Jesus while hanging on the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” It is also a very misunderstood passage of scripture, which has led many people to get the absolute opposite message of what it was intended to convey. If you read the words from the Bible in Matthew 27:46 you will notice that the words of Jesus were cried out in Hebrew, “Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani?” The words are then translated for the reader, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?

 

   Let us not forget that Jesus was hanging on a cross. He had been whipped to hamburger meat and was barely alive by the time He spoke these words. He didn’t have the time or energy to go into a big long speech. He instead spoke one single sentence. He didn’t speak it in His own Aramaic language or Syriac, which was common in the area, or Greek, or Latin. He spoke in Hebrew in words that would trigger instant recollection of a specific passage of the Old Testament, which, was actually a prophecy about Him and this very moment.

 

   The passage is Psalm 22 written hundreds of years before the Romans even invented the practice of crucifixion. Please take time to read the whole Psalm on your own. For now I will point out a few key verses. Remember the Jewish people of that day were VERY knowledgeable regarding scripture and could quote most of the Psalms words of the Psalms by heart. Jesus knew that if He were to say this one phrase, the Jewish people who heard Him would be able to fill in the rest from memory. This understanding turns the cry of Jesus from a question full of doubts and confusion to a declaration full of faith and triumph.

 

   Psalm 22 ----Verse 1) My God, My God why have you forsaken me? Why are you far from helping me and hearing the words of my groaning?

 

The Psalm continues to prophetically paint the picture of the Messiah or chosen deliverer going through the agony of feeling rejected and alone. He feels the sting of insults and humiliation. Even though He is God in human flesh, He finds himself subjected to human fears, human doubts, and human questions. He experiences the fullness of his humanity and he is offered up as a sacrifice FOR humanity. He even discusses details of His crucifixion (again this was written hundreds of years before crucifixion was invented).

 

Verse 16) For dogs have surrounded me, the assembly of the wicked, they have pierced my hands and my feet. Verse 17) My bones stick out and everyone stares at me. Verse 18) They part my garments among themselves and gamble for my outer cloak.

 

But then….. He speaks of His resurrection and the power of the Gospel to follow!

 

After He has triumphed over death, hell and the grave he rises again to (verse 22)- I will declare your name, ‘Father God’ to all my brothers and sisters. I will go to the place where your people are assembled and declare your praises. (He would have to be resurrected for this to happen.)

 

He goes on to encourage others to join in His praises of God and to glorify the Lord. He tells how the poor will have the Gospel preached to them and will be satisfied and how those who put their trust in God will never be disappointed. Then he goes to the end. Look at the last five verses.

 

Verses 27-31) All the ends of the earth shall recall what has happened and will turn to God and all the nations (ethnic people groups) shall worship before the Lord. For the Lord is the King and ruler of the nations. The fat ones of the earth have eaten and are satisfied. Even those who go down to the dust, those who cannot keep their own souls alive, must rise and declare the praise of God. A remnant representing some from every people group of the earth will survive His judgment and live forever to praise and testify to what he has done. This news shall be told from generation to generation and it will be declared to people who have yet to be born. (Paraphrased)  -----   Those who were not yet born means to you and me by the way.

 

3---Why does God have a problem with homosexuals? God does not single out homosexuality as a sin above any other practice called sinful in the Bible. The Bible tells us for example that those who engage in ANY sexual activity outside of marriage are equally sinning. We have just as a society given a special name and identity to one group of people with certain urges and impulses and called them homosexuals. As with all human souls, God loves them and in no way wishes destruction and harm on them. It is God’s will that everyone should be saved and come to a place of repentance.

 

   If a man is married and sees another woman with whom he feels a physical attraction, is it sinful for him to act on that attraction and try to get her in the sack? Couldn’t we say that the man is just being himself? He is a ‘woman lover’. We shouldn’t judge him or say that his conduct is wrong! It is natural. We should recognize that there is a certain percentage of our society who has this particular ‘leaning’, ‘Bent’ or ‘tendency’. It is who they are. They cannot help it!

 

   If we followed this logic, we could create hundred of such groups with their own particular societies within the larger society and give each group a special label and recognized status.

 

    God is the designer and creator of the universe and particularly the world in which we live. God is the one who has the right and authority to decide what is in bounds and out of bounds. Every single human being has their own areas where they struggle to stay ‘in-bounds’ at times. Some are particularly prone to alcohol or drug addiction. We still love and have compassion for the person with his or her struggle, but drug and alcohol addiction is STILL out of bounds. We work in loving and compassionate ways to assist and support those who struggle but we do not simply erase the lines that God has established in His own wisdom. Homosexuality is a corruption of God's design and intent, as is adultry and fornication.

 

4---More people have been killed in wars over religion than anything else!   I know this phrase is quoted so often that is seems like it simply MUST be true. The problem is that the people saying it generally have not done much research into it to find out whether or not this is really the case. The fact of the matter is that it is simply not true that more people have been killed in wars over religion than anything else.

 

   There is no doubt that wars over religion have been numerous and the number of people killed in these wars is still far too many. There have been horrible times in history where evil wars and inquisitions have been carried out even in the name of Christianity. That said, we cannot allow the assertion that religious wars are the root of ‘most wars’ to go uncontested. It is  just not true or even close to true. Most people in the world happen to have religious views. The percentage of people worldwide who would consider themselves to be ‘atheists’ is estimated at around 5%. That means that around 95% of the people of the world have religious persuasions in one form or another. When two sides are warring against each other and it can be pointed out that the opposing sides have different religious view points, does not force us to conclude that this fact alone is necessarily the primary or even secondary basis for the conflict.

 

   The fact that the Japanese in WWII were of the Shinto faith and worshipped their Emperor as a god, did not equate to WWII being a war over religion. It was a war over territory and resources as far as the Japanese were concerned. The Japanese used their loyalty to the Emperor as a rallying point and their faith helped them bolster their courage but it was not the REASON they were fighting.

 

   In terms of sheer numbers there have been more people killed in wars during the past 200 years than ALL other periods of human history COMBINED. Mankind has become more and more adept at the art of mass destruction. Modern weaponry has made the process much more efficient with a lot more ‘bang’ for the buck.

 

   The biggest war in America’s short history in terms of numbers killed was the Civil war. The most common number quoted for the Civil war death toll in 620,000 of actual battle combatants with collateral deaths in the tens of thousands more. It is estimated that the death toll of battle combatants in WWI totaled over 10,000,000. It was supposed to be the war to end all wars-hardly! The death toll of WWII has been estimated as high as 71,000,000 combatant deaths with the most conservative estimates at around 40,000,000.

 

   The death tolls of other modern wars are just as heart breaking but NONE of these wars were about religion. Consider these wars and their estimated death tolls; The Russian civil war 9,000,000 (not including individuals killed and tortured in the Gulags over the next 70 years of Soviet power-estimated at more than 50,000,000!), The Korean war 3,500,000, The Vietnam war 5,000,000, We shouldn’t leave out the Napoleonic wars estimated at 16,000,000, The Chinese Cultural revolution estimated at 40,000,000, The Killing Fields of Pol Pot in Cambodia 2,000,000.

 

   If we go back a bit further in history we have the Mongol conquests with death tolls estimated as high as 60,000,000. We have the Taiping rebellion in China with another 30,000,000.

 

   I suppose we could go into all the dozens of military coups in Central and South America. We could count up the dead in all of the territorial disputes in Africa. We could add up the casualties resulting in the creation of French, British, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese colonies and the later fights for independence by people who wanted to be free from colonial rule. 

 

   The reason people like to say, “More people die fighting about religion than anything” is merely a way of deflecting the issue of whether the gospel message is true or not. It is easier to deflect the question away with a dismissal on the basis of something that sounds intellectual or at least plausible rather than have to seriously consider the question of whether the claims of Christ are true, or not.

 

   In this particular time in which we live, there are in fact individuals bent on murder and destruction who do indeed do their killing in the name of religion. These are not the missionaries going all over the world building schools, hospitals, and orphanages doing the killing. The killers are not the people holding simple prayer meetings and Bible studies in their homes and churches. The ones being killed are the nearly 2,000,000 Christians in Southern Sudan or the 100,000 Christians killed in Indonesia. The killers doing their deeds in the name of religion blow up buildings, crash hijacked planes into buildings, and cut the heads of people to broadcast on the Internet.

 

   What is interesting is that the very ones who are in the greatest danger of being killed by the religious fanatics are the ones who are willing to go to them with love and forgiveness with the message of new life through the gospel of Jesus.

 

5--- If God is love, why does he allow suffering and natural disasters? Sometimes I see things like that and just can’t believe God is fair or just.  I have written extensively on this subject is the section on the home page called- ‘The Bible in one story’ Please take time to read it because it is necessary that this question be understood in the full context of the nature and character of God and the overall story of the Bible rather than try to give a ‘pat answer’. There is no way in the world I would want to serve a God whom I believed was, unfair, unjust and cruel any more than anyone else would! If I thought for one second that this were the case, I would never devote so much of my time, energy and resources to His service as I currently do. Please go to the home page and click on the Bible as One story on the left hand side. I believe it will be helpful in answering this question. Also, the lower link at the top of this section will lead you to some other very good responses to this question.

 

6--- The Bible is full of errors and contradictions. The Bible was written by men it is NOT the inerrant ‘Word of God’. This is a standard procedure smoke screen or, diversionary response, often given by people who simply feel uncomfortable talking about the Bible. The people who have said this to me have for the most part been individuals who have never really read the Bible for themselves. They are simply parroting the phrase because they themselves have heard it so many times that it sounds true to them. When I ask them to give me an example, they usually just say something like, “Well I don’t exactly where off the top of my head but they are in there.”

The following are links to places where just about every conceivable ‘so-called’ Bible contradiction has been addressed. You will find that when these are really looked at and analyzed the results are incredible faith BUILDING and not the other way around. The first link answers 101 of the most common ‘difficulties’. The second is even more thorough and open up to dozens of additional links and book references where a person can go for even more in depth study. Keep in mind though that the people who simply want to ‘believe’ that the Bible is full of errors and contradictions will not really want to have them cleared up. He or she would then have to come to grips with the ramifications of the Bible perhaps really in fact being the word of God!

   Mark Twain was once asked about his opinion on obscure Bible passages. His response was enlightening, “It is not those obscure passages of scripture that pose a problem to me it is the part of the Bible that I plainly DO understand that worry me.” (Paraphrased)

 

 

 

7) Do Christians really believe that ONLY believers in Jesus go to heaven? This is a very good question if asked in a sincere manner. It boils down to whether there is any other possible means of salvation. It also causes us to think about the place called heaven. When Christians say they believe in heaven and expect to go there to be with God forever, they are speaking specifically of a real place where God-the creator of the universe- dwells. If there were many gods with their own version of ‘heaven’ we could expect that there may be as many ways to get there, as there are heavenly places to go.

 

   Christians believe there is one particular place called heaven. We believe that the context of the very message of Christianity means that if there were many routes to reach heaven, God would not have had to go through the lengths of becoming a human, and going through the entire process of preparing the way of salvation and ultimately dying on the cross to pay for our sins in order for us to be able to go there. If there were other ways possible, He certainly would have pointed them out.

 

   Christians believe there is only one way to heave because Jesus declared that to be the case. He said, “I am the gate… and I am the way the truth and the life… No one can go to the Father except through me.” Christians are not narrow minded about it in a smug sense. Christians just believe the facts to be the facts. Buddha never claimed to be the way to heaven. He called himself a ‘seeker’ of the truth. Mohamed never called himself the truth or the way to heaven. He called himself a messenger of God.

 

   Only Jesus claimed to be the ONLY way to heaven. Since His is the highest possible claim, we should examine His claim and start from there. If we find that His claim is well founded, we need not even concern ourselves with lesser claims. Jesus has the track record to substantiate His claims. His message and mission have been backed up by hundreds of prophecies that were given prior to His coming to earth. He has done all that He himself said He would do. He has over two thousand years worth of changed lives to prove His claims are true. He has a world totally on track to fulfill His prophecies concerning the way the world will end working to further substantiate his claims.

 

   The greater question in people’s minds is whether or not having only one way to God is fair considering not everyone knows about Jesus or has had opportunity to hear the message of the Christian gospel. The answer to that is that God IS fair and He is just. No one will ever end up in hell for eternity because they were unlucky as to where they were born. Go will judge everyone according to his or her own heart and attitude toward truth. God will take every tid-bit of information, every though, every word into account and will make sure that every soul is judged on the basis of truth. The Bible declares, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, SHALL be saved.” God will make provision for everyone to be able to have a reasonable opportunity to call on the name of the Lord and be saved and be judged based on the amount of light and opportunity available to them.

 

   Please take time to go back to the home page and click on the section called, “The whole Bible in one story”. Take time to read it. It will make many of these issues clear as it is taken in the fuller context of the Christian message.

 

8) I have trouble with the Bible saying people lived over 900 years in the book of Genesis. That just doesn’t make sense to me. What is really cool about this question is that it really has an amazingly cool answer! Go back to the home page and click on the link on the right hand side called, ‘Why is there oil in Alaska’. You will be interested to know that the two answers are completely connected! The section also contains many useful links to other places containing scientific data concerning the myriad of scientific data supporting the truth of the Bible.

 

9) Why does the Old Testament God seem so different than the New Testament God? Are they really the same? The Bible says God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God never changes. When Moses stood before God at the burning bush, he asked the Lord, “Who shall I say sent me? What is your name?” The Lord answered, “My name is I AM. I Am that I AM tell them, I AM has sent you.” He did not answer, ‘I was or I will be’ He calls Himself, I AM. He is always the same and never changes.

 

   The Old Testament and New Testament periods of history are different. The first was required to pave the way for the second. God required innocent blood to be shed for the remission of sins in the Old Testament and He Himself BECAME the one sacrificing His own blood in the New Testament. God’s nature and character have always been the same but the historical events and situations of the Old Testament had to take place first in order for God to be able to reveal Himself in the way people know Him in the New Testament.

 

   God has designed the universe to operate according to physical laws. He also has designed it to operate according to spiritual laws that are just as real. All of the physical properties of the earth were the same for thousands of years. But it was not until recent times that mankind has learned how to use the physical properties of natural laws in order to fly and build computers and cell phones, and televisions etc. It was all there all the time but we were not able to grasp it. Certain discoveries had to be made that paved the way for other concepts to be added on later.

 

   In a similar way, God had to take barbaric mankind and incrementally show him things about himself and the nature and character of God in such a way as to build a context to reveal even more later on. Jesus came as God in human flesh; healing the sick, raising the dead, miraculously multiplying food, walking on water, forgiving and cleansing people of sin. The spiritual laws that allowed Jesus to do these things were their all the time. He really was showing that the authority structure of His universe was operating perfectly according to the way it was designed and even described in the Old Testament.

 

   The Old Testament revels God in figures, types and shadows, and analogies. These were all necessary so that we would be able to REALLY know God when He appeared as the real substance of what was being projected in figures of speech.

 

   Airplanes do not defy the law of gravity when they fly. They operate in perfect accordance to the laws of physics. The laws of aerodynamics are just as real as the law of gravity. There is a balance of ‘authority’ if we can think about it that way. In a certain sense, the law of gravity must submit to other ‘higher’ laws and the 100 ton 747 can take off and fly at over 500 miles an hour and cross the Pacific Ocean in just a few hours. When the plane nears it’s destination, the plane’s pilots calculate vectors and coordinate a decent that will USE gravity to bring the plane down in a gradual process where gravity is given incrementally more ‘control’ until the plane lands safely.

 

   Those who only like to think of God as loving, and ‘tolerant’ don’t want to think of the Old Testament attributes of God that tend to show; His blazing Holiness, His hatred of sin, His harsh judgments against sin, His destruction of those who oppose righteousness, etc. They don’t realize that EVERY ONE of those things was involved when Jesus died on the cross. Jesus didn’t just forgive sins and brush them away- Jesus PAID for the sins. All of the Old Testament wrath and vengeance against sin came down like a ton of bricks on God Himself. He set it up so that all of the laws by which He Himself ordered and still operates the universe WERE still being obeyed fully- and He could still be merciful and forgiving.

 

    The New Testament picture of mercy, compassion and forgiveness would be without context and loose their significance without the Old Testament basis to spring from. If one looks carefully though, all of the things revealed in the New Testament were all very carefully and intentionally alluded to in the Old Testament for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear.

 

10) Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Wasn’t he acting childish? Of all the stories of the Bible to choose from, I have been surprised how many people have selected the cursing of the fig tree as the one to zero in on to attack Jesus. When I say, ‘attack Jesus’, I mean, to bring disparagement on the idea of His being sinless. They want to bring Jesus down to the level of being just like themselves.

 

   When a person sees themselves in contrast with God’s purity and Holiness, one can either submit to being made clean or try to throw dirt on the Holy so as to diminish the contrast. Unfortunately, most choose the latter.

 

   The story of the cursing of the fig tree is found in Mark 11:13-21. The story goes along these lines: Jesus was walking along and noticed a fig tree. He sees leaves on it and looks to see if there are any figs on it because He was hungry. He of course does not find any and curses the tree and says that it will never bear fruit again and keeps on walking. Later on, He and His disciples come by the tree again and it is withered down to the roots and dead. The disciples were of course very surprise and marveled at it.

 

   Some people think this is an example of childishness and say that it is evidence that Jesus was not perfect and used His power in a selfish way ‘just like anyone else may be tempted to do if they were in a bad mood’. Some think Jesus was not fair to the poor little tree because it was not the season for figs and He should not have expected to find figs on it anyway.

 

   Ironically, THAT is the entire point of the story. Jesus was TEACHING his disciples. Instead of reading things and looking for something to criticize and find fault with, we should know Jesus well enough by now to say, “I wonder what He was teaching. Lord, I don’t get it. Lord, I know that if there is a problem here it is with MY understanding and not with you. Please show me what you want me to get out of this passage.

 

   Jesus simply wanted to communicate that God expects fruit from our lives in any and all seasons. When things are fine and we are enjoying a summer season in life, or even if things are tough and we are in one of life’s long dark winters-like here in Alaska. God always expects fruit. When we take this story in context with the many other ‘fruit and tree’ stories and parables of Jesus, we can see that he has a pattern to these messages. In John 15, Jesus says, “I am the vine-you are the branches- whoever remains IN me WILL produce fruit.” Galatians 5:23 gives us a list of fruits that are produced by the Holy Spirit working in and through our lives; Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.

11) Why does God send muderers and pickpockets to the same Hell?