My girlfriend (mildly serious baptist/christian,) informed me (athiest) that her church is having a promotion, which allows athiests or members from other faiths to present a question or a number of questions regarding existence of god/their church. The question to the minister and the church staff and members. I thought what a great chance this is!

What I want to do is come up with 20 or so questions that will either be unanswerable, or put them in a difficult spot and hopefully get some of them questioning their own beliefs. Help me out 2+2!

1) If Jesus Christ was God who was he talking to while he was being crucified? Himself?

2) How can a man who is called the son of God, be God, the Father? God the Father also said that Jesus Christ was his only begotten son. How can this be if they are the same people?

Can a man be his own son and a son be his own father? (only in mainstream Christianity can this be thought of as logical)

3) If Jesus Christ was the end of the law and fullfilled the law according to the bible, then why do religous people still try to live under and by the old testament law?

4) How can you believe 1 verse in the bible with all your heart and know that it is true but yet reject other parts of the bible? Meaning if you cant trust that the word is true on one place then how can you trust that it is true in another?

5) What is the poin tof the ressurection of the believers in the future and the gathering together IF they are already in heaven immediatly after they die?

If dying means you immediatly go to heaven and a better place then why live? Why doesnt everyone just commit suiced and be with God?


I will stop here for now...

By the way I am a 100% believing believer in God and the bible, but I do not believe that the mainstream Christian churches and those who teach in the denominations teach anything near the truth, that is why these types of questions will really upset them, even though these questions are based on biblically accuracy.

Why is the baptist/christian religion the correct one as opposed to Judiasm, Muslims, Scientologists, Hindus.. etc? All of them have holy books and followers who believe in their fairy tales just as strongly as the baptists do, how can they all be so wrong?

Have you ever read the original bible? The answer to this is clearly no, since the original transcript isn't around. Most likely they have only read a translated version of a copy of a copy of a copy.... So, even if the original bible was actually the word of God, how can they possibly know that their translated copy of a copy of a copy is still the word of God?

Also if the minister works on the Sabbath, why doesn't the congregation kill him?

It seems that is what God wants:

The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: 'Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.' (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)

Eight questions

IMO, this is a clear winner.

Why? What on earth could motivate you to want to get people to question their beliefs? Are you one of those people who wants to change everyone else and make them all think like he does? I think you should do one great kindness in your life and find a new gf.

One who thinks like you do, since you seem not to be able to stand it if someone thinks in a different way.

Will this be done in an open forum situation?

If god truly made us in his image, then how come we aren't invisible?

This is not a good idea if your girlfriend is a serious Christian. As my first grade teacher once said, "Leave the ******ed people alone."

that being said, first you want to find out the minister type. Are they rational or are they religious nutjobs? Ask if they literally interpret the Bible or if they use it for moral guidelines.

Unless you plan to breakup with your girl friend, you should keep your mouth shut.

God is spirit correct? God is invisible correct?

Originally mankind was created in Gods image, which is spirit, we were given spirit, we had his image/likeness on the inside.

Mankind was originally a 3 part man:

1) Body
2) Soul
3) Spirit

Mankind lost the third part of his original nature, spirit, during the fall.

Now men are born only 2 part men, body and soul only....

When a person, man or woman gets born again its a spiritual birth and they recieve the 3rd missing part again, which is called holy spirit. Christians are 3 part men and woman, body soul and spirit.

Is God the Father a male, with a penis and testicles? If so, how large is His penis? Small enough to fit inside the "virgin" Mary?

Where in the bible is suicide prohibited? If it isn't prohibited, wouldn't it be best to commit suicide immediately the moment you know that you're saved?

Do dead babies go to heaven? If so, wouldn't the parents be doing their children a huge favor by killing them at birth, rather than allowing them to grow up and possibly stray from the path? (we've had a thread on this)

Why won't God put an immediate end to Satan's shenanigans? Why did God allow Satan to exist in the first place?

Why would God ever listen to our prayers? Does He look to mere mortals for advice in moments of divine confusion? Are we providing Him with useful information about conditions here on earth that He might have overlooked from on high?

I think that these two would make interesting thread topics if anyone cares to start them.

interesting thread topic. flawed questions. any ordained minister will have a thorough response to these questions.

don't ask about the concept of god, as the priest will probably hide behind some philosophical bull****. just talk about how the bible/religion contradicts itself/is hypocritical

the thought of a giant invisible man with unlimited power and possibly a huge penis is very frightening.

Bleh, forget the fact I said gf. Shes actually an ex gf/friend, so i really dont care. Anyway thats not the point. The point is this is a great chance to ask questions, i mean how many churches actually invite honest questions from outsiders???

Re: rational vs nutjobs - Most of the people from the church I met have been nice, charming people. Although I have heard they do interpret the bible literally...I will copy/paste some of the text from their website.

Well, your first question - I want to do it because I have been invited to, and I am honestly curious about what the answers will be.

You say "get people to question their beliefs" like its a bad thing?! I do not understand this attitude. I question and "update" my beliefs constantly, and so should everyone else. What is wrong with that? I really dont mind if they think like me or like anyone else, it doesnt affect me in the slightest. Hope that answers your question. If you have any questions that you would like me to add to the list that I will be submitting to them, please let me know!

This is from their churches website, I have copied/pasted relevant parts..

Our church seeks to develop devoted followers of Jesus through our church community. This is expressed in traditional and contemporary elements in our worship in the morning service and more contemporary worship, often in cafe style, in the evening service. We are committed to growing more like Jesus Christ in attitudes and actions through continuing bible based discipleship across the life stages, incorporation of newcomers into a caring church family. We provide opportunity for participation in serving others and lovingly sharing the good news with people in our community and beyond.

We’re not perfect, but we are seeking to be the sort of church where Jesus Christ is honoured and followed, and where everyone is welcome. I believe that the Church caters for the needs of many. As you browse this site I hope you will find something to suit your age group, your interests and your needs. You are most welcome to contact me about the Church. I would love to meet you. (Senior Pastor)

We are a contemporary evangelical church that meets together to encourage and help each other live for God. Like the churches described in the New Testament, our goal is to be a place where friends meet (fellowship), everyone seeks to be a learner (Bible teaching), wounds are healed (spiritual healing) and help is given (meet needs) as we follow Jesus through life and share His love with others.

We believe what the bible has to say about:
(a) The sinfulness of man.
(b) The Deity of Jesus Christ.
(c) His atonement for the sin of man.
(d) The need of the Holy Spirit for conversion.
(e) The Divine inspiration of the Scriptures.
(f) The resurrection of the dead.
(g) Rewards and punishment in a future state.

I have answered questions on behalf of a church before, and the best thing I can do to help you is to say "lighten up"- the church is not a place for theological debate, it is a place for worship. Your first thought might be that the church is not a place for debate is horribly wrong and sheds bad light on the church system itself and you'd be right.
That's just the way it is.
Imagine going into a room full of 10/20 nl online pros and saying " hey my brother killed my wife for gambling money"
There's no point.

fyp, I agree.

**** you bryce

I am quite secure in my religious beliefs. I had 3 priests over at my home for a BBQ in June, so I have more faith than scientific or absolute rigor in my beliefs. I don't struggle with questions of how can an all loving God let so much suffering exist? etc..

I believe God is in the pain and suffering, death/diesease and rotting corpses, as much as he is in new born babies and sunsets. My question is not a moral one or even religious but one that lets you know there is some loop in your logic of asking these types of questions, and that the questions need more faith than logic to accept. (not solve)

Ignore the obvious logic problem of gravity,
Q. Can an all powerful God Create a rock so large that even he can not lift it?!?

Hunh?

Q. Can an all powerful God Create a rock so large that even he can not lift it?!?

A. No, Because God will not contradict Homslef or His nature ever. In order to do what your question talks about He would have to contradict Himself, therefore cause doubt in His integrity, which He would not do, because knowing God is about believing and trusting His word.

If you have no confidence in His written words and they have contradictions then you will logically develop distrust and unbelief.

However, apparent contradictions do exist in the written word but those apparent contradictions are from mans view point not Gods. We are to endeavor to rightly divide the word to understand the word and correct the apparent contradictions which are only in our understanding and knowledge of the word.

God is not in pain, suffering ect.... maybe the God you believe in, but not the true God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe.

There is however another one spoken of in the word called the god of this world, also known as the devil, who likes to cause the true God to be slandered by un-knowledgeable Christians or supposed Christians who like to talk about God and the bible all the time but really do not know Him or His word accurately.

So you have to be believing in the wrong God if you think He has anything to do with death and sickness and evil to people, those things come from the god of this world known as satan, the devil, who has the power to inflict that kind of destruction on people and not only has the power but loves to do it and then get un-knowledgeable Christians and others to believe and say that the true God does these types of things.

God is not in pain suffering etc..
\how about pain in childbirth?!? God is not in that??
I believe that God is part of everything. Nothing exitst without God.

Why did God need to sacrifice himself, to himself, in order to change a rule that he himself made up?

How can you even call it a sacrifice if Jesus isn't dead? Isn't the point of sacrifice that something important to you is lost?

I think that this would also be a good topic for a thread. This was actually addressed in the Boyd Q&A thread that I made that now one bothered to watch. This is caused by a misunderstanding (or misinformation)