Reply to 10 Controversial Questions About Christianity

Patrick Reany

6 November 2023

In my newsfeed I recently found this article:

10 Controversial Questions About Christianity.

It was titled:

"10 Controversial Questions About Christianity That You Wouldn't Dare Ask a Christian"

Well, I am a simple Christian, but I have no hesitation to answer these questions the best that I can. (Consult the actual article to get the full presentation on each question.) The one thing I cannot do is to give answers to your liking. I also must accept so many things in my faith because they're just there, and they're not always according to my own liking.

Question 1: Do you believe all your non-Christian friends are gonna go to Hell?

Answer: Yes, and most people who call themselves Christians will be joining them. It won't do you any good to call yourself a Christian, unless you talk and act like a Christian. Real Christians do good to others and only tell the truth and stay far away from adultery and fornication.

Question 2: Do you thank or blame God?

Answer: The intent of this question is to examine the tendency of people to thank God for the good, but not for the bad. Perhaps we've all been in a difficult situation when we felt justified to complain to God about how He runs the world. Job certainly did. God was very hard on him, and not for anything that Job had actually done. But God had to stop Job in his tracks when He asked him, "Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?" [Job 40:8] If you care to get this right in that desperate moment, then you must plan ahead not to blame God. It wouldn't do any good to blame God anyway, so why do it?

Question 3: What's the point of praying or freewill?

Answer: The intent of this question is to grapple with the seeming paradox of free will and prayer. If God knows the future from the very begining, what's the point of any effort on our part? The point is that you either believe that you have free will and can make choices or you don't. It's just that simple. As one preacher used to put it a long time ago now: God's still on the throne, and prayer changes things.

Question 4: Can God change His mind?

Answer: The intent of this question is split between two very different issues:

a) Can God redo the deal He has already made with people for their salvation? The answer to this is no. If there were any other way for people to be saved than that which has been preached in the Gospel, then Christ's suffering on the cross is in vain.

b) Can God literally change His mind? The answer to this is no. It says in Genesis 6:6

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Question 5: How do you know Christianity is the right faith?

Answer: The intent of this question is to probe the believer for his or her actual evidence that Christianity is the correct religion to follow. Speaking for myself, Christianity is the only religion that proved to me that my own intuition that I live in a Moral Universe is correct. If you don't have that intuition, you're going to have a hard time believing in the God of the Bible. But in that case, you live in a universe without morals -- except for those you wish to accept at the moment -- but those aren't real morals. Those are mere conveniences. To me, that's just nihilism, which is worse than death. Without morals, there's no virtue or love and everything we do is meaningless. Second, my belief in Jesus has freed me from the fleshly addictions that I could never have gotten freed from by will power alone: Sex, porn, alcohol, gambling. They're all gone now as addictions in my life. So, I need not look to another faith for my answers.

Question 6: Why did God create sinners?

Answer: The intent of this question is to question the morality of God to create people He knew in advance would end up in hell. Well, God does what He wants to do. I am, just as is everyone else, under His judgement, therefore, I consider it only logical to accept the deal God gave me in the Gospel. To me, this is only logical. Any other decision will bring me to regret in due time. Complaining about how God runs the world is worse than a waste of time.

Question 7: Couldn't God have just not created evil?

Answer: The intent of this question is to question whether God could have started off the creation of humanity in a state different than it was -- that is, in a fallen state, susceptible to evil desires. One has more free choices the more ignorant one is. Generally speaking, the more you know, the less moral wiggle room you have to play with. Maybe God did not have much room for choices when he made humanity. Maybe, if He was going to make a morally responsible highly intelligent race of beings, having a moral instinct, He had little room to make choice beyond the way things turned out.

The existence of evil in people comes from the quaint term 'original sin', which is a bad term. We all have fallen natures and fallen natures tend to lead us into selfish and evil behaviors. (We have somehow inherited this fallen nature from Adam, but don't ask me if we have a gene for sin, because I don't know.) Lastly, as for the evil in the universe around us, the world has been cursed by God because of the sin of Man. Someday there will be no more curse upon the land [Revelation 22:3]. That will be in the time of full restoration.

The test that Adam and Eve had to pass was to obey God against their inner desires. If they had no inner desire to eat the fruit, the test would be hollow, meaningless.

Question 8: The Unreachable Corners

Answer: The intent of this question is fleshed out in this quote:

"If Jesus is the only path to salvation, why put humans on the far corners of the earth where they have zero possibility of hearing about Jesus? Or do you believe those people go to some type of limbo while they await an opportunity to be judged?"

As I already stated, God does what God wants to do. You can complain about it, but you can't change it. Our first job in the eyes of God is to make sure that we are on the acceptance list of Jesus Christ.

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. -- Acts 17:30-31

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. -- Matthew 24:14

Question 9: Denominational Delight

Answer: The intent of this question is either "Does the denomination matter?" or "Are all denominations equally valid to God?" The problem with denominations is that they tend to have dogmas that are important to the denomination, but are not important to God. And these days, most denominations are corrupted by rampant hypocrisy and political greed. These have lost their first love (Jesus), if they ever really loved Him at all [Revelation 2:4-5]. As for myself, I adhere to no denomination.

Question 10: When did the words of the Bible become a la carte?

Answer: The intent of this question is to question if believers have the right to pick the verses they want to follow and to dismiss the rest. They don't. But understand that the New Testament has deprecated the Old Testament, so we are to follow the rules and principles espoused the New Testament.

As for the eating of pork and the other prohibitions under Old Testament Law, much was done away with in the New Testament (Covenant). This is a big subject in itself, so I won't go into all the details. In other words, let's not conflate the things that are incumbent on believers, which they choose not to do, with the things under the Old Testament that have been deprecated under the New Testament.