Are you talkin' to me?
Sunday, October 2nd, 2005 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seraiHere's an interesting thing.
That fascinating discussion over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elasg's journal reminded me that I had this little gem in my files. I found it a few years ago on the internet, and have made a few additions that I thought were relevant. I post it here now for your use. :)
Questionnaire for Proselytizing Christians
Presented to: ___________________________________________
By: ____________________________________________________
If you’re reading this paper, it means I've given it to you because you were proselytizing to me and you are a Christian. I'm giving you this paper to save us both some time; you see, I'm not a Christian, although I used to be. I'm a secular humanist, and I became one for both logical and emotional reasons.
Since I have in the past been a Christian, I do know quite a bit about the religion, although I might not know much about your particular sect. (I use the word "sect" instead of "denomination" because I think it unfair that Christians get denominations, which is a nice-sounding word, while everyone else gets sects, which is an evil-sounding word). I became a non-Christian because I didn't like what I knew about the Christian religion. If you want to even begin attempting to convert me, you have to settle those problems. Specifically, you have to answer the questions below. Answers to each question should be typed or neatly handwritten on a separate sheet (or sheets) of paper, and no answer should exceed 100 words. This is because one of the reasons I left Christianity is that it was so complex, and I've found the simplest answer to a question is usually the right one. Quotes from scripture count for bonus points as long as you can refute other quotes from scripture that contradict the passage that you are quoting. If you return this paper to me personally, or if you mail it to me, and if I think that your answers justify my return to Christianity, then I will get in touch with you.
The questions follow. Under no circumstances will "The Lord works in mysterious ways" or other arguments in that vein be acceptable. If a question does not apply to your particular sect, explain why.
Thank you!
1. What is the name of your sect?
2. How is your sect organized?
3. If necessary, use this space to explain any unique beliefs your sect has about the nature of your god, Heaven, Hell, the Bible, the Holy Spirit/Ghost, the Devil, etc.
4. Explain why your god's only son had to die so we can go to Heaven.
5. Did everyone who died before Jesus go to Hell? Justify your answer.
6. If a Catholic, justify the Inquisition and other persecutions of "heretics" throughout the centuries, concentrating on why the Pelagianists, the Priscillianists, and the Manichaeans were persecuted; if a Protestant, justify the witch trials and the way that Protestants constantly hunted down Native Americans until there were so few that the government could simply take their land; if a member of an Eastern Orthodox church, justify the persecutions of the Old Believers after the reforms of the seventeenth century.
7. Explain why your sect (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox) pursued, tortured and killed people who were not Christian.
8. Explain why your sect (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox) pursued, tortured and killed people who were not members of your particular sect.
9. Explain why I should believe that your god is all-good when the only real information we have about him is the Bible, which clearly describes him as both good and evil. (See Isaiah 30:32, Luke 14:26, Numbers 31:17-18, Mat-thew 10:34, Amos 3:6, Deuteronomy 18:8, Deuteronomy 20:16, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 32:27, Isaiah 45:7, Psalms 52:5, Luke 22:36 and Jeremiah 18:11 for a small sample of Biblical passages which describe Jehovah as having an evil morality at times).
10. Explain why, when racism is clearly wrong, Jesus was clearly a racist (see Mark 7:25-29). NOTE: Under no circumstances will I believe that racism is morally acceptable.
11. Explain why, when discrimination against women is clearly wrong, the Bible clearly supports the oppression of women. Answering this question entails refuting 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15. NOTE: Under no circumstances will I believe that discrimination against women solely on the basis of sex is morally acceptable.
12. Explain why, when slavery is clearly wrong, the Bible clearly supports slavery. Answering the question entails refuting 1 Peter 2:18. NOTE: Under no circumstances will I believe that slavery is an acceptable way to run society.
13. Explain why children should submit to their parents' decisions even when those decisions are clearly evil. Answering the question entails refuting Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Proverbs 13:24 and Hebrews 12:7-8.
14. Explain why, if your god loves us all, more than half of us are going to Hell after we die. Specifically, refute or explain the following words of Christ, as presented in the New Testament: "Many are called but few are chosen," and "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto salvation, and few there be that find it." If your god loves all of us, couldn't he find a better way?
15. Explain what type of offense could possibly justify eternal, unbearable torture in Hell; if your sect does not believe in Hell, then refute every passage in the Old and New Testaments which describes Hell (such as 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 and Revelation 20:15). Do not exceed 100 words.
16. Explain how your god can be both just and merciful, when these terms apparently contradict each other.
17. Explain why possession by demons and/or other evil spirits was common during the time of Jesus, but hardly mentioned in the Old Testament, and today has apparently been explained away completely by such things as epilepsy and schizophrenia.
18. Explain why, if the personality resides in the soul, things like drugs and brain damage can affect someone's personality.
19. If Heaven is a place where everyone is perfectly happy, then explain how I could be happy if I had loved ones in Hell.
20. What is Heaven like?
21. What is Hell like?
22. Explain why original sin exists. Why should I be eternally tortured for something that a pair of naked innocents did in a garden over six thousand years ago? If you believe that children are born stained because they were conceived sexually, explain why I would be punished for something my parents did by your merciful and just god. If this does not apply to your sect, explain why.
23. Explain why getting dunked in or sprinkled with water will prevent me from being eternally tortured for the actions of the naked innocents mentioned in #22.
24. If your god did not want Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, why did he put the tree in the garden of Eden (and at the center, no less). Was it for shade? If so, why use something so dangerous as a shade tree? If the purpose of the tree was to tempt Adam and Eve, explain why it's OK for your god to engage in a practice that our modern-day courts of law refer to as "entrapment".
25. Explain why sex, potentially one of the most wonderful, beautiful things in human nature, is considered "bad" by your particular sect. If your sect does not consider sex to be "bad", then refute Matthew 19:12, 1 Corinthians 7 (particularly verses 1 and 9), Galatians 5:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, James 1:14-15, Matthew 24:38, Luke 17:27 and Revelation 14:4.
26. If Jesus was perfect, explain how he could have thought that the end of the world was coming soon, when it has clearly not come yet. See Matthew 16:27-28.
27. Explain why some people (James, Peter, Paul, Thomas, etc.) should have gotten convincing physical proof of miracles, while the rest of us are supposed to take these happenings on faith.
28. Why are the stories of the resurrection inconsistent?
29. If you are a Protestant or member of an Eastern Orthodox church, explain why you are still using the Catholic Bible, which was formalized by a vote among (supposedly divinely inspired) cardinals and bishops in the fourth century CE, when you disagree with the idea that the Pope, who is higher in the Catholic hierarchy, is divinely inspired; if a Catholic, explain why your church accepts the canonical Bible while rejecting the Apocrypha (do not use the "divinely inspired" argument. Because I am not a Christian, I will not accept it).
30. If your god is kind and gentle, why do some animals have to kill to eat?
31. If your god is kind and gentle, why did he create parasites?
32. If your god wants us to worship him through our own free will, why does he threaten us with Hell? If someone is threatening you with punishment, free will becomes problematic.
33. Why would your god deliberately cause sinners to sin (cf. Romans 9:15-23 and numerous parts of Exodus where Jehovah says, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart.") Are these sinners still responsible for the sins which your god forces them, against their will, to commit? Justify your answer.
34. If Jesus did have to die, why did someone (specifically Judas) have to be damned in order to accomplish the death and resurrection of Jesus? Jesus was at least a volunteer for the cross; I doubt that your god asked Judas if he was willing to go to Hell so that the resurrection could be accomplished.
35. If Judas was willing to go to Hell for humanity (see #34), didn't he make more of a sacrifice than Jesus, who spent only three hours in pain? Shouldn't we be worshipping Judas?
36. Why should we accept the words of the gospel writers as truth when they are known to be liars? (See Romans 3:7).
37. Do you believe that your god is anti-homosexual? If so, explain why he would create homosexuals in the first place. If not, refute or explain Leviticus 20:13 and Romans 1:26-27.
38. Explain why prayer is OK, but spell casting is not, when both amount to the same thing: requesting that a superior supernatural force intercede in a way that would be impossible according to the normally accepted laws of physics.
39. According to the Gospels, from the Christian standpoint, Jesus was the most important person who ever lived. Explain why nothing was written about his life for over thirty years after his death.
40. Explain why you believe a person whose life is so poorly documented (see #39) was ever even born.
41. Define the word "Christ", including references to the pagan origins and meaning of the word.
42. Why is it that the life of Jesus was so similar to the lives of pagan Christs, particularly Herakles, Dionysos, and Asklepios?
43. Explain why Jesus, who was anti-Gentile (see Mark 7:25-29) and anti-sex (see Luke 14:26 and Matthew 19:12), would want to be anointed with oil in a pagan sexual rite after his death (see #41 and #42).
44. In light of Matthew 10:34, explain why Jesus is called the prince of Peace.
45. The name "Jesus" is a Greek translation. What was the original (Hebrew) name of Jesus? Where did you get this information? This is a bonus question.
46. If your god requires that people believe in him and follow his orders through their own free will, why do Christians push their views on public policy?
47. Explain why being a good Christian requires you to push your beliefs on others, no matter how much this annoys them. If you do not believe that you have to push your views on others, explain why you do not believe this despite the fact that the New testament seems to suggest you must in order to get to Heaven (for instance, in Matthew 28:19-20).
48. Explain why spreading the "truth of Christ" requires Christians to spread lies about other religions, such as the idea that members of other religions worship the Christian Devil, when in fact in order to do so one must be a Christian in the first place.
49. Explain why spreading the "truth of Christ" requires Christians to spread lies about evolution, such as the fallacious idea that man descended from apes. Wouldn't it reflect better on your religion if you backed up your argument with correct information?
50. At no point in the four Gospels did Jesus claim to be the son of your god. (He said "son of man" quite frequently, and at one point referred to himself as "a son of God," but that was a common Hebrew expression at that time. Someone who was "a son of God" was a Jew. This reflected the Israelites' belief that they were the chosen people of your god. See Job 1:6). Why then do you believe that Jesus was divine? If you don't believe that Jesus was divine, why do you call yourself a Christian?
51. Given the fact that Jesus did not say anything original (the Golden Rule and the "turn the other cheek" idea originated with Buddhism; and the Beatitudes were common in the Jewish devotional literature at the time), why do you see Jesus as such a great thinker/philosopher/ethicist?
52. Explain why the teachings of Jesus echo so closely the teachings of the Buddha (see #50), who lived 500 years before him, when Jesus' teachings are presented by most Christians as being absolutely original and unprecedented in the ancient world. Also: if, as most Christians claim, the act of walking on water was a sign of Jesus' divinity, explain how the Buddha could have done it 500 years earlier, as documented in Buddhist scriptures dating from 200 BC.
53. When Jesus said, "Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," why do you suppose that most Christians fight for their rights? To put it another way, why don't we, as a country of 85% Christians, let the government abuse us?
54. Why are so many Christian holidays on the same day as Pagan holidays? Couldn't the early Church fathers have converted pagans only by appealing to their reason and/or faith if Christianity is the true religion?
55. Explain how your god can be "just and merciful" in light of Exodus 20:5.
56. Do you believe that the Old Testament should be accepted as part of Christian theology? If so, explain how you can worship such a cruel sadist (see Numbers 31:17-18, Deuteronomy 20:16, Proverbs 20:30, Amos 3:6, Deuter-onomy 13:8, Psalms 3:7, Psalms 52:5, etc.). If not, explain how you can believe that Jesus is the promised savior sent by your god without the messianic prophecies and the ruling rights of the line of David, both of which are in the Old Testament in books such as Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel, Psalms, etc.
57. Explain why your "just and merciful" god sent bears to tear to pieces forty-two children who called his prophet Elisha "bald-head” (see 2 Kings 2:23-24).
58. Explain why your "just and merciful" god would allow a defenseless woman to be raped to death in order to protect an obvious coward (Judges 19:16-30).
59. In light of your answers to questions #11 and #57, explain why such an overwhelming majority of your god's lifesaving and/or miraculous interventions are on behalf of men and not women.
60. Name three such interventions (see #58) on behalf of women. Support your answer with quotes from the Bible.
61. What is the sin that humanity committed that is so incredibly bad that your god had to become flesh and die to correct it?
62. Are all members of other faiths bad? Are they all damned to Hell? Justify your answer with quotes from the Bible.
63. Are all atheists/agnostics/humanists bad? Are they all damned to Hell? Justify your answer with quotes from the Bible.
64. What was your motive in proselytizing to me?
65. Where is Heaven?
66. Where is Hell?
67. Why don't animals go to Heaven or Hell when they die? What makes us so special?
68. Why does the Devil try to get peoples' souls?
69. Once the Devil has someone's soul, what does he do with it?
70. What exactly is a soul?
71. Where does our soul stay while we are alive?
72. Is your god perfect? Justify your answer.
73. Why do evil people so often prosper? Justify your answer.
74. Why do good people so often fail to prosper? Justify your answer.
75. When the end of the world comes, will your god raise our actual bodies, or just our souls? Explain.
76. Explain why your god lets airplanes with sinless infants on board crash.
77. What is sin, exactly?
78. If Jesus is perfect, justify the parable of the fig tree (Matthew 21:17-19, Mark 11:14-20).
79. Explain why Christians (yes, that includes all branches of Christianity) have spread the lie that Jews put Jesus to death, when in actuality it was the Romans who did it. (For a good example of New Testament anti-Semitism, see 1 Thessalonians 2:15).
80. Explain why your god would create humans as imperfect, set his standards so high that no one could possible live up to them, then punish us for not living up to his standards. Doesn't this also constitute "entrapment"?
81. If we are created in your god's image and likeness (Genesis 1:27), how can we also be imperfect?
82. Why was it OK for the ancient Israelites to sacrifice animals to their god, while it is wrong for modern religions to do so? Justify your answer.
83. If it was OK for the ancient Israelites to sacrifice animals to their god (who is also your god), why don't you sacrifice animals to him now? Has he changed his mind about this requirement? Justify your answer.
84. Why would your god confuse people? (See 1 Samuel 7:10 and Genesis 11:9). Isn't life confusing enough already?
85. Why would your god cause blindness, deafness and dumbness? (See Exodus 4:11).
86. Why would your god want to damn people by making them believe false things? (See 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
87. Should the book of Revelation be taken literally? Explain your answer.
88. Would it be good for men to castrate themselves? Justify your answer, taking Matthew 19:12 into account.
89. What exactly is faith?
90. All of the various Christian sects ignore parts of the Bible, usually because those parts are inconvenient. Explain which parts of the Bible your sect ignores, and explain why it is OK to ignore them.
91. Why did your god allow Satan to do evil things to Job (Job 2:7, etc.)? Wouldn't your god better spend his time punishing unbelievers?
92. If Jesus and his father are one (John 10:30), then why does Jesus have to pray (i.e., Matthew 26:39)?
93. Explain your belief in Heaven in light of Job 7:9 and Ecclesiastes 9:5.
94. Christ giving himself up on the cross was a great gesture, true, but wouldn't it have been more sensible for him to continue spreading his message until he died a natural death? Answer this question in light of your answer to question #4.
95. What is your interpretation of the temptation of Christ by Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:5-8, Luke 4:5-9)?
96. Do you feel that the last words of Christ were significant? If so, why do the four gospels attribute three different sentences to Christ as his last? (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34: "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"; Luke 23:46: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"; John 19:30: "It is finished.").
97. Matthew and Mark say that the last words of Christ were, in Hebrew, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" This has traditionally been translated as, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" However, a more accurate translation would be, "My El, my El, why has thou forsaken me?" El is the name of a specific pagan god. Why would Jesus call out to a pagan god at the moment of his death?
98. A commonly recited litany in many forms of Christianity is "The Lord is my shepherd." (Psalm 23:1) Given the fact that the only reasons that people raise sheep are to rob them of their clothes and to kill them for meat, and the fact that sheep will often follow the shepherd to their destruction, do you think that this is an appropriate image for your god? Justify your answer.
99. Why is the theory of the Big Bang any less (or more) likely than the idea that your god created the universe? Justify your answer. NOTE: I admit that science has not explained where the original supercondensed particle came from, but no one has ever explained where your god came from, either.
100. If your god is everywhere at the same time, how can Hell be the absence of (or separation from) him?
101. In the Genesis story, your god tells Adam and Eve that the day they eat from the tree of knowledge they will surely die (Genesis 2:17). The serpent tells them that they will not die, but that their eyes will be opened and they will know the difference between good and evil (Genesis 3:5). Wasn't the serpent telling the truth here? Is your god a liar? Justify your answer in light of Jeremiah 20:7 and Ezekiel 14:9.
102. If the Devil is not as powerful as your god, how could he possibly get as many followers as Christians seem to think he has?
103. The Bible constantly describes your god as male. In view of the fact that your god supposedly created everything, and creation is primarily a female function, isn't this contradictory? Justify your answer.
104. In light of the Trinity, angels, the Virgin Mary, etc., isn't Christianity polytheistic? If the Trinity is three who are one, why the three names? Justify your answer.
105. Have you read the entire Bible? If not, how can you be devoted enough to try and convert me to a religion that you don't know that much about? Isn't knowing as much as possible about something necessary to understanding it? Isn't understanding something necessary to being completely devoted to it?
106. Why is 2 Kings 19 exactly identical to Isaiah 37?
107. Are Jesus' three days in Hell really an ultimate sacrifice, when more than half of humanity is going to spend eternity there (see #14)?
108. If your sect considers the King James Bible to be the official and/or authoritative translation, justify this is light of the fact that King James commissioned his translation to be poetic rather than accurate. How can you possible use an inaccurate translation as your reference for what is/is not the word of your god? If your sect does not use the King James Bible, which translation do they use? Justify the use of that particular translation.
109. Before Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit/Ghost, she was never asked for her consent. (She was warned, which is a different thing altogether; see Luke 1:31). Mary was also asleep when your god impregnated her; this strongly suggests that he didn't want her to protest. Does this mean that Mary was raped by your god? Do you think rape is wrong? Explain.
110. According to Luke, Mary knew that she was pregnant with the Messiah. Living in the times she lived in, she must have known the scripture; therefore, she must have known that he would have to suffer horribly during his life. Was it moral for Mary to carry her baby to term? Wouldn't it have been more humane for her to have an abortion? Explain.
111. If it was foretold that Jesus was to be crucified, and if he knew this, and if he was the son of your god, why did he do everything he could to avoid it? (See, for instance, Matthew 26:39).
112. If the Holy Spirit/Ghost is the father of Jesus (Luke 1:35), then why is the central figure of your trinity called God the Father?
113. Mary and Jehovah were never joined in wedlock. Does it bother you that Jesus is technically a bastard?
114. The original Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit/Ghost includes the idea that the Holy Spirit/Ghost is female in gender. Reconcile this fact with the view of the Holy Spirit/Ghost as the father of Jesus (Luke 1:35).
115. Matthew 28:11-15 contains an account of a conspiracy between the Jews and the Roman soldiers to spread the story that the disciples stole the body of Christ. How could Matthew have known about this, since no Jews or Romans would have admitted it? If it was such a transparent conspiracy that an outsider could have seen it, why didn't the other three gospels mention it? Why didn't the Roman soldiers get in trouble?
116. Jews believe that people are basically good and can work to overcome their sinful tendencies. Most Christian sects, following the teaching of Psalm 51:5, 1 Kings 8:46, Ezekiel 18:4, Isaiah 59:2 and Psalm 143:2, believe that people are completely debased and hopelessly lost in sin, and that only your god can lift us out of this state if he decides to bestow his gift of grace on us. Isn't this an incredibly negative view of people? Isn't Judaism a more mature faith just for this reason?
117. How do you, as an individual, feel about Psalm 51:5?
118. What does your sect teach about Psalm 51:5 (and Kings 8:46, etc.), predestination and similar matters?
119. Don't you think that the idea that no matter what we do, we can never be good and righteous without help from your god (Isaiah 64:6) fosters an unnatural and unhealthy dependence on him?
120. If prostitution is wrong, why are there so many examples of it in Genesis? (For instance, Genesis 19:8, where Lot offers his daughters to a mob so that his guests can avoid gang rape).
121. Revelation 22:16 says that Jesus is the "offspring of David". Mary was not descended from David, but Joseph was. Doesn't this mean that Jesus wasn't the son of your god at all, but the (mortal and not divine) son of Joseph?
122. What would be the correct thing to do if your god gave you a command that was harmful and/or destructive to you? A common argument, which comes from Paul, states that because clay pots don't complain about what the potter does with them, people shouldn't complain about what their maker (i.e., your god) does with them, but this completely ignores the vitally important point that clay pots have no sense of self-awareness and cannot think or feel love, pain, anger, etc. If you want to make this argument, you have to deal with this difference.
123. What (or who) does your sect believe the number 666 represents? Justify your answer.
124. If your god is "just and merciful," why would he take Solomon's kingdom away from Solomon's son while not punishing Solomon, when it was he who committed the sin of idolatry? What did Solomon's son do to deserve punishment? (See 1 Kings 11:12).
125. Why is Solomon commonly considered to be the paragon of wisdom by many Christians, when he constantly sinned against your god? (See 1 Kings 11:4-10, etc.) Personally, if I had a god talking to me, I'd do what he said.
126. Don't you think that an anti-sex position (see #25) is untenable for your sect, given that an entire Biblical book (Song of Solomon) consists of an erotic poem on the joys of non-marital sex?
127. Does it bother you that the cross, supposedly a Christian symbol, actually originated with the Egyptians? Why or why not? (The Egyptian cross, the Ankh, was a male-female symbol similar in concept to the yin-yang.)
128. How do you explain the fact that Christians are twice as likely to have sadomasochistic tendencies as non-Christians?
129. What is the incredibly important doctrinal difference that requires the fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland?
130. Even if your god did create the universe, why does he want to be worshipped? Is your god an egomaniac?
131. How much do you know about Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism (including Vaishnavism, which is the Krishna religion), Jainism, Shinto, etc. Have you ever spoken with a member of any of these religions about his/her faith? If not, don't you think you should have at least a modicum of knowledge about a religion before you speak against it?
132. How much do you know about Islam? Have you ever spoken with a Muslim about his/her faith? (See #131).
133. How much do you know about Wicca or witchcraft? Have you ever spoken to a witch about her/his faith? (See #131).
134. What do you think the word "witch" means?
135. What do you think the word "Satanist" means?
136. How do you explain the fact that the word "blood" occurs over 400 times in the Bible? Isn't this a rather savage way to write a book that is supposed to be at the center of an ethical system?
137. Throughout the Bible, your god commands his followers to wage merciless war on unbelievers (Luke 22:36, Deu-teronomy 13:8, Exodus 20:23-25, Deuteronomy 20:16, Matthew 10:34, Numbers 31:17-18, etc.). If you are one of his followers, why aren't you out waging merciless war on unbelievers?
138. Numbers 23:21 says that your god "has not seen wickedness in Israel." If this is so, explain why your god burned Israelites for complaining (Numbers 11:1), sent a plague against them for eating the meat he had given them (Numbers 11:33), burned people for using incense (Numbers 16:35), sent a plague against the Israelites who accused Moses of wrongdoing (Numbers 16:44-49), and sent fiery snakes among the Israelites (Numbers 21:5). Is your god a liar, or was it just more convenient for him to lie at that particular time and place, or what?
139. What was it that was so bad about eating a piece of fruit that death had to result from that act?
140. What was it about humanity's torturing and killing of your god's only son that made your god so happy that he again promised eternal life to everyone who believed in him? In light of this answer, explain why it would be OK for your god to engage in what our modern-day courts would call "solicitation to commit murder", not to mention "child abuse"?
141. How do you explain the fact that Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus?
142. Matthew says that the prophecy given in Matthew 27:9 was given by Jeremiah. How do you explain the fact that this prophecy was not given by Jeremiah at all, but by Zechariah (in Zechariah 11:12)?
143. Matthew says that Jesus dwelt in Nazareth so that he could fulfill a prophecy stating that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:21). Where exactly is this prophecy in the Old Testament?
144. Matthew says that on the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was riding on an ass and a colt (Matthew 21:7). How do you explain the fact that the original prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) stated that Jesus would be riding on an ass, and the other gospel writers place Jesus only on an ass (Mark 11:7, Luke 19:35 and John 12:15)?
145. In Matthew 1:23, Matthew has the angel say that Jesus would be born of a virgin. However, the prophecy that Matthew is referring to, Isaiah 7:14, only uses the Hebrew word almah, which simply means a young woman. It was nothing to do with sexual purity; the Hebrew word for virgin is betulah. How do you explain this?
146. Isaiah 7:16 seems to say that before Jesus had reached the age of maturity, both of the Jewish countries would be destroyed. Where is the fulfillment of this prophecy in the New Testament?
147. Matthew 1:23 say that Jesus would be called Immanuel, which means "God is with us." Why does no one (not even his parents) call him Immanuel at any point in the New Testament?
148. If even the contemplation of sinning is a sin (i.e., "sinning in your heart"; see, for example, Matthew 5:28) and if Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:5-8, Luke 4:5-9), how can you say that Jesus was without sin?
149. How many inconsistencies in the Bible, other than those mentioned in this paper, do you know of? Cite chapter and verse for as many as you have room for. (Do not exceed 100 words.)
150. Does your sect believe that the existence of your god can be established through a formal proof? Why or why not?
151. Pick a famous argument for the existence of your god, then criticize that argument. (Assume I mean for you to use the academic definition of criticize.)
152. Pick an argument against the existence of your god. If it is not a famous argument, copy it down here. Criticize this argument. (Assume I mean for you to use the academic definition of criticize.)
153. What does your sect think of the government? Read Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 13. Now what do you think of the government? If necessary, reconcile the two views.
154. What is your definition of the word "Christian"?
155. Why do you think it is that the ancient Greeks, who had a very liberal sexual morality, had far fewer sex crimes (on a per capita basis) that the United States, which is 85% Christian?
156. If someone accepts Jesus, and is "saved," but then turns away from Jesus, is that person still saved?
157. Where did your god come from?
158. What are the requirements for being saved? Some sects say that faith alone is enough; others say that faith without works is nothing. The Bible supports both these viewpoints. What does your sect think?
159. If I decide I like the answers to the above questions, where can I get in touch with you? (Give name, address, phone and e-mail if available).
160. How can I get in touch with a priest (minister, etc.) of your sect?
Return this paper with your answers to:
Now, I'm posting this in hopes that folks will find it useful. Personally, I like to keep a copy of it in my backpack so I can easily hand it out when I'm buttonholed. It can avoid unpleasantness, as its length and complexity will usually bamboozle the recipient long enough for me to get away if I don't feel like talking to them (which I often do, religious discussion being an interest of mine). Plus, I personally feel it's a great document for them to work through, as any Christian who can answer all the question fully while obeying the instructions and come out the other side with his faith intact will be a lot stronger for it.
You may of course modify the first paragraph's point about not being a Christian anymore if it does not apply to you.
It's an interesting document, and has proven itself in my experience.
Have fun! :)
That fascinating discussion over at
elasg's journal reminded me that I had this little gem in my files. I found it a few years ago on the internet, and have made a few additions that I thought were relevant. I post it here now for your use. :)Presented to: ___________________________________________
By: ____________________________________________________
If you’re reading this paper, it means I've given it to you because you were proselytizing to me and you are a Christian. I'm giving you this paper to save us both some time; you see, I'm not a Christian, although I used to be. I'm a secular humanist, and I became one for both logical and emotional reasons.
Since I have in the past been a Christian, I do know quite a bit about the religion, although I might not know much about your particular sect. (I use the word "sect" instead of "denomination" because I think it unfair that Christians get denominations, which is a nice-sounding word, while everyone else gets sects, which is an evil-sounding word). I became a non-Christian because I didn't like what I knew about the Christian religion. If you want to even begin attempting to convert me, you have to settle those problems. Specifically, you have to answer the questions below. Answers to each question should be typed or neatly handwritten on a separate sheet (or sheets) of paper, and no answer should exceed 100 words. This is because one of the reasons I left Christianity is that it was so complex, and I've found the simplest answer to a question is usually the right one. Quotes from scripture count for bonus points as long as you can refute other quotes from scripture that contradict the passage that you are quoting. If you return this paper to me personally, or if you mail it to me, and if I think that your answers justify my return to Christianity, then I will get in touch with you.
The questions follow. Under no circumstances will "The Lord works in mysterious ways" or other arguments in that vein be acceptable. If a question does not apply to your particular sect, explain why.
Thank you!
1. What is the name of your sect?
2. How is your sect organized?
3. If necessary, use this space to explain any unique beliefs your sect has about the nature of your god, Heaven, Hell, the Bible, the Holy Spirit/Ghost, the Devil, etc.
4. Explain why your god's only son had to die so we can go to Heaven.
5. Did everyone who died before Jesus go to Hell? Justify your answer.
6. If a Catholic, justify the Inquisition and other persecutions of "heretics" throughout the centuries, concentrating on why the Pelagianists, the Priscillianists, and the Manichaeans were persecuted; if a Protestant, justify the witch trials and the way that Protestants constantly hunted down Native Americans until there were so few that the government could simply take their land; if a member of an Eastern Orthodox church, justify the persecutions of the Old Believers after the reforms of the seventeenth century.
7. Explain why your sect (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox) pursued, tortured and killed people who were not Christian.
8. Explain why your sect (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox) pursued, tortured and killed people who were not members of your particular sect.
9. Explain why I should believe that your god is all-good when the only real information we have about him is the Bible, which clearly describes him as both good and evil. (See Isaiah 30:32, Luke 14:26, Numbers 31:17-18, Mat-thew 10:34, Amos 3:6, Deuteronomy 18:8, Deuteronomy 20:16, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 32:27, Isaiah 45:7, Psalms 52:5, Luke 22:36 and Jeremiah 18:11 for a small sample of Biblical passages which describe Jehovah as having an evil morality at times).
10. Explain why, when racism is clearly wrong, Jesus was clearly a racist (see Mark 7:25-29). NOTE: Under no circumstances will I believe that racism is morally acceptable.
11. Explain why, when discrimination against women is clearly wrong, the Bible clearly supports the oppression of women. Answering this question entails refuting 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15. NOTE: Under no circumstances will I believe that discrimination against women solely on the basis of sex is morally acceptable.
12. Explain why, when slavery is clearly wrong, the Bible clearly supports slavery. Answering the question entails refuting 1 Peter 2:18. NOTE: Under no circumstances will I believe that slavery is an acceptable way to run society.
13. Explain why children should submit to their parents' decisions even when those decisions are clearly evil. Answering the question entails refuting Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Proverbs 13:24 and Hebrews 12:7-8.
14. Explain why, if your god loves us all, more than half of us are going to Hell after we die. Specifically, refute or explain the following words of Christ, as presented in the New Testament: "Many are called but few are chosen," and "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto salvation, and few there be that find it." If your god loves all of us, couldn't he find a better way?
15. Explain what type of offense could possibly justify eternal, unbearable torture in Hell; if your sect does not believe in Hell, then refute every passage in the Old and New Testaments which describes Hell (such as 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 and Revelation 20:15). Do not exceed 100 words.
16. Explain how your god can be both just and merciful, when these terms apparently contradict each other.
17. Explain why possession by demons and/or other evil spirits was common during the time of Jesus, but hardly mentioned in the Old Testament, and today has apparently been explained away completely by such things as epilepsy and schizophrenia.
18. Explain why, if the personality resides in the soul, things like drugs and brain damage can affect someone's personality.
19. If Heaven is a place where everyone is perfectly happy, then explain how I could be happy if I had loved ones in Hell.
20. What is Heaven like?
21. What is Hell like?
22. Explain why original sin exists. Why should I be eternally tortured for something that a pair of naked innocents did in a garden over six thousand years ago? If you believe that children are born stained because they were conceived sexually, explain why I would be punished for something my parents did by your merciful and just god. If this does not apply to your sect, explain why.
23. Explain why getting dunked in or sprinkled with water will prevent me from being eternally tortured for the actions of the naked innocents mentioned in #22.
24. If your god did not want Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, why did he put the tree in the garden of Eden (and at the center, no less). Was it for shade? If so, why use something so dangerous as a shade tree? If the purpose of the tree was to tempt Adam and Eve, explain why it's OK for your god to engage in a practice that our modern-day courts of law refer to as "entrapment".
25. Explain why sex, potentially one of the most wonderful, beautiful things in human nature, is considered "bad" by your particular sect. If your sect does not consider sex to be "bad", then refute Matthew 19:12, 1 Corinthians 7 (particularly verses 1 and 9), Galatians 5:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, James 1:14-15, Matthew 24:38, Luke 17:27 and Revelation 14:4.
26. If Jesus was perfect, explain how he could have thought that the end of the world was coming soon, when it has clearly not come yet. See Matthew 16:27-28.
27. Explain why some people (James, Peter, Paul, Thomas, etc.) should have gotten convincing physical proof of miracles, while the rest of us are supposed to take these happenings on faith.
28. Why are the stories of the resurrection inconsistent?
29. If you are a Protestant or member of an Eastern Orthodox church, explain why you are still using the Catholic Bible, which was formalized by a vote among (supposedly divinely inspired) cardinals and bishops in the fourth century CE, when you disagree with the idea that the Pope, who is higher in the Catholic hierarchy, is divinely inspired; if a Catholic, explain why your church accepts the canonical Bible while rejecting the Apocrypha (do not use the "divinely inspired" argument. Because I am not a Christian, I will not accept it).
30. If your god is kind and gentle, why do some animals have to kill to eat?
31. If your god is kind and gentle, why did he create parasites?
32. If your god wants us to worship him through our own free will, why does he threaten us with Hell? If someone is threatening you with punishment, free will becomes problematic.
33. Why would your god deliberately cause sinners to sin (cf. Romans 9:15-23 and numerous parts of Exodus where Jehovah says, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart.") Are these sinners still responsible for the sins which your god forces them, against their will, to commit? Justify your answer.
34. If Jesus did have to die, why did someone (specifically Judas) have to be damned in order to accomplish the death and resurrection of Jesus? Jesus was at least a volunteer for the cross; I doubt that your god asked Judas if he was willing to go to Hell so that the resurrection could be accomplished.
35. If Judas was willing to go to Hell for humanity (see #34), didn't he make more of a sacrifice than Jesus, who spent only three hours in pain? Shouldn't we be worshipping Judas?
36. Why should we accept the words of the gospel writers as truth when they are known to be liars? (See Romans 3:7).
37. Do you believe that your god is anti-homosexual? If so, explain why he would create homosexuals in the first place. If not, refute or explain Leviticus 20:13 and Romans 1:26-27.
38. Explain why prayer is OK, but spell casting is not, when both amount to the same thing: requesting that a superior supernatural force intercede in a way that would be impossible according to the normally accepted laws of physics.
39. According to the Gospels, from the Christian standpoint, Jesus was the most important person who ever lived. Explain why nothing was written about his life for over thirty years after his death.
40. Explain why you believe a person whose life is so poorly documented (see #39) was ever even born.
41. Define the word "Christ", including references to the pagan origins and meaning of the word.
42. Why is it that the life of Jesus was so similar to the lives of pagan Christs, particularly Herakles, Dionysos, and Asklepios?
43. Explain why Jesus, who was anti-Gentile (see Mark 7:25-29) and anti-sex (see Luke 14:26 and Matthew 19:12), would want to be anointed with oil in a pagan sexual rite after his death (see #41 and #42).
44. In light of Matthew 10:34, explain why Jesus is called the prince of Peace.
45. The name "Jesus" is a Greek translation. What was the original (Hebrew) name of Jesus? Where did you get this information? This is a bonus question.
46. If your god requires that people believe in him and follow his orders through their own free will, why do Christians push their views on public policy?
47. Explain why being a good Christian requires you to push your beliefs on others, no matter how much this annoys them. If you do not believe that you have to push your views on others, explain why you do not believe this despite the fact that the New testament seems to suggest you must in order to get to Heaven (for instance, in Matthew 28:19-20).
48. Explain why spreading the "truth of Christ" requires Christians to spread lies about other religions, such as the idea that members of other religions worship the Christian Devil, when in fact in order to do so one must be a Christian in the first place.
49. Explain why spreading the "truth of Christ" requires Christians to spread lies about evolution, such as the fallacious idea that man descended from apes. Wouldn't it reflect better on your religion if you backed up your argument with correct information?
50. At no point in the four Gospels did Jesus claim to be the son of your god. (He said "son of man" quite frequently, and at one point referred to himself as "a son of God," but that was a common Hebrew expression at that time. Someone who was "a son of God" was a Jew. This reflected the Israelites' belief that they were the chosen people of your god. See Job 1:6). Why then do you believe that Jesus was divine? If you don't believe that Jesus was divine, why do you call yourself a Christian?
51. Given the fact that Jesus did not say anything original (the Golden Rule and the "turn the other cheek" idea originated with Buddhism; and the Beatitudes were common in the Jewish devotional literature at the time), why do you see Jesus as such a great thinker/philosopher/ethicist?
52. Explain why the teachings of Jesus echo so closely the teachings of the Buddha (see #50), who lived 500 years before him, when Jesus' teachings are presented by most Christians as being absolutely original and unprecedented in the ancient world. Also: if, as most Christians claim, the act of walking on water was a sign of Jesus' divinity, explain how the Buddha could have done it 500 years earlier, as documented in Buddhist scriptures dating from 200 BC.
53. When Jesus said, "Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," why do you suppose that most Christians fight for their rights? To put it another way, why don't we, as a country of 85% Christians, let the government abuse us?
54. Why are so many Christian holidays on the same day as Pagan holidays? Couldn't the early Church fathers have converted pagans only by appealing to their reason and/or faith if Christianity is the true religion?
55. Explain how your god can be "just and merciful" in light of Exodus 20:5.
56. Do you believe that the Old Testament should be accepted as part of Christian theology? If so, explain how you can worship such a cruel sadist (see Numbers 31:17-18, Deuteronomy 20:16, Proverbs 20:30, Amos 3:6, Deuter-onomy 13:8, Psalms 3:7, Psalms 52:5, etc.). If not, explain how you can believe that Jesus is the promised savior sent by your god without the messianic prophecies and the ruling rights of the line of David, both of which are in the Old Testament in books such as Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel, Psalms, etc.
57. Explain why your "just and merciful" god sent bears to tear to pieces forty-two children who called his prophet Elisha "bald-head” (see 2 Kings 2:23-24).
58. Explain why your "just and merciful" god would allow a defenseless woman to be raped to death in order to protect an obvious coward (Judges 19:16-30).
59. In light of your answers to questions #11 and #57, explain why such an overwhelming majority of your god's lifesaving and/or miraculous interventions are on behalf of men and not women.
60. Name three such interventions (see #58) on behalf of women. Support your answer with quotes from the Bible.
61. What is the sin that humanity committed that is so incredibly bad that your god had to become flesh and die to correct it?
62. Are all members of other faiths bad? Are they all damned to Hell? Justify your answer with quotes from the Bible.
63. Are all atheists/agnostics/humanists bad? Are they all damned to Hell? Justify your answer with quotes from the Bible.
64. What was your motive in proselytizing to me?
65. Where is Heaven?
66. Where is Hell?
67. Why don't animals go to Heaven or Hell when they die? What makes us so special?
68. Why does the Devil try to get peoples' souls?
69. Once the Devil has someone's soul, what does he do with it?
70. What exactly is a soul?
71. Where does our soul stay while we are alive?
72. Is your god perfect? Justify your answer.
73. Why do evil people so often prosper? Justify your answer.
74. Why do good people so often fail to prosper? Justify your answer.
75. When the end of the world comes, will your god raise our actual bodies, or just our souls? Explain.
76. Explain why your god lets airplanes with sinless infants on board crash.
77. What is sin, exactly?
78. If Jesus is perfect, justify the parable of the fig tree (Matthew 21:17-19, Mark 11:14-20).
79. Explain why Christians (yes, that includes all branches of Christianity) have spread the lie that Jews put Jesus to death, when in actuality it was the Romans who did it. (For a good example of New Testament anti-Semitism, see 1 Thessalonians 2:15).
80. Explain why your god would create humans as imperfect, set his standards so high that no one could possible live up to them, then punish us for not living up to his standards. Doesn't this also constitute "entrapment"?
81. If we are created in your god's image and likeness (Genesis 1:27), how can we also be imperfect?
82. Why was it OK for the ancient Israelites to sacrifice animals to their god, while it is wrong for modern religions to do so? Justify your answer.
83. If it was OK for the ancient Israelites to sacrifice animals to their god (who is also your god), why don't you sacrifice animals to him now? Has he changed his mind about this requirement? Justify your answer.
84. Why would your god confuse people? (See 1 Samuel 7:10 and Genesis 11:9). Isn't life confusing enough already?
85. Why would your god cause blindness, deafness and dumbness? (See Exodus 4:11).
86. Why would your god want to damn people by making them believe false things? (See 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
87. Should the book of Revelation be taken literally? Explain your answer.
88. Would it be good for men to castrate themselves? Justify your answer, taking Matthew 19:12 into account.
89. What exactly is faith?
90. All of the various Christian sects ignore parts of the Bible, usually because those parts are inconvenient. Explain which parts of the Bible your sect ignores, and explain why it is OK to ignore them.
91. Why did your god allow Satan to do evil things to Job (Job 2:7, etc.)? Wouldn't your god better spend his time punishing unbelievers?
92. If Jesus and his father are one (John 10:30), then why does Jesus have to pray (i.e., Matthew 26:39)?
93. Explain your belief in Heaven in light of Job 7:9 and Ecclesiastes 9:5.
94. Christ giving himself up on the cross was a great gesture, true, but wouldn't it have been more sensible for him to continue spreading his message until he died a natural death? Answer this question in light of your answer to question #4.
95. What is your interpretation of the temptation of Christ by Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:5-8, Luke 4:5-9)?
96. Do you feel that the last words of Christ were significant? If so, why do the four gospels attribute three different sentences to Christ as his last? (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34: "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"; Luke 23:46: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"; John 19:30: "It is finished.").
97. Matthew and Mark say that the last words of Christ were, in Hebrew, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" This has traditionally been translated as, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" However, a more accurate translation would be, "My El, my El, why has thou forsaken me?" El is the name of a specific pagan god. Why would Jesus call out to a pagan god at the moment of his death?
98. A commonly recited litany in many forms of Christianity is "The Lord is my shepherd." (Psalm 23:1) Given the fact that the only reasons that people raise sheep are to rob them of their clothes and to kill them for meat, and the fact that sheep will often follow the shepherd to their destruction, do you think that this is an appropriate image for your god? Justify your answer.
99. Why is the theory of the Big Bang any less (or more) likely than the idea that your god created the universe? Justify your answer. NOTE: I admit that science has not explained where the original supercondensed particle came from, but no one has ever explained where your god came from, either.
100. If your god is everywhere at the same time, how can Hell be the absence of (or separation from) him?
101. In the Genesis story, your god tells Adam and Eve that the day they eat from the tree of knowledge they will surely die (Genesis 2:17). The serpent tells them that they will not die, but that their eyes will be opened and they will know the difference between good and evil (Genesis 3:5). Wasn't the serpent telling the truth here? Is your god a liar? Justify your answer in light of Jeremiah 20:7 and Ezekiel 14:9.
102. If the Devil is not as powerful as your god, how could he possibly get as many followers as Christians seem to think he has?
103. The Bible constantly describes your god as male. In view of the fact that your god supposedly created everything, and creation is primarily a female function, isn't this contradictory? Justify your answer.
104. In light of the Trinity, angels, the Virgin Mary, etc., isn't Christianity polytheistic? If the Trinity is three who are one, why the three names? Justify your answer.
105. Have you read the entire Bible? If not, how can you be devoted enough to try and convert me to a religion that you don't know that much about? Isn't knowing as much as possible about something necessary to understanding it? Isn't understanding something necessary to being completely devoted to it?
106. Why is 2 Kings 19 exactly identical to Isaiah 37?
107. Are Jesus' three days in Hell really an ultimate sacrifice, when more than half of humanity is going to spend eternity there (see #14)?
108. If your sect considers the King James Bible to be the official and/or authoritative translation, justify this is light of the fact that King James commissioned his translation to be poetic rather than accurate. How can you possible use an inaccurate translation as your reference for what is/is not the word of your god? If your sect does not use the King James Bible, which translation do they use? Justify the use of that particular translation.
109. Before Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit/Ghost, she was never asked for her consent. (She was warned, which is a different thing altogether; see Luke 1:31). Mary was also asleep when your god impregnated her; this strongly suggests that he didn't want her to protest. Does this mean that Mary was raped by your god? Do you think rape is wrong? Explain.
110. According to Luke, Mary knew that she was pregnant with the Messiah. Living in the times she lived in, she must have known the scripture; therefore, she must have known that he would have to suffer horribly during his life. Was it moral for Mary to carry her baby to term? Wouldn't it have been more humane for her to have an abortion? Explain.
111. If it was foretold that Jesus was to be crucified, and if he knew this, and if he was the son of your god, why did he do everything he could to avoid it? (See, for instance, Matthew 26:39).
112. If the Holy Spirit/Ghost is the father of Jesus (Luke 1:35), then why is the central figure of your trinity called God the Father?
113. Mary and Jehovah were never joined in wedlock. Does it bother you that Jesus is technically a bastard?
114. The original Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit/Ghost includes the idea that the Holy Spirit/Ghost is female in gender. Reconcile this fact with the view of the Holy Spirit/Ghost as the father of Jesus (Luke 1:35).
115. Matthew 28:11-15 contains an account of a conspiracy between the Jews and the Roman soldiers to spread the story that the disciples stole the body of Christ. How could Matthew have known about this, since no Jews or Romans would have admitted it? If it was such a transparent conspiracy that an outsider could have seen it, why didn't the other three gospels mention it? Why didn't the Roman soldiers get in trouble?
116. Jews believe that people are basically good and can work to overcome their sinful tendencies. Most Christian sects, following the teaching of Psalm 51:5, 1 Kings 8:46, Ezekiel 18:4, Isaiah 59:2 and Psalm 143:2, believe that people are completely debased and hopelessly lost in sin, and that only your god can lift us out of this state if he decides to bestow his gift of grace on us. Isn't this an incredibly negative view of people? Isn't Judaism a more mature faith just for this reason?
117. How do you, as an individual, feel about Psalm 51:5?
118. What does your sect teach about Psalm 51:5 (and Kings 8:46, etc.), predestination and similar matters?
119. Don't you think that the idea that no matter what we do, we can never be good and righteous without help from your god (Isaiah 64:6) fosters an unnatural and unhealthy dependence on him?
120. If prostitution is wrong, why are there so many examples of it in Genesis? (For instance, Genesis 19:8, where Lot offers his daughters to a mob so that his guests can avoid gang rape).
121. Revelation 22:16 says that Jesus is the "offspring of David". Mary was not descended from David, but Joseph was. Doesn't this mean that Jesus wasn't the son of your god at all, but the (mortal and not divine) son of Joseph?
122. What would be the correct thing to do if your god gave you a command that was harmful and/or destructive to you? A common argument, which comes from Paul, states that because clay pots don't complain about what the potter does with them, people shouldn't complain about what their maker (i.e., your god) does with them, but this completely ignores the vitally important point that clay pots have no sense of self-awareness and cannot think or feel love, pain, anger, etc. If you want to make this argument, you have to deal with this difference.
123. What (or who) does your sect believe the number 666 represents? Justify your answer.
124. If your god is "just and merciful," why would he take Solomon's kingdom away from Solomon's son while not punishing Solomon, when it was he who committed the sin of idolatry? What did Solomon's son do to deserve punishment? (See 1 Kings 11:12).
125. Why is Solomon commonly considered to be the paragon of wisdom by many Christians, when he constantly sinned against your god? (See 1 Kings 11:4-10, etc.) Personally, if I had a god talking to me, I'd do what he said.
126. Don't you think that an anti-sex position (see #25) is untenable for your sect, given that an entire Biblical book (Song of Solomon) consists of an erotic poem on the joys of non-marital sex?
127. Does it bother you that the cross, supposedly a Christian symbol, actually originated with the Egyptians? Why or why not? (The Egyptian cross, the Ankh, was a male-female symbol similar in concept to the yin-yang.)
128. How do you explain the fact that Christians are twice as likely to have sadomasochistic tendencies as non-Christians?
129. What is the incredibly important doctrinal difference that requires the fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland?
130. Even if your god did create the universe, why does he want to be worshipped? Is your god an egomaniac?
131. How much do you know about Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism (including Vaishnavism, which is the Krishna religion), Jainism, Shinto, etc. Have you ever spoken with a member of any of these religions about his/her faith? If not, don't you think you should have at least a modicum of knowledge about a religion before you speak against it?
132. How much do you know about Islam? Have you ever spoken with a Muslim about his/her faith? (See #131).
133. How much do you know about Wicca or witchcraft? Have you ever spoken to a witch about her/his faith? (See #131).
134. What do you think the word "witch" means?
135. What do you think the word "Satanist" means?
136. How do you explain the fact that the word "blood" occurs over 400 times in the Bible? Isn't this a rather savage way to write a book that is supposed to be at the center of an ethical system?
137. Throughout the Bible, your god commands his followers to wage merciless war on unbelievers (Luke 22:36, Deu-teronomy 13:8, Exodus 20:23-25, Deuteronomy 20:16, Matthew 10:34, Numbers 31:17-18, etc.). If you are one of his followers, why aren't you out waging merciless war on unbelievers?
138. Numbers 23:21 says that your god "has not seen wickedness in Israel." If this is so, explain why your god burned Israelites for complaining (Numbers 11:1), sent a plague against them for eating the meat he had given them (Numbers 11:33), burned people for using incense (Numbers 16:35), sent a plague against the Israelites who accused Moses of wrongdoing (Numbers 16:44-49), and sent fiery snakes among the Israelites (Numbers 21:5). Is your god a liar, or was it just more convenient for him to lie at that particular time and place, or what?
139. What was it that was so bad about eating a piece of fruit that death had to result from that act?
140. What was it about humanity's torturing and killing of your god's only son that made your god so happy that he again promised eternal life to everyone who believed in him? In light of this answer, explain why it would be OK for your god to engage in what our modern-day courts would call "solicitation to commit murder", not to mention "child abuse"?
141. How do you explain the fact that Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus?
142. Matthew says that the prophecy given in Matthew 27:9 was given by Jeremiah. How do you explain the fact that this prophecy was not given by Jeremiah at all, but by Zechariah (in Zechariah 11:12)?
143. Matthew says that Jesus dwelt in Nazareth so that he could fulfill a prophecy stating that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:21). Where exactly is this prophecy in the Old Testament?
144. Matthew says that on the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was riding on an ass and a colt (Matthew 21:7). How do you explain the fact that the original prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) stated that Jesus would be riding on an ass, and the other gospel writers place Jesus only on an ass (Mark 11:7, Luke 19:35 and John 12:15)?
145. In Matthew 1:23, Matthew has the angel say that Jesus would be born of a virgin. However, the prophecy that Matthew is referring to, Isaiah 7:14, only uses the Hebrew word almah, which simply means a young woman. It was nothing to do with sexual purity; the Hebrew word for virgin is betulah. How do you explain this?
146. Isaiah 7:16 seems to say that before Jesus had reached the age of maturity, both of the Jewish countries would be destroyed. Where is the fulfillment of this prophecy in the New Testament?
147. Matthew 1:23 say that Jesus would be called Immanuel, which means "God is with us." Why does no one (not even his parents) call him Immanuel at any point in the New Testament?
148. If even the contemplation of sinning is a sin (i.e., "sinning in your heart"; see, for example, Matthew 5:28) and if Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:5-8, Luke 4:5-9), how can you say that Jesus was without sin?
149. How many inconsistencies in the Bible, other than those mentioned in this paper, do you know of? Cite chapter and verse for as many as you have room for. (Do not exceed 100 words.)
150. Does your sect believe that the existence of your god can be established through a formal proof? Why or why not?
151. Pick a famous argument for the existence of your god, then criticize that argument. (Assume I mean for you to use the academic definition of criticize.)
152. Pick an argument against the existence of your god. If it is not a famous argument, copy it down here. Criticize this argument. (Assume I mean for you to use the academic definition of criticize.)
153. What does your sect think of the government? Read Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 13. Now what do you think of the government? If necessary, reconcile the two views.
154. What is your definition of the word "Christian"?
155. Why do you think it is that the ancient Greeks, who had a very liberal sexual morality, had far fewer sex crimes (on a per capita basis) that the United States, which is 85% Christian?
156. If someone accepts Jesus, and is "saved," but then turns away from Jesus, is that person still saved?
157. Where did your god come from?
158. What are the requirements for being saved? Some sects say that faith alone is enough; others say that faith without works is nothing. The Bible supports both these viewpoints. What does your sect think?
159. If I decide I like the answers to the above questions, where can I get in touch with you? (Give name, address, phone and e-mail if available).
160. How can I get in touch with a priest (minister, etc.) of your sect?
Return this paper with your answers to:
Now, I'm posting this in hopes that folks will find it useful. Personally, I like to keep a copy of it in my backpack so I can easily hand it out when I'm buttonholed. It can avoid unpleasantness, as its length and complexity will usually bamboozle the recipient long enough for me to get away if I don't feel like talking to them (which I often do, religious discussion being an interest of mine). Plus, I personally feel it's a great document for them to work through, as any Christian who can answer all the question fully while obeying the instructions and come out the other side with his faith intact will be a lot stronger for it.
You may of course modify the first paragraph's point about not being a Christian anymore if it does not apply to you.
It's an interesting document, and has proven itself in my experience.
Have fun! :)
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Date: Monday, October 3rd, 2005 10:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, October 3rd, 2005 01:44 pm (UTC)*takes it*
Thanks.