Apologetic Questions from "Letters from a Skeptic" by Dr. Gregory A. Boyd .
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( Our answers. Not his. )
Why has Christianity done so much harm? (p.17) [ I'd like to respond ]
Because "Christianity" is a religion ... a body politic ... a "packaging" and a "systemization" of the communication of God. And to the degree that it has perverted and misrepresented the Word of God, it has done much harm, much damage. As a pure collection of the communication of God to man, (as if that could be accomplished by humans) Christianity hasn't done harm ... CHRISTIANS have. And Christians are verrry human. They make mistakes. They make errors in judgement. They get overzealous. Many are very judgemental. Many are gossip on legs. Few practice Prov. 18:17, so misrepresentation, misunderstanding and disunity is rampant. (Church leadership included.) Don't look to Christians to be an example of ideal behavior. Don't look to the Church. Look only to the Author for "author"-ized behavior. Look to Christ Himself. Look to God as He has spoken in the Instruction Book. Trust only the Source Himself.
Why is the world so full of suffering? (p.21) [ I'd like to respond ]
Sin (and its results) "leaked" in at the Fall as a result of man's choice. God's gift of free will for Adam left open the door for rebellion and its consequences.
Suffering is a perspective. One person's suffering is another person's crucible for growth.
Life is not meant to be all about comfort and freedom from pain. (Heaven is. But that's likely a few years off.)
Suffering and pain ("bad") is an expected consequence of surgery ("good.") Men do surgery (and it hurts.) So does God.
Suffering is a tool for growth. It "burns away" the unimportant parts of life.
Does God know the future? (p.29) [ I'd like to respond ]
He claims to. And if He is who He claims to be, it makes sense He'd be a Being who'd know the future.
Why does God create earthquakes and famine? (p.32) [ I'd like to respond ]
Earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados are merely events of nature just like rain and sunshine and an afternoon breeze. But it is important that we humans responsibly determine when to go out in the weather and when to stay in (and when to move out of its' path.) "The forces of nature" is merely the term we use to describe how God is continually modifying His creation. Two people may be standing in a rainstorm. One is grateful because his crop is dying of drought. The person next door may be crushed because his Sunday School papier mache project gets ruined. The rain is "neutral." PEOPLE determine their OPINION regarding its "goodness" or "badness."
Famine is created by human decisions to irresponsibly multiply without adequate consideration for disease and resources to feed those humans, not by God.
Disease could even be considered, like old age, "benefeficial" as (a) a way to prevent human overpopulation generation after generation, and (b) an "early" ticket Home (which presupposes that we're "supposed" to live a certain number of years.)
Why did God create Satan? (p.38) [ I'd like to respond ]
The same reason He created every heavenly and earthly creature. He created free beings who can choose to either obey or rebel (kind of like the rest of us, eh?)
Is God all-powerful? (p.44) [ I'd like to respond ]
Yes, by all theological and philosophical definitions and by demonstration in history.
Why believe in God in the first place? (p.49) [ I'd like to respond ]
No one is forced to believe. One must be aware of the consequences of that choice, however.
An external, extraterrestrial Being has claimed to want to communicate and abide with us. Should we listen? Each of us gets to choose.
Couldn't it all be by chance? (p.53) [ I'd like to respond ]
Yes. The odds are incalculably and infinitesimally small, but yes. Even unbelieving scientists, however, are concluding that there seems to be an intelligent design behind it all.
Why does God let bad/evil things happen to good people? (p.58) [ I'd like to respond ]
Evil / bad is a perspective. (Sometimes "bad" turns out to be "good" once the whole picture is revealed.)
Sin has "leaked" into the system (from the "pandoras box" opened at the Fall and from free beings making current choices.)
Mountains must, by definition, have valleys on both sides. Light, by definition, must have darkness. "Good" must have "evil" by definition.
Why would an all-powerful God need prayer? (p.63) [ I'd like to respond ]
Need it? He doesn't.
But He invites communication from us, and He listens and responds out of love.
Why would God care about us little humans? (p.69) [ I'd like to respond ]
Because we "little" humans are much loved by the One who created each one of us.
Little is relative. We are little only in comparison to bigger things. We are big in comparison to an equal amount of smaller things.
When God lovingly created each of us, He made us bigger than the ants and smaller than the galaxies. Seems about the right size, if you ask
me.Why trust the gospel accounts? (p.77) [ I'd like to respond ]
Don't, without checking them out. Thorough investigation always (yes, always) leads to conviction of their veracity.
Internal consistency. Remarkable unity unknown in any other piece of "human" literature ever discovered.
Consider the possibility that they are love letters from the E.T. who wants to communicate about life from His perspective.
Aren't the gospels full of contradictions? (p.87) [ I'd like to respond ]
The inconsistencies and contradictions are (a) a matter of significant controversy among scholars, and (b) so small in number and significance as to be considered virtually non-existent. (Some try to explain them away, likely out of fear, but they are there, unless one tweaks the definition of "contradiction" or "inconsistency.") Responsible study will show, however, that they are completely and comprehensively insignificant and irrelevant. And all this from a "pre-scientific-Western-worldview" set of documents!
Who wrote the gospels and when? (p.92) [ I'd like to respond ]
Four different men at four different times from four different perspectives between the years of AD 40 and AD 70, each of whom were eyewitnesses to Jesus' ministry. They were 4 of His 12 disciples.
How can you believe that a man rose from the dead? (p.99) [ I'd like to respond ]
Historians, evidence and eyewitness accounts support the fact.
That kind of power is completely consistent with an all-powerful God who created man in the first place.
How can you believe that a man was God? (p.110) [ I'd like to respond ]
He claimed to be, and His actions supported His claims.
God became an ant (a) in order to communicate with us ants and (b) in order to pay the required price to "buy us back" from the enemy and the system of justice He had set up.
Why does God make believing in Him so difficult? (p.119) [ I'd like to respond ]
He doesn't. Every man has enough information about God placed within to turn to Him.
He knows, however, that those who search for Him are the best company.
Why do you think the Bible is inspired? (p.126) [ I'd like to respond ]
The author claimed it was.
It's internal consistency is unmatched by any human work ever attempted.
It successfully and compellingly and convincingly explains things unexplainable without it. It makes remarkable, insight-inspiring sense.
The concept of an Instruction Book inspired by the Creator, designed for the creature, is consistent with an all-powerful God.
Isn't the Bible full of myths and God's vengeance? (p.131) [ I'd like to respond ]
There appear to be ancient myths (few, but there nonetheless) consistent with the culture into which it was spoken.
God's vengeance is not a myth.
Didn't the Catholic Church put the Bible together? (p.138) [ I'd like to respond ]
No. The earliest church councils (AD 200ff) "packaged" the apostles' letters for posterity. The Roman Catholic Church formed significantly
later.Why are there so many differing interpretations of the Bible? (p.144) [ I'd like to respond ]
There are highly technical versions (e.g. NASB) for scientists and students, and highly readable versions (e.g. "Living Bible") for us kids and everything in between (e.g. NIV.)
They all, however, come from the same original version of the one greek New Testament and the one hebrew Old Testament. New, culturally-sensitive versions will likely be authored until we hear a trumpet. They are likely in progress as we read this.
What about the "holy books" of other religions? (p.149) [ I'd like to respond ]
They could, theoretically, be right. A wise man will "check 'em out" (or trust someone else's research.) Virtually none of them "square" with reality like the Word of God and have been universally discredited by scholars.
Do all non-Christians go to hell? (p.155) [ I'd like to respond ]
Those who choose to follow God into eternity get to continue following Him into eternity ... heaven.
Those who choose their own path here away from God get to continue on with their choice for eternity ... farther and farther apart from God.
How could an all-loving God torture people in an eternal hell? (p.160) [ I'd like to respond ]
He doesn't. Hell is a place of torture, apart from Him, for those who choose it on their own.
He has offered multiple choices to responsible, free beings. Those beings make the choice. They are in no way compelled or forced by the
Maker.Isn't the Christian life impossible to live? (p.166) [ I'd like to respond ]
Yes. All Christians fail and fall. That is why God had to become an ant ... to pay eternally for those violations.
The best we can do is stick close to Jesus. He is the loving and just judge, guide, instructor, discipler and "Leader of the Pack."
Our goal is not to live "the Christian life," as if it were some ethic, some set of rules, to follow. We are not called to follow "the book." We are not called to follow the Church. We are not called to follow "the system." We are called to follow the Master.
God is with us daily, even though not in human form like He was for 30 years, in the person of the Holy Spirit. You are likely aware of His presence even as you read these words.
How can another man's death pardon me? (p.172) [ I'd like to respond ]
"The Deal" (the covenant) by God required unblemished blood to be shed for disobedience and sin. It could be annually repeatable (OT) or once for all accomplished (NT.)
How can I be holy and sinful at the same time? (p.179) [ I'd like to respond ]
You can be "imputed" righteousness by God via Christ's substitutionary payment (even if you don't deserve it -- and none of us do or could) ... even if (when) you blow it thereafter. That substitutionary payment makes you holy.
You can be disobedient (by omission and/or comission.) That makes you sinful.
You can confess and repent anew, afresh. That is behavior consistent with holiness.
Our suggestion ... don't concentrate on the rules which can never make you holy. Concentrate on the Master who can.
How can I believe it's all true? (p.183) [ I'd like to respond ]
Only by the faith that God gives us, if we desire to follow Him into the future instead of ourselves.
How can we trust a Bible that is different for different denominations and that changes every hundred years or so? [ I'd like to respond ]
The Bible itself is not different and does not change. Later TRANSLATIONS of the Bible (from the original greek and hebrew texts from B.C. 3,000 to A.D. 95) DO change with language. The King James, for example, was translated from the greek and hebrew in 1611. Much of the english language has changed since then, however, (thees and thous and other words), so it's appropriate to produce translations that use current language.
Be aware, too, that there are versions that do not claim to be translations: The New American Standard is excruciatingly accurate, but not as "reader-friendly" (because of it's technically accurate choices of words) as the Living Bible (a "paraphrase), highly readable but not technically as accurate), or the New International Version (in between, a "dynamic equivalent.") If you want extreme technical accuracy, learn greek and hebrew (rarely necessary.) For english technical accuracy, use the NAS. If you want easy reading, use the Living. In the middle is the highly popular NIV.
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