GOT QUESTIONS?
Following Jesus Christ is the most important and urgent decision of a person’s life. Such a huge choice often comes with a lot of questions. Below is a list of some of the more common ones. We hope they’re helpful.
If there is a God, why is there suffering?
If you’re asking this because of a tragedy in your life, the first thing I’d like to say is I’m sorry. Life can be brutal, and I don’t know that anything I’m going to say is going to wipe away your pain. If you were here, I’d prefer to be a shoulder to cry on than someone to debate with. If you’d like prayer, please don’t hesitate to email us. Our hearts are with you.
If your question is simply an honest question about the fairness of God, let’s reason it out. If God is love why are there so many terrible things happening in this world? You have 3 options.
God is dumb. He created it all, but He didn’t know what He was doing and doesn’t know how to fix it.
God is a jerk. He is a cruel dictator, who gets a kick out of watching little kids die of Leukemia.
There is something radically wrong between God and man. This is what the Bible teaches.
The Bible says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (Rom. 5:12). We were meant to live forever in the Garden of Eden, in perfect health and happiness, but sin ruined everything. As a result, disease, suffering, and death entered the world. But we can’t blame God or Adam & Eve; we’re the ones who keep our high murder, rape, and crime rates by our choice to keep on sinning. Instead of seeing suffering as an excuse to reject God, it should be seen as a very real reason to turn to Him. It reminds us we’re all guilty and desperately need God’s forgiveness.
Who made God?
Think about space for a moment. Does space have an end? I think we can agree that it doesn’t, it’s ‘space.’ If you fly a zillion miles in a space ship and there is a brick wall with “The End” written on it, then you have to ask, “What’s behind the brick wall?” We just can’t wrap our minds around it; it’s the ultimate brain freeze. We are forced to believe (have faith) that space has no beginning and no end. Exactly the same goes with God. Difficult as it is for our limited minds to grasp, God created the dimension of time and isn’t limited by it. He is the alpha and the omega; He is the beginning and the end. Just as by faith we accept space has no beginning and no end, we also accept that God simply always was.
But, I’m of another religion…
I hear you and I fully respect your heritage. May I ask you, would you consider yourself a good person? Do you think you’re good enough to go to Heaven? To find out, please click “The Great News” button on the top menu for a very profound presentation called, “Another Interview With God.”
The Bible was written by men, it’s a fairy tale.
When you write an email, do you write it or does your computer? Of course you’re the one doing the typing; your computer is just the instrument you use. In the same way God used men to write his “email” to mankind, the Bible, but He is the one who wrote it. You can prove that God wrote the Bible through a study of the Bible’s supernatural prophecies.
While many think you need blind faith to believe in the Bible, there are actually 4 keys to scientifically, rationally, and logically prove the Bible as God’s flawless word to His creation. A few of the evidences for the Bible as God’s word are:
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‣Historically – It all really happened. Archeology has given evidence of that.
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‣Doctrinally – It all agrees with itself. There are no doctrinal (teaching) contradictions in Scripture.
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‣Preservationally – It is the same today as the day it was written; God has protected His word. This is easily proven by comparing our modern Bible text with preserved ancient Bible text, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls (untouched for over 2,000 years old) and the multitudes of other early biblical documentation – they perfectly match each other.
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‣Prophetically – The Bible contains supernatural scientific and medical foreknowledge, precise event predictions, and messianic prophecies. The messianic prophecies are dozens of predictions that the Savior would have to fulfill in order for man to know beyond a doubt He was God’s Messiah. They were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. (One prophecy foretold the year He would die for the sins of the people… 500 year in advance—the same year Jesus died.)
Two terrific books I highly recommend for more scientific depth on God being the true author of Bible are The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.
How can a loving God send good people to Hell?
God won’t send good people to Hell; He’ll send sinners. Do you have a mother or father you love? Imagine, God forbid, someone killed them in cold blood, chopped up their body, and then threw the pieces away in a garbage can. Amazingly, they’re caught and stand before the judge. But instead of punishing them, the judge says, “Oh, you murdered them, no big deal—don’t do it again.” And then lets your Mother’s murderer walk away totally free. How would you feel toward that judge? You’d probably want to kill the judge! That judge would be a wicked and corrupt criminal if he didn’t punish the guilty.
On Judgment Day God won’t be corrupt. He will see to it that justice is done. If we die without God’s forgiveness, which comes through following Jesus, we’ll get what we deserve for our sins. God isn’t sending people to Hell because He’s cruel; He’ll send people to Hell because He’s a good judge, we’re guilty of breaking His perfect, holy Law, and people choose to reject His offer of forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.
How can I believe in something I can’t see?
Come on, we believe in tons of stuff we can’t see. Have you ever seen the wind? How about ancient history? Ever seen your brain? We see the effects of the wind, but the wind is invisible. We have history books, but it’s by “faith” that we believe those events happened.
You believe in many things you can’t see. Why? Because they make sense. Think about it for a second. How do you know someone painted the Mona Lisa? You can’t see, hear, touch, smell, or taste them. It’s simple. If there is a painting, there must be a painter. The painting is all the proof you need. The same goes with buildings. If there is a building, there is a builder. And if there is a Creation, there is a Creator. A person who denies that a building has a builder has some ulterior motive for ignoring the obvious; the same typically applies when someone rejects that design has a Designer. If you knew 100% that God existed would you choose to follow Him? If yes, take a look in the mirror and stand in awe of one of His greatest masterpieces, it should provide all the evidence you need.
There are too many hypocrites in the church.
If you went to Taco Bell and had a rude cashier would you decide to never eat out again? Of course not. You’re there for the food, not the service.
There are hypocrites that go to church every Sunday, but that shouldn’t affect real Christians. When you get together with followers of Jesus for worship, teaching and fellowship, hypocrites don’t matter. You’re not at church for them; you’re there for God.
Know that on Judgment Day God will separate those who pretend to follow Him from those who truly love Him. The Bible says all hypocrites, along with all those who reject Christ, will end up in Hell (Mt. 24:51).
I’ve done some wrong things, but I’m still a pretty good person, I’d go to Heaven.
Many think they’ll be “good enough,” but that’s not possible. Think of it this way: a man stood before a judge in a court of law; after being found guilty of murder, he asked the judge to let him go free because he was a “good person” (he coached a little league team, gave money to charity, helped the elderly, etc.). Could that just judge let him go? No way! He’s a murderer!! No amount of good works can undo his terrible crime. In the same way, we can’t avoid Hell by being “good enough” because we’re already guilty—of sinning, breaking God’s moral law, the 10 Commandments. The good things we do can’t erase our sins. We need mercy (Eph. 2:8,9; Tit. 3:5). God’s forgiveness comes through becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.
I believe in reincarnation.
If I held up a Coca-Cola can and asked you how many inches you thought it was and then I asked someone else how many inches they thought it was, I would probably end up with two slightly different answers. You may say 5 inches and the other person 6. While both of you may think you’re right, common sense says that’s not possible. How do you figure out how many inches a can of Coca-Cola is? By grabbing a ruler and measuring it. Just like a ruler is our standard for measurement, the Bible is our standard for truth (a look at its prophecies proves that). The Bible tells us right from wrong and true from false. The Bible says, “Each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). We die once, and then get judged.
All religions are different paths to the same place.
To test your theory, go out to your car and begin driving for Rome (they say all roads lead there too). You can’t use a map, a compass, or get any sort of directions. Just drive and, by your belief, in a few days you should find yourself in the Vatican’s parking lot. Sounds silly when you look at it like that doesn’t it? Obviously one path will lead you one direction and a different path another. Jesus speaking said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6 ). Why is Jesus the ONLY way to the Father in Heaven? Because Jesus is the only way to receive God’s forgiveness (Acts 4:12). He is the only sinless Son of God who took the punishment for our sins on the cross.
I don’t have to go to church to be saved.
That’s true; salvation is through faith in Jesus alone. But once you are saved or “born again” and understand that God commands you to be plugged into a church—to both encourage other believers and be trained for works of service by your pastor—wild dogs can’t keep you away (Heb. 10:24,25; Eph. 4:11-13). A sincere believer will want to please the One who saved them by doing what He says.
Evolution is scientific, therefore there is no God.
There is absolutely no scientific evidence for evolution, which is why it’s called the “theory” of evolution. A theory is a guess; they really don’t know what happened. If you think you have proof for evolution check out www.intelligentdesignversusevolution.com. There is a genuine offer for $10,000 to anyone who can give scientific proof for evolution. Evolution isn’t really the issue, where you stand before God when you die is what matters. If you were to die tonight where would you go? Why? Please click “The Great News” button above.
I’m too bad of a person; God could never forgive me.
If I took a $100 bill and crumpled it up would you still want it? How about if I threw it onto the floor? What if while on the ground, I spit on it, and smeared it into the dirt with my shoe; would you still want the hundred-dollar bill even though it’s filthy? Of course you would. The value of the bill hasn’t changed. That’s the way God thinks. No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, you’re still of incredible value to Him. He loves you and wants to forgive you. God proved how much He loves you when He had His Son die in your place, for your sins.
You’re judging me. The Bible says, “thou shall not judge.”
We aren’t judging you; we sincerely care about you. If a man saw an out of control car heading toward an unmanned baby carriage would the man be considered “judging the baby” if he ran to the carriage and pushed it out of harm’s way? No. Helping those in danger isn’t a crime, it’s a virtue. We’re not condemning you; we’re guilty of sinning too. We very sincerely care about you and that’s why we put together this drama “Revolution” and created this website. If you don’t see that you’ve sinned against God you’ll never understand or appreciate what Jesus did for you on the cross. And without Jesus we can’t be forgiven.
If you we didn’t cover a question you have been wrestling with, we can recommend you visit gotquestions.org as a great resource or feel free to email us at revolution@elementchurch.com.