Jesus We Talk About Question
My friend Thomas (see introduction) had many questions, and they weren’t glib or sarcastic. They rang with sincerity and made me wonder how I, a committed Christian, could best answer them.
Thomas had heard me claim a personal relationship with Jesus. He’d often heard me talk about it. He also knew that I prayed, attended church, and met with small groups to explore spiritual subjects.
I knew that if I were to have any chance of introducing him to the personal and relational Jesus I knew, loved, and admired and the Jesus I called my friend, I had better pay attention to his questions and have some very good answers
I wasn’t expecting what Thomas delivered to me—twenty-six thoughtful questions. In a letter from him to me, he outlined his thoughts and posed his questions.
Dear Matt,
From some of our conversations at work, you seem to be confident, even enthusiastic at times about your Christian Experience. I find this both curious and a bit troubling. My experience of Christianity has been much different from yours.
When I was growing up, My parents took my siblings and me to church from time to time, but it was not something that seemed to affect the way they lived or viewed life. In our family, we never talked about God or Jesus, and we never said grace over Meals or prayed openly as a family. We never read the bible either. We had a Bible, but it remained on the bookshelf.
I think our going to church from Time to time was just something that my folks did in an effort to be good. I certainly understand that my parents wanted to be good parents and desired to expose my sisters and me to Christianity, which they presumed they were Doing by taking us to church.
They never pushed us toward it, just provided enough exposure to let us know that such a beliefsystem existed and That it was up to us if we wanted to explore it further. But despite their intentions and efforts, Christianity Always seemed optional to me.
I never inquired too much about Christianity through my years of education. Having witnessed the in-your-face, Street-corner Jesus signs, TV evangelists, and the always-needing-more-money religious solicitations, I didn’t have much use for Christianity or its claims.
I remember one philosophy professor saying that religious Language and rituals were nothing more than efforts on man’s part to construct meaning out of a bleak human existence That seemed random, finite, and meaningless. That professor asserted that postulating about God was fruitless and naive.
To me, Christianity and its truth claims seemed irrelevant and even misleading compared to life in the real world. I guess I thought Christianity was something that some people needed to nudge Them toward a more moral and ethical lifestyle or something that served as an insurance policy in case there Turned out to be a hereafter.
But personally, I never saw the need to believe in or participate in Christian religious stuff. When I saw the Conflicts in the world over religious beliefs, it made me mad. I often thought that the world would be much better Off if the idea of God had never come up But mankind’s history refuted my wishful thinking. Mankind has repeatedly turned to a god of some kind.
At break times and sometimes at lunch, I’ve joined you and some of our colleagues in some lively discussions about Religious issues. As you know, I am the cynic and antagonist in the group. This may shock you, but I have actually looked in the Bible a number of times. That’s right. I own a Bible.
But my looking has been more for finding fault and raising questions than an honest search for answers. I’ll Confess that my Bible sits on the bookshelf in much the way my parents’ did From our discussions I see you as Someone who expresses an understanding about the meaning of life based upon your Christian beliefs.
Your experience of Christianity seems more than a nudge toward moral and ethical living or an insurance policy for The hereafter. Your Christianity seems somehow more interactive than others as if you heat in with it frequently. So I’ve decided to ask you some questions that might fill in some of the blanks about Christians and their Beliefs.
Personally l dont feel any need for an active belief, so maybe it is just intellectual curiosity. But Whatever the reason, I think you may be able to give me a better understanding of why Christians think they have discovered a sense of wholeness and deep connectedness to a transcendent being.
And I think maybe you can explain how that connectedness manifests itself in their lives in ways unknown to non-Christians.
Faith and Reason: A Christian Perspective Questions
1. Jesus of Nazareth died for sedition some two thousand years ago on a Roman cross in Jerusalem. How could Jesus’ death two thousand years ago have anything to do with me now?
2. It doesn’t make any sense to me that Jesus’ dying on the cross could pay for my sins. No judicial system allows a Man to pay for the capital crimes committed by another. So what makes it right for Christians to assume that Jesus Paid the price for mankind’s deliberate wrongdoings?
Is this some mental gymnastics to allow them to feel free from guilt? How does Jesus’ dying on the cross in ancient times affect the choices a modern person made in the past, makes currently, or will make in the future?
3. It seems that Christianity rests on the idea that Jesus rose from the dead. If that is true, why did only His closest followers record the event and preach it? Why didn’t historians and government officials of the time document it as well?
4. I understand that Jesus said He was going to come back from heaven “soon.” For nearly two thousand years now people have been saying that, but there has been no second coming. Is this just a scare tactic to keep Religionists in line? It seems to me it is similar to what kids are told about how they need to be good because Santa Claus is coming.
5. Most people feel a person should be responsible for their actions, but the Christian says he has been let off the Hook for his mistakes. I think I have heard you say that Christians are justified or absolved. Does that mean they just don’t want to take personal responsibility for their actions and have created a neat way out?
6. I know people who are really good people but who are not Christians. I also know other people who say they are Christians, but who are not so good when it comes to morals and ethics. What good is it to be a Christian if it Doesn’t affect the way people live, except for maybe the way they spend their Sundays?
7. If there is life after death and if I am a good person (have integrity, am morally and ethically honest, and live The social values that Christians talk about), why wouldn’t a loving and just God save me even if I didn’t buy Into all that Christian religious stuff?
8. Christians say that I along with everyone else who doesn’t accept Jesus Christ as Savior deserve to die. What have I done that is so bad that your God is going to give me the death penalty? And is this really the death penalty, Or is it an eternal torture penalty
Is God, because of my doubts about Jesus Christ, going to send me to hell, where I will be tortured forever because I made some mistakes and didn’t believe things correctly while I was here on earth? Is that what a loving God does?
9. I have a fantastic and loving wife, great kids, a well-paying job with excellent benefits, friends, good health, a good retirement plan, a nice home, and other material comforts. How would being a Christian benefit me now in this life? What would I gain that I don’t already have access to?
10. In comparing worshippers of a variety of the world’s belief systems, including Christianity, I notice that some are Extremely zealous while others are quite laissez-faire. The laissez-faire person does not seem to hurt anyone. However, more people have been killed by zealots of religion trying to proselytize or maintain religious purity In themselves or others than from any other cause
Why would a reasonable person want to become part of a belief system that has the makings of bigotry and hate? Doesn’t Christianity, like other belief systems, see it as an “us versus them” world?
11. Is the Christian any better than a good “something else” like a good Hindu, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Jew, or a good New Ager? It seems that every Christian I have ever talked to thinks their belief system is the correct one about life and God. Why are there so many different Christian beliefs, and who is to know which is right?
12. Does it really make any difference if a person believes in evolution, either pure or God-directed, or the seven-day Genesis Bible story?
13. Christians seem to believe in prayer for all kinds of things— getting a job, healing, staying safe on a trip, and So forth. Yet they seem to experience about the same percentage of car accidents, cancers, divorces, and other Tragedies as non-Christians do. What does prayer really accomplish?
A person I work with is on what she calls a “prayer chain.” If one person has a problem, then all the people on This prayer chain pray about the problem. Isn’t one person’s prayer as good as a whole group of people’s prayers? Is the Christian’s God so political that He listens to a group more than to one?
14. The Christian talks a lot about having a personal relationship with God. A lot of children have imaginary friends, And a lot of crazies think they have relationships with all kinds of people. How is the Christian’s relationship with an unseen, inaudible God any different?
The Hubble space telescope has never seen God, has never viewed heaven, and has never photographed anything that would indicate the existence of something more than the natural world and universe. If God is there, why is He so invisible?
15. Christians talk about a three-person God spoken of as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I don’t understand how you can have three different identities and three separate persons all in one being. How can that be?
16. Where did the idea of each man having an immortal soul that has a life all its own come from? There is nothing in the physical body that science can identify as the soul. Is the soul supposed to be a living thing within us or just a metaphor describing the essence or summation of a person?
17. I’m not saying that I want to, but if I were to become a Christian, wouldn’t 1 lose a lot of my freedom? Why do Christians say they are free when there are so many dos and don’ts in their lives? What kind of freedom are they talking about?
18. Sometimes I think that Christians just fake their beliefs or maybe just inherit them and never examine them. Some Act like it is just an insurance policy for the great hereafter. They all say we must have faith to believe in the unseen.
But what is this faith, and how does it work in relation to fact and reality? Does faith mean that God is Unbelievable —a deity who reportedly did something that cannot be proven? Are we just expected to believe in Him anyway?
19. Some Christians say that they know God and that they have a personal relationship with Him. That sounds very arrogant to me. How is God knowable if the God they talk about actually created and sustains the whole universe?
20. I can understand the idea of a new life, a new beginning, or a fresh start like New Year’s resolutions. But what is Different about the Christian’s new life in Christ? Isn’t it just a form of New Year’s resolutions by another name?
21. How far do your beliefs have to go before you can call yourself a Christian? Can you just believe in Jesus, who Died for your sins, and not believe or participate in all the other religious stuff?
22. If God is truly loving, how can He allow so much suffering in the world to go on for such a long time? Mankind has witnessed the Roman persecution of Christians, violent religious movements, the Holocaust, multiple genocides, Man’s general inhumanity toward other human beings, pain, slavery, and the mass starvation of countless children Where is God, and what relevance does He have in all this suffering? Isn’t the survival of the fittest the real Truth about life?
23. Christians say that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. How can that be when it was given orally from Generation to generation and then reduced to written form about 600 to 400 BCE and then translated into different languages many times and finally translated within the same language many times over? I’ve heard some claim that The various translations don’t even seem to say the same thing.
24. If you don’t like being a Christian, is it easy to stop being one?
25. Christians say that being “in Christ” changes their past, present, and future. My past is my past—that’s history. What can Christianity do about that? I am responsible for my choices in the present.
What can Christianity do about those? My future is yet to be determined or discovered. What does Christianity have To do with those?
26. Why are you a Christian? What does it do for you? What do you think I am missing by not committing my life to Christ?
Maybe you don’t have answers to all of these questions, Matt. But these are the kinds of things that give me pause About exploring Christianity and its beliefs. I would really like to know what you think.
Sincerely,
Thomas
Wow, good questions, I thought to myself. How was I going to respond? If we were to meet someplace and discuss These questions, would there be enough time at any one sitting? And could I give any adequate answers in an Impromptu way? I suspected not. Thus, I sent the following note to Thomas and told him how I would respond.
Dear Thomas,
I received your letter and have to tell you that you have asked some very good questions. What I think you are really asking me is to explain the various understandings I hold of God or those held by Christians in general.
What kind of God is God? How does He run His universe? What has He given us? What does He want from us? What would it be like to live with God both now in this life and in the hereafter?
From my experience and perspective, here is the short answer to your questions: God can be trusted to love us unconditionally and has our best interests in mind in all His actions toward us. I say this not only from my own personal experience but also From The many revelations about God, His coming in Jesus Christ, and His relating to us as individuals in the here and now through His Spirit.
This unconditional love is also seen in His dealings with mankind throughout recorded History, as expressed throughout the entire Bible. It is especially demonstrated in the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ, who said,
God wants a direct and personal relationship with each of us. And He wants us to Have that relationship not just in the here and now but also throughout eternity. He wants that relationship to be Built on trust and love.
Additionally, the Creator God can be thought of as a loving Father who wants His children to come home to their Rightful family. He also wants to heal them from all the effects of nonlove. The best part is that God’s love And acceptance of each and every one of us, as expressed in His invitation to a relationship with Him now and Forever, is an absolutely free gift There is nothing we can do or say that can add to or take away from the reality of that invitation. It is offered And secured solely because of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
With that as the basis of My understanding, speaking from my own personal experience, Let me say that the best way to answer your questions is in the same way you asked them, and that is in writing. I Will take your questions one by one and do my best to answer them in a series of written letters.
As you know from Our professional work together, I am not a historian, a theologian, a philosopher, a scientist, or a psychologist. I am just a person who enjoys His walk with the living Spirit of Jesus Christ, this Jesus we are going to talk about.
Your friend,
Matt