Flawed Theology

Imagine a world where everyone knows God exists.  "Belief" in God isn't applicable in this world, because God's existence is so obvious that belief isn't required.  God's existence would be as evident as the existence of rocks, or trees, or gravity, or other people. In this world, when people pray, an audible voice answers (which can be corroborated by others or by recordings).  God appears to people as a physical entity (again, corroborated as not being a hallucination).  God gives us knowledge of the universe we wouldn't or couldn't have obtained otherwise.  God grants real miracles, like re-growing limbs.  God engages us in actual conversation.  There would be an on-going Wikipedia entry for God with concrete facts (visitations, what he said, what he did, what he wants, what he's like...).  And this hypothetical world would feel normal to us.  After all, if God DID exist, why would it be weird for there to be evidence for it? Needless to s...

Guest post by Don Alabaster Let’s talk about God’s name and how it gives us clues about the origins of the Abrahamic faiths. Or maybe we should say his lack of a name.    “God” isn’t a name, it's a job title. You don’t go to work and refer to your boss as “Boss” or “Team Leader”.  Your Mom probably isn’t actually named “Mom”, either. But God does have an actual name! The Hebrew God of the Old Testament is named “Yahweh”, but even then it's not so simple.  Yahweh has many names sprinkled throughout the Hebrew Bible: YHWH (Yahweh), Adonai, Ehyeh, El, Elohim, El Shaddai, and Tzevaot, among others.  Rabbinic Judaism says that many of these names of God are so holy that they should never be erased.  I feel like I would have a lot of questions for this guy at happy hour Why did the Israelites end up with all of these names in their holy book? Because the Israelites were Canaanites before they were Israelites. The ancient Canaanite religion had an entire pantheon ...

Many people often gush about how the Christian God has blessed their lives. He has provided food, shelter, medicine, and the joys of life.  People pray before meals, thanking God for his generosity and for the food on their plate. Everything good is from God. There are many Bible verses that back this up, too.   "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8 "Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!"  Luke 12:24 "So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’"  Matthew 6:31 "Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Genesis 9:3 But have they ever stopped to think -- for just a moment -- about whether God...

Many are familiar with the story of Jesus riding majestically into Jerusalem on a donkey during the Triumphal Entry. What you MAY not know is that in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus rides into town on TWO DONKEYS.   Count 'em: two.  A mother donkey and her colt. It's unclear how Jesus was able to physically ride on two donkeys at once, especially when they were two different sizes.  Maybe something like this:  The most plausible donkey configuration...another possibility is to ride them like water skis But this little bit of weirdness in Matthew's gospel is overwhelming evidence that the anonymous author of Matthew was INVENTING fiction in order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy--or at least, what he UNDERSTOOD to be OT prophecy. In order for fulfilled prophecy to be actually compelling, it has to be something like this: Prophecy is written down Events actually happen that fulfill the prophecy Documentation is written about the events If Step #2 does not occur, the...

Matthew 27 describes a truly astonishing and moderately creepy event that took place right after Jesus died.  The temple curtain was torn in two, there was an earthquake, and THEN...the tombs opened and many saints who had been long dead were RAISED BACK TO LIFE.   The zombies then went into the holy city, wandered around, and appeared to many (Mt 27:52-53). Actual photo evidence of the zombie uprising This is quite a thing.  If this actually happened, it should go down as one of the most astounding and miraculous things that has ever happened on this planet in all of recordable time.   So here are my thoughts: Matthew is the only gospel account that includes the zombie anecdote.  If zombies were REALLY wandering around the city, doesn't it seem odd that only Matthew wrote about this?  Did Mark, Luke, and John not know about it, or not care to write about it?  Did they not think it was important to document that people came back to life? There a...

Ask these questions to a Christian and start some fun discussions.  But make it clear that the Christian is not allowed to answer the questions with any of the following cop-outs: God works in mysterious ways We cannot possibly understand God Suffering is necessary for free will You need more faith/Pray about it You're taking it out of context That's just your interpretation (without providing a satisfying interpretation themselves) The Bible is true because it says it's true (or any other circular reasoning) God has a plan, we just don't know what it is 27 Puzzling Questions about Christianity Is Satan omniscient and all-powerful? If not, why doesn't God just get rid of him? If suffering on earth cannot be eliminated because we need to have free will, then is there free will in heaven? Where did God come from? Why did God create humans with a biological need to eat, but then not provide enough food for us (9 million people die each year of hunger)?  Doesn't tha...

Judas Iscariot is well-known for betraying Jesus in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.  It may come as a surprise to learn that he died in two different ways in the Bible--and the stories are peppered with other contradictions too.   What did Judas do with the silver? In Matthew 27, he throws the silver back at the chief priests in the temple in a fit of remorse.  The counsel then buys a field. Acts 1:18 states that Judas bought a field with the money. Apologetic response: Judas indirectly bought the field via the priests. Counter Apologetic: The apologetic response is not the best explanation of the text.  Matthew clearly states that the priests bought the field, but Acts says "this man acquired a field"...and then goes on to describe his death.  This seems to imply that Judas acquired the field and then died. It also mentions nothing of the priests. Read independently of Matthew, nobody would infer that anyone else bought the field on his behalf....

One of the common claims about the Bible is that it is inerrant --in other words, it is the divinely inspired word of God and every word of it is true.   This notion is false, and it's actually quite easy to disprove via the thousands of early biblical manuscripts in our possession today.   The ramifications of this are two-fold. If there are errors and mistakes in the Bible, then can we trust it? Would an omnipotent and omniscient God (who is SO powerful that he created the whole cosmos, millions of earth species and the entire human race) not bother to preserve the word that he divinely inspired? Especially if it were a matter of eternal life and death for his beloved children? The Bible was Copied by Hand In antiquity, there were no printing presses or copying machines.  Any material (not just the Bible) obviously had to be copied by hand by scribes.  Comparisons between manuscripts show that scribes made errors all the time--spelling errors, word swit...