Banned questions about the Bible

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Cover Title Copyright Contents Introduction: Why a Book about Banned Questions? Questions: 1. Can I be a Christian if I don’t believe the Bible is perfect, handed down directly from God to humanity without error? 2. If Adam and Eve were the first (and only) people on Earth, where did their kids’ spouses come from? Did they marry each other? And if everyone on Earth but Noah’s family was killed in a great flood, did Noah’s kids sleep with each other? Isn’t this a sin? 3. Aren’t women treated poorly throughout the Bible? Why would any intelligent modern woman today even want to read the Bible? 4. How can a God be all-loving yet allow people to be thrown into hell? 5. What does “apocalypse” mean, and does the Bible predict one? 6. What does the Bible really say about homosexuality? 7. What are the Apocrypha, the Gnostic Gospels, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and why are they considered holy or sacred by some and not by others? 8. Doesn’t the Bible condone slavery? 9. Was the book of Revelation written in code? Or had the author gone crazy? Was he hallucinating? Were the images portrayed to be taken literally? 10. Why haven’t any new books been added to the Bible in almost two thousand years? Is there a chance that any new books will ever be added? Why or why not? 11. Is it true that the Ten Commandments found in the Bible are almost a copy of the Code of Hammurabi, which has been around longer? Why not just include the Code of Hammurabi instead of having a whole new set of rules? 12. Did God write the Bible? If so, why didn’t God simply create it miraculously, rather than using so many people over thousands of years to write it down? 13. Do Christians need to read the Old Testament? Why? 14. Does the Bible ever refer to itself as “the Bible”? If not, where did the name “Bible” come from? 15. How do we reconcile the Old Testament command for vengeance (eye for an eye) with Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek and love our enemies? 16. Is there a right or wrong way to read the Bible? 17. How do we reconcile the two different “creation stories” presented in Genesis chapters one and two? 18. Since the Bible isn’t in alphabetical or chronological order, how did it get in its current order? 19. Is there a scriptural basis for God changing God’s mind? Why? 20. Does God justify violence in scripture? What about genocide? 21. Why is the gospel of John so different from the other three gospels? 22. Hell, Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus are all labeled as “hell” by most Christians. Are they really the same? Are they all places of fiery torment? Are such things to be taken literally, metaphorically, or as myth? 23. Are there secret codes embedded in scripture? What are they? 24. How can we begin to take the Bible literally when it seems to contradict itself so often? 25. If I don’t believe every word of the Bible is literally true, how do I know what to consider in context and what to set aside? 26. In the Old Testament, God seems to be actively involved in world events. In the New Testament, God is portrayed as less interventionist but still directly involved. Now, it seems God is much more abstract. What happened, and is this a good or a bad thing? 27. Why would a merciful God allow Job’s family and fortune to be taken away, and why would God ask Abraham to kill his own son? 28. Is it true that both the gospel of John and the book of Revelation almost weren’t canonized (included in the Bible)? why? Who got to decide which books would be included in the Bible, and what rules did they use to decide? 29. Are Lucifer, the Adversary, Satan, the Beast, and the Antichrist all the same? If so, why use so many names? If not, what are their different roles, and who is in charge? 30. Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? 31. Where are all the miracles today? If they were so prevalent in biblical times, why don’t any happen today? Or do they, and we just don’t notice? 32. Are there any mistakes in the Bible? Like what? 33. In some cases, Paul (the purported author of many New Testament books) seems to support women in leadership roles in church, and in others, he says they have no place. Which is it? And why the seeming contradiction? 34. Is God “in control”? If so, does that mean God made (insert horrible thing here) happen to pull off a greater plan? Why doesn’t God intervene in a disaster? 35. Why do so many religions seem to have such similar fundamental stories, like the flood and creation stories? Are they from a common source? 36. Is it true that the word “Satan” is never used in the Bible to refer to an evil spirit? If so, where did the word come from? 37. Why is it considered immoral to get married or to have sex before age eighteen today, yet in biblical times, people (including Mary) did this all the time? 38. Does the Bible call for sexual purity? If so, what qualifies as pure and impure? 39. What is the sin of Onan, and why is it bad? 40. Are some sins worse or better than others? 41. Who gets to decide which laws in the Bible are irrefutable, which laws are out of date, and which laws should be applied only in certain situations? 42. Were there gay couples in the Bible? What about Jonathan and David? 43. If people have to be Christians to go to heaven, what happens to all of the people born before Jesus or who never hear about his ministry? 44. There are many stories recorded throughout scripture in which only one or two people were around. If so, did they write down their own stories? If not, how do we know that what is written is what happened? 45. Why would an all-knowing God begin the process of creation knowing that it would be corrupted by evil and lead to so much heartache? 46. Why would stories about a father murdering his daughter (Judg. 11) or handing his daughters over to a crowd to be raped and killed (Gen. 19) be included in the Bible? 47. Why are there so many completely different interpretations of the same scripture passages? 48. Do women need to follow the commands of 1 Peter and submit to their husbands? Why? What does it mean to submit? 49. What is the thorn in his side that Paul describes? 50. Why are (or were) the Jewish people God’s chosen people? Why not someone else? Are Christians now God’s chosen people? Contributors List, Biographies, and Suggested Resources God Image Survey