Why Christians Believe Despite Questions

Taken from THE QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS HOPE NO ONE WILL
ASK by Mark Mittelberg. Copyright © 2010 by Mark Mittelberg. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

1.  What makes you so sure that God exists at all
- especially when you can’t see, hear, or touch him?
2.  Didn‘t evolution put God out of a job?
Why rely on religion in an age of science and knowledge?
3.  Why trust the Bible, a book based on myths and full of
contradictions and mistakes?
4.  Everyone knows that Jesus was a good man and a wise teacher
- but why try to make him into the Son of God, too?
5.  How could a good God allow so much evil, pain, and suffering
- or does he simply not care?
6.  Why is abortion such a line in the sand for Christians?
- why can’t I be left alone to make my own choices for my body?
7.  Why do you condemn homosexuality when it’s clear that God
made gays and that he loves all people the same?
8.  How can I trust in Christianity when so many Christians are hypocrites?
9.  Why are Christians so judgmental toward everyone who doesn’t agree with
them?
10. Why should I think that heaven really exists - and that God sends people to hell?
Taken from THE QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS HOPE NO ONE WILL

What makes you so sure
that God exists at all
- especially when you can’t
see, hear, or touch him?
- Many things are real which can't be seen or sensed in normal ways.
•  Believing the Universe popped out of nothing takes more
faith than believing God made it.
-  The universe is so precisely tuned so that it could support life, that even a micro
change from the theoretical big bang would have rendered it useless.
- All people around the world have objective moral standards.
•  Our individual experience of God supports evidence of
a transcendent moral lawgiver. Else how can we tell if
something is ultimately right or wrong?

God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and
thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

Romans 2:15 (NLT)
God, the Lord, created the heavens…

He created the earth and everything in it.

He gives … life to everyone who walks the earth.

Isaiah 42:5
Text taken from THE QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS HOPE NO ONE WILL

Didn’t evolution put God out of a job?
Why rely on religion in an age of
science and knowledge?
•  Evolution couldn’t even have gotten off the ground without:
- the environment of the universe and the ‘ingredients’ of matter
(both of which need an outside cause),
- the formation of the first life (for which scientists have no natural explanation),
- and the elaborate instructions for life—the ‘recipes’—encoded in DNA.
•  Both the fossil record and the Biblical record seem to point to a deliberate
designer who placed new life forms here fully formed. During the Cambrian
explosion the rapid appearance of numerous species without clear-cut
transitional ones between species clearly debunks evolution.
Life in a test tube?
Science has only been able to fabricate the
building block of life, amino acids, but not life itself.
Believing that amino acids evolved into us is like
believing that mud can evolve into a modern brick
home without any intervention!

Why trust the Bible, a book based on myths
and full of contradictions and mistakes?
How often do we hear things quoted out of context. Often people asking
the above question are expressing an opinion of a book they've barely read.
When answers are sought from educated scholars, then the truth is amazing.
Everyone who reads the Bible sees how it speaks with supernatural insight and
authority into our human condition. It enlightens our understanding, awakens our
heart, and convicts our conscience - it "rings true" as God's revelation, and if we have
a repentant attitude, draws us to Him as the source behind its words and wisdom.

All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful to teach us what is
true and to make us realize what
is wrong in our lives.
It corrects us when we are wrong
and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)

Many people have set out to write
accounts about the events that have
been fulﬁlled among us. They used the
eyewitness reports circulating among
us from the early disciples. Having
carefully investigated everything from
the beginning, I also have decided to
write a careful account for you . . . so
you can be certain of the truth of
everything you were taught.

Luke 1:1-4

Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures
said. He was buried, and he was raised from
the dead on the third day, just as the
Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and
then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen
by more than 500 of his followers at one time.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6

Everyone knows that Jesus was a good man and a wise teacher
- but why try to make him into the Son of God, too?
This objection seems pretty powerful at first glance.
That’s until one actually reads what Jesus said about himself and his own identity,
finds out about his sinless life and miraculous works, and assesses the overwhelming
historical case for his resurrection from the dead.
People questioning Jesus’ deity have rarely ever read the Gospels to see what Jesus
actually said and did. A scientific person can come to trust the Bible by studying the
evidence for and against it.

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in
addition to the ones recorded in this book.
But these are written so that you may continue to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by
believing in him you will have life by the power of his name
John 20:30-31

How could a good God allow so
much evil, pain, and suffering
- or does he simply not care?
People who can’t believe in a loving God because
of pain and suffering in the world, have no alternative.
No God.
In that case, what meaning do pain and suffering have?
Without God, there is no purpose for life, no better destiny, no higher ideal
- we’d be just accidental creatures in a world where only the fittest survive.
On a personal level, nobody has suffered more than Jesus, who went through
unthinkable physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual trauma - all on our behalf.
God … gave up his divine privileges; he
took the humble position of a slave and
was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form, he
humbled himself in obedience and died
a criminal’s death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems
and trials, for we know that they help us
develop endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character,
and character strengthens our conﬁdent hope
of salvation.

Romans 5:3-4

Why is abortion such a “line in the sand” for Christians
- why can’t I be left alone to make my own choices for my body?
Before supporting a woman’s right to choose abortion, ask yourself whether
you are 100% certain that there isn’t a living human child inside the womb?
If you have any doubt at all, then shouldn’t you give the child the benefit of
the doubt?
These are not choices about a ‘woman’s own body’ but about the body of
someone else who has been entrusted to her care - someone with a unique
genetic makeup - a full-fledged human life.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me
together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so
wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I
know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before
I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every
moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious
are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered.
Psalm 139:13-17
I’m less than 3 months old

Why do you condemn homosexuality when it’s clear that
God made gays and that he loves all people the same?
When Jesus interacted with the wayward Samaritan woman,
he focused on her as a person, interacting with her in a respectful
and gracious way. But he didn’t neglect her need for a Saviour.
Good Christians hope that through respect and clarity, they may
show others the loving and forgiving Saviour, who delights when
we turn into his own beloved sons and daughters.

run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly
aﬀects the body as this one does. For sexual
immorality is a sin against your own body.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the
man to be alone. I will make a helper who is
just right for him.” . . . Then the Lord God made
a woman . . . and he brought her to the man.
Genesis 2:18, 22

How can I trust in Christianity when
so many Christians are hypocrites?
You are in good company if you think this. No one
spoke more strongly about hypocrisy than Jesus did.
Jesus hated it - but also loved the people it affected enough to
hit them hard with the unvarnished truth about themselves, their attitudes
and actions, and the detrimental impact they were having on others.
That’s why Christians recognise and try to improve on their own flawed efforts,
and put their faith in the powerful and proven person of Jesus Christ himself.
Since God chose you to be the holy
people he loves, you must clothe
yourselves with tenderhearted mercy,
kindness, humility, gentleness, and
patience.

Colossians 3:12
Get rid of all the ﬁlth and evil in your lives, and
humbly accept the word God has planted in your
hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. . . . If
you claim to be religious but don’t control your
tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is
worthless.
James 1:21, 26

Why are Christians so judgmental toward
everyone who doesn’t agree with them?
Many people correctly react to judgmental Christians who
show an arrogant ‘I’m right and you’re wrong’ attitude.
Fair enough. Even the Bible is down on arrogance!
There is no place for pride, haughtiness,
or arrogance among good Christians.
Yet who in their right mind doesn’t consistently think that they are right?
Humble Christians recognise this and hope to show through humility,
love of God, and of each other, that theirs is a good way to live.

Always be humble and gentle.
Be patient with each other, making
allowance for each other’s faults
because of your love.

Ephesians 4:2

Why should I think that heaven really exists
- and that God sends people to hell?
The main argument for the reality of the afterlife,
including both heaven and hell, is that Jesus,
the One with true credentials as well as personal
experience of the afterlife, told us that these things were true.
He made it clear that heaven is a real place of eternal joy
- and that hell is a condition of anguish and regret.
In addition, God doesn’t send people to hell; people get into
this condition by clinging to their sins, and resisting God’s loving grace.

Put all your rebellion behind you, … I don’t want you to
die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!”

Ezekiel 18:31-32
I have given you the choice
between life and death, between
blessings and curses.
Now I call on heaven and earth
to witness the choice you make.
Oh, that you would choose life!

Deuteronomy 30:19
God has planted eternity in the human heart.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

The first five centuries' of Christian history
is amazing when you think about it.
The unique and radical nature of the then new Christian faith resulted in:
- Enormous transformation of thought, sensibility, culture,
morality, and spiritual imagination in pagan Rome;
- Liberation and freedom from fatalism, cosmic despair, and
the terror of occult agencies;
- Immense dignity conferred upon the human person;
- Rebellion against the cruelest aspects of pagan society;
- Demystification of political power;
- An ability to create a moral community where none had existed before; and
- The elevation of charity above all other virtues.

Among all the many great transitions that marked the evolution of early Western
civilization, whether political, philosophical, social, scientific, material or spiritual,
only the triumph of Christianity can be called in the fullest sense a “revolution”:
- a truly massive and epochal revision of humanity’s prevailing vision of reality,
- so pervasive in its influence and so vast in its consequences as to
have created a new conception of the world, of history,
of human nature, of time, and of the moral good.
It was an event immeasurably,
- more impressive in its cultural creativity, and
- more ennobling in its moral power
than any other movement of spirit, will, imagination,
aspiration, or accomplishment in early history.
Given how radically at variance Christianity was with
the culture it displaced, its eventual victory was so
improbable that it strains the limits of our
understanding of historical causality.
from Atheist Delusion
by David Bentley Hart

Everyone is endowed with spiritual sight
when they trust Christ as their Saviour.
Yet, at times a “fog” rolls in and our
spiritual vision becomes cloudy and
unclear. That happens when we
neglect our relationship with Him.

•  Imagine that a group of Scientists live inside a car
- To them, the car is their equivalent of our Earth.
•  They've figured out how the car works
- internal combustion, electronics, mechanics, etc.
•  They've even figured out how it may have been assembled.
But they don't ask who made the car, or why it was made.
•  Instead, they belittle those who faithfully believe
that others designed and constructed the car.
- This is the case for intelligent design.

Why Christians Believe Despite Questions

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