Answer Book

Contents- Questions 3- Purpose 5- Important 71 Search for truth 82 Reasoned faith 113 Bible (old part) 174 Bible (new part) 235 Physical design 358 Spiritual design7 God’s trinity8 God’s character9 Pain and suffering

10 Heaven and hell11 Jesus only way?12 Daily living13 Church14 Life wager

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Questionswhat people are asking, pulled from secular web sites

Christians should be able to give clear answers and compelling reasons

QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD> For thousands of years people have had gods and

goddesses as figments of their imagination, so why should we think Christianity is any different?

> Aren’t most of the major conflicts in the world caused by people who claim to be doing the will of God? Doesn’t religion do more harm than good?

> If there must be a Creator, then who created God?

> Isn’t it ignorant to believe that God made the first man from a handful of dust and later made the first woman from a rib taken from that man?

> What is original sin? Am I guilty and deserving of damnation because of something Adam and Eve did? What kind of justice is that?

> When the Bible says God repented (regretted) the way he made man, does that mean he made a mistake and/or was unable anticipate the bad things that would happen? Was it flawed design?

> How can Christians say that God is fair? Isn’t it obvious that some people get a better deal in life than others?

> How can anyone comprehend the concept of a three-in-one God? Why not just one God?

> If God is good and loving, and has unlimited power, then why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?

> Why aren’t divine healings indisputable? Why doesn’t God replace amputations and fix deformities?

> If God knows the future, doesn’t that mean he controls the future? Has God predestined everything? Do we really have free will?

> Why did Jesus have to die? Why didn’t God just forgive us?

> Will God send billions of people to hell because they

didn’t personally accept Jesus as Savior, even though they never heard of Jesus?

QUESTIONS ABOUT BIBLE> What is truth? How can anyone really know for sure?

> On what basis can anyone say that the Bible is more credible than the Qur’an or other holy scriptures?

> Why can’t more than one religion be true? Why only religion of the Bible?

> Who were the people who wrote the Bible? Who gave them authority to speak for God? How do we know they didn’t inject personal opinions?

> Wasn’t there some Catholic council that just picked the books, the ones they wanted to put in the Bible? How can that be the Word of God? Why didn’t God himself write the books and give them to Peter, like he wrote the Ten Commandments and gave them to Moses?

> Before the printing press, the Bible had to be penned by hand, copied and recopied dozens of times over centuries by people having personal opinions, so how do we know that the end copy is the same as the original?

> Are there different kinds of Bibles, like a Catholic Bible and Protestant Bible? What Bible is best?

> The Bible says that Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, went out and married a wife who lived in another area, so doesn’t that prove that Adam and Eve were not created as the first people on earth?

> There are unbelievable stories in the Bible, like Noah and the Ark, Moses and the Plagues, Jonah and the Big Fish, Joshua stopping the sun, Jesus walking on water ... Do Christians really believe that those things actually happened?

> How could a God of goodness and justice direct the Israelites to capture other people’s cities and kill all innocent men, women and children?

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com

The heart cannot embrace what the mind cannot accept

> Why does God condone slavery and polygamy in the Bible?

> Hasn’t science proved that evolution is a fact and that the Bible story of creation is a myth? Can a Christian believe in evolution?

> Why do Christians keep quoting the Bible itself as proof for its own accuracy? Don’t they know that this is illogical circular reasoning?

> Is there evidence outside of the Bible to support what Christians believe?

> Why won’t Christians admit that the Bible contains errors and contradictions?

> Why doesn’t God answer prayer just as the Bible promises?

> Isn’t it arrogant to claim that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that all other ways lead to hell? How do we know that God doesn’t have other ways outside the Bible that we may not even know about?

QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRISTIANS> Aren’t all religions essentially the same? Aren’t they all fear-

based and emotional? Don’t they just scare believers so they

don’t think clearly?

> Why do Christians ignore hundred of rules in the Bible but make a big deal about others? Aren’t Christians just picking and choosing the ones they like?

> Is there any evidence that heaven is more than just a desire for wish fulfillment?

> Why do the most intelligent people tend to be the least religious?

> When Jesus said people should have child-like faith, was he telling them not to think much about it? Just react emotionally? Just believe and do what you’re told?

> Who is a Christian? How does a person become a Christian?

> Why do some Christians talk so much about being saved or born-again or similar terms? Don’t they know that this is offensive to people?

> Can a Christian lose his or her salvation? How?

> Are you telling me that I’m going to hell if I don’t believe just like you do?

Purpose‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment’.

– Matthew 22:37-38

‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect ...’

– I Peter 3:15

Design criteria:+ Three books intertwined into one

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ImportantChristianity is not academic. It is a life-changing personal relationship with the living God, through Jesus Christ.

Simple faith is enough.

This book is just a resource for people who have some unanswered questions that stand in the way.

Christian Answer Book: 1 Search for truth www.christiananswerbook.com

1 Search for truthNeed truth, not opinionsThere is no end to opinions about God, origin of the world, meaning of life and what happens after death. But we want TRUTH, not opinions.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... What is truth? How can we know beyond reasonable doubt?

‘Truth’ means the way it really is, without distortions from our own inclinations, indoctrinations, culture and lack of knowledge, and for this we need to look outside of ourselves and beyond ourselves.

The first thing to know about truth is that it always exists. If truth does not exist, then it’s true that it does not exist, and thus we arrive back at truth again. It’s self-evident that truth exists, but we must find it.

This book is not about trying to discover all truth or absolute truth. This is only about discovering truth at the level of preponderance of evidence and best explanation for what we observe and experience, truth adequate to give us a high degree of confidence in our spiritual beliefs.

Sincerity does not create truth, alter truth or even identify truth. Sincerity is an attitude, not a fact. It is possible to be sincere but sincerely wrong. It’s important to be right, not just sincere.

Postmodernism is a popular philosophy today. It claims that there are no absolutes, no universal story line valid for all people. What is true for one person may not be true for another; everything is relative. This makes life easier, to slip and slide, without responsibility or feelings of guilt.

However, even a sincere postmodernist cannot dodge the issue here: Christianity is either TRUE or FALSE, for YOU. Ignoring it is deciding that it is FALSE, without fair investigation.

Truth is more than BibleMany Christians think that it’s enough simply to quote the Bible to establish truth, but this is not convincing to everyone because some say, I don’t believe the Bible, and others say, That’s just the way YOU interpret it.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why do Christians keep quoting the Bible itself as proof for its own accuracy? Don’t they know that this is illogical circular reasoning?

Critics are correct in pointing out that it is circular reasoning to

claim that the Bible is true just because it says it’s true. To a logical mind, credible outside validation is needed.

The Bible contains statements of truth, but it is not truth itself. Truth supersedes the Bible and existed before the Bible was even written.

Truth is truth, no matter when, how or where stated. The early church, during time of its most explosive growth, didn’t even have the Bible (not yet written), but it had the truth.

Universal method for truthIn the modern world, we have a universally accepted method for discovering truth, called the scientific method, a step-by-step procedure for arriving at a logical conclusion by systematic investigation and testing:

STEP 1 - Ask a question

STEP 2 - Preliminary investigation

STEP 3 - Construct a hypothesis

STEP 4 - Test hypothesis with research

STEP 5 - Examine logical coherence

STEP 6 - Validate findings by repeated observation

STEP 7 - Conclude if hypothesis is TRUE or FALSE

Definition of the method:‘Scientific method: The rules and procedures for the pursuit of knowledge involving the finding and stating of a problem, the collection of facts through observation and experiment, and the making and testing of ideas that need to be proven right or wrong.’ – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Bible says it simply:‘Test everything. Hold on to the good.’ – 1 Thessalonians 5:21

The scientific method (incorporating the historical method) is the accepted proof method used throughout the world today. It is the way people are being taught to acquire new knowledge and to correct and integrate previous knowledge.

Not everyone feels comfortable about linking God in any way with the scientific method, or vice versa, but in the modern world we can’t avoid evidence, logic and critical thinking.

Truth – real truth – must be able to withstand the rigors of any kind of investigation, of challenger’s choice.

The scientific method is a way of thinking in an orderly and methodical process, encompassing the entirety, but focusing objectively on one aspect at a time. This is not the usual way of discovery in spiritual matters, but it’s one way, helpful for people who think in logical sequential steps.

Because the scientific method is the universal truth method being taught in virtually all schools and universities today, this is the method we’ll use in this book. This is a neutral starting


place, the common ground.

First, the questionSTEP 1. The first step is to state the over-arching question, posited here:

If there is a God, what kind of God is he, and what does he require of us?

Preliminary investigationSTEP 2. The clear observation from this second step shows that most people, at all times and places, have concluded that there IS a God. Most people see a supreme intelligence at work in the universe.

Majority opinion does assure truth but is strong evidence.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... For thousands of years people have had gods and goddesses as figments of their imagination, so why should we think Christianity is any different?

This question is usually raised as a way of discrediting and trivializing religion, but actually it strengthens the case for God by showing that the awareness of a supreme being is built right into us.

Our preliminary investigation continues:

If there appears to be a God, it is logical to query whether or not he is trying to communicate with us. So, how do we communicate?

By oral word (person) and by written word (book) ...

Looking around, we then ask if there is any person who claims to be God and/or any book that claims to be words from God ...

We see a particular man (Jesus) and a particular book (Bible) stand out like mountain peaks above all else ...

Therefore, we do further investigation into the concepts taught by Jesus and recorded in the Bible – called Christianity – and distill all to its core to create a hypothesis.

This preliminary investigation also reveals that Christianity is vastly different from other religions, so different that it can be classed as a religion only in the broadest generic sense.

Religions teach that we must, by self-effort, balance the weight of all our sin against the weight of all our sacrifices, rituals and good deeds. We achieve favor with God or gods by doing more good than bad, living in a state of anxiety because we never really know the balance. In religion, salvation (from penalty of sin) is EARNED and uncertain.

Christianity teaches that we can NEVER make enough sacrifices, perform enough rituals or do enough good deeds to overcome our sin. In Christianity, salvation is through Jesus, the offered substitute, FREE and certain.

Religion is man reaching up to God. Christianity is God reaching down to man.

HypothesisSTEP 3. In this step, we compress Christianity into a written core statement, which becomes our hypothesis:

||||| God offers a free pardon and a loving personal relationship, through Jesus, requiring an individual response that shapes present life and determines eternal destiny.

This is the irreducible core of Christian beliefs.

A key concept in this hypothesis is that God not only wants us to know ABOUT him, but wants us to KNOW him. It’s personal and relational.

Next, we’ll investigate each concept within the hypothesis, one at a time: God ... offers ... free pardon ... loving personal relationship ... Jesus ... individual response ... present life ... eternal destiny.

The value of the scientific method is that it identifies the concepts of critical importance, demands proof or best explanation, and filters out everything non-essential.

Trying to process too many concepts at once causes mental fatigue, spiritual confusion and indecision. Nuances can be added later after a solid framework has been established.

Orderly examinationSTEPS 4-6. Our preliminary investigation shows that, to test our hypothesis, the whole of Christianity can be logically divided and examined in fourteen parts, and each part is a chapter of this book:

CHAPTER 1 - Search for truthCHAPTER 2 - Reasoned faith CHAPTER 3 - Bible (old part)CHAPTER 4 - Bible (new part)CHAPTER 5 - Physical designCHAPTER 6 - Spiritual designCHAPTER 7 - God’s trinityCHAPTER 8 - God’s characterCHAPTER 9 - Pain and sufferingCHAPTER 10 - Heaven and hellCHAPTER 11 - Jesus only way?CHAPTER 12 - Daily livingCHAPTER 13 - ChurchCHAPTER 14 - Life wager


Each chapter builds upon findings of the preceding chapters.

This book makes affirmative arguments (for Christianity) because that’s what is required by the scientific method. The major affirmative arguments are easy to state because they are cohesive, all drawn from the Bible, the book Christians believe is authoritative word of God.

Negative arguments (against Christianity) are also stated here, but they are neither cohesive nor found in a single source document. Negative arguments can include practically every thought and experience imaginable, plus conflicting concepts from other religions. The negative arguments stated here are common anti-Christian arguments pulled from atheist web sites.

Reader’s conclusionSTEP 7. In the final step, everything comes together so that each reader has the essential facts and rationale to personally decide whether the hypothesis is TRUE or FALSE and to evaluate consequences of that decision.

This is theology handbookAlmost all spiritual questions are variations of three primary questions, the most important questions in life:

ORIGIN: Where did I come from?

MEANING: Why am I here?

DESTINY: Where am I going?

These questions form the essence of theology.

This book reads like a theology handbook, and essentially that’s what it becomes.

If you’re not interested in the scientific method, just ignore the process and read the content as a theology handbook for a logical and organized explanation of the entirety of

Christian faith.

This book endeavors to make Christian theology interesting and easy to understand. Everything essential is here, in one place, summarized, in plain language.

This book explains not only WHAT Christians believe, but also WHY.

This book addresses the big questions people are asking today about God, Bible and Christians. The information here helps Christians engage more fully in the wider intellectual and cultural world.

This book is suitable for believers, doubters and nonbelievers alike. Everyone can benefit from the information here, to facilitate understanding and conversation.

This book is easy to distribute. It is available in all modern digital formats. It can be read on screen or printed on paper. And it’s free, without registration or advertising.

CHAPTER 1 SUMMARYChristians may be content simply to point to the Bible as the source of truth, but for skeptics and unbelievers it’s not convincing to say that the Bible is true just because it says it’s true. They need more evidence.

There is a universally accepted method for determining truth today – the scientific method – taught in virtually all schools and universities everywhere. This book uses this method to examine biblical Christianity, to test whether it is TRUE or FALSE.

In the process, a theology handbook is produced, helpful to believers, doubters and unbelievers alike.

Therefore, this book looks different to different people, depending on how it is used: theology handbook ... test of Christianity by scientific method ... or answers to difficult questions about God, Bible and Christians ... all in one.

• Search for truth • Reasoned faith • Bible (old part) • Bible (new part) • Physical design • Spiritual design • God’s trinity • God’s character • Pain and suffering • Heaven and hell • Jesus only way? • Daily living • Church • Life wager

Christian Answer Book: 2 Reasoned faith www.christiananswerbook.com

2 Reasoned faithSearch for truth, find faith At the outset, we quickly recognize the shortcoming of the scientific method when attempting to use it to find truth about spiritual matters:

The full FACT of something cannot be known until it actually happens.

For example, until death, no one can prove or disprove that a person will go to heaven, even through the Bible provides the criteria. Until then, it is faith, not fact.

That’s why Christianity is called the Christian faith, and why Christians share their faith.

Similarly, until the driver of a car actually steps on the brake pedal next time, no one can say it is true that the brakes will stop the car. However, the probability is so high that it’s tantamount to proof.

Therefore, truth, probabilities and faith are interrelated.

In this book, we search for truth, but we end up with faith – strong faith, with high degree of confidence – the closest we can come to absolute truth.

What is faith?Faith is not a thing or quality. It is not religious exercise or resolute disposition. It is not a virtue. There is nothing either good or bad about believing or not believing something.

Faith comes from evidence, which is rational, not moral.

Definition of faith:

‘Faith: Firm belief in something for which there is no proof.’

– Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Bible puts it this way:

‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’

– Hebrews 11:1

A wise person believes something because of the weight of evidence for it, not merely because he feels like believing it, or because it’s convenient to believe it, or because others tell him to believe it.

A measure of a person’s wisdom and maturity is how far out in time he can plan and work. Here’s a question to put things in perspective:

Will anything I believe today, or don’t believe today, make any difference to me 100 years from now?

Over the very long run, most of our beliefs really don’t matter

very much, but what we believe about God – and how we respond to him – affects us forever. Nothing is more important than the accuracy of our spiritual faith.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why do the most intelligent people tend to be the least religious?

The most intelligent people tend to be the least religious because they are usually more self-confident, less socially and economically needy, proud of their intelligence and accomplishments.

Their lack of interest in God has less to do with truth than with pride.

A common notion is that faith is for weak people who don’t think for themselves. Actually, faith is for everyone – educated and uneducated, rich and poor – and has nothing to do with weakness or strength. Many of our great universities were founded by men of faith. Martyrs – people tortured and killed for refusing to recant their faith – are some of the strongest people who have ever lived.

Faith is not the same as hope. Faith is about the current situation, and hope is a projection into the future. However, no one can have hope without faith; when there is hope, some faith underlies it.

Faith is nothing apart from its object. What is good or bad is not the faith, but who or what we have faith in.

Three kinds of faith There are basic three kinds of faith:

1 Reasoned faith – what we learn and believe from personal investigation and thinking

2 Experienced faith – what we learn and believe from actual personal experience

3 Indoctrinated faith – what we learn and believe from people who influence us

All three are valid ways of developing faith. A person’s faith is usually a blend of all three.

Each kind of faith has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The strength of reasoned faith is that it reveals not only WHAT but also WHY and is a cohesive whole. Its weakness is that it can become too academic.

The strength of experienced faith is that it comes with deep conviction. A person may not understand much about it but knows that it works in real life. Its weakness is that feelings are not always a trustworthy test of truth and that a person may not discover some essential truths without information from others.

The strength of indoctrinated faith is that it transfers information to us from people we respect and trust. We don’t


live long enough to study and experience everything all by ourselves. Its weakness is that we can be easily mislead. Just because someone says that something is true does not mean it really is. Many cultural myths develop and get passed along from generation to generation disguised as truth but are often false or irrelevant.

This book is about reasoned faith but does not diminish the importance and validity of other kinds of faith.

Simple faith enoughJesus said there are no preconditions for faith:

‘People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them,

‘Truly I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

‘And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.’ – Mark 10:13-16

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... When Jesus said people should have child-like faith, was he telling them not to think much about it? Just react emotionally? Just believe and do what you’re told?

What Jesus taught in this encounter:

• Children are not dumb; they just don’t know very much yet. Like them, we should be eager to learn and discover, with the curiosity of a wide-eyed child asking his father ‘Why??’ The child won’t completely comprehend now, but will learn more in time.

• We receive the kingdom of God on the basis of simple faith, not knowledge or accomplishments. We don’t have to pass an entrance exam. God accepts us just the way we are, at any stage of life. No one is turned away.

This does not mean that we should not be well-educated, discerning, successful and worldly-wise, but only that those things have nothing to do with the efficacy of our faith. Simple faith is enough.

Here’s how the Apostle Paul used the child metaphor:

‘When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.’

– I Corinthians 13:11

Simple faith is the basis for our relationship with God, but God wants us to grow and mature in our faith.

Faith and risk Faith is usually associated with some kind of risk.

We live our life by faith every day. We have faith in our brakes ... surgeon ... financial advisor. All day long we put faith in the things and people we trust. There can be very bad consequences if our faith is wrongly placed.

The greater the risk, the more important the accuracy of our faith. Christians believe that the most important faith of all is spiritual faith because it carries the greatest risk.

At any moment death can seal a person’s eternal destiny, and Christians believe that those who had wrongly placed spiritual faith will forever curse themselves for not making the right decision while there was still time.

Fear-based religionMost religions teach that some day we will individually stand judgment for what we have done with our life, rewarded for good choices and punished for bad choices.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Aren’t all religions essentially the same? Aren’t they all fear-based and emotional? Don’t they just scare believers so they don’t think clearly?

Scoffers reject religion by saying that it is just a tool powerful people have created to cause ignorant people to live in fear and thus become compliant.

However, a strong argument for belief in judgment after death is that this knowledge seems to be built right into us. It won’t go away no matter how hard we try to get rid of it, even when we become more enlightened.

It is true that most religions require adherents to perform prescribed rituals and deeds, with fear of dire consequences for non-performance. However, Christianity in its pure form does not impose fear of consequences for non-performance but only fear of consequences for rejecting God’s free gift of love (Jesus). That’s a huge difference.

How people misuse religion is not the issue here. The issue is whether or not there really is something to fear after death.

Religion and politicsHistory shows that there is usually a power struggle between the general population and a small elite wanting control in order to secure and maintain special privileges for themselves.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Aren’t most major conflicts in the world caused by


people who claim to be doing the will of God? Doesn’t religion do more harm than good?

The elite have physical and economic power, but that’s usually not enough, so they seek additional power through fear. One of the most effective ways to induce fear into a population is through religion, either to divide and divert attention or to claim a mandate from God.

Religion becomes a harmful force in the world when it is used as a tool for political purposes.

For example, in Israel in Jesus’ time, the Jewish king was in alliance with the Roman Emperor ... in Europe in the middle ages, the state merged the church into the government ... in the Middle East today, men with political ambitions are using Islam to gain power and expand territory.

Merging religious institutions into political structures makes religion a harmful force in the world. Corruption of religion by politics, however, is not a valid reason for rejecting or mis-characterizing pure Christianity.

Love overcomes fearThere IS a fear aspect of Christianity – sin, judgment, heaven and hell. This is no small matter. Fear is a motivator for Christian faith.

In other religions, fear is about not doing things right – rituals, observances and behaviors – constant fear of failing, of incurring the wrath of an angry or capricious god.

In Christianity, however, there is no fear except the fear of rejecting God’s offer, or ignoring it. The only thing to fear is the consequence of telling God – by word, action or inaction – that Jesus is not needed or wanted.

In Christianity, when a person responds to God’s love – i.e., accepts God’s offer (Jesus) – God’s love cancels all fear of what will happen after death.

‘God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. Love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

‘The man who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he fist loved us.’

– I John 4:16-19

Because there will be no punishment (because of the pardon), there is no fear of life after death.

More than one religion true? There are many major contradictory beliefs between

Christianity, on one side, and Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all other religions on the other side.

The law of non-contradiction, a rule of logic stating that two contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time, says that when one religion is contradictory to another religion on major issues, only one can be true, and the other must be false.

This book follows the scientific method, which mandates that there can be only one hypothesis at a time. Our hypothesis here is about Christianity only:


Perhaps others will submit their religions to test by the scientific method, but this is about Christianity only.

The scientific method does not jumble things together in comparisons. Rather, this method takes one thing at a time and tests it for being either TRUE or FALSE.

This is a critical and complicated question, examined in depth in Chapter 11 titled Jesus only way?

Quick survey of major religionsMost non-Christians are also sincere – though often not very diligent – in searching for truth, but they have come to different conclusions, expressed mostly in the world’s major religions:

Besides Christian, the major blocks of spiritual faith today are Muslim, Hindu and Non-Religious, together accounting for approximately 85% of the world’s population.

Other religions, the remaining 15%, include (in order) Chinese traditional, Buddhism, primal-indiginous, African traditional, Sikhism, Juche, spiritism and Judaism. (Confucianism is a philosophy, not a religion, usually interwoven with a religion.)

The three great monotheistic (one God) religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Christianity and Islam both grew out of Judaism, but today there are only about 14 million Jews in the entire world. The Jews of the Bible (Old Testament) had a profound role in formation of the world’s religions. Christians, Muslims and Jews still believe that the Old Testament is inspired scripture given by God.


This book is not a comparative study of religions or an attempt to show that one religion is better than another.

This is an investigation with the single purpose of determining whether Christianity is TRUE or FALSE, irrespective of other religions.

However, as background to put Christianity into context with other spiritual thought, following is a brief overview of the world’s major religions before proceeding to test our hypothesis (core Christian beliefs).

Muslim faithIn Islam (name of the religion), God is called Allah and Jesus is called Isa. Adherents are called Muslims. Their most recent and most revered prophet is Muhammad, AD 570-632, who founded the religion in the Arabian city of Mecca. Their holy scripture is the Qur’an.

Major similarities with Christian faith:• Believe the Old Testament, as do Christians and Jews

• Believe God is the almighty creator and sustainer of the universe

• Believe man has a sin problem and needs divine forgiveness

• Believe in prayer and God’s will

• Believe in meeting together frequently (Friday) at a special place (mosque) for worship, prayer and teaching

• Believe in judgment, resurrection, heaven (paradise) and hell

• Believe Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, performed miracles, ascended into heaven and will return again

Major differences with Christian faith:• Believe Jesus was a prophet like Abraham, Moses, Noah, and Mohammed ... do not believe in the trinity ... do not believe Jesus was crucified as sacrifice for man’s sins ... do not believe Jesus was divine, but had a divine spirit

• Believe the Qur’an is the latest and authoritative sacred text from Allah, dictated to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel ... believe the Bible New Testament has been so corrupted by Christians that it’s now blasphemy

• Believe salvation is by laws, rituals and good works, pleasing Allah

• Believe secular and spiritual are totally integrated in daily life ... many believe government law should be same (sharia) as religious law

To become a Muslim, a person simply recites a sentence called the Testimony of Faith (shahada) in Arabic. Translated, the words mean:

I testify that ‘There is no true God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger (prophet) of Allah.’

When a person says the shahada with conviction in the presence of two Muslims, the person becomes a Muslim. It’s very simple, and no turning back.

The Five Pillars are the practices of Islam:

• Declaring there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s messenger (shahada)

• Ritual prayer five times a day (salat), facing Mecca, using prescribed Arabic words and body positions

• Giving 2.5% of one’s accumulated wealth to the poor and needy each year

• Fasting and self-control during the holy month of Ramadan

• Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in a lifetime, if possible

Ritual prayer and recitations from the Qur’an must be said in Arabic. The English language, and most languages, cannot fully and accurately convey Arabic sounds, so listening to recordings and getting instructions from Muslim teachers is necessary and involves considerable memorization.

Muslims believe that Allah appoints two angels (Kiraman Katibin) for each person as honorable recorders to carefully observe every detail of the person’s life. They sit on the person’s shoulders so they can see and hear every detail. The angel on the right shoulder records good deeds, while the angel on the left shoulder records bad deeds.

On the Day of Judgment, the two books will be presented to Allah. If the books have more positive points (ithim) than negative points (ithim), the person enters into paradise forever, otherwise into hell forever. People will be able to read the records on the Day of Judgment so they can understand why Allah is sending them to either heaven or hell. In ways not understood, Allah is merciful and may make exceptions for some entries in the books.

The Qur’an gives two exceptions to the general rule: (1) Warriors (jihad) who die fighting the cause of Allah are sent immediately and directly to heaven, and (2) upon death the enemies of Islam are sent immediately and directly to hell. Within Islam, there is considerable debate and dispute about how to interpret these exceptions.

There are many denominations within Islam, each with somewhat different teachings, practices and emphasis, often internally quarrelsome and militant. There is no worldwide leader or central organization.

All Muslims agree that there is no God but Allah ... Mohammed is his messenger ... the Qur’an is sacred scripture ... there is eternal life after death in heaven or hell ... the New Testament has been thoroughly corrupted by generations of Christians ... Jesus is a revered prophet but not divine and not needed for salvation.

Muslims believe that over a period of 22 years the angel Gabriel dictated to Mohammed the words from Allah that now comprise the Qur’an. It must be printed and read in Arabic, the language


in which it was written, and any translation in whole or part is frowned upon and not regarded as sacred text.

In Islam, there is a very grave sin called skirk, which means placing some idea or thing as a ‘rival’ or ‘partner’ beside Allah, which is idolatry. If not stopped and repented, shirk can cause a person to burn in hell forever.

Because Christians believe in the divinity of Jesus, Muslims regard Christians as idolaters and infidels. Muslims can be friends with Christians, but listening to a Christian testimony or reading an explanation of Christian faith is regarded by many Muslims to be shirk. For this reason, it’s usually difficult to have meaningful spiritual dialog with Muslims.

A mosque is a local place of worship for followers of Islam, where Muslims come together for salat (prayer). It is also a center for information, education, and settlement of disputes. Mosques are a focal point in the community, where people meet and greet one another, share news, and children are trained in the faith.

Each mosque has an imam, the worship leader and community leader, comparable to a Christian pastor. He is usually chosen as the person with best knowledge of the Qur’an. Music is forbidden in the mosque.

For Muslims, Friday is a holy day of prayer, similar to Christians’ Sunday. In Muslim countries Friday is typically the day off, but is not regarded as a day of rest.

It is mandatory for men, and optional for women, to offer early afternoon Friday communal prayer, known as jumma. During Friday lunchtime, Muslims are required to take a break from their work or other worldly activities and go to the mosque. Prayer in congregation is considered to have much more spiritual and social benefit than praying alone.

After ritual washing, the Friday service in the mosque begins with a call to prayer, followed by reading from the Qur’an and a sermon by the imam, then another call to prayer and supplications, then people are free to return to their workplaces.

Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified but instead was raised by God into the heavens. They believe that the mahdi (a person, maybe now already alive, the prophesied redeemer), the 12th imam) will soon come to power and rule for seven, nine, or nineteen years (according to differing interpretations) before the Day of Judgment. After about six years of fierce wars, Jesus will come to earth again, and together with the mahdi they will bring peace and establish righteousness throughout the world, and everyone will become a true Muslim.

According to the Qur’an, Muhammad’s mission was not to establish a new religion but, in a world dominated by polytheism, to extend and purify the monotheism taught by Adam, Noah, Abraham and Jesus.

Muslims believe that Christians corrupted the message by calling Jesus divine (Trinity) and calling Mary the mother of God. They have deep seated bitterness toward Jews because Jews never accepted Muhammad as a prophet, and now primarily because of the way Israelis treat Palestinians.

Hindu faithIn contrast to the stark and exacting Muslim faith, Hindu faith is so diverse and amorphous that it practically defies description.

Hinduism is a loose blending of many spiritual beliefs developed over thousands of years on the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism does not have any single person (like Jesus or Mohammed) or any single book (like the Bible or the Qu’ran) to serve as the primary source of its doctrines. Instead, Hinduism has many ancient and sacred writings, which are a mixture of prayers, hymns, rituals, philosophy, social law and stories about Hindu gods and goddesses. Major scriptures include the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita.

Hindus worship many deities. Individuals pick and choose the gods to call upon to help with everyday hopes and problems. Hindus are monotheists at heart, however, because they believe in one High God – Brahman, ‘the Absolute’ – who rules over the world with the aid of many lesser gods.

To the educated Hindu, the lesser gods have a status similar to that of saints and angels in certain branches of Christianity, but to the ordinary or village Hindu, these gods are considerably more important.

Even though divinities appear in separate forms, most Hindus believe they are part of the one universal spirit, Brahman, the supreme existence, who is the eternal Trimutri (trinity) consisting of: Brahma, the creator of the universe; Visnu, the preserver; and Siva, the destroyer. Each of these three main gods in the Hindu trinity have hundreds of sub-divinities.

The famous Hindu equation is: Atman = Brahman (the soul of man is God). Hindus rebel against the Jewish, Christian and Muslim view that God is external to the world. They believe that man and gods are all part of the same great spirit.

Families usually support whatever particular sect of Hinduism is part of their family tradition. Hindus worship as individuals, not as congregations. There are no specific days or times for worship.

A communal Hindu building for worship is called a mandir (Hindu Temple), a place where humans and gods can meet, a place of transcendence where man can cross over from the world of illusion to the world of knowledge and truth.

There are many different types and sizes of mandirs, adapted to different deities and regional beliefs. Each mandir is dedicated to a particular god or goddess and is the deity’s home on earth. The most holy part of the mandir is an inner shrine called a garbhargriha with a muri (statute) of the god or goddess.

In mandirs, Hindus make offerings to murtis. A murti (idol) is a representation of a god or goddess, usually made of stone, pottery, wood, or metal, which serves as a means through which a divinity is worshiped. Hindus don’t worship the murti itself but the deity who is represented by it and is believed to dwell in it.

Hindu worship most often takes place outside the murtis, usually in the home.


Most Hindus keep a shrine in their home, dedicated to a particular deity, varying in size from an entire room to only a corner of a bedroom. This sacred space, like a shrine in a murti, is carefully maintained. Here, family members worship both collectively and individually.

In a typical shrine, there’s a photograph of the chosen deity on the table, shelf or wall. There’s water, fruit, flowers and incense offered to the deity. There’s a bell, rung for prayer, and an oil lamp, lit during worship. There’s a book of scripture from which prayers are read. And other symbols, gods, and gurus may also be part of the shrine.

Hindus often chant mantras as part of their worship. A mantra is a sacred musical sound in the form of a syllable, word, prayer, phrase or hymn, usually uttered in Sanskrit. Mantras are sacred formulas that produce a desired result in the mind or body of the individual. Some mantras are used to invoke gods, inflict harm on others, and seek protection from enemies and evil spirits.

Hindus believe that when the body dies, the soul is reborn. A person’s every action influences how his soul will be reborn in the next reincarnation. If a person performs honorable deeds and lives a good life, his soul will be reborn into a higher state, as into the body of a person of noble standing. If a person performs evil deeds and leads a bad life, his soul will be reborn into a lower state, as into the body of a worm.

To the Hindu way of thinking, whatever is IS – it’s karma (fate) based on the actions of previous lifetimes – and there is nothing we can do but to accept our karma and strive to make things a little better for the next lifetime.

For a Hindu, the chief aim of existence is to be freed from the relentless cycle of births, deaths and rebirths.

A person’s reincarnations continue until he achieves spiritual perfection by following one of three paths: Knowledge (knowing and experiencing that he is a part of the ultimate Brahman and not a separate entity), devotion (loving and obeying a particular deity), or ritual works (carrying out prescribed ceremonies, duties and religious rites). When this perfection occurs, his soul is freed from the chain of rebirths. He then enters a new level of existence, called mosksha, which is eternal blissful rest in Brahman.

In actual practice, many Hindus are syncretic and blend concepts from many schools of religious thought to formulate uniquely personal beliefs. For example, the famous Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi saw no contradiction in saying that he was a Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Jew – all at the same time.

Atheist / agnostic faithAtheists and agnostics have faith, too. Everyone – even if he doesn’t believe in God – attempts to make sense of the reality around him. If he doesn’t attribute the world’s existence to God,

he forms an alternative naturalistic explanation for the world and has faith in that explanation.

Atheists believe there is no evidence for existence of any God. They see nothing in the universe except blind and unconscious force. They explain all of existence in natural rather than supernatural terms. Atheists have faith that there is no God.

Agnostics don’t believe anything about God, saying that there isn’t enough evidence to believe either way. The dominant form of agnosticism today is secular humanism, a philosophy which interprets the being of man solely within the human sciences and makes man himself the subject, source and primary object of values. Agnostics have faith in man alone, without need for God.

Agnostics and atheists usually pose as intellectuals. They say their views come by reason, not by faith. But their views ARE by faith, because they, like EVERYONE, must make a choice of two basic views of life:

1. The universe bears evidence of intelligent design, or

2. The universe just happened by chance by itself.

Either choice requires faith. And not choosing at all is still by faith – faith that a choice is inconsequential.

CHAPTER 2 SUMMARYThe scientific method cannot PROVE TRUTH in spiritual matters because past events cannot be replicated for verification and because future events are not yet accomplished facts. But neither can the historical method, legal method, philosophical method, or any other method PROVE or DISPROVE spiritual truth.

However, the scientific method comes closest to absolute truth, and it gives a high probability of truth, a strong faith that is practically tantamount to absolute truth.

Atheists, agnostics and skeptics are not absolved by saying that they live by facts, not by faith, because they, too, are in fact living by faith until all relevant facts become known after death.

Every position – Christian, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, agnostic and all other – is by FAITH, whether rightly placed or wrongly placed.

With this understanding of faith, and with an overview of religious thought, we proceed now to an examination of our hypothesis (core Christian beliefs):



Christian Answer Book: 3 Bible (old part) www.christiananswerbook.com

3 Bible (old part)Bible credibilityThis book and hypothesis is about Christianity, and since the Bible is the foundation document for Christianity, it is necessary to establish the Bible’s credibility, the purpose of this chapter.

Webster’s dictionary definition:

bible: a publication that is preeminent especially in authoritativeness or wide readership

the Bible: the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament

But even before asking whether or not the Bible is credible, we should first ask WHY a bible is needed and how we got the Bible.

Imagine if the message from Jesus were oral only, and the message were conveyed by people word-of-mouth from generation to generation for two millenniums. How many versions would we have? How would anyone know what to believe?

If God wants a relationship with us, as stated in the hypothesis (core Christian beliefs), we would expect him to give us an authoritative Bible (divine book), otherwise the message would become so diverse, distorted and contradictory over time that no one would have confidence in it.

After nearly 2,000 years, all Christians still agree on the words of the Bible, and it is still the world’s most read book, which by itself is evidence of a divine book.

How people regard the BibleA recent Gallup Poll in the United States asked this question:

Which of the following statements comes closest to describing your views about the Bible?

• The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word

• The Bible is the actual word of God, but multiple interpretations are possible

• The Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally

• The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man

Here are the survey findings:

Three out of every four people in the United States regard the Bible as the Word of God.

Bible structureThe Bible is not a book in the usual sense of the word. Actually, it’s a collection of 66 spiritual documents, all remarkably preserved and authenticated, and now translated, in whole or in part, into more than 3,000 languages.

Think of the Bible as a mini-library with certified information about God.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to understand that the Bible consists of two major parts, very different from each other:

1. Old Testament and

2. New Testament.

Testament means covenant, contract or agreement. The OLD agreement and the NEW agreement: The way God used to deal with people, before Christ, and the way God deals with us today.

Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in the Old Testament, but the New Testament is uniquely Christian.

When talking about religious traditions, Jesus often qualified his teaching with words like this: The scriptures say ..., but I say ... to contrast the differences between the old and the new.

Bible size and ageAs we experience the Bible today, our single printed volume is 66 small books bound together, about 1,200 pages in total, arranged in approximate historical sequence.

Here is the breakdown by number of pages:

• 77% of the Bible is the 39 books of the Old Testament (Catholics and Orthodox insert seven non-conflicting additional books between the testaments). The Old Testament is a history of how God dealt with the Jewish people, before Christ.


• 10% is the four gospels, eye-witness accounts of the life of Jesus.

• 3% is the book of Acts, a record of the teachings and growth of the early church.

• 8% is 21 letters of instruction from apostles (those who had been taught by Christ personally) to new churches springing up throughout the Roman Empire.

• 2% is the book of Revelation, the Apostle John’s vision about heaven.

The 39 books of the Old Testament, written in Hebrew, can be classified into four broad sections:

• The first five books tell the story of Israel from creation to death of Moses

• The next 12 books tell the story of Israel from conquest of Canaan to defeat and exile in Babylon

• The next 5 books of poetry and wisdom deal with questions of good and evil

• The final 17 books by prophets warn Israelites of the consequences of turning away from God

Exact dating of the Old Testament books is uncertain, but scholars generally believe they were written 1450-450 BC.

The New Testament books were written 49-100 AD.

There was a time period of about 500 years between the last-written book of the Old Testament and the first-written book of the New Testament, a time period of biblical silence about the Jewish people, before the Christian era.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Who were the people who wrote the Bible? Who gave them authority to speak for God and quote God? How do we know they got it right?

Bible writersApproximately 40 different people, working independently, were used by God to write the Bible.

They came from different geographic areas, different political systems and different social situations. They came from different walks of life – including king, farmer, shepherd, doctor, fisherman, priest, philosopher and tax collector.

They ranged from educated to uneducated, from rich to poor. They lived on three different continents, spanning a period of more than 1500 years.

Christians believe that God chose, inspired and directed these writers, and that is why, when all of these independent writings are put together, they read as a single coordinated document.

The Old Testament books were written by religious leaders of their time (including Moses, Joshua, King David and King Solomon) and by prophets (including Isaiah, Ezra, Nehemiah and Jeremiah).

The first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch or Torah, generally believed to have been written by Moses, covers a long period prior to his own lifetime. There is considerable speculation about how this historical information was passed along orally from generation to generation before Moses put it in writing.

There is so much we don’t know about origin of the Old Testament, but here are two important known facts:

• Since Moses, Jewish scribes over the centuries have had rigid regulations for making copies and preserving integrity of the manuscripts.

• By time of Jesus, the Old Testament was already accepted and codified by the Jewish people as divinely inspired, and it was acknowledged as sacred scripture by Jesus and the apostles.

We know how the New Testament was written and assembled, and how it’s credibility has been tested, explained in Chapter 4.

Unbelievable narrativesMost people find some narratives in the Bible to be unbelievable, and they are major stumbling blocks to Christian faith.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... There are unbelievable stories in the Bible, like Noah and the Ark, Moses and the Plagues, Jonah and the Big Fish, Joshua stopping the sun ... Jesus walking on water ... Do Christians really believe that those things actually happened?

Unbelievers ridicule these narratives and find it incredulous that intelligent Christians could believe them. Many Christians have a problem believing them, too, and shun any questioning about them.

There are four kinds of narratives that cause the greatest disbelief or doubt:

• Old Testament implausible stories

• Old Testament killings

• New Testament miracles (see Chapter 4)

• New Testament Revelation (see Chapter 4)

Old Testament storiesExamples of Old Testament stories that people find unbelievable: Eve Made from Adam’s Rib, Talking Snake in


Garden of Eden, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Big Fish, Pharaoh and his Magicians, Moses Parting the Red Sea, Joshua Stopping the Sun, Three Men alive in Fiery Furnace ...

Some people, even Christians, abuse these stories by telling them in such fanciful ways that unbelievers get the impression that the Bible is a book of fairy tales, not to be taken seriously.

Most of the implausible stories are in the first five books of the Old Testament – the Pentateuch – written by Moses. As we would expect from any history, the further we go back in time, the more the stories from that period seem weird to us.

Christians, individually, differ in how to deal with the Old Testament implausible stories, but basically in one of two ways:

1 Literal. The events actually happened, literally, in detail, exactly as recorded in the Bible.

2 Figurative. The events are figurative (parables, symbols), told by ancient people before written language, to convey important concepts to be remembered and passed along from generation to generation.

Literal viewChristians who hold the literal view believe that every story happened exactly as written in the Old Testament. The stories may not make sense to us today, they say, but if God can create a universe, he can do any of the miraculous things told in any of the stories.

About 22% of Americans hold the literal view. Their position is that we should read and understand the Bible in a plain and straightforward manner.

The Bible is written in many different literary styles. We should recognize the difference between history, metaphor, prophesy, allegory, simile, hyperbole, and other types, and read accordingly. Genesis was written as historical narrative, and therefore should be understood as a record of actual historical events.

We elevate ourselves above God if we think we can decide what parts of the Bible should be interpreted literally and what parts figuratively. Confusion and debate over who has the best interpretation for a particular time and place would eventually make the Bible worthless. We must believe exactly what the Bible says, they say, and not manipulate it to mean whatever we want it to mean.

Figurative viewChristians who hold the figurative view believe that many stories in the Bible are symbolic and not necessarily actual events, used to paint mental pictures of ideas not easily expressed or remembered in words.

About 56% of Americans hold the figurative view.

When the Bible says, for example, that God formed the dry land and the heavens with his hands, or that the sun rises,

they say that this should be understood symbolically, not literally. Similarly, the snake in the Garden of Eden should be understood to be a symbol of Satan’s temptations, not a real talking snake.

They say that people who hold the literal view of these Old Testament stories are demanding a more literal interpretation for Moses’ sayings than for Jesus’ sayings. For example, Jesus made extensive use of parables, universally acknowledged as a excellent way of teaching.

Definition of parable:

‘Parable: A story intended to teach a basic truth or moral about life.’


The Bible records 46 of Jesus’ parables, like the Good Samaritan, Sower and Seed and House Built on Sand. People rarely question whether or not these stories actually happened, and the historicity or science is not important.

Before people could read or write, story telling, not propositional teaching, was the common way of passing information from generation to generation. Most scholars believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch about 1450 B.C., which means that he may have been reporting stories that had been passed along through thousands of years before him, with the central message still intact.

Writers in ancient eras didn’t know anything about science. Purpose of their message was simply to say that God made everything ... God has given rules ... God must be obeyed ... disobedience will be punished ... pagan gods have no power and must not be worshiped.

People who hold the figurative view say that it doesn’t matter how Moses, or any Bible writer, presents the information as long as the spiritual message is understood by the intended audience.

We should take literal statements literally, and figurative statements figuratively, using common sense and knowledge of language to know the difference.

Even if a storied event didn’t actually happen, they say, it’s still a valuable teaching tool. Pastors use Old Testament stories extensively (perhaps much like the ancients did) to teach, not so much for history but to illustrate and reinforce spiritual principles applicable for our lives today, often intertwined with propositional teaching from the New Testament.

Non-essentialsReferring back to the Gallop Survey, and using the Genesis 1 story of creation as an example:

• People answering Literal (22%) would likely say that the universe was created by God in six days of 24 hours each, and that man was created instantly on the sixth day.

• People answering Interpretations (28%) would likely say that days (Hebrew yom) means long periods of time, and that God made man as a special creation at a late point on


the time line.

• People answering Inspired (28%) would likely say that God made the universe and all life slowly according to his evolutionary plan and that, at some late point in time, he gave man the unique ability to know right from wrong and to make moral and spiritual decisions.

Which is the truth? It’s OK to say, I don’t know.

The differences are only about timing and method, not about God’s power or purpose. All three answers affirm that God is designer/creator, that man has a critical sin problem, and that Jesus is Savior, which are the essential issues.

In a heated exchange with quibbling religious leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus said:

‘You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.’

– Matthew 23:24

Jesus used figurative speech to make his point. Of course, they didn’t swallow a camel, but the imagery communicates a strong message: Don’t fuss over little things while ignoring the big things!

It doesn’t make sense for Christians to fight either to attack or defend views about the past that are non-essential. Fighting over non-essentials obscures the gospel.

Old Testament killingsAnother problem category with the Old Testament is the mass killing of men, women and children, even when one of God’s Ten Commandments was ‘Thou shall not kill.’

Examples: The flood, destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, killing Egyptian first-born sons, killing Canaanites under Moses and Joshua, and killing Amalekites under Saul.

In the first three examples, there was no human agent involved; God himself did the killing. In others, the killing was done by the Israelites, but at God’s command.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... How could a God of goodness and justice direct the Israelites to capture other people’s cities and kill all innocent men, women and children?

Unlike the problem of Old Testament implausible stories, objective Bible reading in the killing category cannot be construed to be symbolic because writing style is clearly a historical record.

Some Christians resolve the problem in their minds by saying that these people were not innocent (they were sinners) and that God administered justice to them. But others say this is a weak argument because the victims didn’t have the same knowledge of God as the Israelites, and they were not God’s

chosen people.

Most Christians cannot reconcile the character and actions of God in the Old Testament (often angry and vindictive) with the character and actions of God in the New Testament (loving and forgiving).

The very definition of God means that he is sovereign. He can do whatever he wants, and he can change his dealings with us whenever he wants, whether or not we like it or understand it.

Apparently we can get no closer to an answer than this statement in the Bible:

‘But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

‘What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy?’ – Romans 9:20-23

Human life had little value before the Christian era, and mass killings were common throughout the world.

Jesus coming to earth changed everything. He is the pivot point in human history. As Christianity spread, it brought higher value to human life, and even secular nations began to adopt Christian principles.

As discussed in Chapter 8, God’s character is HOLY, JUST and LOVE. In the Old Testament, we mostly see only part of him – holiness, but not much justice and love except to a small band of Jews. In the New Testament, we see God in his fullness through the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), discussed in Chapter 7.

This raises the question of why God waited so long to send Jesus. It was long in years but actually very inclusive in scope. Historians have calculated that 98% of all people who have ever lived have lived in the Christian era. (Chapter 10 deals with the question of how God deals with people who lived before Jesus or never heard about Jesus.)

Old Testament lawsThere are 613 laws (commandments) in the Old Testament, together called the Law of Moses, Mosaic Law or just the Law.

The Law was given to the Israelites when they were still a band of ex-slaves struggling to survive in the desert. The law was specific for their communal living, worship system and public health. The law made the Israelites culturally distinct from the Canaanites and other pagan tribes.

The Law regulated almost every aspect of Jewish life, including civil obedience, warfare, slavery, sexuality, parenting, diet, sacrifices, feast days, Sabbath observances, tithing and ritual cleansing. The law was very specific. For example, the law says


not to eat pork or shellfish, not to wear garments made from different kinds of cloth, and not to plant more than one kind of seed in a field.

The Law also prescribed methods for atonement (how to make amends for what has gone wrong and to restore a broken relationship with God). This was usually done with a burnt animal sacrifice on an altar, a substitute for the sinner, the concept of one life paying the penalty for sins of another. The Law was very detailed about when to sacrifice, what to sacrifice, and how to sacrifice.

Sins like adultery or incest were punishable with civil penalty, even execution, because the Israelites existed as a nation-state, so sins were regarded as crimes. Today Christians exist as church assemblies all over the world under many different governments, so sins are dealt with only by exhortation or exclusion from membership. The Law was given to the Israelites, not Christians. It is the Jewish religion.

By time of Jesus, about 1500 years later, the great moral principles God gave to Moses in the Ten Commandments had proliferated into hundreds of harsh ceremonial rules, and people had developed many loopholes for justifying greedy and wicked behavior. The law had become so burdensome that no one could obey it.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... There are hundreds of rules in the Bible that Christians ignore. And there are others they make a big deal about. Aren’t Christians just picking and choosing the ones they like?

Critics often point to these Old Testament commandments and say that, since they are in the Bible, Christians are inconsistent by choosing to ignore them.

Actually, Christians are not ignoring them. Those commandments no longer apply, because of Jesus.

Now the law is reduced to two commandments:

‘Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

‘And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’

– Matthew 22:37-40

There is no need for further blood sacrifices because Jesus is the once-for-all sacrifice for all our sins:

‘God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.’

– Romans 3:25

Jesus summed it up with this statement:‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the

Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.’

– Matthew 5:17–18)

The key point is that when law is fulfilled, there is no punishment. We still have personal responsibilities to God and others; it is not okay to do whatever we want. However, we now have a simplified version of law and we live under grace:

‘For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.’

– Romans 6:14

Grace means unmerited favor, the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not because of what we have done to deserve it.

Because Jesus was Jewish and brought his message to the Jewish people – even though he told them to tell others – most people assumed after his resurrection that Christians (Christ followers) were just a new sect within the Jewish religion.

The first Christians were Jews, and they continued to observe the Law in addition to their new Christian faith. As more and more Gentiles (non-Jews) converted to Christianity, there were disputes about whether or not these Gentile converts must observe the Law.

A church council met in Jerusalem in 50 A.D. to settle the issue. As reported in the Bible in the book of Acts, the church leaders agreed, with guidance of the Holy Spirit, that nothing was required of the Gentile converts except faith in Jesus Christ; they were not bound by the Law.

This was a major turning point in human history because from that time forward people understood that Christianity is not a sect within Judaism but is a whole new thing, without the Law!

A theme recurring throughout the Old Testament was that some day God will send a Messiah (Hebrew word meaning savior or liberator) to free them from their bondage (burden of the law and oppression by the Romans).

Orthodox Jews are still waiting for the Messiah. Christians believe Jesus is the Messiah.

CHAPTER 3 SUMMARYThis book is an examination of this hypothesis:

||| God offers a free pardon and a loving personal relationship, through Jesus, requiring an individual response that shapes present life and determines eternal destiny.

The Bible is brought into the examination because it is the universally accepted statement of Christian belief.

However, using the scientific method, we cannot start with the assumption that the Bible is true, even though that’s the starting place in church. Here we can start only by saying that the Bible is the true statement of Christian belief, from which our hypothesis is drawn. This is a subtle but very important distinction.


In investigating the Bible, we find that it consists of two major parts – Old Testament and New Testament – and that they are very different from each other. Christians believe both are holy scriptures.

The Old Testament is investigated in this Chapter 3. The New Testament is investigated in Chapter 4.

We encounter some serious credibility problems with the Old Testament, particularly with regard to implausible stories and mass killings. Some explanations given here assuage the problems, but there are still many unanswered questions.

Matters of the Old Testament are valuable but non-essential to

Christian faith. When the church experienced its most dramatic growth (as through missionary Apostle Paul), the new believers (Gentiles, non-Jews) didn’t even know about the Old Testament.

The Old Testament (Jewish) provides helpful background for understanding the New Testament (Christian) and contains valuable spiritual lessons for everyone.

Therefore, the analysis in this Chapter 3 does not either strengthen or weaken our hypothesis because the entire Old Testament is outside the bounds of our hypothesis. The New Testament, not the Old Testament, is the statement of Christianity, and it will be examined next.


Christian Answer Book: 4 Bible (new part) www.christiananswerbook.com

4 Bible (new part)Christianity is about JesusChristianity is the life and teaching of Jesus Christ and his followers.

Jesus is his name (like James or Robert). Christ is his title (Christos in Greek, meaning the one sent by God). Nazareth was his home town, a small village about 100 miles north of Jerusalem. He was known as Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

Using the name Jesus puts emphasis on a personal relationship. Using the term Christ puts emphasizes on divine authority.

The first recorded use of the word Christian is when missionaries brought the message of Jesus Christ to the city of Antioch:

‘So for a full year Barnabas and Paul met with the church, and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.’

– Acts 11:26

And the term has stuck ever since. Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, and Christianity is name of the religion (beliefs and reasons).

Everything essential to know about Christianity is found in the new part of the Bible, the collection of 27 small books called the New Testament, about 250 pages in total.

The Old Testament books were written approximately 1450-450 BC, and the New Testament books 49-100 AD.

Testament means covenant, contract or agreement. The OLD agreement and the NEW agreement: The way God used to deal with the Israelites, before Jesus, and the way God deals with us today.

Credibility is the key word in this Chapter 4. Is the New Testament a credible document? Can we have a high degree of confidence in what it says about Jesus?

Jesus has had a greater effect on humanity than any other person who has ever lived:

He was born in an obscure village The child of a peasant woman He grew up in another obscure village Where he worked in a carpenter shop Until he was thirty when public opinion turned against him

He never wrote a book He never held an office He never went to college He never visited a big city He never traveled more than two hundred miles From the place where he was born He did none of the things

Usually associated with greatness He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three

His friends ran away One of them denied him He was turned over to his enemies And went through the mockery of a trial He was nailed to a cross between two thieves While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing The only property he had on earth

When he was dead He was laid in a borrowed grave Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race And the leader of mankind’s progress All the armies that have ever marched All the navies that have ever sailed All the parliaments that have ever sat All the kings that ever reigned put together Have not affected the life of mankind on earth As powerfully as that one solitary life

– ONE SOLITARY LIFE, author unknown

Christians and Muslims believe in Jesus, that he was virgin-born, performed miracles, is now alive in heaven and will some day return to earth. Even though Muslims do not believe Jesus is divine (but a prophet of God filled with the Holy Spirit), the things they say about him is even greater than what they say about Mohammad.

Together, Christians and Muslims account for 55% of the world’s population. It’s astounding that, over 2000 years after his birth, most of the world still believes that what Jesus has done, and what he will do, is far more than claimed for any other person who has ever lived.

Biographies of JesusThe only authenticated biographies of Jesus are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the first four books of the New Testament.

These four books are the foundation of Christian faith. The remaining books of the New Testament are commentaries on the substance of these first four books.

These four biographical books are called the Gospels. For anyone starting to read the Bible for the first time, the gospels is where to start. They are four parallel accounts of the life of Jesus by four different authors.

Matthew and John each wrote a book, bearing author’s name.


Both were disciples who spent three years with Jesus and were leaders in the early church.

Author of Mark does not identify himself but is generally believed to be John Mark, a companion and interpreter for the Apostle Peter.

Luke was a Gentile (non-Jew) physician and co-worker with the Apostle Paul.

The fact that we don’t have authenticated biographies by other contemporaries casts doubt in the minds of some people about credibility of the Bible and Jesus. If he was such an important person, why don’t we have more than just four small books giving details of his life?

The question has multiple answers:

• Jesus was not regarded as an important person at that time. To political and religious leaders, he was a rabble-rouser from a backwards village and from a family of no social standing, a life not worthy of mention in official annals. Only with hindsight could anyone see how important he was.

• Only those very close to Jesus would know what to write. Others might hear conflicting stories – miracle worker or criminal? – but wouldn’t know the facts.

• Most people at that time didn’t read or write. Every book had to be hand written, so books were rare, and they deteriorated over time. Therefore, only the few books of highest quality and credentials survived, by being carefully preserved and faithfully copied and recopied for distribution.

Extra-biblical evidenceThe fact that everything authoritative we know about the life of Jesus comes from only four books gives us confidence that the early Christians felt that these books alone contain the most vital information and therefore endorsed them as holy scripture over all other biographical accounts of his life and teaching.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Is there evidence outside of the Bible to support what Christians believe?

Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection, it is probable that dozens or hundreds of books contained information about Jesus, and we still have copies of many of them, with titles such as The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel Of Judas, and The Gospel Of Phillip. These gospels were not written directly by Jesus’ disciples but rather by authors who reported what the named disciples had told others about Jesus. Therefore these books don’t have as high a level of authenticity as the four New Testament gospels written by contemporaries with direct information about Jesus.

There were secular historians who lived in the first century who didn’t have many detailed facts about Jesus but confirmed

his life and the effects of his teaching. Most of the earliest secular writings, like most of the Christian writings, have long since vanished, but here are three examples of surviving manuscripts:

• Flavius Josephus, historian for the Roman Emperor, considered one of the greatest historians of antiquity, a Jew who didn’t believe in Jesus, wrote this summary statement: ‘About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ.’

• Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian, despised Christians and reported how Nero wanted to destroy Christianity: ‘Hence to suppress the rumor [about Nero setting fire to Rome], he [Nero] falsely charged with the guilt, and punished Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an Immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.’

• Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secondus (Pliny the Younger), was governor of the Roman province of Bithynia (Turkey) at the time the Roman government began recognizing Christianity as a religion separate from Judaism. He is unsure about his legal grounds for killing Christians for no crime but their faith, so he informs the Emperor about what he is doing: ‘I have taken this course about those who have been brought before me as Christians. I asked them whether they were Christians or not. If they confessed that they were Christians, I asked them again, and a third time, intermixing threatenings with the questions. If they persevered in their confession, I ordered them to be executed; for I did not doubt but, let their confession be of any sort whatsoever, this positiveness and inflexible obstinacy deserved to be punished. There have been some of this mad sect whom I took notice of in particular as Roman citizens, that they might be sent to that city. After some time, as is usual in such examinations, the crime spread itself and many more cases came before me.’ The emperor replies that the governor is doing the right thing by executing Christians.

New Testament councilsUnderstanding the word canon helps us understand how we got the New Testament:

‘Canon: A criterion or standard of judgment ... authentic works ... a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works ... an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture.’



After his resurrection, many writings about Jesus began appearing, of varying degrees of authenticity and quality. Writings by the Apostles circulated among the earliest Christian communities, including the four gospels and copies of letters from the Apostle Paul (first missionary) to new churches springing up throughout the Roman empire.

Some people believe that God dictated word-for-word to human writers. However, some internal contradictions, some conflicts with science and history and some statements by the writers themselves indicate that the Bible has both human and divine origins.

The author of Luke attributed his Gospel to his own research:‘Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.’

– Luke 1:1-4

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Wasn’t there some Catholic council that just picked the books, the ones they wanted to put in the Bible? How can that be the Word of God? Why didn’t God himself write a concise New Testament and give to Peter, like he wrote the Ten Commandments and gave to Moses?

Because of the rapid proliferation of written documents about Jesus after his resurrection, church leaders began taking responsibility in their own geographic areas for developing a canon, their list of the most important and most creditable books about Jesus. Criteria for inclusion included these four tests:

• The book had to conform to the rule of faith; i.e., Christian truth recognized as normative in the churches.

• The book had to have some connection to an Apostle; i.e., written by an Apostle or someone who was in close contact with the Apostles. (Apostle means one of Jesus’ closest followers and primary teachers.)

• The book had to have widespread and continuous acceptance and use by churches everywhere.

• The book had to be consistent with the other books of the canon.

There was almost no debate about the Gospels, and very little debate about most of the other books. The process of canonizing the New Testament was not so much about selecting books as about formally recognizing books already

widely accepted.

We don’t know why God didn’t just write a concise New Testament and give it to Peter, like he wrote the Ten Commandments given to Moses, but we can speculate:

• If there were such a book, probably a scroll of parchment, and if it miraculously survived for more than 1900 years, imagine where it would be today ... probably in some special museum, heavily guarded, under climate-controlled bulletproof glass ... pilgrims would come from all over the world, standing in long lines just to have a glance at what God wrote.

• Over the centuries, various Christian groups would have fought over ownership and control of this book, and it would have changed hands many times, leaving bitter resentments and a divided Christianity.

• Many people would venerate this book, and for some it would become an object of worship.

• Most people probably would not believe that God actually wrote it – they would say it’s a fake – and believers would still argue about how to interpret and apply it.

The way God actually gave us his book is as good or better than any other way we can imagine.

Like Jesus, God’s book for us is both human and divine.

Professional scribes were the copy machines of that day, and the church was very careful in checking the accuracy of every new duplicate scroll. Also, clerics and others, collectively, had committed the New Testament to memory, word-for-word, so that any error would be glaring. Even so, some minor scribal errors in some manuscripts have been discovered through archaeology even into the twentieth century.

As Christianity grew and church leaders from various regions began having more contact with each other, numerous church councils were called to formally and methodically assemble a universal Christian canon. The main issues were not so much about error and conflict among the books but about the potential danger of more books being written and about existing books being modified over time.

There never was a one-time universal decision about which books to include in the New Testament. The Muratorian Fragment (about 170 A.D.) contains the New Testament canon as we know it, so the issue was largely settled long before the councils of Hippo (A.D. 393) and Carthage (A.D. 419), which put an end to all further questioning.

In this way, the Bible was put together as a comprehensive spiritual document during early years of the church. Christians believe that God directed and inspired the councils just as he directed and inspired the writers, in order to keep the Bible timeless and trustworthy.

Credibility of documentsThe fact that the New Testament books were written by eight


authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude) over a period of approximately 50 years actually makes the New Testament more credible than if it were a single document written by a single author at a particular time. Here’s why:

• In an era before easy communication and transportation it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the writers to get together for planning and corroboration.

• The New Testament reads as a single coordinated volume, evidence of divine guidance and inspiration.

Some critics say that the Bible itself cannot be used as evidence for the accuracy of what it says, that only external sources can be used. However, that is not a valid criticism and not in accord with the way other ancient manuscripts are evaluated.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Before the printing press, the Bible had to be penned by hand, copied and recopied dozens of times over centuries by people having personal opinions, so how do we know that the end copy is the same as the original?

The normative objective measure used to determine credibility of historical documents is:

1. The number of existing copies of an ancient manuscript that are 95%+ identical to each other, and

2. The time span between the original writing and the date of copies still in existence.

Historians and bibliographers tell us without doubt that Homer, Plato and Julius Caesar were real people and that they wrote trustworthy documents. Here’s how we know:

• The most authenticated written work from antiquity (apart from the New Testament) is the Illiad by Homer (c. 900 BC). There are 643 manuscript copies still in existence, the oldest dating to approximately 500 years after his death.

• An important written work from antiquity is the Tetralogies by Plato (c. 400 BC). There are 7 manuscript copies still in existence, the oldest dating to approximately 1200 years after his death.

• One of the most celebrated and trusted ancient history book is the Galic Wars by Julius Caesar (c. 50 BC). There are 10 manuscript copies still in existence, the oldest dating to approximately 1000 years after his death.

By comparison, there are over 5300 Greek manuscript copies of the New Testament still in existence, hundreds dating to 29 -130 years after Jesus’ death. And they have a 99% accuracy when compared to each other.

When the New Testament is put to same test as other ancient writings, it is found to be an extremely credible document.

Bible translationsThe Old Testament books were written in Hebrew, the New Testament books in Greek.

Jesus and the Apostles spoke Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century, but they probably also spoke Greek as a second language. Greek was well-known among the Jews, especially among the leadership and merchant classes (even fishermen). Jesus’ words were translated from Aramaic and recorded in Greek.

Our Bibles today are translations from the original languages, remarkably preserved on thousands of manuscripts handed down from generation to generation and continually verified by new archaeological finds. Different translations give slightly different shades of meaning, but they all say essentially the same thing.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Are there different kinds of Bibles, like a Catholic Bible and Protestant Bible? What Bible is best?

It is nothing short of miraculous that all Christians – Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox – agree on the exact Hebrew and Greek words of the Bible. There are some differences in transcription, translation and interpretation, but all the original texts have come to us essentially intact after nearly two thousand years.

The full Bible has been translated into more than 500 languages, and at least some portion has been translated into more than 2,000 languages. There are more than 150 English translations.

There is not a separate Catholic Bible or Protestant Bible. All Bibles are translations from the same original Hebrew and Greek, although different churches have preferences for particular translations. The Catholic Church prefers the New American (NAB) translation and protestant churches generally prefer the New International Version (NIV), but Christians everywhere are usually comfortable with any good translation.

Translations do not mean much to most Catholics because the Pope has declared that the Bible needs to be explained authoritatively through the Church:

‘The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.’

Translations are much more important to Protestants because


they are exhorted to read the Bible for themselves and make personal interpretation based on different translations, other portions of scripture, church teaching, commentaries and help from pastors and others.

The King James translation is still the most-read version of the Bible in the English-speaking world. It is a translation ordered by England’s King James, completed in 1611. Like Shakespeare, the language is beautiful, but it is archaic and difficult for most people to understand because Hebrew and Greek style intrudes into the English text.

Among modern translations, the New International version is the most popular. It is the result of the highest quality scholarship and is well-accepted by Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox.

The easiest-to-read translation is the Contemporary English version by the American Bible Society.

Nearly all translations now are so good that ordinary people can read and understand without being told what the text means. They can see different nuances just by reading the same passage in several translations. They can do Internet research on alternative interpretations, but the core Bible message is always the same.

The most popular Bible app is Bible, used now on more than 150 million digital devices worldwide. This free app makes dozens of Bible translations available instantly, in comparative view, on any computer, tablet or smart phone. Modern technology makes Bible study quick and easy.

Approximately 3.9 billion copies of the Bible have been sold in the past 50 years. The second best seller is Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung at 820 million copies, but it is hardly selling at all anymore.

Bible challengesThe Bible is still the world’s most-read book even after intense attacks throughout the centuries.

In the Roman empire, where the New Testament was written and first circulated, from the time of Trajan (c. 100 AD) until Constantine (c. 300 AD), every Roman emperor opposed Christianity and tried to suppress the Bible.

Emperor Diocletian (c. 285 AD) issued an edict declaring that if anyone has a copy of any Christian scriptures and does not surrender it to be burned, he will be killed if the copy is discovered; furthermore, that if any person knows of someone who has a copy of any scriptures and does not report it, he also will be killed. After two years, Diocletian boasted that he had completely exterminated Christian writings from the face of the earth.

The famous French writer and philosopher Voltaire (c. 1750A D) attempted to destroy the Bible with his confrontational arguments and prolific literature. He boldly made the prediction that within one hundred years the Bible and Christianity would be swept into oblivion. But, in fact, 100 years later the very printing press used to print his attacks on the Bible was being

used to print copies of the Bible.

The Bible has been rigorously challenged and investigated with regard to:

• Archaeology. There are literally thousands of archaeological findings that corroborate specific places, persons, events and facts recorded in the Bible, including many which were once thought to be incorrect.

• Bibliography. The quality and quantity of existing manuscripts give the Bible more credibility than any other writing from the ancient world, establishing the authenticity and reliability of the Bible in the languages in which it was written (Hebrew and Greek).

• Fulfilled prophesy. There are dozens of prophesies in the Bible – written long before the events – which have come true as predicted. The liklihood of this happening without divine foreknowledge is in the statistical magnitude of 1:100000.

• Internal unity. The Bible was written, under God’s direction, by approximately 40 different men, on three different continents, in three different languages, over a period of more than 1,500 years. It’s impossible for harmony to come by chance from that much diversity.

• Martyr commitment. As best we can tell from historical records, all the writers of the New Testament (except John) were killed as martyrs because they would not recant their faith. These are men who knew Jesus personally. It is unlikely that they would sacrifice their lives unless they were absolutely certain that they were communicating the truth.

• Miraculous preservation. No book has been more hated and ridiculed than the Bible. Various rulers over the centuries have tried to exterminate it, but their efforts could not destroy it, even in their own countries.

• Life-changing power. The entire world has been dramatically and positively affected by the Bible. No other book has changed people’s lives so much.

Thousands of scholarly articles and hundreds of proof-books document this astounding evidence, too much to cover in any detail here.

Ordinary writers, even if they worked as a team at the same time and place, could not produce a book that would survive such intense scrutiny over the centuries. The Bible is its own strong evidence that God directed its writing and preservation.

PresumptionsMost people have general presumptions about the Bible – they believe it, they don’t believe it, or it’s irrelevant.

If they believe it, they read the Bible looking for ways to verify and strengthen their belief. If they don’t believe it, they read the Bible looking errors and incredulities. If they think it’s irrelevant, they never understand what the Bible really says.


People who believe the Bible want to protect it and are usually afraid to even talk about the difficult questions others are asking.

People who don’t believe the Bible pose as intellectuals but are usually so closed minded that they won’t actually read and study it.

The objective in this chapter is to set aside presumptions as much as humanly possible and try to understand the Bible in an objective way, recognizing that it has amazing credentials but also statements and narratives difficult to believe.

The first principle in this process is to reject broad generalizations. It is not intellectually honest to begin by saying that everything in the Bible is true or that the Bible is full of errors. It’s important to be open-minded and specific, point by point. The scientific method helps keep focus and guide inquiry.

The second principle is to read and understand all text in context with surrounding text. Anyone can prove almost anything from or about the Bible by pulling narrow statements out of context to support some desired point of view.

The third principal is to interpret the difficult by the clear. Don’t try to force independent meaning out of difficult text, but instead try to find an interpretation that’s consistent with the meaning of clear text in that document.

Science errorsCritics say that the Bible is not trustworthy because it is full of errors and contradictions. This is a serious charge, which we must now investigate, because it could undermine credibility of the Bible and destroy our hypothesis.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why won’t Christians admit that the Bible contains errors and contradictions?

The Bible, like Jesus, is both human and divine. The Bible was not verbally dictated or mechanically produced by God moving writers’ hands. The writers, about 40 of them, were human composers using their own literary styles, communicating from their point of view.

Ignoring the human side of the Bible can result in degrading its integrity by requiring a precise level of expression far higher than is customary for other documents. For example, Bible references about the ends of the earth and the sun rising and setting do not mean that the earth is flat. Scholarly or technical language is not necessary in order for something to be true.

The Bible is written for ordinary people of every time and place. The use of observational language is prescientific, not unscientific.

The most serious Bible errors cited by critics are incredible stories that conflict with science and today’s common sense,

as discussed in Chapter 3. If the Bible claimed to be a book about science, this would be a critical problem, but science is only incidental and nonessential to the central message which is about spiritual matters, not physical matters. People have different opinions about whether those stories were actual events or illustrations of spiritual principles.

Almost all of the alleged scientific errors are in the Old Testament, written 2500-3500 years ago. No one should expect that the writers of that era could express modern scientific knowledge or that their readers could comprehend it. In fact, a technical explanation then would likely make readers reject all as being crazy. The Bible is timeless. It is now possible for us to interpret into time backward but then impossible for them to interpret into time forward.

The Old Testament is about the Jewish religion, the roots of Christianity, but is not a statement of Christianity itself. Our hypothesis is about Christianity – the New Testament – and therefore the Old Testament stories that conflict with science are outside the scope of our investigation.

Aside from miracles, discussed below, the only scientific claim made by the New Testament is that the world didn’t just happen by itself – it is the result of God’s plan and creation.

MiraclesThe miracles recorded in the New Testament are an important part of this inquiry because, for many people, they cast doubt on Bible credibility.

These miracles include Jesus turning water into wine, walking on water, healing sick and paralyzed people, giving sight to three blind men and, in one instance, raising a dead man back to life.

The New Testament specifically names 35 miracles which Jesus performed, all during the last three years of his life.

The Bible reports these miracles, but because it is impossible to actually prove them or replicate them, we must believe – or disbelieve – by faith.

Which of these statements takes the MOST faith to believe?

1. A man from an ordinary family in an ordinary town came on the scene in an ordinary way and said he is God, but did nothing to prove it. Two thousand years later, a third of the world’s population still believe he is God, or

2. A man from an ordinary family in an ordinary town came on the scene in an ordinary way and said he is God, and performed miracles to prove it. Two thousand years later, a third of the world’s population still believe he is God.

It is reasonable, if not compelling, to believe that miracles were essential for Jesus to authenticate himself. Otherwise, his claim to deity would have been ignored and he would have long since been forgotten. Apparently it was his demonstration of power that made believers out of scoffers.

The most profound and important miracle recorded in the Bible


is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead:

The Bible says he was crucified on a cross as a criminal (for saying he was God) and placed in a sealed tomb guarded by Roman soldiers, but three days later he came back to life and vanished from the tomb. Over the next 40 days, he was seen by over 500 witnesses. During that time, he taught his disciples about the gospel (Greek word meaning good news) and told them to carry this good news to the whole world. Then he disappeared out of sight into the clouds.

Even apart from the Bible record, there is strong historical and logical evidence supporting this miracle:

• Empty tomb. If the tomb were still occupied when word of the resurrection spread throughout Jerusalem – which caused embarrassment to the authorities guarding the tomb and fueled the very kind of belief they were trying to eradicate – it’s likely that they would have displayed his body if they had it, to suppress the story.

• Eyewitnesses. Unless Jesus had been seen and heard in person after the resurrection by hundreds of people, as the Bible says, it’s unlikely that there would have been such a great number of believers.

• Early church. The early church completely disregarded the tomb, illustrating that they worshiped the risen Christ. They changed their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday in commemoration of the resurrection. The sacraments of baptism and communion were practiced by the church and would have been meaningless apart from the resurrection.

• Martyrs. The disciples gave their lives – persecuted, beaten and killed – in proclaiming the gospel. It’s highly unlikely that they would be willing to die for something they knew was a hoax.

The resurrection is consistent with our hypothesis, and an important part of our hypothesis. It is reasonable to believe that if Jesus is God, he would not stay dead in a tomb at the hands of men.

For anyone who believes that God is powerful enough to create the world – a big miracle observed every day – there is no problem believing that he could override any law of nature momentarily in order to perform a smaller miracle to visibly authenticate his deity.

ContradictionsBible critics have compiled a list of 143 Bible contradictions, showing where the Bible says one thing in one place but says a contradictory thing in another place or places, all in the same printed volume. Critics say this is irrefutable proof that the Bible is not a perfect book, and thus not the Word of God.

In examining this list of 143 contradictions, we find that:

• 37 of the contradictions are statements entirely within the Old Testament, outside the scope of our hypothesis.

• 57 of the contradictions are differences between an Old Testament statement and a New Testament statement. Since part of the contradiction is in the Old Testament, the entire contradiction is thus outside the scope of our hypothesis. Many, if not most, of the alleged contradictions in this mixed category are really not contradictions at all but rather differences between life under law and life under grace.

• 49 of the contradictions are entirely within the New Testament and need to be examined further. The greatest group of contradictions is clustered around Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, differences in reporting by Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Here are the 13 famous internal contradictions about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection:

1. How many donkeys did Jesus ride when entering Jerusalem: One (Mark 11:7) or Two (Matthew 21:7)?

2. When did Satan enter Judas Iscariot: Several days before last supper ( Luke 22:3) or during last supper (John 13:27)?

3. How did Judas die: Hanged himself (Matthew 27:5) or Fell on ground and ruptured guts (Acts 1:18)?

4. Who bought the potter’s field with the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas for betrayal of Jesus: Chief priests (Matthew 27:6) or Judas ( Acts 1:18)?

5. Who carried the cross: Jesus (Mark 16:5) or Simon of Cyrene (Matthew 27:32)?

6. In what hour did they say ‘Crucify him’: Third hour (Mark 16:25) or Sixth hour (John 19:14-16)?

7. How many of the criminals crucified with Jesus mocked him: One (Luke 23:39-42) or Two (Mark 15:32, Matthew 27:44)?

8. When Jesus was being crucified, what did soldiers give him to drink: Vinegar and gall (Matthew 27:34) ) or Wine and myrrh (Mark 15:23)?

9. Where were the women during the crucifixion: Standing at foot of the cross (Matthew 28:8 ) or Watching from far away (Mark15:40, Matthew 27:55, Luke 23:49)?

10. How many women went to the tomb on Sunday morning: Two (Matthew 28:1) or Three (Mark 16:1) or More than three (Luke 23:55-56 and 24:1,10)?

11. How many angels were in the tomb: One (Luke 24:4) or Two (Mark 16:5)?

12. What did the women do after visiting the tomb: Ran immediately to tell the disciples (Matthew 28:8) or Fled in fear and said nothing to anyone (Mark 16:8).

13. How many days passed after Jesus’ resurrection before he ascended into heaven: One (Luke24) or 40 (Acts 1:3)?

These are usually intended as gotcha questions. However,


these are not irrefutable contradictions. There are plausible explanations:

1, 7, 10, 11: We can invoke the mathematical rule that where there are two, there is always one. For example, Jesus may have ridden part way on one donkey and part way on another.

2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12: Perhaps these were multiple events at different times or places, not mutually exclusive, depending on writer’s focus. For example, some of the women could have been watching from foot of cross and others from far away; some may have run to tell the disciples while others fled and said nothing.

3: Many scenarios are possible; For example, Judas may have hanged himself from a tree so his body would swing out over a gully in this rocky area, but rope broke and he was punctured by sharp rock below.

4: In a sense, it could be said that both bought the field; priests bought the land with Judas’ money.

13: There may have been a gap of 39 days between events recorded in verse 49 and event recorded in verse 50.

At first these alleged contradictions look like irrefutable proof that the Bible is flawed, but they are weak upon examination.

RevelationAnother category of Bible unbelief is the book of Revelation, the last book of he Bible, written by the Apostle John. It’s the apocalyptic (catastrophic end of the world) book in the New Testament.

John was a close friend of Jesus and, for three years, traveled from town to town with him. He witnessed Jesus’ deeds and teachings first-hand. As an old man on the Isle of Patmos, long after Jesus’ resurrection, he had a dream of being an observer in heaven, and he recorded it in this book, doing as best he could with human words to describe other-worldly things he had never before seen.

John’s obscure and dramatic imagery in this dream has led to a wide variety of interpretations, in four main views:

• Idealist view. The imagery of Revelation is not tied to specific events but symbolically presents the ongoing struggle throughout the ages of God against Satan and good against evil.

• Preterist view. Most prophecies in Revelation have already been fulfilled; e.g., destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, new heaven and new earth (new covenant), and anti-Christ Mohammad; but Chapters 20-22 point to future events such as resurrection of believers and return of Christ to the earth.

• Historicist view. Revelation is a symbolic representation of the course of history from John’s life through the end of the world. The symbols correspond to specific events in history, including various rulers and nations. There is little

agreement among historians regarding what each symbol means.

• Futurist view. Events described in Revelation will occur in the future; e.g., God’s judgments poured out on mankind, a world empire headed by a powerful evil leader, the church in apostasy, Jesus’ second coming, and a horrendous final battle followed by a literal thousand-year rule by Jesus on earth.

All four views affirm:• God’s sovereignty

• Physical second coming of Jesus Christ

• Resurrection from the dead

• Future judgment

• Heaven and hell

For purposes of testing our hypothesis, we set Revelation aside because the events have not yet occurred, the events are mostly symbolic, and there doesn’t appear to be any material conflict with the 26 books of the New Testament which are clear narrative.

Translation errorsThe Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek. We still have thousands of fragments of these ancient texts so that, when all put together, we have 99% reliability of what the original texts actually say.

Problem is, most people can’t read Hebrew and Greek. So we need to translate these old texts into modern languages so ordinary people can understand them.

Almost all translations are very good, but sometimes an error creeps into a particular version.

For example, in Luke 2:14, a famous Christmas passage still often quoted erroneously, the King James version says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,’ but it was later discovered that a scribe had omitted a single character, which significantly changed the meaning. The correct rendering is, ‘peace on earth to men of good will,’ which is far less noble because it limits peace only to good people.

Translation from one language to another is difficult because each language has its own particular syntax, grammar and phraseology. Often there are no exact word equivalents. Even within a language, nuanced meanings of individual words change over time.

There are two primary methodologies for Bible translation: word-for-word and thought-for-thought. Examples of word-for-word translations are Interlinear, Amplified and New American Standard. Examples of thought-for-thought are The Message, Living, and Contemporary English.

Word-for-word translations are more rigid and difficult to read, requiring some study. Thought-for-thought translations are easy to read but are subject to possible bias from the translator or


translation team.

Most translations fall somewhere in the middle, like the New American Version (popular with Catholics) and the New International Version (popular with evangelicals).

An easy way to read a Bible passage in multiple translations is at www.biblegateway.com/passages. This is a free interdenominational site that gives instant translation of any passage in 53 English versions.

The best way to understand the Bible is to study a passage from three or more translations simultaneously.

Cultural issuesSome critics argue that the New Testament is hypocritical, and thus not credible, because it teaches love and equality, yet condones slavery and male dominance.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why does God condone slavery in the Bible?

The cultural issues need to be put into historical perspective. Two thousand years ago, slavery and male dominance was the way most societies on earth were organized. Back then, being a slave was not necessarily bad; it was an acceptable way to get food, housing and community. Some masters were very good, as the New Testament taught:

‘With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.’

– Ephesians 6:7-9

Slavery predated Christianity by thousands of years, and Christianity was influential in ending it. Christians reasoned that since we are all created equal in the eyes of God, no one has the right to rule another without consent. This is the moral basis not only of anti-slavery but also of democracy.

The anti-slavery movements led by William Wilberforce in England and William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Weld in the United States were dominated by Christians.

Also, in the male dominated world two thousand years ago, the Bible taught equality:

‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’

– Galatians 3:28

In the early church, men were the elders (top leaders and teachers), as was the social culture of that time, but women like Phebe, Priscilla, Nympha, Chloe, Junia, Euodia, Syntyche, Apphia, Lydia, Philip’s four daughters and other women named

in the New Testament, and countless others not named, had important roles in the church.

The women’s movement in the United States started with the abolitionists. As Christian women began to speak out for the rights of blacks, they began to realize that they, too, were victims of another kind of slavery. Sadly, Christians were generally slow to get on board with the suffrage movement.

We shouldn’t be too critical of social conditions two thousand years ago, considering that slavery was not abolished in the United States until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865, and women didn’t get the right to vote until the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Put in the context of history, the problem of slavery and male dominance in the New Testament is not so egregious that it affects our hypothesis.

The New Testament was written for life in all kinds of societies, then, now and in between.

Historical recordMost events recorded in the New Testament cannot be corroborated by outside data. For example, no one can prove or disprove what Jesus said or did, or where he went, or who he was with.

We approach all non-fiction literature by assuming that the author is giving an accurate account of his information and experience.

The New Testament should be read with the same presumption of accuracy given to other literature. Some critics speak, however, as if the Bible needs to be proven true in order to be credible. The normative standard is that the burden of proof for error is on the challenger. Content is assumed to be true until proven false, or at least until preponderance of evidence destroys its credibility in the minds of informed and reasonable people.

The New Testament is about real people and real places in past times. There have been scores of archaeological finds that confirm descriptions in the New Testament, but no significant find that controverts them.

Other holy booksThere are more than 50 religions that claim to have holy books, their sacred scriptures.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... On what basis can anyone say that the Bible is more credible than the Qur’an or other holy scriptures?

This investigation is not to compare and evaluate holy books to see if one more credible than another. Holy books are not even


part of our hypothesis.

However, in passing, it is interesting to note how the three largest religions – Christianity, Islam and Hinduism – got their scriptures. These three religions comprise two-thirds of the world’s population.

• Bible (Christianity). Forty God-inspired authors wrote the Bible, 49-100 AD, as explained above and in Chapter 2.

The New Testament – the part that is relevant here – is approximately 250 pages in length, easy to understand in modern translations.

• Qur’an (Muslim). Muslims believe that the Qur’an is exact words from God, dictated to Mohammand by the angel Gabriel in numerous revelations during the years 610-632 AD. They believe that the words must be read and spoken only in the original holy language, Arabic, to avoid corruption by humans. Therefore, there are not any authorized translations of their scripture, and ordinary people cannot read it. The Qur’an has been translated into other languages, but this is frowned upon and called interpretations or translations of the meanings.

There is nothing in the Qur’an to suggest that Muhammad saw God or talked to God during these revelations.

The Qur’an is approximately 400 pages in length, in Arabic only, and difficult to understand.

• Vedas (Hindu): The four Vedas – Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva – are the work of many authors in ancient India who were sages living contemplative lives in hermitages high in the Himalayas and on banks of sacred rivers. They sought to find truths for the fundamental questions of life, such as: Why was I born? Am I body? Am I mind? What is the purpose of my life? How can I live a good life? What happens to me when I die?

Hindus believe God gave these sages answers as sacred truths, which they composed into hymns, chants and texts in the Sanskrit language, passed from generation to generation, by repeating them aloud. Eventually, the great sage, Vyasa, compiled all the hymns, chants and texts into four collections now known as the Vedas, which together explain the three paths to salvation: knowledge, devotion and action.

Proficiency in Sanskrit, their holy language, is necessary to fully understand the Vedas because it follows a very rigorous system of word formation, making it impossible to adequately translate the Indian mindset and subtle metaphysical connotations.

The Vedas, written 1500-1000 BC, are generally regarded as the oldest and most important scriptures, but actually there are many additional Hindu scriptures, including the Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita. The Vedas alone comprise many printed volumes.

Hindu scriptures are thousands of pages in length, in Sanskrit, convoluted and extremely difficult to understand.

Simplicity and clarity are not criteria for the authenticity of holy

scripture, but an argument can be made that, if God wants everyone to comprehend his message, he will make it available in a form that is understandable worldwide to ordinary people.

Central messageReading in the Old Testament and Revelation is difficult and confusing for people investigating Christian faith for the first time, or wanting to re-examine or re-define their faith.Those parts of the Bible can provide rich historic and prophetic context for later study, but initially it make sense to focus on the essentials, found in the Gospels, Acts and Letters.

These 26 books of the New Testament define our relationship with God today. Thus, we can distill the Bible down to about 20% of its full size, to about 250 pages.

But, by setting aside 80% of the Bible in defining Christian faith, how can we be sure that we are not missing something of critical importance? The Bible itself answers this question and gives us confidence that everything we need is in these 26 books:

• The Old Testament says in many places that a new spiritual agreement is coming. And the New Testament says in many places that the message and sacrifice of Jesus has replaced the old agreement.

• As specifically stated in Hebrews 11, and discussed here in Chapter 11, there are people in heaven who knew nothing about the Old Testament scriptures or Revelation, including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph and Rahab.

• In the book of Acts, when the church experienced its most explosive growth, there was no Bible at all! Everything was word-of-mouth and experiential. Most of the new believers were Gentiles (not Jews) who knew nothing about the Old Testament (Jewish) scriptures. The New Testament, which came later, says these people are in heaven now because of their faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior, based on oral testimony told to them, not because of anything they read in the Old Testament or Revelation.

There are many things in the Bible that we don’t understand, particularly in the Old Testament and Revelation. Some scholars spend a lifetime studying those books and still have many unanswered questions.

We should not be overly concerned about what we don’t know, but we should act on what we DO know.

In investigating Christianity, it is God’s central message that is essential for us to understand today, the message from the words and life of Jesus Christ, plainly documented for us in these 26 books of the New Testament:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude.


CHAPTER 4 SUMMARYTo claim truth for Christianity by quoting the Bible is circular reasoning under the scientific method unless the Bible can be shown to have divine credentials, far surpassing any other book, in which case it is still not proof of truth but is strong evidence of truth.

The Bible reveals divine credentials in its bibliography, fulfilled prophesy, internal unity, martyr commitment, miraculous preservation and life-changing power, far beyond normal probabilities.

The fact that, even after 2,000 years, the Bible is still by far the most influential and most read book in the world is additional evidence that God superintended its writing, preservation and

distribution.

All Christians agree that the 26 books of the New Testament (excluding Revelation because it is a dream) is the authoritative propositional statement of Christian faith.

The essence of these 26 books has been distilled into our hypothesis:


Next, using the scientific method of investigation, we begin to test the hypothesis.


Christian Answer Book: 5 Physical design www.christiananswerbook.com

5 Physical designOne GodThe first word of our hypothesis is God (singular):


Definition of God (capital G):

‘The perfect and all-powerful spirit or being who is worshiped especially by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as the one who created and rules the universe.’


The prevailing concept of deity today is a single God, but in the first century Roman Empire the prevailing concept was many gods, and families of gods.

Approval from the Roman gods did not depend on a person’s behavior, but on strict observance of religious rituals. Each god needed an image – usually a statue in stone or bronze – and an altar or temple at which to offer prayers and sacrifices. The objective of Roman worship was to gain the blessing of the gods and thereby get prosperity for themselves, their families and communities.

The Romans also worshiped spirits. Rivers, trees, fields and buildings each had their own spirit. Worshiping many gods and spirits, each with limited powers, was part of early Roman culture.

The Jews (Old Testament) introduced into the Roman Empire, and eventually into the entire world, a new concept of God – a single supreme God. Jews were just a tiny fraction of the world’s population, practicing a very different kind of religion, unpopular and persecuted. There were Jewish communities throughout the Mediterranean region, but they were small and close-knit, to protect themselves and their faith, and they had little or no influence on others.

Israel was just a small nation in the Roman Empire, with Judaism tolerated by Rome as long as taxes were paid. Israel had a political king appointed by the Emperor, but the people identified with their own religious council called the Sanhedrin.

Because Jesus was Jewish, and delivered God’s message through Jews in Israel, people at first thought Christianity was just a sect within Judaism. But as the Apostle Paul and other missionaries began carrying the message to Gentiles (non-Jews), transforming lives, it became apparent that the gospel (good news) is for everyone.

This began shaking up the Roman Empire, and eventually radically changed it.

The Christian message of a single God and Savior is stated in this excerpt from Paul’s address to the high court in Athens:

‘So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said,

‘Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’

‘Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you: The God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us; for in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are his children.’

‘Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

‘Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.’

– Acts 17:22-31

The New Testament builds on information from the Old Testament and assumes that readers already believe that there’s a single designer/creator God.

Today, approximately 60% of the world’s population believe in a single God (monotheists), while 40% believe in multiple gods (polytheists) or no god (atheists and agnostics).

Old Testament big pictureEven though the Old Testament is not an essential part of un-derstanding Christianity, those 39 ancient God-inspired books, particularly Genesis, can be very helpful in showing the big picture of God’s plans and purposes for us.Major themes in the Old Testament:

God created the world ... sin is our big problem ... there must be atonement for sin ... a savior is coming ... judgment is coming ...

These themes unfold in the Old Testament with raw narrative and real life examples. The themes are picked up and carried forward in the New Tes-tament, but they are understood with greater clarity by reading the Old Testament.

By studying Old Testament and New Testament together, we see more than just themes – we see a master design plan.


Common sense argumentAll belief or disbelief about God or gods is a matter of faith, explained in Chapter 2, as a result of teaching, investigation and personal spiritual experience.

Monotheists believe that the universe was created by a single almighty God. Polytheists have many theories about how the world came into existence (as sprouting from a primal seed) but usually not the result of a single creator. Atheists and agnostics believe the universe came into existence entirely by natural means, without need for a creator

Following is a common line of reasoning for God and creation made by monotheists. This is important because our hypothesis postulates a single almighty God.

Which do you think is true?

The world is the result of(A) intelligent design or

(B) random chance

Most people say it’s both design and chance. So suppose it’s 50% design and 50% chance. Then the answer includes A, because design is an essential part of what we observe and experience. Even if it’s 1% design and 99% chance, the answer still includes A.

Most people conclude that it takes TOO MUCH FAITH to believe that the world is 100% the result of random chance. This conclusion comes not from religion, not from emotion, but from reason.

Here’s how the Bible states it:

‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

‘For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.’

– Romans 1:18-20

Secular scientists leave a creator out of the picture by saying that the universe began spontaneously about 14 billion years ago from a bright flash of energy, the big bang. But, some intelligence outside of nature, and above nature, had to trigger the energy to create the first atom, and to establish a the predetermined laws of nuclear energy, gravity and physical matter that enabled it to happen with orderly precision.

Recent polls show that approximately 85% of the American public believe that God had some part in the process.

For the person who watches the dazzling process of growth in a newborn baby ... is aware of the intricacies of physics and chemistry ... appreciates the ordered complexity of mathematics ... enjoys art and music ... and concludes that this could not happen by chance, it then follows logically that there

must be an intelligent designer and a creator.

Throughout history this designer-creator has been called GOD, which means almighty being, nothing superior.

The beginningChristians, Muslims and Jews all affirm the first verse in the Bible:

‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’– Genesis 1:1

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... If there must be a Creator, then who created God?

To answer this question, we focus on the first three words of the Bible – In the beginning ... – and follow this line of reasoning:

1. Something. In accordance with the scientific method, we apply a law of logic known as the law of the excluded middle, which states that a thing either IS, or IS NOT:

• If there were a time when nothing existed, then nothing would exist today. Something and nothing are mutually exclusive. Something can never come out of nothing because nothing is always nothing.

• Since something now exists, it follows that something existed before nothing and is independent of nothing.

2. Intelligent. Observation tells us that the something is intelligent, in order for our amazing universe to exist, too intricate for random chance.

3. Non-material. Again applying the law of the excluded middle, we ask if the something is material (some atomic structure) or non-material (no atomic structure, spirit) in nature:

• Scientists say that the universe began at a moment in time with a colossal jolt of energy (big bang).

• The First Law of Thermodynamics: Energy cannot be created or destroyed; the total quantity of energy in the universe is always constant.

• The Second Law of Thermodynamics: As energy is transferred or transformed, more and more of it is wasted (unusable) and it and gradually degrades into disorder, called entropy; which affects every aspect of science. One universe giving birth to another can’t avoid the law because each cycle has less usable energy than the previous cycle.

• Therefore, the something is non-material (spirit), otherwise it would not exist, because through eons of time it would have exhausted all usable energy.

• Timeless. Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, universally accepted as truth, states that time is linked to matter and space, and that time itself began concurrently with matter and space. Since the something existed before time, it is therefore timeless.


By this rationale, the universe requires a cause because it has a beginning, but God requires no cause because he has no beginning, and therefore the question has no bearing on our hypothesis.

Creation vs. evolutionEver since the writings of Charles Darwin in late 1800’s, there has been heated – and usually bitter – debate between defend-ers of creation theory and advocates of evolution theory.

This issue is outside the scope of our hypothesis and unnecessary even to mention.

However, the debate warrants some attention here because it is a huge barrier to Christian faith for many people today, particularly for young people who have been indoctrinated with evolution theory in public schools, often with ridicule toward Christians.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Hasn’t evolution now thoroughly disproved the Bible creation story? Can a Christian believe in evolution?

Many people have come to believe that there is an irreconcilable conflict between Christianity and science, and that they must choose between one or the other, but can’t have both.

It is important to recognize three basic views regarding timing and method of earth’s development:

• Godless evolution. God was not any part of it; everything happened naturally, over a long period of time.

• Theistic evolution. God’s method of creating the world, in stages, over a long period of time.

• Creationism. God created the world quickly, entirely, in six 24-hour periods.

Godless evolution and theistic evolution are in essential agreement regarding timing (long time).

Creationism and theistic evolution are in essential agreement regarding method (God).

Young vs. oldCreationists are often called young earthers and evolutionists are called old earthers. The primary sides are:

• Young earthers typically believe age of the earth and universe is about 6,000 years, calculated from Bible genealogies.

• Old earthers typically believe age of the earth is about 4.5 billion years and age of the universe is about 14 billion

years, calculated from science.

Most of the timing problem arises from the word yom in the account of creation in Genesis 1, the first chapter of the Bible. This Hebrew word can have five different meanings, including a normal 24-hour day and a vague period of time. The meaning is almost identical to the way we use the word day in English to mean either a 24-hour period or an age, depending upon context.

• Young earthers argue that most uses of yom in Hebrew scriptures refer to a 24-hour period, and that the word in the creation account is clarified by adding the additional words evening and morning.

• Old earthers argue that yom as used in the creation account means an indefinite period of time because Genesis 2:4 summarizes the entire creation by using the single word yom to include ALL the time periods of the preceding yom periods, and that the words evening and morning simply mean the ending of one day (age) and the dawning of another. Also, Genesis 1 says that God ‘rested’ from his creative work in the seventh yom, a time period obviously longer than 24 hours.

There are also other theories for the Genesis creation account; e.g., a creation, or many creations and re-creations, may have existed between verses 2 and 3 in Genesis 1 before start of the recorded ‘days’ ... in day six as final act, God created his crown jewel, Modern Man, made in his image, as replacement for Cave Man. ... the ‘days’ are not the actual days of creation but the days when God explained to man what he had previously done ... and many more interpretation theories.

With regard to timing, age of the earth is an interesting debate but irrelevant to our hypothesis.

CreationismAdherents of creationism believe that God created the uni-verse essentially as we see it about 6,000 years ago, in six days of 24 hours each, literally as recorded in Genesis 1:3-31:

• Day 1: Light / masked by clouds of steam• Day 2: Atmosphere / air between water and clouds• Day 3: Dry land / vegetation, plants, trees• Day 4: Visible sun, moon, stars / orbits

• Day 5: Water and air creatures / fish, birds• Day 6: Land creatures / animals, humans

Critics say that carbon dating has completely discredited the young earth theory, but young earthers counter by saying that God created the world with built-in apparent age; e.g., mountains just looked old, trees were created with rings, and Adam was created as a full grown man.

More coming ... Remainder of this book is now in various stages of writing and production

New pages added every month

Companion sitewww.faithexplorer.com

The companion site is a condensed version of this Christian Answer Book, about 20% the size, much simpler. Now fully completed.

Online, PDF, video and Discussion Guide, but no eBook.

Why part of this book is released before all completedThis is a digital book, accessed from a web site (www.christiananswerbook.com), and most people find it with Google or other search engines.

There are hundreds of thousands of web sites with information about God, Bible, Christian, and similar religious terms. Any new site with these kind of generic words will not show well in search results unless the site is at least a year old, and then only if it is generating high traffic.

Rather than wait a year to begin the recognition process, this site and its download items are put on the Internet now, though incomplete, in order to start the clock running so that it will have high traffic when completed.

Meanwhile, hopefully information in the preceding Chapters 1-4 will be of some help to you now. Please come back later for a larger book.

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