Questions to ask a Christian
13. Depending on the definition you attribute to a Christian/believer/someone going to heaven, (I am putting them as virtual synonyms here) What of the eternal destiny of the following. Please don’t be nice or waffle, just be straight please:
· Those who have never heard of Jesus or the gospel
· Those who are too young
Those mentally unable to grasp even the basics of Christianity?
· Those who are intellectually honest, study the Bible, (and perhaps
find too much error, a nasty God or unethical aspects) and seek 'the
truth' based on common sense and/or other (perhaps or perhaps not Holy) literature that seems more trustworthy or ethical to them?
· What of uncultured tribes people who have no contact with civilisation?
· What of aborted babies?
· What of babies?
· What of children?
· What of a convert who subsequently exaggerates? Lies? Steels? Rapes? Murders? Is there any difference – is sin all the same or are there degrees and different consequences?
· What of a mass murderer/lifelong badness of someone who has a death bed confession?
· What of the person who, upon lying on his deathbed, seeks God but knows not where to find him other than his own (if any) experience?
· What should an African polygamist of another religion do (with his wives) if he gets converted, if anything?
· What of those who commit suicide (e.g. after being raped or during torture)?
· What of people who lived before Jesus?
· What if there are intelligent aliens?
· When does life begin, at conception? What if a baby is created from body stem cells (as is possible now) and bi-passes egg/sperm conception – does it have a soul and if so, from where does the soul come and if not, is such a being human of potential heaven material?
· If a lifelong Christian and active worker for God has a deathbed de-conversion, claiming that she believes that God does not exist (as so implying that Jesus didn’t take her sin away and she rejects it), then is she saved?
· What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, can a Christian do this and what are the consequences?
· What is the purpose (other than feeling nice) of regular confession if sin was dealt with at conversion?
· If confession is necessary, then what of sins committed in between and does it matter how big they are or the time that passes?
· If you believe in miracles and healing today, and you accept that preachers openly invite people for healing and love to testify to the world (often with any evidence they can get, waving in their hands from the pulpit) that God is working, and you recognise the very natural and testable results a supernatural healing can in theory produce, then given these basics, would you agree that it is reasonable for someone (e.g. someone who is new to all this), to take up the offer or challenge of the preacher or ‘cured’, given that it may have been the healer (without prompting or request) that instigated the claims of evidence, e.g. the doctor said, so and so hospital has verified, the scans reveal etc.
· What if a hard of hearing guy from Africa, during an evangelistic meeting there, mishears the renowned preacher and hears a similar name to Jesus and in faithful trust in the preacher, goes on to find an African god called Jabus and worships it, forms a denomination and goes on like this. It does not matter whether Christian or other rituals exist, the question is, is salvation possible? It seems that when evangelicals are asked to explain what a Christian is, it is very regimented. For a person to pick up a Bible and read it, even study it, he/she would be very hard pressed to establish the 4 fold evangelical set routine, which isn’t really flexible.
· Why must someone have to speak your jargon or terminology in order to be a Christian? For example, the evangelical would insist on four things (in roughly this order) to happen in order to be saved or be ‘born again’. Fist, you must acknowledge God, then you must acknowledge your sin, then you must repent (from the heart) for your sin, then you must accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, who alone can deal with your sin. Now there is a ‘Roman road’ or ‘sinners prayer’ common/well known to a d taught in most evangelical churches. The term ‘born again’, (used just in John 3, the home of the famous passage ‘for God so loved the world…’ which no-one knows who said it) is used to death as though it were (or interpreted as) the most important term in the Bible, yet many topics are spoken of hundreds of times, suggesting far grater importance. So if God were somehow to speak to someone outside of the evangelical church, if their experience did not basically fit this 4 part scenario mentioned above, they would be considered not saved and have to go through the right motions to make sure. Now based on terminology (the right buzz words) or a failure to recognise that God may use other means, names or terms or experiences, a typical evangelical would understand such a person not to be saved.
· If someone is a Jehovah’s Witness and been with them for several years, it will be well acknowledged by evangelicals that such a person is not a Christian. Why? Lots of reasons, but heresy, non Trinitarians, reject Jesus as God, reject miracles etc. But hang on a minute. None of this is in the conversion experience. Now what if this person actually got converted on a visit to an evangelical church, but went elsewhere the following week and were made so welcome that she/he decided to stay? This situation would greatly confuse most evangelicals and answers would vary? ‘God would not direct a believer to such a Church’. ‘God would speak to the person and the nature of Jesus would somehow be unfolded.’ Let an evangelical speak on this and say whether such a person is a welcome, heaven bound brother or a
damned sinner.
14. Why do so many evangelical Christians have such a problem with drink, when there is no scripture to denounce it (except logically ‘in excess’ as we all agree to in theory), yet the Churches are full of obese gluttons, when the very (inspired for all time) Bible itself puts gluttony in the same category as adultery and homosexuality, yet they dismiss it or evade it?
15. Regarding the sacraments, why do so many Bible literalists not use wine (rather juice) or bread (rather a wafer) or not have a meal like happened in the NT or partake so rarely now?
16. Why are so many evangelicals so opposed to other denominations (especially Catholics and they know nothing of the Orthodox Church – and you KNOW this is right) yet their very foundations and roots are there. For 1000 to 1500 years or up to ¾ of all Church history, there was ONLY the original Church that God was preserving – so why feel/teach such bad about them or bite the hand that fed you, whatever they believe now? Respect for your elders!
Could you be wrong or have an erroneous interpretation?
17. Could you have been taken up the garden path, indoctrinated,
brainwashed or otherwise influenced in your beliefs or findings? For
example, most groups/denominations that have opposing, incompatible or
contradictory beliefs based on the same God, book and Spirit all think
that they CAN'T be wrong and often for the same reasons.
18. Could another equally convinced, equally convicted person or group
with an alternative interpretation (possibly of the same Holy book)
with equal belief and conviction as to the explanation, e.g. that God
would not show them something wrong or wrongly interpret it or the
Holy spirit led them and confirmed things etc.?
19. In other words, (to summarize the last few questions) is there something, (as most of the many different belief systems or
interpretations believe), that makes you right and them wrong? Is it
(or has God made things) so really crystal clear that so justify the
fate of all others?
20. If accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour is the only way as a result of His death, then how come so many exceptions? If God CAN make exceptions sometimes, He could always, which then defeats the object of the necessity of the cross and He SHOULD make exceptions and WOULD, because He is not willing that any should perish.
These queries need addressing to deal with the apparent flaws in the supposed simple Gospel story of evangelicalism.
