Christianity questions

[invinc3ble]

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I have been raised in a Catholic household all my life and have been going to church nearly every Sunday. I have not been entirely sure about my Christian faith and the last couple of years my curiosity has led me to study other religions and non-religions. I would like to a few questions and queries in which I have in regards to the Christian faith and it would be much appreciated if they can be answered by another Christian with good knowledge.

1. How long after Jesus' life/times was the bible written?

2. Why should I believe that a Jewish man from 2000 years ago is the Son of God?

3. Howcome the God in the New Testament is much more merciful than the angry one in the Old Testament?

4. Please explain the Holy Trinity to me, and why should I believe in it considering it was established by a Council in 325 AD ? (3 persons, One God, and why should i believe in it?)

5. If our God is a merciful God, why are there so many bad things happening in the world such as famine, poverty and war? Why can't God step and stop these atrocities? And I don't believe that we as human's have the power to stop these things from happening, If there truly was a God why can't he help us out?

6. Why does God make bad things happen to good people?

7. There are so many contradictions in the bible, for example :

I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 
(Genesis 32:30) 
"No man hath seen God at any time." 
(John 1:18) 
"And I [God] will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts . . ." 
(Exodus 33:23)

"If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." 
(John 5:31, J.C. speaking) 
"I am one that bear witness of myself . . ." 
(John 8:18, J.C. speaking)

". . . God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." 
(James:1:13) 
"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham." 
(Genesis 22:1)

". . . for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever." 
(Jeremiah 3:12) 
"Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever. Thus saith the Lord." 
(Jeremiah 17:4)

 

[Pineblossom]

If you have to ask those question why on earth would you want to be a Christian?

 

[invinc3ble]

I just want to understand my faith more before I can dismiss it as blasphemy. Alot of people have grown up Christians and do as they are told to by their parents, without having a mind of their own and when they are old enough they are so adamant that their faith is the right one without first studying their own doctrines and beliefs. I would just like a clearance on these questions.

 

[Desert Snake]

As far as the scriptural contradictions are concerned, you'd most likely get better answers in the "general debates" section of the forum.

 

[InChrist]

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I have been raised in a Catholic household all my life and have been going to church nearly every Sunday. I have not been entirely sure about my Christian faith and the last couple of years my curiosity has led me to study other religions and non-religions. I would like to a few questions and queries in which I have in regards to the Christian faith and it would be much appreciated if they can be answered by another Christian with good knowledge.

I was also raised a Catholic. Now my trust is in Christ alone...not a church or religion.

1. How long after Jesus' life/times was the bible written?

[FONT=&quot]I suppose you mean the New Testament. I believe the gospels and letters of the New Testament, except possibly Revelation written by John, were written and circulated well before 70 AD. I believe this because none of the gospels or the other letters mentions the destruction of the temple which occurred in 70 AD. An event of such significance would certainly have been included had it already taken place.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] Wasn't the New Testament written hundreds of years after Christ? | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry

2. Why should I believe that a Jewish man from 2000 years ago is the Son of God?

[FONT=&quot]Why don’t you ask Jesus directly whether He is the Son of God? If He is the risen Savior as the scriptures claim He is certainly capable of answering your sincere questions. I think God gave plenty of evidence for humanity in precisely fulfilling prophecies given hundreds of years before relating to the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

3. Howcome the God in the New Testament is much more merciful than the angry one in the Old Testament?

[FONT=&quot]God is no less merciful in the OT than in the NT. He is the same throughout; full of love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and justice. God is not changeable. It is just that the OT is a historical account of God working through nations and people, especially Israel, demonstrating His holy righteousness and standard against sin. Nevertheless He repeatedly showed patience and mercy toward those who persisted in their rebellion and sin.

[/FONT]

4. Please explain the Holy Trinity to me, and why should I believe in it considering it was established by a Council in 325 AD ? (3 persons, One God, and why should i believe in it?)

[FONT=&quot]I believe the One God has eternally existed in the Persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as expressed throughout the scriptures. The Council did not create or establish this concept, it only verified and defended it against heresy. This One God is composed of these three Persons with the same attributes, characteristics, and abilities which only the Creator God possesses. The scriptures state that God is love and true selfless love does not exist in isolation, but is focused on the beloved. Throughout eternity the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have shared mutual love one with another. We were created to be included and share in that love.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This again is something you should believe because it is according to the scriptures and you can only believe it as God reveals it to you as you read His Word seeking His guidance.[/FONT]

5. If our God is a merciful God, why are there so many bad things happening in the world such as famine, poverty and war? Why can't God step and stop these atrocities? And I don't believe that we as human's have the power to stop these things from happening, If there truly was a God why can't he help us out?

[FONT=&quot]God created all things in this world to be good. Bad things happen because people choose to live in rebellion to their Creator. God did step into history and He has made a way so that people can be changed from the inside out and stop doing the things which bring about such things as you have mentioned.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

6. Why does God make bad things happen to good people?

[FONT=&quot]God does not make bad things happen to good people. All are rebellious sinners, no one is good. The bad things that happen are the result of one’s own sinful behavior or their behavior against another. God allows things in this world to take place so that humans will understand the consequences of their rejection of His ways and doing things their own way. God’s concern is with a person’s eternal state rather than their comfort and easy temporal life on earth and anything He allows to happen in one’s life is for their eternal benefit.


[/FONT]

7. There are so many contradictions in the bible, for example :

I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 
(Genesis 32:30) 
"No man hath seen God at any time." 
(John 1:18) 
"And I [God] will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts . . ." 
(Exodus 33:23)

"If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." 
(John 5:31, J.C. speaking) 
"I am one that bear witness of myself . . ." 
(John 8:18, J.C. speaking)

". . . God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." 
(James:1:13) 
"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham." 
(Genesis 22:1)

". . . for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever." 
(Jeremiah 3:12) 
"Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever. Thus saith the Lord." 
(Jeremiah 17:4)

[/quote]


I'll try to respond to this idea of contradictions a little later.

 

[pwfaith]

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I have been raised in a Catholic household all my life and have been going to church nearly every Sunday. I have not been entirely sure about my Christian faith and the last couple of years my curiosity has led me to study other religions and non-religions. I would like to a few questions and queries in which I have in regards to the Christian faith and it would be much appreciated if they can be answered by another Christian with good knowledge.

You've got some great questions! There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to learn more about one's faith I've been a Christian for almost 30 years and still have SO many questions and a desire to learn and grow in my faith. What better way to learn than to ask You might enjoy Bible Questions Answered it is a great resource for some of the questions you've asked below.

1. How long after Jesus' life/times was the bible written?

The Bible was written over a period of 1600 years, by individuals in different places, at different times, with different backgrounds. Yet each individual book harmonizes with the rest. Although its writing spread over many centuries, and involved different people, it has one single, perfect message throughout, No other book in history can make the same claim, nor remain constant and consistent in content.

The Bible is a unique book. It has been called "the strangest publishing project of all time". But it stands alone from all other volumes, for no other book can compare with these outstanding credentials:

• Forty independent writers were used in its compilation.
• These writers had twenty different occupations.
• They lived in ten different countries.
• They wrote over a 1,500 year time span.
• The book uses three different languages.
• It has a cast of 2,930 characters in 1,551 places.
• It covers a huge number of different subjects.
• Its message is expressed in all literary forms (poetry, prose, etc.).

the test of prophecy - the foretelling of future events. A book claiming to be God's Word will contain His statements about His purpose, and predictions for the future. It will be a simple matter to ascertain whether such prophecies have been fulfilled or not. In fact, the Bible draws attention to this test, and invites us to examine it closely. It declares: "If thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).



It is one thing to make a simple prophecy - it is quite another to declare something specific and remarkable that is later fulfilled to the very letter. The Bible is full of fulfilled prophecies, many of which are very definite in nature. Such prophecies give details of actual events to occur; actual geographic locations; actual people (sometimes named before they were born); actual nations - all of which would be involved in certain world events.

Since we do not have the actual parchments nor papyri on which the original documents were written, we must test how reliable are the copies which we have. This is determined in two ways:

(a) The NUMBER of manuscripts (mss) in existence;
(b) The TIME INTERVAL between the original and existing copies.

Notice that there is certainly no shortage of New Testament manuscripts to examine. In fact, there are over 24,000 different, independent ancient copies of the New Testament in existence today. There are over 5,000 Greek versions of the New Testament alone (the earliest copies of these books were in the Greek language).

How does this compare with other ancient literature? It is surprising to find that most of the other well known and established books of ancient times have very few copies extant, as reference to Figure 2 will show. Recognized historians, such as Herodotus and Suetonius, have as few as eight independent copies in existence - certainly paltry when compared with the 24,000 copies of The New Testament!

The importance of this comparison is that the Bibliographical Test show the likelihood of a document being an accurate copy of the original on which it is based. It is a simple equation: the more independent copies that agree with each other, the more likely it is that we have the text of the original document faithfully preserved. On the other hand, the fewer the number, the less certain we can be of this fact.

The age of these copies is also a very important consideration. The older the copy (i.e., the closer to the original manuscript), the less chance there is of errors having been introduced into the document. Additionally, a continuous line of copies from ancient to modern times helps to ensure that changes to the original document have not occurred.

We therefore conclude that if a person is skeptical of the New Testament text, he would also put all of classical antiquity into obscurity, since no other ancient document is as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.

From http://learnbible.net

 

[pwfaith]

I don't have time right now to go through all your questions, hopefully I will later tonight

 

[invinc3ble]

I was also raised a Catholic. Now my trust is in Christ alone...not a church or religion.


[FONT=&quot]I suppose you mean the New Testament. I believe the gospels and letters of the New Testament, except possibly Revelation written by John, were written and circulated well before 70 AD. I believe this because none of the gospels or the other letters mentions the destruction of the temple which occurred in 70 AD. An event of such significance would certainly have been included had it already taken place.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]


[FONT=&quot]Why don’t you ask Jesus directly whether He is the Son of God? If He is the risen Savior as the scriptures claim He is certainly capable of answering your sincere questions. I think God gave plenty of evidence for humanity in precisely fulfilling prophecies given hundreds of years before relating to the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]God is no less merciful in the OT than in the NT. He is the same throughout; full of love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and justice. God is not changeable. It is just that the OT is a historical account of God working through nations and people, especially Israel, demonstrating His holy righteousness and standard against sin. Nevertheless He repeatedly showed patience and mercy toward those who persisted in their rebellion and sin.

[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]I believe the One God has eternally existed in the Persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as expressed throughout the scriptures. The Council did not create or establish this concept, it only verified and defended it against heresy. This One God is composed of these three Persons with the same attributes, characteristics, and abilities which only the Creator God possesses. The scriptures state that God is love and true selfless love does not exist in isolation, but is focused on the beloved. Throughout eternity the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have shared mutual love one with another. We were created to be included and share in that love.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This again is something you should believe because it is according to the scriptures and you can only believe it as God reveals it to you as you read His Word seeking His guidance.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]God created all things in this world to be good. Bad things happen because people choose to live in rebellion to their Creator. God did step into history and He has made a way so that people can be changed from the inside out and stop doing the things which bring about such things as you have mentioned.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]God does not make bad things happen to good people. All are rebellious sinners, no one is good. The bad things that happen are the result of one’s own sinful behavior or their behavior against another. God allows things in this world to take place so that humans will understand the consequences of their rejection of His ways and doing things their own way. God’s concern is with a person’s eternal state rather than their comfort and easy temporal life on earth and anything He allows to happen in one’s life is for their eternal benefit.


[/FONT]
I'll try to respond to this idea of contradictions a little later.

[/quote]


thankyou very much, you have helped alot

 

[invinc3ble]

You've got some great questions! There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to learn more about one's faith I've been a Christian for almost 30 years and still have SO many questions and a desire to learn and grow in my faith. What better way to learn than to ask You might enjoy it is a great resource for some of the questions you've asked below.



The Bible was written over a period of 1600 years, by individuals in different places, at different times, with different backgrounds. Yet each individual book harmonizes with the rest. Although its writing spread over many centuries, and involved different people, it has one single, perfect message throughout, No other book in history can make the same claim, nor remain constant and consistent in content.

The Bible is a unique book. It has been called "the strangest publishing project of all time". But it stands alone from all other volumes, for no other book can compare with these outstanding credentials:

• Forty independent writers were used in its compilation.
• These writers had twenty different occupations.
• They lived in ten different countries.
• They wrote over a 1,500 year time span.
• The book uses three different languages.
• It has a cast of 2,930 characters in 1,551 places.
• It covers a huge number of different subjects.
• Its message is expressed in all literary forms (poetry, prose, etc.).

the test of prophecy - the foretelling of future events. A book claiming to be God's Word will contain His statements about His purpose, and predictions for the future. It will be a simple matter to ascertain whether such prophecies have been fulfilled or not. In fact, the Bible draws attention to this test, and invites us to examine it closely. It declares: "If thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).



It is one thing to make a simple prophecy - it is quite another to declare something specific and remarkable that is later fulfilled to the very letter. The Bible is full of fulfilled prophecies, many of which are very definite in nature. Such prophecies give details of actual events to occur; actual geographic locations; actual people (sometimes named before they were born); actual nations - all of which would be involved in certain world events.

Since we do not have the actual parchments nor papyri on which the original documents were written, we must test how reliable are the copies which we have. This is determined in two ways:

(a) The NUMBER of manuscripts (mss) in existence;
(b) The TIME INTERVAL between the original and existing copies.

Notice that there is certainly no shortage of New Testament manuscripts to examine. In fact, there are over 24,000 different, independent ancient copies of the New Testament in existence today. There are over 5,000 Greek versions of the New Testament alone (the earliest copies of these books were in the Greek language).

How does this compare with other ancient literature? It is surprising to find that most of the other well known and established books of ancient times have very few copies extant, as reference to Figure 2 will show. Recognized historians, such as Herodotus and Suetonius, have as few as eight independent copies in existence - certainly paltry when compared with the 24,000 copies of The New Testament!

The importance of this comparison is that the Bibliographical Test show the likelihood of a document being an accurate copy of the original on which it is based. It is a simple equation: the more independent copies that agree with each other, the more likely it is that we have the text of the original document faithfully preserved. On the other hand, the fewer the number, the less certain we can be of this fact.

The age of these copies is also a very important consideration. The older the copy (i.e., the closer to the original manuscript), the less chance there is of errors having been introduced into the document. Additionally, a continuous line of copies from ancient to modern times helps to ensure that changes to the original document have not occurred.

We therefore conclude that if a person is skeptical of the New Testament text, he would also put all of classical antiquity into obscurity, since no other ancient document is as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.

thanks heaps for the info, much appreciated

 

[pwfaith]

2. Why should I believe that a Jewish man from 2000 years ago is the Son of God?

Ultimately you need to weigh the information provided and decide this for yourself. I can only tell you why I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I know some religions disagree with me on this passage and I'm not going to debate that point right now since I am talking about my view to answer your question John 1:1-4 clearly affirms the full deity of Christ: "In the beginning, the Word was already there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through him. Nothing that has been made was made without him. Life was in him, and that life was the light for all people." Here Christ is referred to as "the Word," and John says both that he was "with God" and that he "was God" The Greek text mirrors Genesis 1:1 ("In the beginning...") to remind us that John is talking about something that was true before the world was even made. God the Son has always been fully God.

John 20:28, in it's context, is also a strong proof for the deity of Christ. "Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Remember Thomas had doubted the reports of the other disciples that they had seen Jesus raised from the dead. And he said he would not believe unless he could see the nail prints in Jesus' hands. Then Jesus appeared to them and said to Thomas "Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." In response Thomas says "My Lord and my God!" Thomas calls Jesus "my God." In the text John shows that Jesus himself approved of what Thomas has said and encouraged everyone who hears about Thomas to believe the same things that Thomas did. Jesus goes on to ask "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" John goes on to immediately tell those reading "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

Jesus spoke of those who will not see him and will still believe. Basically the whole gospel of John was written to encourage people to imitate Thomas and believe as Thomas believed. I highly suggest reading the whole book of John

Another passage that speaks of Jesus divine nature is Hebrews 1, where it says that Christ is the "exact representation" of the nature or being of God. In other words God the Son exactly duplicates the being or nature of God the Father in every way; whatever attributes and powers the Father has, the Son has.

Romans 9:5 says "Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all forever praised! amen"

Isaiah 9:6 says "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'wonderful counselor, mighty God"

The Bible also says there is but only one God.

Jesus one day asked his followers "Who do you say I am?" When Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:15-16 ), Jesus was not shocked, nor did He rebuke Peter. Just the opposite, He commended him!

"The Jews tried all the harder to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God." (John 5:18)

Christ was fully man born of the Virgin Mary, conceived of the Holy Spirit. Christ walked on earth, ate with his disciples, Mary and Martha, and Zacchaeus, told parables to great crowds of people. Jesus was man yet he was fully God.

A great blog post I found:
Is Jesus God? Did Jesus Ever Claim to be God? See Proof from the Life of Jesus.

 

[pwfaith]

3. How come the God in the New Testament is much more merciful than the angry one in the Old Testament?

He wasn't more merciful in the NT God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I think when people surface read it can appear this way though. In both the OT and the NT God requires we follow His commands, however it does seem God was more strict with the Isrealites which is likely b/c they were His chosen people. They were the ones chosen to bring the good news to the world. God was actually very merciful in the OT. God always warned people in the OT before His wrath was brought upon them. What happened to those who listened to the warnings? They were shown God's mercy.

Some examples I found:

Jonah - God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the people - tell them to repent or they would be judged. Jonah didn't want to and tried to hide from God. You probably know the story God tries to redirect Jonah back to his calling, causes a big storm, sailors on the boat throw him overboard, he gets swallowed by a giant fish, spit up on land and goes to Nineveh. Jonah didn't want to go b/c he wanted God to judge Nineveh for their wickedness. Jonah had no mercy for them. Remember Jonah sat out side the city waiting for God to destroy it. God caused a plant to grow overnight to give Jonah shade during his watch, but then caused the death of the plant the next day. Jonah was furious about the plant. God was trying to show Jonah that his heart was wrong and his priorities were wrong since he was more concerned about that plant than the thousands of people in Nineveh. Nineveh repented and God did not destroy their city. God had mercy on both Nineveh and Jonah.

Is it not merciful to give warning of what will happen if things do not change as well? God ALWAYS gave warning first. Mercy is a characteristic of care for others and their needs. Would a God who didn't care, was unmerciful give multiple warnings and attempts to get people to change? I don't think so Yet God did. That shows me he was merciful in the OT.

People have used the flood to show God's lack of mercy, however when we look at the whole story we see God used Noah to warn and try to get the people to change for 100 YEARS before the flood ever came. They had ample time and opportunity to change in order to prevent the flood from occurring. Their refusal to repent is what ultimately caused the flood. God withheld His wrath for over 100 YEARS at the very least while He used Noah over and over again to warn them and call them to repent. THAT is mercy!

How about the the murderous King Ahab

1Ki 21:29 “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days."

God also showed mercy to Lot. Lot knew that it was through the mercy of God that they were allowed to escape. Lot's wife rejected the mercy of God through her disobedience and was turned into a pillar of salt.

From the Bible Dictionary: MERCY, MERCIFUL - Holman Bible Dictionary on StudyLight.org

I think the difference people usually see is the OT is the prophesying and preparing for Christ, the NT is post-Christ's arrival and sacrifice.

God is abundant in mercy - in the OT and the NT - but he is also just in both. We simply see it laid out in different manners. Many people would say the NT has quite a bit of God's vengeance and justice as well when we look at all it has to say about rejecting Christ and the end times.

I would suggest going to a site like biblegateway.com and do a word search on "mercy" and see what you find

 

[DandyAndy]

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I have been raised in a Catholic household all my life and have been going to church nearly every Sunday. I have not been entirely sure about my Christian faith and the last couple of years my curiosity has led me to study other religions and non-religions. I would like to a few questions and queries in which I have in regards to the Christian faith and it would be much appreciated if they can be answered by another Christian with good knowledge.

1. How long after Jesus' life/times was the bible written?

2. Why should I believe that a Jewish man from 2000 years ago is the Son of God?

3. Howcome the God in the New Testament is much more merciful than the angry one in the Old Testament?

4. Please explain the Holy Trinity to me, and why should I believe in it considering it was established by a Council in 325 AD ? (3 persons, One God, and why should i believe in it?)

5. If our God is a merciful God, why are there so many bad things happening in the world such as famine, poverty and war? Why can't God step and stop these atrocities? And I don't believe that we as human's have the power to stop these things from happening, If there truly was a God why can't he help us out?

6. Why does God make bad things happen to good people?

7. There are so many contradictions in the bible, for example :

I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 
(Genesis 32:30) 
"No man hath seen God at any time." 
(John 1:18) 
"And I [God] will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts . . ." 
(Exodus 33:23)

"If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." 
(John 5:31, J.C. speaking) 
"I am one that bear witness of myself . . ." 
(John 8:18, J.C. speaking)

". . . God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." 
(James:1:13) 
"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham." 
(Genesis 22:1)

". . . for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever." 
(Jeremiah 3:12) 
"Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever. Thus saith the Lord." 
(Jeremiah 17:4)

You really need to read your scripture in context.

1) The entire Bible was written over a period of hundreds of years from what I understand. Some was written well before Christ ever showed up on Earth and the rest was written sometime after. I don't know the specifics off hand.

2) Because he said he was and he backed it up (if you believe that what was written was true of course). Christ is the only way to the Father.

3) The GOD of the OT and NT are the same and they are equally as merciful. Both provided ample warning and ample opportunity to repent.

4) Christ alluded to it, referring to the Father, the Holy Spirit and himself. I can't explain the Trinity in a way that someone else could explain positive divergence or evolution or anything else - it just is because it is.

5) Does the man pointing the gun at another mans head have the power to lower the gun and refuse to pull the trigger? Of course. Does the pedophile have the ability to refuse to rape the young child? Of course. We have the power to stop the evil things we do. The problem is that it is MUCH harder to stop the evil things that OTHERS do. We can only control what we do as individuals. GOD is the same way - He doesn't stop the evil the individual does because the individual makes his/her own choices. To interfere with these choices would be a violation of free will.

Bad things happen as a result of sin and as a result of our own choices. We produce enough food to feed every one but people starve - how much scraps and stale food do you throw away on a monthly basis? How many people could I feed if I canceled my Direct TV service and paid for the meals of starving children in Africa (the answer is a lot)? I'm selfish - I would rather watch reruns of Malcolm in the Middle and all the college basketball than donate that $40 a month to Feed my starving children - a charity that produces nutritious meals for like .40 cents each.

6) GOD never makes bad things happen. Why do you think that?

7) Again, please read your scripture in context.