I found these “Questions for a christian” http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Sparta/1019/Questions.htm
Here are a few Bryan I think it would be interesting if you could answer some of these;
“In Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:25, Jesus is reported to have said that “the stars shall fall from heaven” immediately after the tribulation. Does this seem possible to you? If so, where will the stars fall to? The context of these passages sound like Jesus meant that the stars would fall to the earth. Does such a statement come from an omniscient divinity who knows what stars are and how enormous they are (some millions of times the size of the earth)? Please explain.”
“Matthew is the only Gospel to record the resurrection of an unspecified number of saints coming out of their graves upon Jesus’ death on the cross and going into Jerusalem and appearing to many people there. Who were these saints? Why have we no testimony from them of their resurrection? Or why were they not inspired by God to produce their own statements testifying to this miraculous event? What happened to these saints, and why did none of the other Gospels (Mark, Luke and John) record this event, and why was Paul silent on this matter? So much emphasis of the Christian religion is placed upon the resurrection of one man, Jesus, but the resurrection of untold many is treated quite flippantly. Please explain.”
“The Bible is said by most Christians to be an ‘ultimate authority’ on matters of epistemology (i.e., the nature and means of knowledge) and morality (i.e., as a guide for man’s behavior and action). If this is true, does the Bible offer a definition of what knowledge is? Does the Bible offer a definition of what morality is? Please keep in mind that listing the attributes of one or another does not necessarily constitute a definition, but may in fact only describe such concepts, and therefore presuppose a prior understanding of the essentials included by such a concept. That is what your task consists of: identify which passages in the Bible explicitly identify the essentials pertaining to knowledge and morality as a modern definition would do. If the Bible does not offer such definitions, how can one maintain that the Bible is an ‘ultimate authority’ on such matters in question? Please explain.”
“How does the Bible define the concept ‘purpose’, and how does it apply to the Christian ethical system? Please cite scriptural passage which defines this term.”
“Christians are often found speaking of God’s purpose, yet just as often are apt to point out that they do not know what God’s purpose is, that this purpose is ‘beyond man’s understanding and comprehension’. How, then, are such claims to be accepted as knowledge if they are not intelligible to man? Furthermore, how can an “infinite eternal perfect and immortal being” have a purpose? Purpose applies only to living beings that face the possibility of death. But God, according to Christianity, does not face this problem. Purpose presupposes value, and value presupposes a fundamental alternative: live vs. death, and the choice to pursue life over death. If a being stands no chance of losing its life (i.e., like an eternal, immortal God), then it has no need for values, no capacity to value anything. Yet, these are prerequisites to purpose. How can God be said to value and love, while said to be immortal and perfect, and how can God be said to have a purpose, when He suffers no possibility of loss or annihilation? Please explain your answer to this paradox.”
“How does the Bible define the concept ‘virtue’? Does the Bible distinguish the concept ‘virtue’ from the concept ‘value’? If so, please explain this distinction and reference the scriptural passage(s) in which these distinctions are made. “
“How does the Bible define reality? Please cite all scriptural passages that apply.”
“ Please offer a clear, coherent and precise definition of God. This is not an invitation to describe God by listing his characteristics. This is a request to define the notion ‘God’ by isolating the essentials of the term.”
“ Is ‘God’ a concept or a proper name? If ‘God’ is a concept, what are its perceptual referents? If it is a proper name, what is it naming? Please explain in detail.”
“ Many apologists believe that their arguments rationally conclude with certainty that God exists. If you can think of any arguments that qualify as such, what are they and how are they testable? Please explain in detail and be careful not to commit any cognitive errors.”
“If you are a Christian, how did you come to believe the claim that God exists? Was it an argument (or series of arguments), or did you just accept the claim as truth and discover arguments to this effect at a later time? Please explain in detail as honestly as you dare.”
Please be a concise as possible.
