Saturday, June 11, 2022

Misconceptions and Objections

Misconceptions about the Bible

A misconception is a view or opinion that is incorrect because it's based on faulty thinking or understanding, sometimes born out of a desire to reject Christianity.

See the following common misconceptions:

1. The Bible was written by men and is therefore not reliable. 
As Christians, we believe that the Christian Bible is inspired by God the Holy Spirit
in its first writings by its original writers, see this explained at the times 7:33–12:07 and 13:58–16:39 in DAVID GUZIK SERMON ON GENESIS 1:1 IN THE BEGINNING. 
This means that God is the source behind the writings of the Bible and that it's God's self-revelation to man where God used people to write down that revelation:
  • "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16).
  • "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Pet 1:21).
  • "You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for 'All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.' And this word is the good news that was preached to you." (1 Pet 1:23–25, Isaiah 40:6–8).
  • "Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" 
    (Mat 24:35), see A New Heaven and a New Earth.
  • "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." (Proverbs 30:5–6).
When the body of Christ was inaugurated by Jesus, the books in the Old Testament
were already established and Jesus confirmed them by quoting verses in many of them. Most of the books of the New Testament were written either by the apostles or by those who worked very closely with the apostles. 

For details on how we got the New Testament, see Lecture: Text and Canon.

It means that the Bible is the word of God. God supervised the process of writing the Bible by those who wrote it so that we can say that these people were carried along. God breathed into their lives the details, wisdom, and information that they imparted, wrote down, and recorded in the Bible.

I don't think that the Apocrypha should be part of the Bible because its books were written without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Book of Jude quotes in
Jude 1:14–15 The Book of Enoch which is part of the Apocrypha, but that doesn't mean that The Book of Enoch is inspired by God and would be part of the Bible even if it contains some true statements. Over the years, the body of believers has recognized which of the books are inspired by God and which aren't. It happened over a period of time. The books that are inspired by God are found in the Christian Bibles that exclude the Apocrypha. We don't need to read the Apocrypha because
everything God wants us to know about him is already in the Christian Bibles that exclude the Apocrypha. See this further explained at these times in these videos: 

2. The Bible is full of contradictions.
A true contradiction must say the opposite of something else and isn't the same as a problem passage that can be difficult to understand. Problem passages exist in the Bible but not true contradictions in the first original versions of the texts, see time 4:49–7:54 in DEBATE: Atheist LEFT SPEECHLESS On Errors In The Gospels Argument!

Jesus claimed: "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30). This is a declaration of his deity, that Jesus is equal in his deity to God the Father.

Jesus also said: "You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." (John 14:28).

We can look at these two verses with our cultural understanding, with a different mindset than the writers had, judge them accordingly, and therefore interpret them as contradictions, but they aren't.

It's not feasible that apostle John who has written both verses in the same gospel has introduced such a contradiction. The focus of John's gospel is to proclaim the deity of Jesus Christ. There is a theological explanation for this,
see it explained in The Order between Jesus and the Father in the Trinity.

3. The Bible is filled with errors/
    The Bible has been corrupted over years and years of copying.
I believe the Bible is the inspired and only infallible and authoritative written word of God in its first writings, by its original writers. What they wrote is therefore correct. We don't have the original manuscripts but reliable copies of these manuscripts. I don't believe inerrancy applies to different translations of the Bible.
Translations are made by men, by translation committees. They work hard but aren't inspired in the same way that the original writers were, see for example:
However, the differences can be seen as small without theological significance.

Today in our day and age, we have many different Bible translations available, and it's easy to compare the content between them, especially online. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was of incredible value for the contents of the Old Testament. There are also so many ancient manuscripts available for the New Testament, that it's feasible to argue that what we have in the New Testament is very close to what the original authors wrote, except that they are translated into other languages.

See also Bible Translations.
See also common misconceptions about Christianity and the short video:
Is The Bible Filled with Fake Stories? | Myths about Christianity.

Objections to Christianity

An objection is an expression or feeling of disapproval or opposition; a reason to disagree. Some are as follows::

  1. Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites.
    We can find hypocrites everywhere in our society even in churches and in our workplaces. Humans aren't perfect and make mistakes all the time. Jesus never challenged us to follow men, he challenged us to follow him. The real question is whether Jesus was a     hypocrite. It's always about Jesus. The Bible claims that he was perfect without sin (1 John 3:5), which means that he was not (and is not) a hypocrite.

  2. Christianity is a crutch.
    Some people like to say that they have no need of a crutch like Christianity in their lives. Indicating that everything about Christianity is false, that it's just a crutch for people to lean on. The reality is that we all need assistance of some kind in our lives. Most people lean towards something.

  3. It's narrow-minded to believe that Jesus is the only way to God.
    It's Jesus who claims that he is the only way to God (John 14:6), see 
    Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. It's a quote made by Jesus himself and found in the Bible. Jesus didn't say that he is a way, he said that he is the way. It's either completely true or completely false. We must either believe it or reject it. It's not arrogant or narrow minded of a Christian believer to believe what Jesus said and to claim what Jesus claims to be true statements.

  4. What about those who have never heard about Jesus?
    See this explained in What Happens to Those Who Have Never Heard About Jesus? People who ask this kind of questions may be implying that God lacks compassion. But compassion is part of who God is, see God's Attributes. 
    See also Ask, and it will be given to you in The Sermon on the Mount    .

  5. If God is good, why is there suffering and evil?/
    Why doesn't God stop the suffering and evil in the world?/
    What is he waiting for?     
    Sin, suffering, and evil weren't created by God. God is completely pure and without sin, so sin doesn't originate with him. God is the source of everything, and one of the creatures he created was a guardian cherub that we now call Satan or the devil and it's from him that all sin and evil originate. He was blameless from the day he was created, until iniquity was found in him 
    (Ezekiel 28:14–15). Satan had the power to create sin through his free will. Satan became a murderer and there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks from his own character, for he is a liar and the originator/starting point of lies. (John 8:44). Lies and deception originate with Satan. 

    Satan deceived man in the Garden of Eden, and sin came into the world, see The Biblical Creation and the Fall of Man. With sin came death. Physical death wasn't part of God's original creation. He never intended man to suffer the ravages of old age and disease. Man created these things through his choice to fall into sin. Apostle Paul wrote: "just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Rom 5:12). God wants to stop suffering and evil and has a plan to do it. The plan began with him sending his Son to bear the penalty of our sin on the cross. One day God will wipe out all sin and evil. The reason he waits to do so is that he wants people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
    (2 Pet 3:9), see Salvation. God responds with love and patience. Suffering and evil will eventually end when Jesus returns. See this explained at time
    5:07–9:15 in 1 John 3 • Beloved, we are God’s children.

    Also watch the following short animated videos explaining suffering:
  6. How can a loving God send people to Hell?
    Some people don't want to go to God's Heaven. Some people want nothing to do with God. They want him out of their lives. One day they will have their wish granted, not because they are sent to Hell, but because they have chosen it for themselves by rejecting God. People choose to reject God's only plan of Salvation. By doing so, they choose the alternative, which is Hell. If they won't let Jesus pay for their sins, they have to do it themselves. Jesus has come with the best offer we can get. But we have a choice and God will honor that choice. God has no desire to send anyone to Hell:
    "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God,
    and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?    " (Ezekiel 18:23).
    But God will send people to Hell if we reject his plan of Salvation.

  7. No religion can contain the fullness of spiritual truth, therefore all religions are valid. It's arrogant to say otherwise.
    These people believe that all religions have partial truths but none have the whole truth. This is an example of a self-refuting idea. It's a contradiction. To be able to claim this, they themselves must have all the truth about this, but they say no one has all the truth. Jesus is the fullness of truth. He is the truth (John 14:6). See time 12:19–19:50 in Math And The Bible. The Bible says: "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb 9:27). This makes reincarnation wrong. See Why the Quran is wrong about Jesus.
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