Answer Book

>>>
Contents
In PDF,
blue links open pages
- Questions
- Purpose
- Important
1 Search for truth
2 Reasoned faith
11
3 Bible (old part)
17
4 Bible (new part)
23
5 Physical design
35
8 Spiritual design
7 Gods trinity
8 Gods character
9 Pain and suffering
10 Heaven and hell
11 Jesus only way?
12 Daily living
13 Church
14 Life wager
- Website
- Copies for friends
Questions
what 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?
> Arent most of the major conflicts in the world caused by
people who claim to be doing the will of God? Doesnt
religion do more harm than good?
> If there must be a Creator, then who created God?
> Isnt 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? Isnt it obvious
that some people get a better deal in life than others?
> How can anyone comprehend the concept of a three-inone 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 arent divine healings indisputable? Why doesnt
God replace amputations and fix deformities?
> If God knows the future, doesnt that mean he controls
the future? Has God predestined everything? Do we
really have free will?
> Why did Jesus have to die? Why didnt God just forgive
us?
> Will God send billions of people to hell because they
didnt 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 Quran or other holy scriptures?
> Why cant 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
didnt inject personal opinions?
> Wasnt 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 didnt 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 Eves son, went out
and married a wife who lived in another area, so doesnt
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 peoples cities and kill all
innocent men, women and children?
> Why does God condone slavery and polygamy in the Bible?
dont think clearly?
> Hasnt 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 ignore hundred of rules in the Bible but

make a big deal about others? Arent Christians just picking
and choosing the ones they like?
> Why do Christians keep quoting the Bible itself as proof

for its own accuracy? Dont they know that this is illogical
circular reasoning?
> Is there any evidence that heaven is more than just a desire
for wish fulfillment?
> Is there evidence outside of the Bible to support what

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

religious?
> Why wont Christians admit that the Bible contains errors and
contradictions?
> 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 youre told?
> Why doesnt God answer prayer just as the Bible promises?
> Who is a Christian? How does a person become a Christian?
> Isnt 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 doesnt have other ways outside the Bible that we may
not even know about?
> Why do some Christians talk so much about being saved

or born-again or similar terms? Dont they know that this is
offensive to people?
> Can a Christian lose his or her salvation? How?
QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRISTIANS

> Arent all religions essentially the same? Arent they all fearbased and emotional? Dont they just scare believers so they
> Are you telling me that Im going to hell if I dont believe just
like you do?
The heart cannot embrace what the mind cannot accept
Purpose
Worship and serve
with our minds
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
1 - Handbook of Christian faith
2 - Answers for doubters questions
3 - Christianity tested by scientific method
+ Non-denominational, just basic Christianity

+ University level
+ Sensible, well-organized, clear and concise
+ Free of charge, no registration, no solicitation, no tracking
+ Available in all modern digital formats, including Internet, PDF, and eBook
+ Quick and easy distribution, world-wide
+ Help Christians improve dialog with family, friends, neighbors and associates
+ Explanations for nonbelievers in plain language
+ Group discussions in home, neighborhood, church, school and workplace
Totally independent
www.christiananswerbook.com
In modern digital formats: Internet, PDF, eBook and Audio
No charge. No registration. No advertising. No solicitation. No follow-up. No tracking.

Not associated in any way with any church, school, business or other organization.
Copyright @ 2015 Lundborg Foundation

Helping people understand and communicate Christian faith
Over 2,000 online visits per day
Important
Christianity 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 truth

Need truth, not opinions
There 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 its true that it does not exist, and thus we
arrive back at truth again. Its 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. Its 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 Bible

Many Christians think that its enough simply to quote the
Bible to establish truth, but this is not convincing to everyone
because some say, I dont believe the Bible, and others say,
Thats just the way YOU interpret it.
> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why do

Christians keep quoting the Bible itself
as proof for its own accuracy? Dont
they know that this is illogical circular
reasoning?
Critics are correct in pointing out that it is circular reasoning to
Page 8
claim that the Bible is true just because it says its 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, didnt even
have the Bible (not yet written), but it had the truth.
Universal method for truth

In the modern world, we have a universally accepted method
for discovering truth, called the scientific method, a step-bystep 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 cant avoid evidence, logic and critical thinking.
Truth real truth must be able to withstand the rigors of any
kind of investigation, of challengers 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 its 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 well use in this book. This is a neutral starting

place, the common ground.
First, the question

STEP 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 investigation
Page 9
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.
Hypothesis
STEP 3. In this step, we compress Christianity into a written
core statement, which becomes our hypothesis:
STEP 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.
||||| God offers a free pardon and a loving personal

relationship, through Jesus, requiring an individual
response that shapes present life and determines
eternal destiny.
Majority opinion does assure truth but is strong evidence.
This is the irreducible core of Christian beliefs.
> 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.
A key concept in this hypothesis is that God not only wants us to

know ABOUT him, but wants us to KNOW him. Its personal and
relational.
Next, well 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 examination
STEPS 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 truth
CHAPTER 2 - Reasoned faith
CHAPTER 3 - Bible (old part)
CHAPTER 4 - Bible (new part)
CHAPTER 5 - Physical design
CHAPTER 6 - Spiritual design
CHAPTER 7 - Gods trinity
CHAPTER 8 - Gods character
CHAPTER 9 - Pain and suffering
CHAPTER 10 - Heaven and hell
CHAPTER 11 - Jesus only way?
CHAPTER 12 - Daily living
CHAPTER 13 - Church
CHAPTER 14 - Life wager

Each chapter builds upon findings of the preceding chapters.
This book makes affirmative arguments (for Christianity)
because thats 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.
Readers conclusion
STEP 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 handbook

Almost all spiritual questions are variations of three primary
questions, the most important questions in life:
ORIGIN: Where did I come from?
Page 10
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 its free, without registration or advertising.
CHAPTER 1 SUMMARY
Christians may be content simply to point to the Bible as
the source of truth, but for skeptics and unbelievers its not
convincing to say that the Bible is true just because it says its
true. They need more evidence.
These questions form the essence of theology.
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.
This book reads like a theology handbook, and essentially

thats what it becomes.
In the process, a theology handbook is produced, helpful to

believers, doubters and unbelievers alike.
MEANING: Why am I here?

DESTINY: Where am I going?
If youre 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
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 Gods trinity
Gods 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 faith
Search 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.
Thats 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 its
tantamount to proof.
Therefore, truth, probabilities and faith are interrelated.
Page 11
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 dont
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.
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.
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.
What is faith?
Faith is nothing apart from its object. What is good or bad is not
the faith, but who or what we have faith in.
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.
Three kinds of faith
Faith comes from evidence, which is rational, not moral.

Definition of faith:
Faith: Firm belief in something for which there is no
proof.
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 its convenient to believe it, or because others tell him
to believe it.
A measure of a persons wisdom and maturity is how far out in
time he can plan and work. Heres a question to put things in
perspective:
Will anything I believe today, or dont believe today, make
any difference to me 100 years from now?
Over the very long run, most of our beliefs really dont matter
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 persons 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 dont

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 enough

Jesus 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 youre told?
What Jesus taught in this encounter:
Children are not dumb; they just dont 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 wont 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 dont 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.
Heres 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.
Page 12
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 persons 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 religion
Most 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 ... Arent all

religions essentially the same? Arent
they all fear-based and emotional? Dont
they just scare believers so they dont
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 wont 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 Gods free gift of love
(Jesus). Thats 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 politics

History 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 ... Arent most

major conflicts in the world caused by

people who claim to be doing the will of
God? Doesnt religion do more harm than
good?
The elite have physical and economic power, but thats 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 mischaracterizing pure Christianity.
Love overcomes fear

There 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.
Page 13
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:
eternal destiny.
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 religions

Most 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 worlds major religions:
In Christianity, however, there is no fear except the fear of

rejecting Gods 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 Gods love i.e.,
accepts Gods offer (Jesus) Gods 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
Besides Christian, the major blocks of spiritual faith today are

Muslim, Hindu and Non-Religious, together accounting for
approximately 85% of the worlds 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 worlds 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
worlds major religions before proceeding to test our hypothesis
(core Christian beliefs).
Muslim faith
In 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 Quran.
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 Gods 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 mans sins ... do
not believe Jesus was divine, but had a divine spirit
Believe the Quran 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 its 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.
Page 14
When a person says the shahada with conviction in the

presence of two Muslims, the person becomes a Muslim. Its
very simple, and no turning back.
The Five Pillars are the practices of Islam:
Declaring there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is
Allahs messenger (shahada)
Ritual prayer five times a day (salat), facing Mecca, using
prescribed Arabic words and body positions
Giving 2.5% of ones 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 Quran 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 persons life. They sit on the persons
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 Quran 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 Quran 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 Quran. It must be printed and read in Arabic, the language
Page 15
in which it was written, and any translation in whole or part is

frowned upon and not regarded as sacred text.
Hindu faith
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.
In contrast to the stark and exacting Muslim faith, Hindu faith is

so diverse and amorphous that it practically defies description.
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, its usually difficult to have
meaningful spiritual dialog with Muslims.
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 Quran) 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.
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.
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.
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 Quran. Music is
forbidden in the mosque.
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.
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.
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.
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 Quran
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 Quran, Muhammads 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.
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 deitys 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 dont 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, theres a photograph of the chosen deity on
the table, shelf or wall. Theres water, fruit, flowers and incense
offered to the deity. Theres a bell, rung for prayer, and an oil
lamp, lit during worship. Theres 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
persons 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 its 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 persons 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 faith

Atheists and agnostics have faith, too. Everyone even if he
doesnt believe in God attempts to make sense of the reality
around him. If he doesnt attribute the worlds existence to God,
Page 16
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 dont believe anything about God, saying that there
isnt 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 SUMMARY
The 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):
eternal destiny.
Christian Answer Book: 3 Bible (old part) www.christiananswerbook.com
Page 17
3 Bible (old part)

Bible credibility
This book and hypothesis is about Christianity, and since the
Bible is the foundation document for Christianity, it is necessary
to establish the Bibles credibility, the purpose of this chapter.
Websters 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.
Three out of every four people in the United States regard

the Bible as the Word of God.
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?
Bible structure
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 worlds most read book, which by
itself is evidence of a divine book.
How people regard the Bible

A recent Gallup Poll in the United States asked this question:
The Bible is not a book in the usual sense of the word. Actually,
its 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.
Which of the following statements comes closest to

describing your views about the Bible?
Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in the Old Testament,

but the New Testament is uniquely Christian.
The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken

literally, word for word
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.
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:
Bible size and age

As 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 Johns 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
Page 18
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 dont 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 its credibility has been tested, explained in Chapter 4.
Exact dating of the Old Testament books is uncertain, but

scholars generally believe they were written 1450-450 BC.
Unbelievable narratives
The New Testament books were written 49-100 AD.
Most people find some narratives in the Bible to be

unbelievable, and they are major stumbling blocks to Christian
faith.
There was a time period of about 500 years between the lastwritten 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 writers
Approximately 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.
> 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 stories

Examples of Old Testament stories that people find
unbelievable: Eve Made from Adams 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 view
Christians 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 view
Christians 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,
Page 19
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 Satans 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 didnt 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 doesnt 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 didnt actually happen, they say, its 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-essentials
Referring 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
Page 20
the time line.
chosen people.
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.
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).
Which is the truth? Its OK to say, I dont know.

The differences are only about timing and method, not about
Gods 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
didnt swallow a camel, but the imagery communicates a strong
message: Dont fuss over little things while ignoring the big
things!
It doesnt 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 killings

Another problem category with the Old Testament is the mass
killing of men, women and children, even when one of Gods
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 Gods command.
> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... How could a

God of goodness and justice direct the
Israelites to capture other peoples 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 didnt have the same
knowledge of God as the Israelites, and they were not Gods
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, Gods 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 laws

There 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 nationstate, 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. Arent
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
Page 21
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill

them.
Matthew 5:1718)
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 SUMMARY
This book is an examination of this hypothesis:
||| God offers a free pardon and a loving personal
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 thats 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
Page 22
Christian faith. When the church experienced its most dramatic

growth (as through missionary Apostle Paul), the new believers
(Gentiles, non-Jews) didnt 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)
Usually associated with greatness

He had no credentials but himself
Christianity is about Jesus
He was only thirty three
Christianity 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
Page 23
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 mankinds 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 virginborn, 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
worlds population. Its 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 Jesus
The 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 authors 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 dont 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 dont 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 rabblerouser 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 wouldnt know the facts.
Most people at that time didnt 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 evidence
The 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
dont 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
didnt have many detailed facts about Jesus but confirmed
Page 24
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 didnt 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 councils

Understanding 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 ... Wasnt 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 didnt 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
Page 25
widely accepted.
We dont know why God didnt 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 its 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, Gods 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 documents
The 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. Heres 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. Heres 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.
Page 26
Bible translations
The 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 Englands 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 challenges
The Bible is still the worlds 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
Page 27
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 Gods
direction, by approximately 40 different men, on three
different continents, in three different languages, over
a period of more than 1,500 years. Its 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 peoples 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.
Presumptions
Most people have general presumptions about the Bible they
believe it, they dont believe it, or its irrelevant.
If they believe it, they read the Bible looking for ways to verify
and strengthen their belief. If they dont believe it, they read the
Bible looking errors and incredulities. If they think its 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 dont believe the Bible pose as intellectuals but
are usually so closed minded that they wont 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. Its 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.
Dont try to force independent meaning out of difficult text, but
instead try to find an interpretation thats consistent with the
meaning of clear text in that document.
Page 28
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 didnt just
happen by itself it is the result of Gods plan and creation.
Miracles
Science errors
The miracles recorded in the New Testament are an important

part of this inquiry because, for many people, they cast doubt
on Bible credibility.
Critics 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.
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.
> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why wont

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 todays common sense,
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 worlds 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 worlds 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 its 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, its 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. Its 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.
Contradictions
Bible 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.
Page 29
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 potters 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 writers 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.
Page 30
agreement among historians regarding what each symbol

means.
Futurist view. Events described in Revelation will occur in
the future; e.g., Gods 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:
Gods 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 doesnt appear to be any material
conflict with the 26 books of the New Testament which are clear
narrative.
At first these alleged contradictions look like irrefutable proof

that the Bible is flawed, but they are weak upon examination.
Translation errors
Revelation
The 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.
Another category of Bible unbelief is the book of Revelation,

the last book of he Bible, written by the Apostle John. Its 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.
Johns 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 Johns life through the end of
the world. The symbols correspond to specific events in
history, including various rulers and nations. There is little
Problem is, most people cant 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 issues
Some 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.
Page 31
in the New Testament, and countless others not named, had

important roles in the church.
The womens 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 shouldnt 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 didnt 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 record
Most 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.
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.
Other holy books
Also, in the male dominated world two thousand years ago, the
Bible taught equality:
There are more than 50 religions that claim to have holy books,
their sacred scriptures.
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, Philips four daughters and other women named
> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... On what basis

can anyone say that the Bible is more
credible than the Quran 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
worlds 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.
Quran (Muslim). Muslims believe that the Quran 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 Quran has been translated
into other languages, but this is frowned upon and called
interpretations or translations of the meanings.
There is nothing in the Quran to suggest that Muhammad
saw God or talked to God during these revelations.
The Quran 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
Page 32
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 message
Reading 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 dont 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 dont
know, but we should act on what we DO know.
In investigating Christianity, it is Gods 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 SUMMARY
To 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.
Page 33
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:
The Bible reveals divine credentials in its bibliography, fulfilled

prophesy, internal unity, martyr commitment, miraculous
preservation and life-changing power, far beyond normal
probabilities.

eternal destiny.
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
Next, using the scientific method of investigation, we begin to

test the hypothesis.
Christian Answer Book: 5 Physical design www.christiananswerbook.com
5 Physical design
One God
The first word of our hypothesis is God (singular):
eternal destiny.
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 persons
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
worlds 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 Gods 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 (nonJews), 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 Pauls address to the high court in Athens:
Page 34
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
theres a single designer/creator God.
Today, approximately 60% of the worlds population believe in
a single God (monotheists), while 40% believe in multiple gods
(polytheists) or no god (atheists and agnostics).
Old Testament big picture

Even though the Old Testament is not an essential part of understanding Christianity, those 39 ancient God-inspired books,
particularly Genesis, can be very helpful in showing the big
picture of Gods 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 Testament, 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 argument

All 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 its both design and chance. So suppose its
50% design and 50% chance. Then the answer includes A,
because design is an essential part of what we observe and
experience. Even if its 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.
Heres 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 Gods 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
Page 35
must be an intelligent designer and a creator.

Throughout history this designer-creator has been called GOD,
which means almighty being, nothing superior.
The beginning
Christians, 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.
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.
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 cant avoid the law because
each cycle has less usable energy than the previous cycle.
Recent polls show that approximately 85% of the American

public believe that God had some part in the process.
Therefore, the something is non-material (spirit),

otherwise it would not exist, because through eons of time it
would have exhausted all usable energy.
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
Timeless. Einsteins 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. evolution

Ever since the writings of Charles Darwin in late 1800s, there
has been heated and usually bitter debate between defenders 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 ... Hasnt

evolution now thoroughly disproved the
Bible creation story? Can a Christian
believe in evolution?
Page 36
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.
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 cant have
both.
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.
It is important to recognize three basic views regarding timing

and method of earths development:
With regard to timing, age of the earth is an interesting debate

but irrelevant to our hypothesis.
Godless evolution. God was not any part of it; everything

happened naturally, over a long period of time.
Theistic evolution. Gods 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. old

Creationists 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
Creationism
Adherents of creationism believe that God created the universe 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
Why part of this book is released before all completed

This 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.
Companion site
www.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.
Copies for friends

PDF, eBook and Online all free and instant
1 Tell friends about site:
www.christiananswerbook.com
2 Read book on Internet:
www.christiananswerbook.com/online
3 Download PDF:
www.christiananswerbook-downloads.com/AnswerBook.pdf (size 600K)
4 Send PDF as email attachment:
After downloading, slide or paste AnswerBook.pdf icon (from 3 above) into the email
or
Write URL (3 above) into the text
5 Send PDF in texting (MMS) message:
6 Print hard copy for notebook or handout:
After downloading, open AnswerBook.pdf (from 3 above), select range and PRINT
7 Download eBook:
www.christiananswerbook-downloads.com/AnswerBook.epub (size 2M)
8 Send eBook as email attachment:
After downloading, slide or paste AnswerBook.epub icon (from 7 above) into the email
or
9 Send eBook with text message:
10 If first time using an eBook and need help:

Google or YouTube > help using ebook with android
Google or YouTube > help using ebook with apple
Google or YouTube > help using ebook with windows
No charge. No registration. No advertising. No solicitation. No follow-up. No tracking.

Not associated in any way with any church, school, business or other organization.
Helping people understand and communicate Christian faith

Answer Book

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Answer Book

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

>>>

1 Search for truth

3 Bible (old part)

4 Bible (new part)

what people are asking, pulled from secular web sites

Christians should be able to give clear answers and compelling reasons

didnt personally accept Jesus as Savior, even though

QUESTIONS ABOUT BIBLE

dont think clearly?

> Why do Christians ignore hundred of rules in the Bible but

> Why do Christians keep quoting the Bible itself as proof

> Is there evidence outside of the Bible to support what

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

> When Jesus said people should have child-like faith,

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

> Why do some Christians talk so much about being saved

QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRISTIANS

The heart cannot embrace what the mind cannot accept

+ Non-denominational, just basic Christianity

No charge. No registration. No advertising. No solicitation. No follow-up. No tracking.

Copyright @ 2015 Lundborg Foundation

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

1 Search for truth

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... What is truth?

Truth is more than Bible

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why do

Universal method for truth

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

First, the question

Christianity teaches that we can NEVER make enough

||||| God offers a free pardon and a loving personal

Majority opinion does assure truth but is strong evidence.

This is the irreducible core of Christian beliefs.

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... For

A key concept in this hypothesis is that God not only wants us to

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

This is theology handbook

These questions form the essence of theology.

There is a universally accepted method for determining truth

This book reads like a theology handbook, and essentially

In the process, a theology handbook is produced, helpful to

MEANING: Why am I here?

If youre not interested in the scientific method, just ignore

Therefore, this book looks different to different people,

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

very much, but what we believe about God and how

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Why do the

In this book, we search for truth, but we end up with faith

Faith is not the same as hope. Faith is about the current

Faith is not a thing or quality. It is not religious exercise or

Three kinds of faith

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

There are basic three kinds of faith:

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

Simple faith enough

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... When Jesus

Faith and risk

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Arent all

Religion and politics

> PEOPLE ARE ASKING ... Arent most

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

Love overcomes fear

Christianity, on one side, and Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and

Quick survey of major religions