More Doubter Questions

More responses to questions from the Doubters Anonymous series.

If your question was related to evil and suffering, then we will address that subject THIS week in part 2. Also, we received lots of questions about other religions and about people who never hear about Jesus; we will answer those later in this series as well.

Thanks so much for the questions!!

Why does your church doubt? If you believe, then why doubt?

Doubt is part of the human experience and can be used to help drive us to truth. The Bible is full of people and their doubts. We looked at Psalm 13 and Matthew 11:1-6 as examples of David and John the Baptist doubting God; however, both these men were believers and their doubt was used to drive them closer to God.

How do you know if you have repented? We will discuss this later in this series.

What about people who never hear about Jesus? While we will discuss this later in this series, we must realize that people do not go to hell because they have not heard about Jesus. People go to hell for falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and denying Him (Romans 1:18-21).

Do you think that the holy grail is the bloodline of Jesus carried out through a child? No.

Why do Christians perpetuate the myth of Santa Claus? What does Matt Evans tell his children? Many think of Santa Claus as just a fun tradition for children and families.

From Matt: Beth and I tell our children that Santa Claus is not real and only pretend fun.

Can you explain the time discrepancy between Jesus saying He would be dead 3 days and there not being three days between good Friday and Easter? This was a common expression of time among Jews and is not referring to a literally 72-hour period of time. Additionally, the Jewish day technically begins at the onset of night or sunset. Therefore, Jesus died on Friday afternoon (one day), was dead Saturday (day two), Sunday starts on Saturday at sunset for a Jewish person (day three) and Jesus was discovered alive on Sunday morning.

Why do we break the laws if Jesus said it wouldn't pass away until heaven and earth passed away? Many of the laws of the Old Testament were fulfilled by Jesus, such as the dietary laws and the various Jewish festivals (see Acts 10:10-15 and Colossians 2:14-17). The moral law of God is now written on the heart of the Christ-follower through the Holy Spirit as prophesied in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:33).

Why is the religion of the Israelites wrong? We will discuss this later in the series.

When God said “let there be,” who was He talking to? God creates by speaking and there is power in His Word. But as a God who exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--or the Trinity--God was speaking within Himself to create.

Why should we trust the words in the Bible, when it was written by man. Is it not their version of what happened? We will discuss this more throughout this series. Also, you may want to listen to The Bible: More than a Good Book -- Part 1, preached at Rock Bridge in early June.

Is it a sin if you kill someone while serving in the army? In short, no. We will discuss THIS week.

Is doubting always from the enemy? No. Doubt can come from a variety of sources: ourselves, our particular perspective and interpretation on circumstances, and the enemy. God gave us the ability to freely think, reason, and reflect; this means that doubt is possible for human beings.

How do you explain that we are all chosen when the Bible specifically talks about how there are certain chosen people? We will try to explain this more this week and later in this series.

How do you explain the long ages of men in the Old Testament? One of two ways: either time/age was calculated differently then or it took time for the effects of the fall to affect the biology and life-expectancy of people.

Did Jesus die for everyone? We will explain this more in this series.

Does God himself or Jesus ever say that I must go to church? The Bible teaches that you ARE the church if you are a Christian. As Christians, we are part of a community of believers that we are to fellowship with and share life together and receive accountability from (see Romans 12:5, Hebrews 10:25). Being a Christian has a “we” component as well as a “me” component. There are almost 60 specific commands in the New Testament that cannot be followed without being part of Christian community--the local church.

I doubt God's healing....why doesn't He restore us to physically do the things He called us to do? We will answer THIS week.

How will I know when God is trying to truly enter my heart and it’s not just myself wanting to force Him there? We will answer this later in this message series.

I have two, what I consider to be, serious problems with two very mean and manipulative people ( 1 at work & 1 in my family). My heart is broken every day. I have prayed and prayed for God to intervene on my behalf, and still nothing changes.

What does no answer from God indicate? What do I do next? We will deal with this subject THIS week.

Why does Judas the betrayer die two separate ways. One version he's full of guilt and returns the money before hanging himself. The other version he uses the money and dies in the land he buys??  The different accounts are not contradictory but complement one another. He hanged himself (using a tree) and then fell (perhaps the limb broke or in the process of hanging himself).

Throughout the lineage of Jesus we get full records of family history. When we come to Jesus they don't give his last name. Why is that? None of the lineages give last names. In biblical times, last names were not used as we think of them today. People were identified as “son of …” or by position/title, or where they were from. For example, Jesus is identified as Son of David (by his family connection), Jesus Christ (title) and Jesus of Nazareth (where he grew up).

If everything has a cause or someone made it or put it there, who made God? Only what begins to exist has a cause. God never began to exist; rather, He has always existed.

How do I explain to my child how all people came from just Adam and Eve? They were the beginning of the human family. You can relate this concept to your child by referring to your own family tree and great-grandparents.

I believe in a higher power, but how do I know the God of the Bible is THE one? We will address this throughout this series.

Does God change circumstances in our immediate lives for our happiness? Or are even miracles predetermined? Does prayer change things? God’s ultimate goals are for us to be happy in a relationship with Him. Sometimes we pray for things that if God gave us, would interfere with our relationship with Him. God ordains that we pray and He responds to our prayers. Sometimes, His response is “no” or “not yet”.

Why is there so much evil in the world and if God is so big and could stop everything, why doesn't He? We will answer THIS week.

Many people aren't sure how to tell when and if God is talking to you. How do you know? We will answer this more in this series.

Why am I the only person that feels God can use evolution to create. I believe He is all powerful. If that is how he chose to do so, He is capable. You are not the only person who believes this. It is called theistic evolution. However, just investigate some of the limits to evolutionary theory. For example, there are no transitional species in the fossil record as evolution & natural selection maintain there must be. Additionally, the fossil record shows what is called the Cambrian Explosion, which is the sudden appearance of complex forms of life. Finally, consider “irreducible complexity” of various parts of our bodies. How could these things evolve when/if one part was altered, it would cease to function as needed for survival (the human eye is an example)?

If God loves everyone and wants them to go to heaven, why doesn't He take evil away from the world? THIS week.

If God is God, does He know everything? Yes He knows everything.

If He does, then why are people created that He knows will go to hell?  We will discuss this issue more later in the series.

How are you sure you are following the godly path? We will discuss more later in this series.

Why does God let you struggle in your work when the job was clearly God given? We will discuss THIS week.

If God wanted everyone to be His child, they would be- He is omnipotent. Why would He not want all of the human race to be His child? While we will discuss this issue more, we must realize that God wanting something and forcing it to happen are two different issues. He can want something and not force it to occur. I want both my children to become Christians, but I can’t force this to occur.

Condemnation from my past sin causes me to have doubts about my worthiness . I know that I've been forgiven but it still causes me to doubt . I would really like to get through this. Thanks for this question and I’m praying for you! We will discuss this throughout the series.

Why did He get to make something out of nothing?... And everything else (religion) is wrong? He gets to make something out of nothing because He is God and in my view, because of an overflow of His love. Some will reject His love. We will discuss other religions later in this series.

If the Bible is really a history.. then why don't others consider it a legit source? We will discuss more in this series.

If every religion thinks their way is right then how do you know what you believe in is correct when many other religions say it's wrong? We will answer this later in this series.

Why would God allow children to be molested and or raped, when it causes so much pain or causes the hurt person to hurt other people? THIS week we will discuss evil and suffering.