Faith Versus Reason: Some Simple Questions for God

Members of the Judeo-Christian faiths teach that an omnipotent being, God, created the universe, and is in control over everything that goes in this universe. However since the advent of modern science many discoveries and insights have questioned many of the premises of belief in deities, and specifically some of the claims about God, and some of the specific statements written in the Bible. For example Genesis claims God created a firmament over the earth which was used to separate the waters above from those below. Also the Bible says the stars were set in the firmament so they could be used to give directions by night. But as of today no such firmament has been found. This solid firmament (called Rakia in the original Hebrew) would ostensibly prevent for example a space craft from leaving the earth atmosphere. Also if the stars were indeed fixed into the firmament then the all stars would be the same distance from the earth surface. But today we know that this is not the case, because stars are many millions, billi0ns and even trillions of miles from the earth and at many different distances. So we are confronted with a serious task of questioning whether the God of the Bible is indeed the omniscient creator of the universe, and if he (or she) exists at all. This article raises some pertinent questions we must all ask ourselves in order to establish for a fact whether God is real, or an imaginary being invented by ancient tribes. Readers are asked to add their comments and questions in the threads below.
Questions About God
1.If God has a divine plan/blueprint for the Universe, his plans cannot be changed. If everything works to accomplish God's plan, how does man have free will? - Note: Some pastors do not believe we have free-will at all.
2.When the believer gets to Heaven, how can Heaven be utter bliss when people they love and care about are burning in Hell ? Note: Some say God erases your memories of them, but if God erases your memory, you as Mr. Joe / Sister Yaa ceases to exist.

3.How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part, and are uniquely related to the human condition. For example if all men were able to marry anyone of their choosing without any strings attached would jealousy exist? So why does an omnipotent being need to be jealous? Is he human? How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way.
4.Why would god send anyone to hell? Based on the belief that god is perfect, then it stands to reason that a perfect being would create only perfection, so I and everyone/thing is perfect and exactly what god wanted. If the perfect being CHOSE to create anything other than perfection - that's his choice, not my fault. Note: Indeed, Jesus was also supposedly created perfect. I have heard some iterate that Jesus couldn't sin because he was perfect. Sounds as if we were created imperfectly.

5."God is merciful," we hear quite often. Wouldn't it be more merciful of God to simply snap sinners out of existence rather than send them to hell? Or better yet not create them at all?

6.Muslims are supposed to pray 5 times a day, which is based on the position on the Sun. Does this mean that Muslims are stuck on Earth and can't travel in space? Note: Since this question was first raised, we have had two Muslim astronauts (Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor from Malaysia, and Anoush Ansari, Iranian born American citizen) who were faced with this very dilemma. The authoritative clergy informed them to pray as they normally would. I see this nowhere in the Koran. You see? Religions must change, or die out.
7.Why haven't we seen God reattach a severed head or restore someone who was burned alive? Surely this would be an easy feat to accomplish, right? The typical answer is that man doesn't dictate God's actions. The conundrum here however is that, if God wants us to "know" him, then surely feats such as those mentioned above would be happening all over the world. Until they do, we shall continue questioning.

8.Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners? Why doesn't he do it himself? Surely God would have known that not everyone would be convinced by the reality[sic] of his Bible. If God loves us so much, we are all going to Heaven. If God knew that Kwame would be an atheist, and he doesn't like atheists, he shouldn't have allowed Kwame to come into existence. But he did. Therefore, Kwame must be serving the will of God, for Kwame exists.

9.In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 bears to maul 42 children to death for the sin of calling a guy bald. Is this the Christian morality concept we hear so much about? I have heard some argue that the boys were a gang. So?! I didn't read anywhere in that passage where they laid a finger on the guy.]
10.I have often heard from many believers that even Satan has a presence in the church, which is why even in church people can still have impure thoughts. If Satan can find his way in the church, how do Christians know that Satan didn't find his way into the Bible and twist the whole book?
11.Why did God allow Lot and his daughters to escape from Sodom and Gomorra when he destroyed it only to later have Lot and his daughters engage in incestuous fornication? (Genesis 19:30-36)

12.Genesis 1:28-29 shows that man and all the animals were first created herbivorous. Most young-earth Christians (ones that believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old) say that the fall of man resulted in carnivorous animals (hence death of animals). So, why did God punish the animal kingdom, making animals kill and devour each other because of man's mistake? Or, if you're an old-earth Christian (one that accepts that animals existed on earth for billions of years before man came on the scene) then how come fossils show carnivorous animals existed before man?.

13.Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. This author would say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.]
14.I have often heard that faith is all that is necessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.3.) All Faiths are true. Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.

15.Why didn't God just kill Adam and Eve after the Fall and start from scratch? Actually, if God is all-knowing wouldn't he know that man would need to be killed eventually anyway, (the biblical flood)? Why create Adam and Eve at all?
16.If a spirit is non-physical but the human body is physical, how does a spirit stay in our bodies? Spirits are not physical entities.2.) Brains are physical entities.3.) Past experiences are stored in our physical brains, we call that, Memory..4.) Injury can damage portions of the physical brain that store memory and can alter or erase memories completely.5.) If human spirits exist... after death, spirits can have no memory. Some will say the spirit stores physical memories as well, but if true, the spirit would have to be physical at least to a degree. How could a non-physical spirit store, physical memories?
17.Does God know his own future decisions? If God is all-knowing he actually shouldn't have any decisions to make at all. Nor can he choose anything over something else. For that would mean that he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In fact, he can't even think if this is the case. Since he can't DO anything, he might as well not exist.

18.If God is all-knowing, how could he be disappointed in His creation? Indeed, wouldn't God know that before the creation of our Universe what creatures would disappoint him? That being the case why create those creatures at all? Also, in knowing absolutely the behavior of humans before creation, God cannot be disappointed either... for this world is exactly as he has planned it to be. If it's not, why create us at all?

19.God struck down the Tower of Babel angry at the intent of the people that built them, if this is the case, many of the great pyramids (which are bigger than any ziggurat) around the world should be rubble also, yet many still stand today. Were not the Egyptians and many other ancient pyramid builders reaching toward God /The Heavens? In actuality, many of the Pharaoh's believed that, via their pyramids, they would become God's themselves, yet no record of any of them being struck down by God.

20.In the watchmaker analogy, a watch is used to show us intelligent design and compares that to the Universe as evidence of design. We know watches are designed because we have past experience with watches, as well as with other manmade objects. My question is: What Universe is the Intelligent Design proponent using to compare this Universe with to draw such an analogy? What God did he see create a Universe?
21.Why did God flood the earth to remove evil? It didn't work! Evil came right back, God should have known that would happen! So why did He bother? Note: A good example of how quickly sin returned, was Noah getting drunk just after they discovered land.
22.If the garden of Eden was a perfect paradise as xians claim, then why did Eve even want to eat the fruit? Wouldn't a perfect place provide everything a person would want or desire and thus she would want nothing? Why were the trees there in the first place? Of course they love to throw the serpent into the equation. But ummm..who let the serpent into the Garden?... and why would God create such a creature knowing he would cause man's fall? Hmm.. God must have wanted the fall to happen.

23.Why would an all-powerful god become flesh in order to sacrifice himself to himself so that his creation might escape the wrath of himself. Couldn't god, in his infinite wisdom, come up with something a little more efficient?
24.After 9/11 a lot of people have been tossing around " god bless America". Why do they keep saying this? From the looks of it god hasn't blessed anything. If god had blessed the US, the 9/11 event would've never happened. Theists seem to give the answer of "everything is part of gods big plan". If everything is part of gods big plan, why are we after Bin Laden? Wasn't he and other terrorists just carrying out gods desired plan? So it seems that Bin Laden/ terrorism isnt an enemy, but god Unfortunately many religious nuts believe they are fulfilling their God's plan by going to war.]
25.Christians say that God is NOT the author of confusion. Can you say, Tower of Babel?
26.If Noah's flood supposedly covered the earth for a year, regardless of whether or not all the animals could fit on the ark, what the heck happened to all the plants? Can you imagine a cactus surviving under 4 miles of water for a year? I can't either! But they will say With God all things are possible. Oh wait, except in Judges 1:19.]

27.The highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24 hour period was 47inches in the Reunion Islands in 1947 (during a severe tropical storm). To cover the whole earth to a depth of 5.6 miles, and cover the mountain tops (i.e. Mount Everest), it would need to rain at a rate of 372 (three hundred and seventy two) inches per hour, over the entire surface of the earth. Can rain fall at such an astronomical rate? Where did all the water come from?? Where did it all go to??? And would not the dynamics of the earth be so out of balance (tides etc.) that the earth would become so unstable that it would wobble off into outer space????
28.What do Muslim women get in Heaven? Some Muslims I have interviewed about this say that Muslim women will get the same thing men get or equal value. :) Oh really? So Muslim women will get 60+ virgin men? lol. If Muslim men get 60+ virgins, where are all these virgin women coming from? What of their freewill? Is Allah creating these women to be slaves to the men in Paradise?
29.In the "Last Days" Jesus is supposed to appear in the clouds. How are the Christians on the opposite end of the world going to see him? Are there going to be millions of Jesus'? What about people that work underground?
30.The Bible says that God is a jealous God . How is this an example of a moral absolute of which man is supposed to follow?
31.A true Muslim man is not supposed to do anything that the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) didn't do. If one remembers there was a big debate over whether or not Muslims should eat Mangos. If this is true, why in the Hell were these Islamic Fundamentalists flying airplanes?

32.Many Christians tell me that I will "burn in hell". If I have a soul, how can a soul burn? Aren't souls non-physical entities? Some Christians groups believe that you will be given new bodies after judgment. However, if true, what's the significance of a spirit in the first place?

33.How can one hold to the barbaric belief that something has to DIE in order to appease a god for a bad deed? --

34.Why does SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) occur? Why would God allow a baby to live for such a short period of time? Why not just let them not be born in the first place? This actually happened to a friend of mine. Not even God himself could console her.
35.If Jesus was nailed and died on Friday evening, and walked out of the tomb on Sunday morning, where's the 3rd NIGHT he predicted? Per Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So who lied here?
36.Many Christians claim that hell is merely existence outside of God ’s presence (C.S. Lewis among others). If this is the case, then Jesus could not have descended into hell (being God Himself). As a result, are you sure your sins are forgiven?
37.Ten to twenty percent of all women who discover they are pregnant suffer a miscarriage. Also, it is estimated that anywhere from 14 to 50 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seeing this is all part of God 's plan, does this make God the world's number one abortion provider?
38.What if, when you get to Heaven, you saw God causing pain and suffering out of anger or for the purpose of entertaining himself. What if he required people in heaven to praise and worship him non-stop even to the point of causing his worshipers discomfort, pain and boredom. What if, when he was bored, angry, or jealous, he would create natural disasters to make himself feel better. Would you still follow him?
39.In Leviticus, the bible condemns homosexuality as an "abomination", giving some Christians a reason to hate, harass, torture and kill gays. In the same book of the bible the eating of shellfish is equally an "abomination". Are Christians planning to go after the patrons of Red Lobster next? Jewish Law states that eating Fish without scales is an abomination and thus the Shark is one among the list. However, sharks do have scales, Placoid scales, one of the many reasons why a shark is called a Fish.]
40.Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus. -
41.If one could prove to you incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications would you still believe? And why?
42.If the earth was covered by a complete global flood, every living creature killed except those surviving on the ark, why are there many completely unique animal species in Australia that are found no where else indigenously on the earth? - mitch@mchsi.com
43.If god is omniscient and " god is love," why would he allow a child to be conceived, knowing that that child would one day reject him and spend eternity burning in a lake of fire?
44.Revelations is supposed to take place on Earth. What if we colonize the moon or Mars or inhabit a self-sustaining space station? Do we escape "judgement"?
45.Isaiah 40:28 says, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary?" If this is true, why did God rest on the seventh day?
46.If God has such a tremendous problem with uncircumcised penises, why did he make man with foreskin in the first place? Some say, "So God can recognize his chosen people." Recognize? Is God so stupid that he has to physically look at men's penises? If not God, do other men need to? lol.
47.If reincarnation is real, why is it that our population is growing? Where would the extra "souls" come from?
48.Did Noah have fish onboard? Salt or Fresh? Since fresh water fish would die in salt, and salt water fish would die in fresh, only one type of fish would survive. Yet....?"
49.Why does the omnipotent, omnipresent God need help from man or angels to spread his word or do acts? Some say God doesn't need help. But apparently he does.
50.How did Jesus ascend to Heaven in the Flesh when Paul says that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven? (1 Cor.15:50). Christians argue that, well Paul said that and not Jesus. Yet they quote Paul when it suits there purposes.]
So at this juncture we shall call on the religious faithful to come forward and educate us on how and why God cant seem to get anything correct these days. Why is his infallible book full of false statements and claims that have been refuted by modern science?


kwaku ba, January, 2011