THEOLOGY
Questions Seeking Answers!
by
Robert E. Schoenle
1. Have you ever seriously considered the Holy Bible? How it is a collection of books that were written by forty different men, who lived in five different nations, writing in three different languages, from a wide range of backgrounds and occupations, over a span of 4,000 years? Why does the Holy Bible say things about mankind in general and people in particular, that no one would willingly admit to since it is human nature to cover up or excuse the sinful things we do?
2. If God is all-powerful and He knows everything, why do people doubt that He would be able to reveal what He would have mankind to know? Why do people find it hard to believe that God would choose men to write down what He would reveal to His creation, and then be able to preserve those writings to our very day? Preserved so well, that there is no change, in the text or message from when it was first written? Are those who put limits on God being illogical (Ex. 17:14; Dt. 4:2; 12:32; 13:18; 28:58, 61; 31: 24-26; Josh. 1:8; 8:31-35; Ps. 12:6; 18:30; 19:7-9; 119:1-176; Prov. 30:5-6; Isa. 40:8; Jn. 6:45; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21; Rev. 22:6-10,18-19)?
3. Why do some people believe that God does not exist (Ps. 14:1; 53:1; Prov. 24:9)? Why do these people believe that nothing plus nothing equals something and call it “evolution” (Eccl. 2:14)? Is that not a form of “religion,” since it is based upon blind faith? Vladimir Lenin, was the mastermind behind the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 A.D. He was also an atheist with a dilemma. He believed that it was impossible for anyone, to think of anything, that did not already exist. Thus, he was unable to explain or understand how the concept of “God” came about. Lenin, illogically, died as an atheist! Why would he (Prov. 21:2; Jer. 17:9)?
4. Why is it that no holy book of any “manmade” religion has been willing to foretell the future? Did you know that one third of the Holy Bible was about future events, people and places that didn’t exist when it was written (Isa. 46:9-10; 48:3-6; 2 Pet. 1:19-21)? Many of these prophecies have since been fulfilled! Isn’t it logical the rest will be too (Mk. 4:22; 13:23)? Did you know the “testimony” of the Lord Jesus Christ is based on prophecy (Jn. 5:39, 46-47; Rev. 1:1-3; 19:10b)?
5. Did you know that the field of “archeology” was founded by people whose goal was to prove the Holy Bible was incorrect about the events, people and places described in its pages? These people thought if they could prove that the people, places and events, told of in the Holy Bible, were not true, then the credibility of the Holy Bible would be destroyed. Can you appreciate the irony that “archeology” has only confirmed the Holy Bible to be correct about everything it has had to say about the people, places, and events that are mostly unknown of outside of its pages?
6. Why participate in the occult, when God says it is an “abomination” to Him (Dt. 18:9-14)?
7. Why would the Lord Jesus Christ claim to be God (Ex. 3:14; Jn. 8:24, 58-59; 10:33, 36; 14:10-11; 17:5) and accept being worshiped (Mt. 14:33; 28:9; Jn. 20:28-29), if He was not God? How could He forgive people of their sins if He was not God (Mk. 2:5-7; Lk. 7:48-50)? Would it not have been blasphemous for Him to do any of these things if He was not God (Isa. 43:10-11; 45:21-22; 46:9)? Also, wouldn’t the Lord Jesus Christ have been a fraud to do either of those things if He were not God in a human body (Jn. 1:1, 3, 10, 14; 5:23; 1 Jn. 1:1-2; 3:5; 5:6)? If He was not God, or a fraud, wouldn’t the Lord Jesus Christ have to have been either deluded, deceived, hallucinating, or classically insane to do any of those things?
8. Why do so many people not know that Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, was a sinner who needed a Savior (Lk. 1:46-47)? Why did Mary make a sacrifice for her sins, after the Lord Jesus Christ was born, in the manner all Jewish women were to do after they had a baby? The instructions of what Jewish women were to do in making their personal “sin offering” after having a baby, was given by God to Moses (Lev. 12:1-8). The reference to this offering, being for “sin” or an “atonement,” is made three times in this passage. Why did Luke record that Mary obeyed God’s instructions and made this sacrifice for her own “personal” sins (Lk. 2:21-24, 39)?
9. Why is it that most people don’t know that Mary had other children after she gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don’t they know that Joseph was the father of those children? Why don’t they know that the Holy Bible doesn’t say how many daughters Mary had, or give their names? Why don’t they know that the other four sons of Mary are named (Mt. 1:24-25; 12:46-47; 13:55-56; Mk. 3:31-32; 6:2-3; Lk. 8:19-20; Jn. 2:12; 7:3-5; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19)?
10. Why don’t people know that there was once a “queen of heaven” who the people of Judah worshipped and offered sacrifices to while exiled in Egypt? Why don’t people know their refusal to cease offering sacrifices to this “queen of heaven” provoked the anger of God towards them and caused God to judge and destroy them for doing so (Jer. 7:18; 44:1-30; 1 Tim. 2:5)?
11. Why don’t people know that the apostle Peter was a married man whose mother-in-law was healed by the Lord Jesus Christ (Mt. 8:14-15)?
12. Why don’t people know that the “Lake of Fire” was created by God specifically for Satan and his fallen angels (Mt. 25:41)?
13. Why don’t people know that God hates the worship or bowing down by men and women to manmade images (Ex. 20:4-5; Isa. 45:20-22; 46:5-9)?
14. Why do people believe in reincarnation when the Holy Bible proclaims, “…it is appointed unto men ONCE to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27)? [Caps added for emphasis.]
15. Why indulge in “homosexuality” when God says it is an “abomination” to Him (Gen. 18:16-19:29; Lev. 18:22-30; 20:13; Jud. 19-20; Rom. 1:26-28, 31-32, 1 Cor. 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:4-14)?
16. Why don’t most people know that the Roman Catholic Church began about 300 years after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don’t people know that this happened when Emperor Constantine simply made Christianity the official new religion of the Roman Empire? Why don’t people know how the statues that had represented Roman “gods,” were renamed for Christian “saints?” Also, why don’t people know that the Roman emperor, “Constantine the Great,” was the first “Pope” of the Roman Catholic Church, since it is a matter of history?
17. Why is the title or office of “Pope” never mentioned in the Holy Bible?
18. Why don’t people know that the word “penance” comes from the Latin word for “penalty?” Why don’t people know that since the Lord Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all of the sins that would be committed, that “penance” for sin is not necessary (Rom. 5:1-11; 6:22; Heb. 10:10-18)?
19. Why can nothing be found about a place called “purgatory” in the sixty-six books that make up what is called the “Canon of Scripture” of the Holy Bible? Is this why the Roman Catholic Church had to add extra books called the “Books of the Apocrypha” to their “Latin Vulgate Bible” [Unger’s Bible Dictionary]? Why don’t people know that the teaching of “purgatory” was first taught around the year 1438 A.D. by the Roman Catholic Church?
20. Why does the Roman Catholic Church teach that no one can know for sure that they are going to heaven? [“Church teaching is that I don’t know, at any given moment, what my eternal future will be. I can hope, pray, do my very best–but I still don’t know, Pope John Paul II doesn’t know absolutely that he will go to heaven, nor does Mother Teresa of Calcutta. . . .” New York’s Cardinal John O’Connor, The New York Times, February 1, 1990, pp. A1, B4].
21. Why does a movement like “Promise Keepers” emphasize “Christian Experience” and not “Christian Doctrine?” Is it because it is the only way members of “unequally” yoked ministries can be brought together as a unified body? Isn’t that done in disobedience to the “Word of God” (2 Cor. 6:14-16)? Is that not also true of all ministries that join in “causes” or service with false “manmade” religions? Why is it mean-spirited, unloving, judgmental, bigoted, divisive or bashing if one dares to question, challenge, or expose the false teachings of “manmade” religions by way of the Holy Bible?
22. Why do the majority of people prefer to obey a “manmade” religion rather than the inspired teachings of true biblical Christianity? Why do these people find it easier to follow a list of “do’s and don’ts” from some “spiritual” leader rather than to simply believe what God has told us through the writers of His Holy Bible? Why is “churchianity” always more appealing to most people than true biblical Christianity?
23. Why is a fundamentalist Christian leader able to join hands in fellowship with those who deny the historic Christian doctrines of biblical Christianity about “salvation” and “justification,” yet not be willing to participate in a marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian?
24. Why don’t people know that the word “death” means “separation” and the word “life” means “connection” in the original languages from which those words are translated into English?
25. Why don’t people know that the scribes and pharisees were all “doctors” of theology? What does that say for the “doctors” of theology in our present day and age?
26. Is it necessary to do something, in addition to what the Lord Jesus Christ did, to go to Heaven? If so, would that not mean He did not do enough while on the cross at Calvary to pay the penalty for their sins? Would that not also mean He did not save anyone from their sins?
27. Do people really have to be baptized with water, repent, join a church, make Jesus Lord of their life, participate in religious “sacraments” or do anything else to go to Heaven? If so, how could the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ be enough to save anyone (1 Cor. 15:1-4)? Also, what did the Lord Jesus Christ mean when He said, “It is finished (Jn. 19:30)?
28. Why was the man hanging on a cross next to the Lord Jesus Christ told that he would be in “Paradise” that same day (Lk. 23:43)? How could the thief on the cross go to “Paradise” since he didn’t do anything? This man is called a “malefactor” (Lk. 23:33, 39), meaning he probably was a murderer and had tried to overthrow the Roman government in addition to being a thief. Is it because he asked to be remembered when the Lord Jesus Christ came into His kingdom? Did this indicate he believed the Lord Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah of the Old Testament and was trusting in Him, by faith alone, to save him (Lk. 23:42)?
29. Why don’t people know that God does all the “giving” and we do all of the “receiving” when it comes to being “saved” and “justified?” Why can’t people see that “God the Father” gave, the Lord Jesus Christ to us, so that He could take upon Himself, the judgment we deserved for our sins? Why can’t most people simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by faith alone, without also relying upon some kind of “work” (Rom. 4:5; 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 2:8-9)?
30. Why is it that “bad” people go to Heaven and “good” people go to hell? Is it because “bad” people know they need a personal “Savior” and “good” people think they don’t? Why don’t most people know that Heaven is a “gift” to bad people and not a “reward” to good people? Why aren’t people more concerned about what will happen to them after they die? Is it because they are spiritually blind or because ignorance is bliss?
31. Why don’t people know that the Holy Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ has ordained every Christian to a holy and royal priesthood (Rev. 5:10), to offer spiritual sacrifices, the praise of their lips and their lives yielded to God (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:5-10)? How many are aware that a “clergy” class and a “layman” class is not found in the New Testament “Church?”
32. Why won’t people believe that “salvation” consists of faith plus nothing? Why won’t they receive salvation as a “gift” – like they do with other gifts (Rom. 4:5; 5:15-21; 6:23; Eph. 2:4-13)?