The Very Succinct
Christianity Frequency Asked Questions

There are plenty of lengthy articles debating on Christianity. To help you understand / misunderstand Christianity quickly, I compiled some FAQs in a very succinct form.

I cannot include full explanations here because it is a very succinct FAQ, and this is not my intention either. What I am trying to do is to inspire you to contemplate rather than being indoctrinated with some prescribed ideologies.

Note: Hyperlinks in this FAQ will take you to other websites maintained by their webmasters. Contents of these websites do not reflect the positions or opinions of this FAQ.

Q: According to the Bible, ......
A: This is only one of the many interpretations. Exegesis books have many interpretations on same verses. Which one should be adopted?

Q: (1) Biblical inerrancy.
(2) The Bible is the Truth, which is the words inspired by God.
(3) The whole Bible is coherent, consistent and without contradictions.
A: The Bible is full of contradictions and fallacies. [ The Skeptic's Annotated Bible ]

Q: One found contradictory and evil intepretations in the Bible just because verses were taken out of context.
A: How? What is the true meaning then?

Q: You will really understand if you study the Bible in context and learn about its cultural background.
A: Is residing in Israel for several years a prerequisite for a true understanding of Bible?

Q: XX version of the Bible has translation problems. Refer to the original Bible (in Greek & Hebrew) to avoid misinterpretations.
A: Who has the 100% precise translation of all scriptures? Gee, I never realised I have to learn Greek & Hebrew before falling into this religion.

Q: After reading the entire Bible, you will then fully understand what it means.
A: (1) You won't eat all the bad fruits beared from a tree to recognize the tree is bad.
(2) As you are aware that to read every version of the Bible is extremely time consuming, allow me to call you back in several decades.

Q: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. [ Mat 3:2 (NIV) ]
A: It's already two thousand years. How near it is?

Q: I can feel the real presence of God from my personal experience and during prayer.
A: (1) Hallucination is the sympton of schizophrenia or early psychosis. It also occurs when one is being hypnotized. Patients will hear and / or see things that do not exist.
(2) If it is so real, why not ask him out for a drink?

Q: God is eternal, without beginning or end, and is self-existent. [ Exd 3:18 "I am that I am." (KJV) ]
A: Did God create himself?

Q: God is everywhere.
A: Also in Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald?

Q: Who can disprove God's existence?
A : Unable to prove one's non-existence does not mean its existence has already been proved. [ The Story of Ten Doors ]

Q: God performed miracles in......
A: The gods of other religions also performed miracles. Which god should I believe then?

Q: The existence of God has been conclusively documented in the Bible.
A: So, dinosaurs still exist nowadays. It is documented in my book "Dinosaurs' Scripture" told by the Mama dinosaur and therefore absolutely credible.

Q: For God so loved the world. God is love.
A: Does God love the children suffering in African famines as well as the earthquake victims?

Q: God uses suffering to test and purify you / your soul.
A: So, being raped is one of the purifying exercises? So does everyone need to be raped?

Q: God gave the only begotten son's life to wash us from our sins in his own blood.
A: If God knew beforehand that Jesus would be resurrected, the meaning of Jesus' death is at most just a farce!

Q: People cannot understand the wisdom of God. / God is beyond our comprehension.
A: Then how can you know that God really loves you?

Q: God is omnipotent.
A: Can God create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it? [ Omnipotence_paradox ]

Q: God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, omnibenevolence.
A: Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? [ Riddle of Epicurus ]

Q: God's goodness is not equal to human's goodness.
A: If God's goodness is only equal to the human's evilness, it means that he is the Devil.

Q: Jesus has fully divine and fully human natures co-existing within one person. [ Person of Christ ]
A: God is omnipotent, human is not omnipotent. Was Jesus both omnipotent and not omnipotent?

Q: We believe that God has three divine persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. These three are the same in substance, equal in power and glory. [ Trinity ]
A: Do you really understand what trinity is? This is not in the Bible, but from the people who tried to explain "Father is God, Jesus is God, but why is there only one God?" and created such a concept which cannot be clearly expressed.

Q: God created mankind in his own image, so human body structures are precise and perfect.
A: (1) Besides inflammation, what is the purpose of Vermiform appendix which might need to be removed?
(2) What is the purpose of men's nipples?

Q: All evildoings of Christians over the years are irrelevant to God.
A: Yes, unless you agree that all good deeds of Christians are also irrelevant to God. Please don't preach using good deeds of Christians.

Q: Christians rejoice in the Lord. [ Pentecostal Church's "holy laughter" ]
A: Dope-addicts are also happier. But it is not the source of happiness in high quality.

Q: Believers go to heaven, and all non-believers go to hell.
A: Which religions' gods should I believe? Believing the wrong god will also go to hell!

Q: (1) Believers live with purpose and mission in life.
(2) Life without God is meaningless.
A: The meaning of life varies from person to person. it is endowed by oneself to strive for, rather than murmuring "thank God" all the time like puppets or slaves.

Q: Believers should be humble and subject, and should always glorify and praise God.
A. God wants to be praised so badly, sharing the same characteristics of tyrants in history.

Q: Those who do evil deeds are not real Christians.
A: Christians' identity is "being justified by faith". What's the point to distinguish between the real and fake ones?

Q: Christians are not saints. There's a black sheep in every flock.
A: When the clergies also behave immoral, it means the whole flock is turning black.

Q: Priests are also human. Mistakes are inevitable.
A: The church is the body of Christ, and the priests are spokesmen for God, who have the responsibility to be a good witness and must not shirk responsibility.

Q: Christians' behavior does not represent the goodness or badness of Christianity thought.
A: The thought itself is neither good nor bad. But the thought influences behavior. So it is reasonable to measure a thought by the corresponding behaviors.

Q: It is man's problem, not God's.
A: Since Christians have so many problems, please refrain from preaching anymore.

Q: The church is just a group of sinners saved by grace, and it isn't worth to give up eternal life of God's grace because of man-made problems.
A: And you will continue to gather again in heaven with this group of "sinners" whom you don't want to meet - and you can never escape.

Q: Every believer has the duty of tithing.
A: It is not from the Bible's teaching, but a tradition "explained" from the Bible by churches in the light of the financial needs. [ The Tithe-NOT! ]

Q: Believers must look for Christian mates so that they can meet in heaven.
A: The remarried widows or widowers will result in relationship triangle in heaven.

Q: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers", therefore believers and non-believers must not love or marry together, or they will not get along well due to different values.
A: (1) The Bible does not specify that this only applies to man-woman relationship. Will believers reject non-believing business partners?
(2) The values between men and women are quite different. It should have more similar values for same-sex relationships.

Q: Unbelievers go to hell, except for those who have never encountered the gospel, and they will depend on their behaviors during lifetimes.
A: Spreading the gospel / good news is like spreading poisons. Those who do not eat antidotes (not believe) will be poisoned to death (go to hell). So it should be renamed as "bad news".

Q: I am Christian, but I won't behave like that. Please don't tar me with the same brush.
A: (1) Can you represent all Christians? Can you deny this is a common phenomenon among Christians?
(2) Then you can only claim yourself as "a follower of one of the denomoations / orders of one of the branches of Christianity" instead of "a Christian".

Q: Everything must have a cause, and the first cause is God. [ The Cosmological Argument: The Argument from Cause ]
A: The first cause may not be the God you described.

Q: If one believes and God doesn't exist, one loses little or nothing; if one doesn’t believe and God does exist, one will go to hell! [ The Pragmatic Argument: Pascal's Wager ]
A: Which religions' gods should I believe? Believing the wrong god will also go to hell!

Q: (1) There is an established order in the universe which must be created by a Creator. [ The Argument From Design ]
(2) Don't you think there should be a watchmaker when you find a watch lying in the desert? [ Watchmaker Argument ]
A: Who created the "Creator"?

Q: There are absolute / objective moral rules, so there must be a deity to set the absolute moral rules. [ Moral Argument ]
A: The morality and cultures are different around the world. There is no consensus on many topics like homosexuality, euthanasia, monogamy, etc.

Q: God is the greatest possible being exists that in the mind. If He does not exist in reality, there must be a greater being that exists both in reality and mind. Therefore God exists. [ Ontological Argument ]
A: The Monkey King is the greatest possible immortal warrior that exists in the mind. If He does not exist in reality, there must be a greater immortal warrior that exists both in reality and mind. Therefore the Monkey King exists.

Q: Many people believe in God, so God is most likely to exist. [ Argument from Popularity ]
A: Many people also believe that the epidemic was caused by the Devil during the period of the Black Death.

Q: Jesus claimed himself to be God. If he is neither a madman nor a liar, he must really be God. [ Trilemma ]
A: (1) There were many crazy and persuasive fanatical sect leaders who were self-hypnosized as being God through the ages.
(2) According to the Bible, Jesus has never claimed to be God. It was only claimed by other disciples after his death.

Q: Jesus was the only founder among major religions who claimed to be God, resurrected from death, and performed miracles that changed many people's lives. It is strong evidence of the existence of God. [ Argument from the Resurrection ]
A: The Bible never recorded that Jesus claimed to be God, and the plot of Jesus' resurrection was later added. [ Historicity and origin of the Resurrection of Jesus ]

Q: The existence of God is self-evident / proved by unaided reason.
A: I deeply understand the response of one's inability to defend under such strong rebuttals.

Q: Logic cannot solve everything.
A: Who said it can? But logic can let us identify logical fallacies to avoid falling into thinking traps. [ List of common fallacies ]

Q: God / Bible is beyond logic.
A: The true meaning of "is beyond" here is "fails to comply with". Could toilets which fail to comply with the hygiene standard be described as "are beyond the hygiene standards"?

Q: God's logic is different from man's logic.
A: Just like madman's logic is also different from man's logic.

Q: You cannot understand through reason alone.
A: Believing without reason is a superstition and a blind faith.

Q: (1) Unless you believe, you shall not understand.
(2) Believing is just like you will never know the taste until you take a bite of an apple.
A: Therefore, you will never know drug abuse is harmful until you've taken it?

Q: We should have faith in God.
A: (1) "Faith" is the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. [ Faith and Reason Quotes ]
(2) You don't need faith for facts, just like you never need to have faith in "Paris is in France".

Q: Science cannot explain everything.
A: Who said it can? But science involves the pursuit of knowledge covering general truths, rather than resorting those unexplained to gods and spirits.

Q: Evolution is just a theory, not a fact. Therefore it is flawed.
A: Why mycobacterium tuberculosis become drug-resistant after improper treatment?

Q: God is beyond science.
A: The true meaning of "is beyond" here is "fails to comply with". Could toilets which fail to comply with the hygiene standard be described as "are beyond the hygiene standards"?

Q: Biological structures are too complex to be the result of random natural selection, and therefore must have an intelligent designer. [ Intelligent Design ]
A: (1) Creationism / intelligent design are not scientific theories, because they are not testable. [Scientific Method ]
(2) Is the intelligent designer himself a biological organism?

Q: The Big Bang "singularity" is a mystery when God created the universe and human cannot understand.
A: Scientists are trying to explore and explain the origins of the universe, including unifying with quantum mechanics, extending the standard model of particle physics, establishing the M-theory, proofing multiverse, etc., rather than merely prating about "God is the answer."

Q: Pastors / preachers / religious teachers said that religion X has ...... problems.
A: Be carefully verifying the source of knowledge with distinct standpoint. Refer to Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance for objective understanding of other religions.

Q: Christians / Churches / Christianity is full of love and tolerance.
A: (1) On the contrary, a wide range of debates has been raised on criticizing the discrimination of churches, including sexual orientation, gender, other denominations, the religion of job candidates, spouses and students. Discrimination arose not from love but hatred.
(2) Christianity is a kind of exclusionism against many thoughts or ideologies, including psychology, humanism, science, rock'n roll, Buddhism, Islam, yoga, Qigong. Exclusionism is the opposite of tolerance which undermines social harmony.

Q: Those who condemn and criticize Christianity / Bible are due to their incomprehension to its truth.
A: Comprehension is not equivalent to agreement and acceptance.

Q: What is the difference between Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox?
A: Usually this question is not encouraged because it symbolizes division and discord. Most related articles have their positions (partial to one's own or discredit others). You may refer to this website.

Q: Why are there so many people opposing Christianity?
A: Different people have different answers. As for me, criticizing Christianity has no monetary donation and other benefits in return. The true reason behind is "love". I just hope believers will be no longer manipulated by religious charlatans to deceive others as well as themselves by the plausible theories.

Q: Everyone has freedom of religion. You have the right to reject Christianity, but you have no right to oppose / criticize Christianity.
A: Everyone has freedom of speech. Reasonable criticisms do not mean disrespecting the freedom of religion. [ Declaration of Human Rights ]

Q: Please respect other people's religions and not trample on religious freedom.
A: Christianity is not the only religion in the world. Christians should respect religions of other people first and should not blindly accuse others of superstition, idolatry, heresy, etc.

Q: (1) Let me take you to the church this Sunday.
(2) Let me lead you praying together.
A: While Christians respect their own religion by refusing to participate in other religious ceremonies like incense burning, they should also respect unbelievers by not inducing them to participate in Christian religious ceremonies.

Q: You are violating my freedom of religion by stopping my suppression of the homosexuals.
A: It is equivalent to saying: You are violating my freedom of discrimination of the homosexuals by stopping my suppression of the homosexuals.

Q: Churches are actively involved in social welfare, health and education and have made a considerable contribution to the society.
A: Churches are not the only charity and educational organisations in the world. The disadvantaged and immature kids are more likely to be indoctrinated with some religious thoughts due to the imperceptible influence and the sense of gratitude and authority. Moreover it helps fundraising by gaining good impression from the public in the name of their contribution to the society.

Q: We should be responsible for our own sins, so we should sincerely repent to God and let Jesus Christ shed for our sins.
A: It is indeed irresponsible to transfer your sins to others. Bearing the consequence of our own actions is a truly responsible behavior.

Q: Are there any cases of people leaving Christianity?
A: Please refer to Leaving Christianity and Exchristians Alliance.

Q: This whole article is not an FAQ. Most of the Q&As are answers prior to questions.
A: Christians used to believe they have the answers already. The purpose of this article is to question and encourage people to think, therefore many Q&As are rhetorical questions in response to the so-called "answers".

Q: God has the answer to all of your questions.
A: If you simply give up thinking this way, I apologize for wasting your time on this FAQ.

The End of The Very Succinct Christianity Frequency Asked Questions http://vscfaq.antichristendom.com/