A collection of answers to common questions / objections
Contents
Page 2) How can we be so certain the Bible accounts are reliable?
Page 3) Why do we have so many versions of the Bible?
Page 4-6) Bible Prophecy (and exposing false religions)
Page 7) Why doesn’t God just perform miracles to reach us?
Page 7) Why doesn’t God just speak to us?
Page 8-10) Why are we taught using the Bible?
Page 10¾) A brief disclaimer (I put it here so you could evaluate the writing first)
Page 11) If God is so loving, why did he create a world where evil could exist?
Page 12-14) Why does God allow innocent lives to suffer?
Page 14-16) Why doesn’t God fix the world right now?
Page 17) Why is God so strict on sin?
Page 18) What can God do to prevent evil?
Page 19) Highlighting a problem with all other religions / spiritual beliefs
Page 20) Objective ‘Good and Evil’ can only exist, when God exists
Page 21) Why did God command the Angel of Death to kill Egypt’s firstborn?
Page 21-22) Why did God command ancient Israel to wipe out entire cultures?
Page 22) Ancient Israel going to war with neighbouring civilisations
Page 23) Some other common questions
PAGE 2
When we lack information about the Bible, it is normal that we will have certain doubts. Here are some common questions / objections people have.
How can we be so certain the Bible accounts are reliable?
Many people claim the Bible accounts have been corrupted and so cannot be relied upon. And yet it turns out there is more evidence for the Bible’s authenticity, than for any other literature from antiquity. We currently have around 25,000 pieces of manuscript evidence ranging from small fragments to complete books of the Bible.
Out of all the words from the ancient New Testament manuscripts, no passage contradicts any Bible teaching regarding salvation / forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrificial atonement. There remains only 1% of words about which some questions still exist, and yet many of the differences turn out to be very insignificant changes.
This is an incredibly high level of accuracy. If we were to apply this standard to any other historical document, we would be more than satisfied with their reliability.
On top of these 25,000 pieces of manuscript evidence, we also have many letters by ‘early Church Fathers’. Their writings are so detailed, we can re-write most of the New Testament just from what the ‘early Church Fathers’ wrote. Some date back to 96AD; look at www.earlychristianwritings.com for examples.
We also have proven manuscript evidence of Old Testament accounts, which pre-date the ministry of Jesus by several hundred years. Recorded in these accounts are numerous prophesies. By trusting the reliability of the New Testament accounts, we can show many of these prophecies were fulfilled during Jesus’ time on Earth. We also have historical evidence from more recent times, confirming other prophecies have now also been fulfilled. So far, we have never been able to prove any Bible prophecy wrong. This is why so many Christians trust the warnings for the future.
The reason we don’t have any original versions of the Bible accounts is because, depending on how often they were used and how humid the climate was, papyrus doesn’t last a long time. As a result of such rapid degradation, the texts required being copied fairly often. (The reason the Dead Sea Scrolls lasted so long was because they were stored in a very dry climate. Many areas around the Mediterranean experienced far higher humidity levels, so the papyrus manuscripts wore out much faster).
We do know that many of the names, areas and dates in the Bible are reliable, because we have been able to cross reference them with other historical accounts, archaeological evidence, plus the various oral teachings passed on.
Even many prophecies have been proven, which I share examples of in the writing titled ‘Evidence’ which can be found on my website www.helpsavemany.com
Plus, while many claim the Bible has ‘lots of contradictions’, almost all of these have been reasonably answered; very often they just require some deeper research. This can include looking into the Hebrew language (for most of the Old Testament) or Koine Greek (for the New Testament). Plus, understanding cultures during their respective eras also explains parts the English translated Bibles do not fully cover.
The bottom line is, there are very good reasons we can be so confident with the Bible.
PAGE 3
A lot of people ask, ‘why do we have so many versions of the Bible?’
The original Bible accounts were written in 3 main languages. Ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These languages are far more complex than English.
It is well known that words from one language do not always translate directly to other languages, so a level of interpretation is required. Plus, the meanings of some words can change over time. When translators don’t grasp the deeper understanding of culture, context, or grammar, this can result in less reliable translations.
There are a range of very reliable versions of the Bible that reveal the same knowledge, even though they sometimes use different words to convey this information. And of course, there are less reliable versions of the Bible that actually distort meanings. Therefore, like many things in life, we are encouraged to do some research. I often use the older King James Version, plus I occasionally look into thelanguages closer to the original ones, to gain more depth and understanding.
Ancient Hebrew was used for the majority of the Old Testament, Koine Greek was used for all of the New Testament. Both are far more detailed than the English language, especially Hebrew, as it has meanings for words and for letters, and words can be found within words to provide further explanations. Plus, each Hebrew word and letter has a numerical value – which add further significance. In Hebrew, each letter is also a pictogram. (Modern Hebrew is a bit different from Ancient Hebrew, but it is still very reliable). This is why reading the Old Testament accounts in Hebrew provides so much more depth than reading in English; but we can still get plenty of reliable information from our English translations.
Many YouTube videos explain the added depth that can be extracted from Hebrew and Greek texts. This prophecy is a really good example of how detailed Hebrew is. It is well worth a look, and is only a short video; see the YouTube video:
The Berisheet Passover Prophecy
(13 minutes 44 seconds)
Some denominations of Christianity also include additional books that other denominations reject. The reason why is because even though these books are regarded as less reliable, they still have parts that are of interest. However, many denominations prefer to stick with only the books that are classed as the ‘canon’.
The ‘canon’ was not agreed upon at the Council of Nicaea as many assume, or by any single church, but were instead recognised due to their unique style as being inspired by God – many of the Old Testament books were recognised very early on.
When it came to the New Testament books, certain criteria were used to determine their reliability including: did the book contain evidence of high moral value that would reflect the Holy Spirit? Did it contain a consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching? Was the author an apostle, or did the author have a close connection with an apostle?
Put simply, there are very reasonable explanations as to why we can be so confident with the Bible ‘canon’ we have today.
PAGE 4
Bible Prophecy, (and exposing false religions)
When people talk about prophecies, many tend to think of fantasy films that involve magic. The reality is that many cultures and religions have tried to predict events in the future, although their accuracy has not always been consistently reliable.
However, where the Torah & the Bible are different, is they contain a far higher number of detailed prophecies compared to any other religion, and so far, all the prophecies we have been able to examine using archaeological and historical evidence have been shown to be accurate. No other belief can claim such reliability!
I say Torah as well as the Bible, because even though the Bible contains a translated version of the Hebrew Torah, some prophecies are only revealed when using the Hebrew language. This is because Hebrew has so much more depth to it.
The claim that all Bible prophecies have so far come true, is a track record that is worth paying attention to, because it gives us fair reason to assume the remaining prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled, will also come true.
One of the reasons the Bible used 40 different writers over a period of around 1500 years, was so that prophecies could be recorded by one writer, and be revealed hundreds of years later by another. This approach shows God is in control, and it also reduces the possibility of human manipulation.
Over extended periods of time, cultures change, and new ideas form. For example, when we study the writings of Hinduism, we learn that their doctrine changed massively – from early polytheistic nature worship, to the more modern idea of ‘one-ness’ and a supreme life-force. This inconsistency shows their beliefs were based upon human interpretation, not consistent divine guidance.
Throughout the Bible accounts, the key messages remain the same – our creator is one God; disobedience to him caused sin to enter the world; no matter what humans try to do, we cannot overcome corruption and restore purity to the Earth by ourselves; instead, we require a Saviour to purify us and rid the world of corruption.
This is why the Bible contains so many specific prophecies regarding the Saviour, so that when he fulfilled them, people would know he’s the Christ. This is why Jesus condemned the Jewish leaders of his day, because they hadn’t understood their holy writings. Instead, they had turned Judaism into a works-based religion.
These holy writings actually taught: we don’t need to earn eternal life, instead, God offers it to us – we must simply repent of sin and trust that God provides the legal atonement to pay for sin. (The reason ancient Israel were told to offer animal sacrifices, was to remind them that sin causes death, and to remind them that God would provide the ultimate holy sacrifice, just as had been prophesied long before).
The Jewish people who understood their Torah, were the ones who remained loyal to Jesus. But when the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus as their Saviour, he told his followers to preach the Gospel of Salvation to non-Jews (known as the Gentiles).
It is very telling that the Jewish authorities at the time tried to wipe out early Christianity, by persecuting these loyal followers of Jesus, and then in 70AD, the city of Jerusalem was totally destroyed – just as Jesus had prophesied.
PAGE 5
It is also significant that the Romans persecuted the early Christians, and yet within 350 years, the Roman Empire had abandoned their established pagan religion, and converted to Christianity. All because of a small group, of seemingly inferior loyal believers of Jesus Christ. Today, Christianity is the largest religion in the world.
(Yes it has many denominations, with some being more reliable than others, but the core message remains the same – salvation comes through accurate faith in God).
There is a reason why God warns against false religions: If there is such a thing as a true religion, then any belief that contradicts this religion, cannot also be true.
This means that if one religion claims to be accurate, all the others must be false, because they all contradict each other in fundamental ways.
The only other alternative is that all religions are false, and none are truthful.
The problem with saying the Bible accounts are false, is that they have already displayed divine information, through hundreds of detailed prophecies – many of which have been proven. See Pages 3-9 of the writing titled ‘Evidence’ on my website www.helpsavemany.com for a selection of examples.
Unless you are God, and are in full understanding of this creation, the ability to accurately predict the future consistently, is not easy to do. No writings outside of the Bible, that have attempted large numbers of detailed prophesies, have shown a 100% record. This is why so many religions don’t try to focus on detailed prophecies. It would expose their crucial weakness – a lack of genuine divine understanding.
Those that do attempt prophecy, limit them to a far smaller number than the Bible, and often give loose predictions that can be fulfilled far more easily.
This is why, when a belief claims to be from a divine source, we must focus on information that is above human, and even demonic levels (the Bible says demons are the source of false worship). (Also, when people try to talk to the dead, the Bible teaches people are actually communicating with demons. If talking to the dead was so genuine, we’d have little reason to miss our loved ones to the extreme level we do).
False religions may share knowledge that’s above human levels, but not divine levels. They’re unable to give lots of detailed prophecies, such as those found in the Bible.
This is why Christianity is so reliable. This is why Bible guidance on how to understand and overcome corruption / evil / sin, is so effective. This is why, when the Bible mentions science, astronomy, prophecy etc. it gets it right, every time.
This is also why, when the Bible provides clear guidance on how to draw closer to God, this really works. No other religion provides such clear teachings, simply because they don’t have reliable knowledge about how to do this. When religions can’t provide divine knowledge, this is the mark of a false religion, simple.
False religions can also be exposed by their ‘creation account’. Some don’t even bother with a creation account; some give very small amounts of information; and others provide wild stories that are unable to be verified, let alone explained with any real clarity. The creation account found in the Bible is clear, and we can support intelligent design, and a young Earth, using credible evidence. It is also more logical than the Big Bang theory – humans have never witnessed ‘no life’ produce life?
PAGE 6
To further examine a religion, we can look at their history. Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Islam and Sikhism are all young religions compared to Christianity. For this reason alone, they can be looked at with some doubt.
This world has also known the religions of the Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Incas, Aztecs and more, and yet these are now largely consigned to history.
Christianity claims to trace its origins to the very first humans, (it even provides a genealogy). It claims to be the true religion from the only true God. The trinity of Father, Son and Spirit is not a contradiction to there being one God. The best way to describe the trinity is: 3 members who perform specific tasks, but they do this while always being in agreement. They are in perfect unity; hence they are One.
The Hebrew accounts actually support the idea of a triune God. In the Book of Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 it reads, ‘let us make man in our image’. In Hebrew, a plural requires a minimum of 3 parts. As we read through the Old and New Testament accounts of the Bible, various references are made to each member of the trinity.
See this YouTube video for some examples: The Godhead – Chuck Missler
Hebrew is the oldest language that is still in use today, along with Chinese. Did you know the ancient Chinese language also contains evidence of the Genesis accounts? This YouTube video is certainly worth a look:
God Of The Bible In Ancient China
Below is another example of how to expose false religions:
While many beliefs mention some form of eternal life or re-incarnation, how many of these have any credible evidence to support their interpretations? It turns out that only Christianity has any credible real-world evidence that supports life after death.
- The Old Testament writers prophesied the Saviour would suffer for our sins, be put to death, and then rise from the dead 3 days later.
- The New Testament writers recorded how these prophecies were fulfilled.
But we also have independent historical accounts, by writers outside of the Bible, who recorded Jesus was crucified, and that some mysterious events were occurring in Israel. See Page 2 of the writing titled ‘Evidence’ on my website www.helpsavemany.com for a list of some of these ancient non-biblical writers.
This is why looking at human history can reveal so much. Just to re-cap again:
Around 37 years after Jesus had been crucified, and the majority of the Jews had rejected Jesus as their Saviour, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed.
Around 350 years since Jesus had been crucified, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and went on to be the most influential religion in human history. Today, in 2024AD, most countries date their calendars from the birth of Jesus Christ. Most countries also celebrate Christmas as a national holiday.
After just 3 years of ministry, Jesus Christ is still the most famous man in history.
I hope this information has given you a better idea of why Christianity is so reliable. Many people follow a belief because their culture follows it. Far less people actually understand the core details of what they follow – including many Christians. So please, whatever you choose to believe, be curious enough to do some deeper study.
PAGE 7
When people say ‘why doesn’t God just perform miracles to reach us’, we must consider that every minute, children are being born. Therefore, God would have to perform enough miracles to cover every human life. Such a huge amount would distract people from focussing on their daily tasks (tasks that are vital in supporting society), as instead, many people would go in search of witnessing ‘the next miracle’.
The purpose of miracles was to show that certain prophets were of God, and that God can perform tasks far superior to humans, so is worthy of our worship.
But even by producing miracles, all these do is confirm God exists. We still require the education about why to avoid corruptions entering our lives. Even in 2024, humans struggle to figure this out for ourselves, as shown through the way corruptions in politics, big business, medicine, personal lives etc. occur so often. Clearly, we still require wise guidance, and the Bible provides this very well.
The Bible explains that during Jesus’ ministry, many people witnessed miracles. And yet a lot of them still ended up wandering away from his teachings. This showed that miracles are often less effective at keeping people loyal to God, than following the teachings regularly. Across human history, far more people have converted to Christianity based upon following the Bible guidance, than witnessing a miracle. History has displayed this technique works; it simply requires people to try sincerely.
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When people say ‘why doesn’t God just speak to us’, we must consider that if God began speaking to us out aloud, we would constantly be ‘on edge’ waiting for him to next talk. Also, God is an eternal spirit, he doesn’t solely occupy a mortal physical body. The reason we take comfort in physically seeing who we speak to, is because when no one is around us, we feel we have our own privacy, so can relax more easily. Plus, when we feel we’re alone, this allows our ‘true colours’ to be on display.
There are other reasons why God doesn’t speak out aloud to every one of us too.
If we each had one-on-one tailor-made conversations with God, people would go around trying to explain subjects that others had not personally discussed with God. This would cause confusion far more easily. The simple reality is, the Bible teaches all we need to know for now, in order for us to receive forgiveness and eternal life.
When it comes to educating millions of people, it is far easier to have us all read from the same set of accounts. This way, any confusions are resolved a lot more easily.
- The first step for faith in God, is to believe in intelligent design. (Real-world experience should teach us that complicated systems don’t build themselves).
- The next step is to decide which religion has credible evidence of divine knowledge. This is why the Bible prophecies are so worth looking into.
- It is then down to the individual to try to follow the Bible guidance closely.
When people are unwilling to make these straight forward steps, the real issue is not so much with the quality of evidence, or the guidance. Instead, it is an issue of motivation; and if people really don’t care, God won’t force us to care. Our freewill is genuine, and God respects us enough to honour this – even if it means we choose to reject him, reject his offer of forgiving our sins, and reject his offer of eternal life. God must uphold his laws; forgiveness must be done in a legal way (Jesus’ atonement).
PAGE 8
Why are we taught using the Bible?
In the book of Hebrews: chapter 1, verses 1-2, the Bible teaches that in times past, God spoke through the prophets, but now he speaks through his only begotten Son. This is why Jesus is called the Word, and is why the Bible is our authority and guide.
Enough history has passed, so that the Bible accounts have been able to record prophecies, and then have them revealed. This pattern has occurred on such a repeated basis, that we have genuine reason to trust God is reliable. Again, using world history and archaeological evidence, we have proven many prophecies already.
Plus, enough history has passed so that we can understand what happened to the people of Israel when they were being obedient to God, and what happened when they fell into periods of disobedience. We have examples that give details about individuals, and examples that focus more on the broader nation of Israel.
The Bible accounts are fascinating because they cover so much, including:
- Mysteries and miracles that – while we have to place some level of trust in them – they are also supported by evidence in various ways, such as:
- Jesus’ miracles were so widely trusted, early Christianity was able to endure extreme persecution; it went on to replace well-established Roman beliefs.
- Various Bible prophecies have been confirmed using archaeology.
- Explaining why evil exists; how it grows; and reliable guidance on how to accurately identify and overcome evil / corruption / sin.
- Explaining who God is; reliable guidance on how to draw noticeably closer to him; plus, how to reliably call on his support, and how to grow in loyal faith.
- The Bible accounts used 40 different writers, from a variety of backgrounds, across a period of around 1500 years, yet the messages remained consistent.
- Specific details about science and astronomy – we have had to wait many centuries for our technology to advance far enough for us to confirm them:
- (KJV): Genesis 22:17 ‘i will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven’
(we required the Hubble telescope before we learnt there were millions of stars)
- Leviticus 15:13 ‘and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.’
(it took until the late 1800’s before this technique was widely recognised by doctors)
- Leviticus 17:11 ‘the life of the flesh is in the blood’
(we required modern medical technology before we could confirm this)
- Job 26:7 ‘and hangeth the earth upon nothing’
(we required space rockets and cameras before we were able to confirm this)
- Acts 17:26 ‘and hath made of one blood all the nations of men’
(we required modern genetics to confirm the human race is all one race; this is why humans can reproduce with humans from any other human culture – but not apes). The Bible teaches we came forth after our kind. Forget Evolution please, it is illogical, unproven, and easy to expose as unreliable: we’ve never recorded chemicals becoming living organisms; even artificial cells grown in labs require the architecture of a living cell to begin with. Science theory is not the same as proven science fact.
The Bible accounts are the most well-preserved literature from antiquity.
PAGE 9
If we consider an Almighty God, we will naturally come across topics that are far more complicated than we can process and understand. As a result, some elements of faith will be required. But there must also be large amounts of credible evidence to support the God of the Bible existing. Faith without credible evidence is foolishness.
If you feel science must explain everything about the Universe, you will struggle. Bear in mind we still haven’t used science to conclusively prove:
- Where did all the material that makes up the universe come from originally?
- Where did the space originally come from to put all this physical matter into?
- How were the ‘natural laws’ formed?
- How was mathematics created?
- How can chemicals come alive?
- How can chemicals evolve? We have never recorded any star being fully made.
- How can DNA exist from chemicals that are ‘dead’ and cannot ‘think’?
- If life evolved, why are humans so different from all other creatures on Earth?
- The irreducible complexity of many life-forms seems to rule out Evolution.
- Where does intelligence originate from? People go to university for a reason – to seek knowledge from a more intelligent source.
- Did someone guess Christianity, and guess the prophecies? Or, were they told?
- How can objective good and evil exist if there’s no intelligence above humans? If good and evil are defined by humans, because we each interpret life based upon our own experiences, one person’s opinion may not be better than another. For example, is abortion fair? Is capital punishment supportable?
Just because we have scientific evidence, the way we interpret it could be wrong – if we have a distorted world-view. Can the majority of scientists be wrong? If they trust Big Bang and Evolution are proven fact, then yes. How can we support this? Simple, ask any of them to provide conclusive scientific evidence for any of the above points. They cannot. This is why the debate between Creation and Big Bang continues…
Also: radio-isotope dating has been proven to be unreliable; we still cannot measure the speed of light in one direction; plus, we have been able to slow down and speed up the average speed of light across 2 directions. Fossils and soil formations can support a global flood; DNA similarities can support intelligent design; and the Universe shows many signs of being young, not old. We have evidence for all this.
Every human scientist must use some interpretation of evidence to fill the gaps. The term for any belief that lacks conclusive evidence is called faith. Now, when we ask, ‘could lifeless chemicals produce all the detail in the Universe, or does the Universe instead show signs of intelligent design?’ The evidence throughout nature points to intelligent design – the Bible prophecies point to this designer being God.
Can it ever be the case where the majority of the world has inaccurate faith, yes. How many Egyptians believed the Pharaohs were gods? How many Greeks or Romans followed polytheism, and yet now their beliefs are largely consigned to history.
Objective Truth cannot be changed by personal emotion, or majority opinion.
1+1 will always =2, even if you prefer the number 3, or the world is full of confusion.
God asks that we seek him first. By reading the Bible, we learn what wisdom truly is.
PAGE 10
Wisdom is what prevents humans from repeating the same errors – saving lives and resources in the process. Wise education is the most effective way to avoid problems. True wisdom explains why problems occur, and how to effectively overcome them.
Wise guidance and appropriate discipline are vital, to guide people in understanding the importance of high moral values. Such values protect lasting peace and prosperity; every sovereign country uses enforceable laws for this very reason.
We can of course read other books on how to be respectful, but when it comes to the question, ‘what is the highest level of respect?’ Purity will always be the top level.
Many religions encourage respect, but they don’t all have detailed prophecies to support their teachings coming from a divine power. Also, none of us were around to speak to the founders of each religion, so we cannot confirm how logical each of their thought processes were. And while trust is a key aspect of human life, we’re not expected to trust without credible evidence. When faith is proven, this produces trust.
For example, each of us use faith throughout our lives: faith that a chef won’t poison our food; faith that machinery works; faith that scientific instruments are reliable etc. When this faith is proven reliable, we call it trust. All acts of faith should be based upon credible supporting evidence. It is then down to us to test their trustworthiness.
To commit to a belief, without seeking to understand it, is foolishness. To follow a religion simply because culture says so is also very risky, because we have shown many popular religions turned out to be false and are no longer followed.
Now we don’t have to believe every part of the Bible 100%, but it is worth repeating, that we’ve never conclusively proven any part of the Bible to be wrong. There is even supporting evidence for some of the more curious parts, including early humans being able to live for more than 900 years, (see Page 20 of the writing titled ‘Evidence’ on my website www.helpsavemany.com). So if in doubt, do some study. If you are curious, I have many useful videos to my YouTube channel playlist:
Type in to the YouTube search bar using the “ “ “help save many”
Click on the purple h logo. Select Playlist A1
Scroll through Playlist A1 to see the 223+ videos listed; they are in a helpful order.
(Playlists B1 and C1 are quality sermons by two very respected pastors).
If you believe in Big Bang and Evolution, you can still trust the God of the Bible:
Our salvation doesn’t depend on how old we think the Universe is; salvation only depends upon sincere repentance of our sins, and trust that Jesus is the Lord.
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A brief disclaimer:
While putting together a set of writings such as these, it is inevitable some points will require further research, and some topics won’t be mentioned. It is also worth stating that because I am only human, I lack full knowledge. Therefore, if you feel i got some things a bit wrong, please recognise there is still more than enough credible evidence to support intelligent design and the reliability of the Bible accounts.
For those of us who can read and have access to the internet, we have a wonderful opportunity to learn more and share reliable information.
PAGE 11
If God is so loving, why did He create a world where evil could exist?
Short answer: God created a world where love can exist. But because love requires freewill choice, by allowing genuine choice, means that evil choices can also exist:
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The only way any of us can display ‘love’ (which basically means to respect out of personal choice), is when we have the freewill to decide who and what we respect.
If we were programmed to ‘only love’, this level of control would mean we don’t have genuine freewill to make choices of who (or what) we like, and dislike. This would make us more robotic, instead of being individuals with unique personalities.
Freewill allows us to make choices. Each choice has genuine consequences that are either beneficial or damaging. Therefore, we require guidance, so we understand why to avoid bad choices. The reason people often take care around hazardous environments, and why people often choose to be nice to those they like, is because we know our choice of actions produce genuine real-world consequences.
Because we each have the ability to make choices, this shows we have sufficient influence over our thoughts, (including beliefs). This means we control the language that comes out of our mouth, and the movements of our body.
When a rock falls and hurts someone, we cannot class that rock as evil. This is because a rock does not have a conscious mind to make freewill choices. Nor can we class the Sun as being evil if we get skin cancer. Evil can only come from a life-form that has the freewill awareness to decide how to control their actions.
Now the issue gets a bit trickier when people are manipulated, are drunk, on drugs, have health issues, are possessed by demons etc. but the main point is, when we are in control of our choices, we are accountable for them.
- God did not specifically create evil, but he knew that by allowing freewill to exist, evil could potentially occur. However, if he did not allow us freewill, we would never be able to experience, learn and display the highest form of ‘good’ = ‘love’. This is why God also provided us with strong and clear guidance.
As we look at the many corruptions in the world today, we see they are the result of human freewill choices. Instead of blaming God, we should be taking more responsibility of what choices we each make, what choices we each support, and what efforts we go to protecting higher moral standards.
There’s an old saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. It means every society member has a responsibility to respectfully guide / support each other.
The problem with larger towns and cities is that people can hide away and conduct their lives in some level of secrecy. When humans live with fewer people examining their choices, very often they can wander down corrupt paths without truly understanding the wider impact on society, let alone their own personal development.
The importance of being a member of a close respectful community, plays a key role in developing and maintaining higher moral standards. These qualities are of huge importance, as they are the very foundation of lasting peace and lasting prosperity.
PAGE 12
Why does God allow innocent lives to suffer?
Short answer:
For freewill choices to be genuine and real, they must produce genuine real-world consequences. This is what makes reality accurate / true.
In order for authentic love to develop and flourish, respectful choices must be allowed to produce their real-world consequences.
If God keeps love authentic, he must also keep evil authentic, so that reality remains authentic. Therefore, all choices must produce real-world consequences.
Innocent lives suffer because consequences for evil choices are real. This is why God warns us to avoid evil. He also teaches us that love used wisely can overcome much evil, but we must work together responsibly.
By allowing evil to produce real-world results, we get to understand just how damaging it can be, and why it is so important to choose respectful choices.
God says he will judge, compensate, and reward lives at the end of this ‘system’. He will then purify the world, so it is free from sin, making it fit for eternal peace.
When humans sinned, and when certain angels rebelled, God had to provide a clear education as to why sin and disobedience to his ways are so destructive.
God knows how to run his creation. He knows what rules are appropriate, what education is required, how to pass fair judgement, and how to compensate lives.
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We live in a physical Universe. Physical objects are governed by the ‘natural laws’, such as ‘laws of motion’ and ‘laws of thermodynamics’. These ‘natural laws’ enable a clear demonstration of how actions have very real consequences. For example:
If we throw something hard, this can cause damage. But if we are physically more careful, this can result in materials being used for construction. Plus, gentle physical actions can display tenderness to those we care for etc.
Those examples highlight the importance (and benefits) of self-control and respect.
- Because humans are made of fragile skin and bone, we get to understand the consequences of the ‘natural laws’ very quickly.
- Because humans understand sound logic, we can recognise patterns quickly.
- Because humans have an inbuilt conscience, our experiences teach us what actions support peace, and what choices cause harm.
- As humans, we also have the capacity to learn at a very fast rate.
- Due to our advanced physical abilities and mental capacity, this allows us to develop our levels of comfort and prosperity to very high standards.
All these factors combine, to enable people to navigate this creation, whereby we understand how to live with peace and comfort – and recognise why such conditions are worth protecting. So, if we understand the value of peace and respect, why do so many people regularly engage in acts of disrespect?
The simple answer is, they don’t really care about the wider possible consequences.
Very often, people act the way they feel they can get away with.
PAGE 13
When people deny God exists, or reject following his guidance, they become a law unto themselves. As a result they create their own ideas of what’s morally acceptable.
The problem is, humans often try to justify a whole range of disrespectful choices, such as swearing, lust, violent entertainment, excessive greed etc. None of these support peace, and yet many people who claim to value peace, still engage in them.
This indicates a level of moral confusion, and history has repeatedly shown why humans cannot guide ourselves to world peace. But the only way we would learn this, was by rejecting God’s guidance, and trying out our own paths instead.
God allows this system to continue, because when people repent of sins and return back to his ways, we quickly learn how effective his guidance really is. Being able to compare the difference between respecting God, and ignoring God, helps us to personally understand why it is so beneficial to be more obedient.
He desires we return to him, but it must be a freewill choice. He knows his ways are effective, because millions across history have repented and accepted him.
So when people say ‘why does God allow innocent lives to suffer’, it is not quite as simple as that. God does offer reliable guidance on how to resist evil, but when large numbers of people reject this, we must then question society, not God. How many in the world have heard of Heaven, Jesus, Christmas etc. Many are without an excuse.
People often make the assumption that because God is loving and powerful, He must sort out the problems we cause. So at what stage should humans take responsibility? After all, it is people’s combined freewill choices that have damaged life on Earth.
Natural disasters are a bit different, but please consider this. The Bible teaches that the Global Flood occurred when the ‘great fountains of the deep burst forth’. Using modern technology, we know there are still huge reserves of water deep underground. It is entirely possible the formation of the tectonic plates were caused by the events that led to the flood – and these could have easily produced an ice-age afterwards.
The evidence for the flood is huge when we look into it, hence why I mention it. On my website www.helpsavemany.com under the title ‘Evidence’, I share a whole range of credible evidence that supports the Global Flood, and a young Universe.
If we also factor in that our methods for dating the age of rocks are very unreliable, then much of our efforts to unlock the past are based on interpretation, not actual conclusive proof. We know getting reliable dates for anything older than a few thousand years is very hard, and a great deal is based upon using unproven assumptions. This is why dates of ‘millions of years’ can be so strongly contested.
So based upon the Global Flood being real, if God brought upon the flood due to unrepentant human sin, then even earthquakes, volcanoes and tidal waves can be traced back to being the result of human corruptions. God may have chosen this exact method to judge the world, but it also allows us to examine whether the Bible accounts are reliable, by seeing if such evidence still exists. After all, it is hard to hide such evidence; unless people teach the land features and fossils were the result of Big Bang and Evolution. These 2 theories are way more destructive than many realise at first, yet they can be very easily exposed, as the various evidence shows.
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So again, when people say ‘why does God allow innocent lives to suffer’, it’s not as simple as that. Human impacts have led to so much, including: deforestation, flooding, desertification, extreme weather, pollution, diseases, wars, poverty, lies etc.
The Bible does teach that the world was placed under a curse due to sin, but the cruel acts in nature, thorns, poisonous foods etc., weren’t part of God’s initial design. Of course, the entire history of this planet is not so easy to unravel, but based upon the credible evidence available, the Bible has shown to be accurate time and again.
We know innocent lives suffer, so we can reason that God knows way more than us. As we build up our faith, we can genuinely trust He will bring about ultimate justice.
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Why doesn’t God fix the world right now? (2 ½ pages long as it covers a fair bit)
God has already fixed the world before – using the Global Flood, and yet humans still ended up falling back into sin. This shows that a more permanent solution is required.
The Bible repeatedly explains the damage sin causes, along with the inability humans have to permanently rid ourselves of it. This is why it explains our need for a Saviour.
Therefore, the ultimate solution to overcoming all corruptions, is for God to rebuild the world, and only allow those of us who choose to be loyal to him to live on it.
In order to sort out ‘who these people are’, we each get to live our life, and display our levels of respect (including our desire to improve). Then, after we die, God can judge us and divide us accordingly. This saves God from having to rebuild the world over and over again whenever sin becomes a major problem. Thankfully, God also extends to us huge mercy, by allowing us to learn from our corruptions.
Provided our repentance is sincere and we choose to be loyal to God, He will not judge us for our sins. The Bible gives many examples of people who have been redeemed, including repentant blasphemers, prostitutes, and even some murderers.
If God were to put a stop to this corrupted system now before it reached its full conclusion, there would always be some uncertainty as to whether humans could overcome sin and suffering on our own, without the need to follow God’s guidance.
Many people say we don’t need God. God is allowing us to find out exactly why we do need him. This is not him being cruel, it is simply that he allows our collective freewill choices to produce their very real consequences. The reason we see so much suffering is because human corruptions produce genuine consequences.
Given that so many similar tragedies occur over and over again, we should have learnt by now that humanity’s approach to effectively tackle sin / corruption is woefully inadequate. When civilisations regularly repeat the same tragedies, this indicates a concerning lack of wisdom, and a worrying lack of guidance.
This is why the Bible teaches that true wisdom comes from God. It also teaches that he gives wisdom generously to those who respectfully ask. This doesn’t mean we will suddenly have full wisdom. It means he teaches us what wisdom is (which can be found in the Bible accounts), and then places us in circumstances so that we have opportunities to put such wisdom into effect. The better at this we do, the more wisdom we show we can process and handle, so we can grow accordingly.
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Wisdom is quite easy to understand because it works around sound logic. For example, if we truly value respect, all our thoughts, words and actions should focus only on respect. Any choices below this level simply reveal our various impurities.
Of course, we don’t need the Bible to teach us how to live with less corruptions, but it is a very helpful guide as to what corruption really is. People can become confused / desensitised, and assume their faults aren’t a real concern; but when people are told their corrupt actions are acceptable, it then makes it far more difficult to eradicate the root issues. The most effective solutions always try to tackle the root of the problem.
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To use a Bible example of this: the Bible encourages no sex before marriage, and that loyalty to a partner should last ‘until death do us part’.
This level of loyalty is designed to encourage strong stable bonds, (stability is crucial when it comes to raising a child). Intimate loyalty also reduces the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. If we removed modern medicine from society, the true scale of sexually transmitted diseases would become far more apparent. In less developed countries, STD’s have caused huge damage, including hereditary diseases.
When so many people focus on lust, and are taught this is acceptable, many relationships become more fragile, and the established family unit as a whole suffers. When the family unit is weakened, the very foundation of society becomes affected.
To raise another point, when parents don’t educate their children about wisdom, very often the children stumble into problems that were easily avoidable. It doesn’t take long for ‘centuries worth of wisdom’ to be lost; it can occur in just a few generations.
Since the mid-20th century, the UK has seen a dramatic drop in people going to church, and a dramatic rise in greed, lust, broken relationships, and crime.
Educating people about respect, often benefits from having a credible focal point. When individuals lose focus, people can become corrupted alarming quickly.
It is also no coincidence that since Big Bang and Evolution were taught in schools, atheism has risen, and faith in God has dropped. To say these theories are scientific is to display confusion. Science is based upon what we can witness, record, and repeat to get the same results. No human has ever witnessed the Big Bang; nor has any human ever produced a complete model for the Big Bang. There is no scientific proof to support ‘everything came from nothing’; there is no scientific proof of where the matter that forms this physical Universe came from.
And yet millions are being taught Big Bang is scientific fact. Interpretation of evidence is not the same as conclusive proof. How do you go about proving how the ‘natural laws’ or ‘mathematics’ came into existence just by chemicals alone?
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For those who have read the Bible, you will know that it mentions some very severe coming judgements. But we also learn that before extreme judgments, God provided humans with warnings long in advance. This is why the history of ancient Israel and the surrounding nations of the time is well worth examining closer. This is also why it is worth looking at the moral direction the world continues to head in. God repeatedly warns us not to follow the ‘world’. Jesus even says his kingdom is not of this world.
For those who doubt the accuracy of the ‘end times prophecies’, please look into the prophecies that have already been shown to have come true. The Bible accounts often provide very specific details, and so far, we have never been able to conclusively disprove the Bible. This is quite something for a set of accounts so old.
The Bible teaches that God will not completely intervene, until we reach a stage on Earth whereby without his help, all life on Earth would otherwise be destroyed. This is an indication of how people will continue to pursue corruptions, and how much more damaged the world, human morality, and spiritual beliefs will become.
Several hundred years ago, many Christians would still have been confused by these ‘end times prophecies’. And yet today, we have:
- extreme levels of pollution
- water shortages around the world that are affecting major populations
- unstable weather systems
- fragile supply lines (Covid 19 and the war in Ukraine highlighted these)
- enough military fire-power to wipe ourselves off the map
- plus, many computer games and other media glorify lust, greed, and violence.
So, what does the future really hold in store?
Well, based on the many human choices currently being made, it is illogical to predict lasting world peace, or a wilful return to purer moral attitudes anytime soon.
God can only guide us if we are willing to respect his guidance. The more people ignore his wisdom, this naturally results in less support from God. Many people ask where is God? And yet they make very little effort to draw closer to Him. The Bible is clear on how we can do this effectively, and many can confirm this really works!!!
The Bible teaches that not all tests are from God. Some are demonic influence; others are weaknesses in our heart (corruptions that can be exposed). God is more than prepared to forgive and guide us, but it must be done through our freewill choice.
No person can force another to wilfully follow the guidance, this is why sharing credible information is so important to encourage people. Also, people are more likely to respect the opinion of someone they can trust. This is why Christians are called to be honest, humble, have self-control, seek God, learn more, and reach out to others when we feel sufficiently confident, and when the timing is appropriate.
Many people reject being obedient to God, even though they believe he exists.
Others reject God exists, or follow false gods.
The Bible says, someday every knee will bow to God. So please, consider accepting his offer of mercy, forgiveness, wise guidance, and eternal life.
If you have doubts, then use these to do some study. But don’t just read or watch videos; please actually try to put his guidance into regular practice.
The faster we purify our lives, the faster the ‘veil’ of distortion and confusion lifts from our ‘mind’s eye’. We have all built up barriers, which have led us to have doubts. God teaches us how to remove them. After purifying my life a lot, I know his guidance is reliable, hence why I spent much time developing writings such as these.
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Why is God so strict on sin?
Very often, people reject God because they question, ‘why is God so strict on sin?’
So allow me to try to explain this using real-world comparisons.
Our human laws are there to protect peace, uphold truth, and resist corruption. They are designed to encourage higher moral values, and deter lower moral attitudes. This way, societies can grow within a set of boundaries that protect against evil.
- If we consider what evil is, it is any act that is not good.
- The highest level of good is purity – also known as holiness.
Any time we accept a level lower than purity, we are accepting a form of corruption. The more we do this, the more desensitised we get, and more corruptions can enter our personal lives (and into the wider society too). This common pattern often occurs:
- When individuals lower their own moral standards, this can become a habit.
- When a habit is repeated enough in public, it can often become tolerated.
- Habits can influence others, and this way they can become ‘contagious’.
- When enough people accept lower standards this level can become normalised.
- When things become normalised, they can often become protected by law.
- Once laws are passed, they become hard to undo, so can last a very long time.
Many human laws have legalised corruptions. So how can society go about raising the moral standards of its members, when people are simply obeying human laws?
If love, truth, and all that is good are truly worth protecting, the ultimate way to do this effectively and consistently, is to oppose all forms of corruption. This is why the Bible is strict on all sin; but thankfully the Bible also teaches about forgiveness.
When any of us try to justify a corruption, we’re attempting to support a contradiction to good values. This puts us in opposition to God’s standards. The more we do this, the further we wander from his standards. By purifying our lives, we draw closer to God’s values, and this is how we grow to understand and appreciate his guidelines.
God is trying to remind us we are each accountable for all of our freewill choices. And he is also trying to educate us that peace and prosperity grow best from a foundation of high moral values – which requires some compromises to our freedoms. We may have freewill, but this doesn’t mean we have total freedom; nor should we. We clearly understand this concept, by the way we respect our country’s rules.
The Old Testament laws were specifically for ancient Israel to follow. They were God’s attempt to purify the nation, to prepare the way for the Messiah to come through the bloodline of Abraham and King David (to fulfil the prophecies).
Jesus’ blood was crucial for the atonement for humans, hence why he is called the ‘kinsman redeemer’ (which means a relative who, at his own expense, pays off the debts of another).
Since Jesus’ atonement, we are no longer required to keep all the old laws of Judaism. God still has his same high standards, but he has now proved his point to us that humans cannot purify ourselves 100%. We needed a saviour to be able to purify us after we die, and so he provided one through Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach).
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What can God do to prevent evil?
Well, aside from wiping every life-form that commits any evil off the face of this planet, (and this would have to include every human who has ever sworn, told a lie etc.) the next option is to put in place an education, (so we learn why we should use our freewill to make respectful choices), plus provide a legal saviour (who can purify us after we die, so that we are able to receive eternal life under a purified system).
To support all this, God provides us with the human conscience, so we are able to recognise the differences between good and evil. He also provided us with many teachers to guide us, and a rational mind to understand sound logic.
When civilisations stumbled into excessive sin, God also provided more teachers as well as prophets, to warn people of the consequences of not improving.
God even went so far as to offer us mercy / salvation, so that we would not face judgement for our sins – provided we repent and put our trust back in Him.
So, when we ask who is to blame for evil, we cannot reasonably say God. Instead, we must first examine our own freewill choices, and then those of our society members.
It is also worth bearing in mind that evil cannot exist all on its own. It can only exist when there is a level of goodness that can be corrupted. For example:
- Life can only be created when there is a certain level of ‘love’ to begin with. This is because to nurture young life to adulthood requires regular care and attention. (Even evil people must care for their own health so they survive). Once life is in place, then it can be corrupted to perform disrespectful acts.
- Physical weapons can only exist when the raw materials exist to begin with. And these raw materials can only exist if a creator cares enough to design and create them, such as trees for wood, chemical elements for metals etc. Their primary function is for good, but ‘evil’ can use them for a secondary purpose.
When evildoers are separated from any further opportunities, evil is limited forever. Evil can also be overpowered, by destroying those who do evil, or by re-education.
‘Good’ however, can exist all on its own. We don’t need to do any evil in order to do good. This is why ‘good’ can keep growing in purity / holiness for eternity.
Because evil acts are only possible through freewill choices, the way to restrain evil, is to first identify those who use their freewill choices for disrespectful purposes.
It then comes down to ‘are they to be destroyed’, or ‘can they be re-educated’. Salvation is about re-education. Although none of us like to be classed as evil, we can also recognise that we are not purely good. So it is fair to say, we have a mix of good and evil within us, which is reflected through the various freewill choices we make.
Salvation is not just about eternal life, it is also a pathway to restoring us to purity.
But it has to be provided in a way that still enables all sin to be punished. Therefore, whilst repentant sinners avoid judgment, our sins were still punished through Jesus taken on our punishment. In return, we live through him so that we can become purified. We cannot purify ourselves all on our own, this is why Jesus is fundamental.
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This highlights a problem with all other religions / spiritual beliefs. When beliefs claim we don’t need Jesus, but instead all we need to be forgiven / saved, is to ‘apologise’ and do ‘good deeds’, this throws up some major questions such as:
- How does any individual know what specific ‘good deeds’ they must do?
- How many ‘good deeds’ are needed to be done to guarantee eternal life?
- How can any individual check the ‘balance of their moral account’ so that they know how much more ‘good deeds’ they need to do?
- How is all evil punished? If any evil is not punished, where is the true justice?
(Even human courts of law don’t allow criminals to be freed simply by offering an apology – a punishment must still be given, even if it’s just a court fine. This is to demonstrate that legal justice has been served. The reason humans understand the concept of law is because God ‘wrote it’ on our hearts, along with the human conscience. Humans are created in his image, which means we have the capacity to understand what morality, law, and justice really are.)
For all the beliefs that reject Jesus’ atonement for sin, (and instead claim that doing good deeds are sufficient for salvation), none of them clearly answer all these points.
This is a huge red flag that shows they each lack clear divine knowledge when it comes to the issue of evil / sin. Many religions sound reasonable at first, but they can be exposed rather quickly, once we ask more specific questions.
The Bible explains how sin is dealt with very clearly. All sin must be punished. And only by purification can any human receive eternal life. Given we cannot purify ourselves, we require a saviour. To confirm all this, God provided many prophecies.
God works on logic, therefore his principles for us are logic based too. He helped guide mainstream legal systems we can understand, as a way to educate us about his divine legal system. God does not hide crucial information; he is a God of love. This is why when he gives guidance on how to draw closer, it truly works.
Some simple techniques that can be used to expose false religions:
- Can they trace their roots back to the very start of creation?
- Does their doctrine remain consistent from the first writings to the last?
- Are their writings confirmed by multiple writers who had similar revelations?
- Do they contain specific prophecies recorded by different writers?
- Have we got credible historical evidence of prophecies being fulfilled?
- Do they provide reliable guidance on how to draw noticeably closer to God?
- Do they explain what is good and what is evil?
- Do they explain how to overcome evil?
- Do they claim we can worship images made from materials – after all, when a statue falls and smashes, if it cannot fix itself, why offer worship through it?
Christianity covers all the above points. No other world religion does.
Offering credit to someone for this creation is a very serious thing.
Who we place our hopes on for eternal life is also crucial to get right, after all, many ancient religions turned out to be false. Truth is not defined by our personal opinions.
God tries to make it easy for us to believe in him, we just need to do some seeking.
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Absolute definitions for ‘Good and Evil’ can only truly exist, when there is an authority above humans that defines what these are. This is because as humans, we lack knowledge of every fact that exists, and every consequence that can occur.
When humans define ‘good and evil’ ourselves, all we can base our definitions on, are our personal experiences, and our interpretations of these experiences.
Because no civilisation knows all the facts and all the consequences for every action, who gets to determine which culture has understood ‘good and evil’ better than another? After all, which culture is correct when it comes to supporting or rejecting:
- Capital punishment: Crime rates are noticeably lower in countries that enforce this, but this is also far more strict, and sometimes innocent people have been executed.
- Abortion: Who gets to decide at what stage does a human life becomes a valuable life? We were all embryos at one stage…
- Blasphemy: Some developed countries severely punish this; other developed countries allow jokes using blasphemy?
When good and evil are defined by humans, this results in areas of uncertainty. In these so called ‘grey areas’ good and evil are no longer objective. Instead, they are subjective and open to interpretation. In effect, the terms good and evil no longer exist in these ‘grey areas’. (Also, if people believe they ‘evolved from animals’, then what are they actually basing their moral standards of good and evil on anyway?)
However, if the God of the Bible does exist, and if we have records of what his definitions for good and evil are, this means humans have clear definitions to follow. (These weren’t designed by the nation of Israel, because even Israel were punished).
We can choose to reject these, but it still means we can be legally punished by God for breaking His laws. Is this fair? Well, given that none of us gave ourselves life; and none of us can create another life from complete scratch (so that we can have family, friends, customers or work colleagues); plus, none of us can create an environment from complete scratch that we can explore and utilise, then this all shows we depend greatly on a creator. Some may try to call this creator ‘nature’ or ‘the universe’, but we can all agree that humans did not create this planet or universe. And experience will tell us that consulting a plant, or talking to a planet, will not provide clear moral guidance, so we should be mindful who we give our credit to.
When people say ‘God’s restrictions are not fair’, we often base this upon levels of freedom we’ve grown used to, but we also lack full knowledge of all consequences.
So if we have to accept God’s limitations to our freedom, and yet still get to enjoy much comfort, surely this is a compromise worth honouring. The alternative would be to not exist. Is any freedom that God disproves of really worth giving up the opportunity for eternal life? After all, if God is our Creator, he surely knows how to look after us, how to guide us, and how to allow us eternal satisfaction. Please look up in the Bible: Job chapters 38 – 40 to see how God answers our doubts in him.
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Why did God command the Angel of Death to kill all the firstborn children and all the firstborn livestock in Egypt? (I feel this is best answered by looking at what people have written online. Some very good answers are provided).
It is worth bearing in mind this was the 10th and final plague. Pharaoh had repeatedly rejected God’s request to ‘let His people go so that they could worship Him’, so God ramped up the plagues to force Pharaoh’s hand. This goes to show that God will not override our freewill. So, if we reject God, we really do reject Him. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but He did not change Pharaohs freewill, there is a big difference.
What I will also say about this one, is that it’s interesting God later commanded Israel to redeem all their first-born children and first-born livestock to Himself. This parallel showed God does enact a balance in various appropriate ways.
There are further parallels to be found too:
The ‘lambs’ blood’ painted on the door posts by the Israelites, was used as a sign that protected their firstborn from the Angel of the Lord, so that He passed over them.
This is why the religious festival to commemorate this is called ‘Passover’.
Jesus is called the Lamb of God. It is His blood that serves to protect us from the coming judgement on sin. This is why when we repent of sin, our salvation is also based upon faith in His resurrection – which confirmed Jesus’ atonement for sin had been accepted by His Father. This is why we can trust we will be raised after we die.
For those who doubt the ‘Exodus’ ever happened, how do you explain why for many centuries, Jews and Christians have honoured the ‘Passover’? Or why in 1978, chariot wheels were discovered in the Red Sea at the point the Israelites crossed?
King Solomon even set up 2 pillars to mark this point, one at Nuweiba Beach in Egypt, and one on the opposite side. In the 1980’s the Saudi Arabian Government later removed one of these, and a small flag was used to mark the location instead.
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Why did God command ancient Israel to wipe out entire cultures in the ‘promised land’ – including the children and the livestock?
(I feel this is also best answered by looking at what people have written online).
Again, this only came about after a long period of warning. In short though, it was a judgement upon cultures in the ‘promised land’ for their extreme evil, some of which included child sacrifices and extreme sexual immoralities.
God was not simply giving the nation of Israel this land. He was also taking this land away from the evil civilisations who had been occupying it for so long. He would then use Israel as a holy nation, in order to educate the other nations of the world.
It is also worth considering that by ancient Israel killing the children, this helped to prevent the corrupt cultures from being restored. Had these children been taken into captivity, there was a very real possibility that when they grew up, they would return back to their parent’s ways, and this would have led to their eternal judgement, plus more people becoming corrupted.
Also, there is the very real possibility that these children had contracted some hereditary diseases, as a result of multiple generations worth of immoralities.
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As we do some study, we learn that God made a way for young children to be saved. So even when God dealt with extreme sin, He still found ways to be merciful.
The reason all the livestock had to be destroyed, was because they had been subjected to various corruptions, and so were unfit for any ‘holy’ use.
One key thing to remember is this. God is sovereign over all life. He gets to decide who lives, and in many circumstances who dies. Of course, humans can also get to influence who dies, through unhealthy lifestyles, not resolving poverty, or by more direct acts like murder etc. But the bottom line is, God has the authority to give life, and take it away. Thankfully, when we study the Bible, we can trust that God is appropriate with His decisions, and we can have realistic hope for ultimate justice.
In Isaiah 55:8-9 we learn that God’s ways are higher than ours, and His thoughts are not necessarily the same as our thoughts. After all, God has to help support humans, along with many other types of life-forms on this planet. So, whilst we can draw genuinely closer to God through Christianity, He will still be operating on a supreme level, far above what we can fully comprehend.
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Ancient Israel going to war with neighbouring civilisations
In the book of Deuteronomy, from chapter 20 it outlines the codes for war, and says peace must be offered to any cities of the nations that are not given to Israel by God as an inheritance (i.e. not of the Promised Land). For those who reject the offer of peace, the men will be put to the sword but the women, children and cattle must be spared and brought into captivity. (Please research how slavery was defined in Israel).
However, for the cities of those nations God gives as an inheritance (those in the Promised Land), Israel is told to utterly destroy them, and the Bible gives reasons.
It must be recognised that God waited more than 400 years before judging the Amorites. In Genesis chapter 15: verses 13-16 it tells how Israel will be servants in Egypt for 400 years before taking the Promised Land because,
‘the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full’.
In effect God is saying the wickedness of the Amorites had not yet reached a point of intolerability. This is quite interesting as it shows God knows they will get worse to the point He will eventually pass judgement on them, and yet God still allows plenty of opportunity for people to repent. For all we know, there may have been many people who repented / walked away from those civilisations during those 400 years.
But then, after those 400 years, God did pass judgment. He told ancient Israel to wipe out certain neighbouring civilisations, notably the Amorites, in order to stop their corrupt ways and traditions from affecting and infiltrating ancient Israel’s culture. Israel was to be a holy nation so that the messiah could be born through their bloodline. His blood would then be used as the legal atonement to save human souls.
We should be shocked by events in the Old Testament. But we should also learn and understand why they happened. God is a God of love; therefore he must oppose evil, and thereby uphold all that is truly good.
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Some other questions to research: (EDITING IN PROGRESS and will be added to at a later date)
If Jesus is God, why did Jesus pray to God?
This has to do with how Jesus emptied himself of his power before coming to Earth. The reason for this was so that His life would serve as an example to His followers of how to be obedient to God (the Father).
Jesus was only able to perform miracles on Earth after his baptism. This was because He only received the Holy Spirit after He was baptised.
When Jesus prayed to God sincerely, even when He was away from his disciples, this was not simply an act. Jesus had fully committed to submitting to the will of His Father.
Does the power of prayer work? Why don’t all prayers work?
God does consider our prayers, but we are told they must be according to his will. We cannot go forcing world peace, as this would require God to override people’s freewill. If people wilfully choose to reject God, He will not override their desire, even if it leads to mass evil being committed.
People often ask why doesn’t God heal more people? But the reality is, many people are not that loyal to God. However, God can use our trials and struggles to display endurance both to ourselves and others. This allows our faith to be examined, and also refined. Plus, a key quality of love is endurance. God will strengthen Christians when we lean on his guidance closely, and this can then inspire others who watch on at a Christian’s loyal endurance, to look into Christianity more. When they see how comforted Christians are, even if facing death, this can send out a very powerful message. God is also reminding us that death is not the end – but our eternal state depends on whether we repent and trust in Jesus’s legal atonement.