I need to have answers

Glad you could make it back to my blog.
One of my many faults which seems to irritate people is that I don't accept anything I'm told just because I've been told it.
It doesn't matter who tells it to me whether they be a minister of religion or a minister in government. Whether they be a high school teacher or a University lecturer, it makes no difference who they are or where they work or what their qualifications are. If they can't show me how they have arrived at a certain answer or opinion then I don't accept it until they or I can prove it to be correct or incorrect.

Over the years that I was an agnostic, then a Christian and now a believer, this attitude has been seen as arrogance, trouble making, etc. I think the reason people don't like my asking questions is the following
1. It puts the one being questioned on the defensive.
2. It makes the one being questioned look at what they are teaching
3, It brings into question the teachers' authority
4, It makes the one being questioned discover for themselves what they are teaching.
There are many more reasons but these will stop you from getting board.
I was an agnostic until May 2nd 1972 when I became a member of the Church of Christ (Non Denominational) as it was called back then. I let my guard down and allowed them to get away with teaching me stuff that I just accepted. I'm not picking on the C of C here because back in the 70's we were all looking for a place to find rest. And I believed at the time that this was the place. Just as those who sought out the Catholic Church or Baptist church you name a church and you'll find that in the 70s it grew. I thought that it was the Jesus revolution which was about to commence. 

Then after a number of years I started to ask questions. I remember one particular incident which I will relate here: I was in my office at work when a younger member of the congregation made an appointment to see me and is query was this. Why does the church teach that it is wrong to use musical instruments in our whorship?  He asked me where it said that we couldn't use musical instruments in the Bible.  This man was a music teacher and was very good on the instruments he chose to play.  I played in a band with him for some time.  However, back to the story, I believed that it was wrong because I had been taught that musical instruments were wrong if used when worshipping God.   So rather condescendingly I told him that I would help him see that the church was right and that would put him back in his place.  So I went home that night and read the scriptures that I had been told, taught that musical instruments were wrong and I couldn't prove it from there.  So I went outside the things I had been taught and still I couldn't prove it.  

I remembered we used to say to others who were not of our group "We spreak where the Bible speaks and we are silent where the Bible is silent" and I realised that we weren't "silent where the bible was siilent...".  So I called a meeting of the men (That's another story) to tell them that we had got something wrong.  I knew that when the leaders heard that we were not teaching the right thing about musical instruments, they would rectify it right away.  So I stood up in the meeting and got about halfway through my account when one of the most influenial men in the group stood up and said we don't want to hear anymore I say it's right so it's right.  And I stood there with my mouth open, not because of what was said but becauae all the rest of those men who were their were nodding in agreement.  From that day on I never accepted anything that the leaders taught.  I always checked it out.  And I became a pain in the neck.  You might be asking why didn't I leave? Well, where could I go?  I had studied the major churches and none of them taught what I thought was the truth.  It took a few years before the cracks began to show. 

Eventually I left the Church altogether but I never left God.   I went back to the church after about five years because a good friend of mine (who had kept in touch) convinced me that things were different now.  But they weren't.  People still didn't want to know what I believed the bible said to us.  I didn't want them to change (well it would have been nice if they did see what I saw) I just wanted them to hear me out and then show me where I was wrong.  It was and still is lonely when you're the only one that sees things differently, or should I say you think you're the only one who sees things that way.  When we used to have Elders I approached the Elders of the church, very early in my quest not one of them had an answer for me.  but one member, another friend of mine, came to see me about the issue but he used the same old arguments that I had been using and it told me that he hadn't looked at the problem but that he already had the answer and that was the official line of the church.

Well that's enough history.  

Now I have some questions for you, should you choose to take them.
1. If God expects me to forgve my enemies.  Why is this same God going to create a place where his enemies are going to be tormented forever?
2. If God has forgiven all men through Jesus.  How can there be a judgment day?
3. If Jesus died for all men doesn't it stand to reason that all men are saved?
4. If the Bible says that God will write his laws on our hearts and that no more will man teach his neighour.  By who's authority do we teach our neighbour today.
5. The bible says quite clearly  that Jesus says "I came only to the hebrews...".  Why do we still believe that he came for us as well.  Note Jesus doesn't say "I came to the Hebrews he says I came only to the hebrews
6. When Jesus says I come to bring judgement on the Hebrews.  Why do we think he meant us as well?

That's enough.

If you want to look at the questions go ahead but here's what I want you to do (that's if you want to) 

1st you need to recognise what the queston made you feel when you first read it. 

2nd you need to recognise that you felt that way because you have already decided what the answer will be.

3rd  And this is the hardest thing to do.  (I know because I still have to go through this excercise every time I start to question something)  You need to say to youself "What do I believe right now about this question? (write down your answer) Am I prepared to change my view? 

Ok.

Go ahead Make my bed

Terry   

Some questions and no answers

Sometimes I wonder if God thinks of ending the whole earth thing. I mean, We all live on this planet spinning around the sun. We have nowhere else to go as yet. We are stuck on this planet whether we like it or not. We fight constantly, neighbour with neighbour, friend with friend, nation with nation, religion with religion and on and on it goes. So I wonder: Below are 10 questions that I found I needed to get straight in my head before I could move on. Maybe you won't have the same need. Look at the questions and see if you have any need to answer them.

1. Does God look at us and say to his armies in the other realm. Go down and wipe them off the face of the earth? He hasn't done it yet so I guess He's a very patient God. Would you wipe us off the earth if you had the power?

2. Do you believe the Bible (New Testament) to be the words of God written down by the ispired Apostles?
If yes. Do you read it all the time? Do you follow the commands found in it?
What proof do you have that it is the words of God? Luke and Mark weren't Apostles so were they inspired?

3. Who decided what books went into what we know today as the Bible? Were they infallible Christians?

4. Matthew 28:16-20 has a heading put there by the translators of the New Testament that states that it is "the Great Commission". And those who preach from the puplit and elsewhere say that it is a command from Jesus to us (Christians). If that is the case. Why does Matthew say that Jesus was speaking to the eleven? If the great Commission is intended for us to follow, why then do we not have the gifts that were given to those who would be doing that task? (see 18:20)

5. If the Great Commission is intended for us to carry out then why did Jesus spend three years teaching the disciples about his work and then give them "another Counselor" (John 14:16) one that the world could not accept (17)? The Counselor would "teach them all things" (26) would remind them of "All things" that Jesus had said to them (26). Then in verse 31 was Jesus speaking to us or his disciples when he says "come now let us leave"?

6. If Jesus took all that trouble making sure that the disciples had all the help they would need to make sure that they had the message right ie: Giving them gifts to prove that what they were teaching was from God (Matthew 28:16-20) and giving them "Another Counselor" who would give them reminders of what they should say (John 14 15 - 31) and note that "the world couldn't accept him (John 14:17), so we couldn't and still can't accept him. Then why do we think that God would send us out without Gifts and and the Counselor?

7. If prophecy is still to be fulfilled then what did Jesus mean when he said in Matthew 5:17, 18 that he had come to fulfill the law and the prophets?

8. What did Jesus mean when in Matthew 15:24 he's says "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel"?

9. Are we of the lost sheep of Israel? If not, then why do we follow those commands that were given only to the lost sheep.

10. What did God mean when he said in Hebrews 8:8-13 "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts" and "No longer will a man teach his neighbour or a man his brother saying know the Lord..."

The 10 questions above are a few of the questions I had to answer for myself before I could move on in my belief or spiritual walk. Of course there were a lot more than 10 questions and I'll add some more next time. If you decide to look at the questions then I ask that you try to clear your mind of any doctrine that you now hold and answer without trying to justify anything.