5 Questions To Christians, page 1

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Topic started on 3-12-2008 @ 03:38 PM by Jomina

Hi folks!

I wanted to post something that I ran across quite some time ago, and thought it a very excellent set of questions. It made ME think quite hard about my beliefs and what I stood for.

It's basically a set of 5 questions that, I feel, every honest christian needs to ask themselves honestly, and answer honestly.

Now, please bear in mind, this set of questions is to YOU personally, and not your belief system, just YOU. If you take the route of intellectual dishonesty with it and try to "get out of it", so to say, then you're not being honest with the questionnaire.

please bear in mind, these questions are not insulting, nor is the intent to insult, bash, harass, or any of the other so called nonsense that I am sure some will think. These are just honest questions, which I know I had to ask myself, to come to terms with my beliefs. And I feel it is something that every honest christian should.

It will be a set of 5 questions, with a multiple choice answer afterwards. Post your answers below!

So... Ready? here goes!

1)
If your neighbors dog killed your child, and you had the power to chain the dog, blast it with blow torches, and the dog NOT die... how long would you torture the dog for killing your child?
A. You wouldn't
B. One Day
C. One Year
D. Eternity

2)
As a loving parent, you give life to 5 children, and give them free will do to as they see fit. Each child goes his/her own way. One becomes a buddhist, one becomes a Muslim, one becomes a Christian, one becomes a Wiccan, and one believes in no religion. Only one of your children believes the same as you do. How would you treat your 4 children who do not?
A. I would kill them
B. I would disown them
C. I would torture them for eternity
D. I would love them and accept them just as they are

3)
If you had a critical message, and wanted to make sure as many as possible would get it and understand it, how would YOU go about presenting it?
A. I would send it at a time with no mass communication or printing presses
B. I would have my messenger not write down anything of my critical message himself, instead trusting others to listen, and pass it on accurately and unchanged.
C. I would make sure what was written down about my message was contradictory, and very confusing, so that people would have a hard time understanding my message
D. I would write down my message in a very clear, non-contradictory, simple book, and send it with my messenger at a time of mass communication and the printing press.

4)
How would you deal with people who did not get your message, or didn't understand it, or didnt believe it WAS your message, because it was so confusing and contradictory?
A. Kill them
B. Torture them
C. Damn them to eternity in hell
D. Understand, love them, and forgive them

5)
If you were omnipotent but invisible, and you wanted to make sure that people knew you were real, and wanted them to believe in you, what would you do to make this happen?
A. I would write my name on the face of the moon, so that all could see and know of my existence
B. I would do things that could not be explained in any other way, such as stopping the 9/11 event, tsunamis, or feeding every hungry child on earth
C. I would protect and reward those who believed in me, and ignore the plights of all others
D. I would do nothing at all, and remain as invisible and undetectable as possible, letting everyone fend for themselves, those who believe in me, and those who do not, showing no favoritism.

Write down your answers here and let's see what you guys think. Don't be intellectually dishonest and try to justify answers compared to God, etc... just looking for YOUR answers to these questions.

Got this list of questions from a guy who goes by netwriter on youtube, but i used to have the same questions on a tract that someone gave me years ago, and i think they're important for everyone to ask.

Edit : I am NOT trying to start a war here, see my responses below

[edit on 3-12-2008 by Jomina]

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 04:23 PM by screamo

1) I wouldn't. A dog doesn't have the gift of good choice/bad choice. Blame the owner (or lack thereof) and IMPRISON the owner, not burn the dog.

2) I'd love them, they chose what they want!! Yeah they don't believe in the same as i do but that's fine, as long as their happy in their religion than that's all i could ask for.

3) I'd make sure to live my life by said message and make sure that i took the opportunity to serve a 2 year LDS mission (which is what the point of those are, to share a message)

4) Understand, love them, and forgive them, without a second thought

5) I'd have to make an option E, and help individuals know i am there through personal experiences that will help them learn and grow as much as possible.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 04:50 PM by racegunz

reply to post by Jomina

Well these are all baited questions,and I am not taking the bait, Good try though. (I really hate multiple choice questions!!) I have a question for you, why would you care what a "Christian" would do in these situations? You will stand in front of God by yourself, you can point fingers if you want but you and you alone are accountable for your actions, like it or not.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 04:53 PM by RFBurns

I tend to agree here with racegunz..the questions are too baiting in nature to instigate a belief flame war.

Cheers!!!!

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:08 PM by Jomina

reply to post by racegunz

They are honest questions, and no "flame war" or anything was intended with my asking them. I stated that in the OP, did I not?

I do care what christians think, just as i care what muslims think, buddhists think, ANYONE thinks. I care about people, and that is all.

Why? I guess it's a study in psychology, of a type. Take the questions above. You responded that they are baited, but they are not intended to be, you took it that way. They are questions that, I feel, everyone should ask themselves, if they follow certain tenants.

I said nowhere whether I was, or was not, a religious person, nor did I infer anywhere in my post that it was a bash to the religious. I even stated that I was asked the questions, myself, and faced them. I was curious as to how others would respond.

So, I guess, in the end, thanks for responding, either way.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:11 PM by Jomina

reply to post by RFBurns

And as i said in my response from him, a flame war was never intended, and I said as much in the OP. I asked the questions of myself as a Christian, and thought that I would pose it to others, as well, simple as that.

If you want to take that position, that is fine, but it is still valid questions to ask, whether you think they are baited or not. When I asked them of myself, I did not take them as baited, I took them as honest wondering. Why? Becuase a lot of non-christians percieve these very questions when debating with themselves if it is something to follow or not.

I know many who have, over the years, and it troubled me greatly.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:13 PM by racegunz

Perhaps you could have posted your personal answers to the listed questions, and yes I read your entire post and I know what you typed but come on! you have to see the obvious slant to the questions, don't you?

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:16 PM by RFBurns

Well the first two questions and 4th with their respecitve mutiple choice answers are somewhat baiting into seeing who would choose a violent resolution to a problem. Christians are not supposed to resort to violent means to resolve any issue..be it over a dog killing their child, one of the 5 children believes in what the parent does and the rest be killed, or the 4th, once again giving choices of violence.

To expect any possibility that a true Christian would select any of those violent answers is about as possible as a million bucks falling into all of our laps. Wont happen.

So in effect, you can eliminate all of the violent choice answers in those questions and replace them with something else because according to the doctrine of living Christ like, violence is never an option for anything ever.

The rest are somewhat vauge but not baiting like those others.

Cheers!!!!

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:22 PM by Jomina

reply to post by racegunz

I suppose you could consider there to be a slant, but honestly, if you are faced with questions that affect your beliefs, there is always going to appear to be one, regardless of how one asks or not.

The things that God says are his responses to these questions are clear, and those answers are a part of the multiple choice, are they not? The answers incorporate YHWHs viewpoints, and ones that we would, as humans, consider to be options from a, I guess you could say, moral standpoint. Whether or not it APPEARS slanted against God, they are, indeed, his answers, and can't be avoided. I guess that's part of the problem of the questions, adn why a lot of Christians can't face them. It hits them really hard that, regardless of what THEY might think is right or wrong, God's answers are there.

For the record, I answered the questions as... 1) I wouldn't. 2) D. 3) D. 4) D. 5) B.

And that troubled me a lot. How to respond from there? I don't know, but it was pretty significant to me.

Again... sorry if it appears to be some kind of bash, or slanted, or anything, but again, to be honest, when dealing with root beliefs, any question is going to appear slanted, simply because it is something dealing with core beliefs. Does that make sense?

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:22 PM by dooper

The problem with your analogy is that my God cannot be in the presence of evil. I can. I already have tainted myself, so whatever my decisions are, they are from my limited perspective.

You may recall one of the Old Testament leaders in a vision permitted to approach the room containing the throne of God. He couldn't even approach the doorway.

The angels had six wings. Two to conceal their faces, two for their bodies, and two to conceal their feet. Holier than holy. Pristine beyond pristine.

My tolerance or your tolerance for evil are not the standard. No matter how badly we want it to be, no matter how "logical." Our rationalizations faze Him not in the least.

Try again.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:24 PM by yeahright

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

I'll bite

1)
If your neighbors dog killed your child, and you had the power to chain the dog, blast it with blow torches, and the dog NOT die... how long would you torture the dog for killing your child?

A. You wouldn't

2)
As a loving parent, you give life to 5 children, and give them free will do to as they see fit. Each child goes his/her own way. One becomes a buddhist, one becomes a Muslim, one becomes a Christian, one becomes a Wiccan, and one believes in no religion. Only one of your children believes the same as you do. How would you treat your 4 children who do not?
D. I would love them and accept them just as they are

3)
If you had a critical message, and wanted to make sure as many as possible would get it and understand it, how would YOU go about presenting it?
D. I would write down my message in a very clear, non-contradictory, simple book, and send it with my messenger at a time of mass communication and the printing press.

4)
How would you deal with people who did not get your message, or didn't understand it, or didnt believe it WAS your message, because it was so confusing and contradictory?

D. Understand, love them, and forgive them

5)
If you were omnipotent but invisible, and you wanted to make sure that people knew you were real, and wanted them to believe in you, what would you do to make this happen?

B. I would do things that could not be explained in any other way, such as stopping the 9/11 event, tsunamis, or feeding every hungry child on earth

Now what you could possibly hope to extrapolate out of that, I have no idea.

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:29 PM by racegunz

Actually I disagree, I think many a "Christian" would choose some of the violent options, being a "Christian" does not make you perfectly Christ like it means you are aware of your imperfect nature, and your inability to approach a perfect God with the standard of perfection without Christ's atonement. The questions are bait to somehow prove God and Christians are violent intolerent killers, God will judge sin, and it will involve suffering, but it will be done with perfection and not one person will be able to say it was unjust because he will judge by the same standard for all....you can call it unjust now because you know squat, all things will be revealed on judgement day, no one will be proclaiming innocence then.

(this was in reply to RFBurns's post above)

[edit on 3-12-2008 by racegunz]

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:33 PM by Jomina

reply to post by RFBurns

To be honest, yep, I would say that anyone who responds in one of the violent ways really needs to be put away into a facility and put into some serious therapy.

But... isn't that the point? As I said above, the problem with asking the questions AT ALL is that you're going to be dealing with core beliefs, and they will appear slanted no matter what. But the fact remains that the answers DO incorporate YHWHs answers in them, and, unfortunately, that's a troubling thing.

That was the main reason for the exercise, I guess. To have to face what would be your OWN morality against God's morality, at least as he is given in the bible and theology.

By the way... it has nothing to do with CHRIST, per se, I know full well that he took things to a different standard. And to be honest, that's one problem I have had with my own christianity over the years.. the differing appearance of the OT Yahweh, and the NT Jesus, and the VERY contrasting views given between the two.

I had to face the questions when i was asked them, and when first asked them, I just could not face them, at all. I literally had to walk away from them, because it hit me that hard. But I faced them eventually, when ready for it, and came to terms with certain things.

As I said, please understand, I am NOT out to bash christians or their beliefs. that is NOT my way. My thoughts are if someone wishes to believe, whatever it may be, it is their free will, as long as it does not interfere with my own. But I believe that in facing things in our beliefs, we will either come to understand them better, or, deeper.. and sometimes have to face some pretty hard perceptions.

If you like, you can take me any way you wish, it affects me not, honestly. But i do not wish you to be left from this thread with a thought that I intended some harm. Not intended at all.

My belief is that it is in asking hard questions that we grow, not only spiritually, but as people as well. Otherwise we stagnate and become the dogma that most people despise.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:38 PM by RFBurns

reply to post by racegunz

I dont recall any teaching I went through that told me to resort to a violent resolution when clearly there are other options.

You make it sound like as if we are still living in the inquisition era.

And being Christ like is not being exactly like Christ. It simply means "Christ-like". Living as close as possible to the ways of Christ. It doesnt mean you are Christ and dont have any human faults.

But lets open the "book" for real here. Would a true Christian resort directly to the violence before seeking another option first?

Obviously some situations..like a gunman fixing to blow your head off and your a Christian and you got a gun too..you would pull the trigger..or at least be the first one to pull it before the criminal does. But were not going to take this down to the nth degree decimal point.

In MOST situations, for instance the circumstances you mention in the questions, 99.9 percent of true Christians would NOT choose the violent answer when obvously those answers are not within the teachings of christianity, especially over such circumstances as you laid out in the questions.

Cheers!!!!!

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:40 PM by chapter29

I don't normally answer THESE types of questions, but I am a HARD CORE christian and would love to express myself in hopes that other christians might come forward with similar answers...

So, let's see...

#1. If your neighbors dog killed your child, and you had the power to chain the dog, blast it with blow torches, and the dog NOT die... how long would you torture the dog for killing your child?

E. Kill it immediately! I plan on hanging with Christo and da' man for eternity, so I wouldn't have time for torture - but thanks for the offer...

#2. As a loving parent, you give life to 5 children, and give them free will do to as they see fit. Each child goes his/her own way. One becomes a buddhist, one becomes a Muslim, one becomes a Christian, one becomes a Wiccan, and one believes in no religion. Only one of your children believes the same as you do. How would you treat your 4 children who do not?

C. I would torture them for eternity...oops, that kinda goes against what I said before - but that's cool 'cause my god will forgive me...that's how I roll!

#3. If you had a critical message, and wanted to make sure as many as possible would get it and understand it, how would YOU go about presenting it?

E. I would create an imaginary book, maybe title it "the Bible", to get my message across...

#4. How would you deal with people who did not get your message, or didn't understand it, or didnt believe it WAS your message, because it was so confusing and contradictory?

E. Torture them then heal them so they could go back to work in order to drop more cash in the basket...we all have to do our part.

#5. If you were omnipotent but invisible, and you wanted to make sure that people knew you were real, and wanted them to believe in you, what would you do to make this happen?

D. (with edit) D. I would do nothing at all, and remain as invisible and undetectable as possible, because if I did that, no one would know about me and the world would be a little better off..

I hope these answers from the heart help you out...I sure love being a christian...

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 05:56 PM by racegunz

i]reply to post by dooper

My tolerance or your tolerance for evil are not the standard. No matter how badly we want it to be, no matter how "logical." Our rationalizations faze Him not in the least.

[

Well said, dooper it was worth repeating, I personally don't see the supposed difference in God between the OT and the NT, in both I see man's failures to make the grade. RFBurns, there are times when God expected us to destroy evil, usually through violent means, do you think He changed his mind or something? I personally would not choose any of the violent actions because they are illegal. I know where God stands on the issues but I'm not God.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 06:00 PM by Jomina

reply to post by chapter29

hmm... not sure if that one helps out any or not lol

I know you're being sarcastic as all get out, but the unfortunate truth is that there are some, SOME, and it'd be honestly a pretty small %, that would respond in that kind of way.. I think of waynesboro baptist church, for instance. I think for the most part, people will answer from their heart, if they answer. It's hard to, though, and not bring up questions in yourself.

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 06:10 PM by Jomina

Originally posted by racegunz

I personally would not choose any of the violent actions because they are illegal. I know where God stands on the issues but I'm not God.

That's one place i'll be departing from ya... maybe because it's the culture I grew in, or whatever, but to me I wouldn't do any violence simply because I feel it is wrong to do so, not because it is illegal.

I just don't believe, under most circumstances, that violence is ever an answer. There's certain things, yep, but not always

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 06:11 PM by Simplynoone

I hate tests lol ..

NON VIOLENCE all the way ..I am a pacifist (always have been ) do not even believe in self defense (I know it sounds stupid ) but I have had to turn all my cheeks and then some ...(did not ever fight back even when my life was in severe danger) I trust GOD enough to protect me and if not then hey if it is my time to go then so be it ..also I trust the Lord to be able to deal with whoever hurts me ....I would not do revenge ..

I like animals so no tormenting or killing animals who do not even know they did wrong ..

the Kids ..even if they choose something other than Jesus .I would still love them ...(cant promise I would not preach to them though) ..

And I am being honest okay ....

reply posted on 3-12-2008 @ 06:11 PM by yeahright

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

Originally posted by Jomina
But the fact remains that the answers DO incorporate YHWHs answers in them, and, unfortunately, that's a troubling thing.

If they're troubling, then I think you're making some invalid assumptions. Then again, maybe I'm making some invalid assumptions about what you may be assuming.

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

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