Questions

It occurs to me that a lot of people have questions about religion in general and Christianity in particular. I will attempt to answer some of the more commonly asked questions here.

Q. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A. All of them.

Q. Can God make a rock so big that even He can’t lift it?
A. Of course He can, but He won’t, because then there would be something He couldn’t do.

Q. Where did God come from?
A. God came from Teman. Oh, wait, you mean where did God come from originally? God is eternal, He always was. I guess I should explain the Teman response, though. In Habakkuk 3:3, it says that God came from Teman. A little research shows that Teman was an Edomite city; it’s referred to in Jeremiah and Amos. I think it’s fairly clear that the God who created the earth was not a native of Edom. The problem is that sometimes people find this passage and think that they have found something earth-shaking—“Why the Bible tells us where God came from!” and, of course, those people consider anyone who doesn’t know where god came from as being ignorant and unlearned (of course, the apostles were unlearned men, so I guess we’re in good company).

Q. How can Jesus be considered co-eternal with the Father, when Jesus had a definite beginning in Mary’s womb?
A. Jesus’ beginning in Mary’s womb may not be as definite as you think it was. If Jesus did not exist prior to His conception in Mary’s womb, how was He able to meet Abraham? In fact Jesus said that He preceded Abraham. Who do you think Nebuchadnezzar saw in the fiery furnace? John 1:1 says that in the beginning was the Word. John 1:14 says that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, as the only begotten of the Father. So, Jesus was in the beginning, and, in fact, was with God in the beginning.

Q. Where is the word “gospel” defined in the Bible?
A. Romans 16:25. Although, to be honest, the verse never says that it is defining the term “gospel.” In fact, Apostle Paul uses the term “and” between the word “gospel” and what would seem to be the definition, implying that “the gospel” and “the preaching of Jesus Christ” re actually two different things. Not entirely separate things, I will grant you, because the gospel would be the good news, or the narrative of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection. So, the preaching of Jesus Christ would actually be the preaching of the Gospel… God wouldn’t have given us four gospels if all He wanted us to know was John 3:16.

Q. How long is the Lord’s day?
A. One thousand years. Sort of. In Second Peter, Peter tells us that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. I think that it’s important to understand that, while we are on this earth, in these temporal bodies, the passage of time can be very important to us. Once we leave this earth though, to spend eternity with the Lord, then, suddenly time will become considerably less important. One day, one thousand years, as a fraction of eternity, comes down to basically the same thing, an infinitesimal passage of time.

Okay, just for the record, I suspect that most of the time that you hear these questions, it will be from people that don’t want answers, they just want to try to convince you that you are wrong. You may run into one or two people that have heard the questions and aren’t sure what to think of them and may ask in all sincerity, but the questions themselves were formulated to be contentious. Be careful in dealing with people that ask such questions, you don’t want to cast your pearls before swine, but you should be patient with anyone who legitimately wants to know. Just for the record, yes, I have actually been asked every one of the questions listed above—at least one of them by a seminary school student.