Hallway of Questions (not just objections)

[Reformated: Mar 2023]

• TDB..

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Old Testament Issues:

• Questions about the OT/Tanaach as a document (e.g., authorship, dating, transmission)
  • [Link] on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch? 
  • [Link] ...but was the Pentateuch "adulterated" by later additions? 
  • [Link] Was there a textual corruption cover-up over Daniel 8.14?
  • [Link] Was Daniel written AFTER the events he foretold?"
  • [Link] Is Genesis merely a rip-off of other ANE lit?" (series)
  • [Link] Did the OT/Tanakh slander pagan idol worshippers (multi-part)?
  • [Link] Was there enough time for Hebrew to have developed?
  • [Link] Is there a punctuation error in Daniel 9?
  
  

• Questions about the character of God
  • [Link] How could a God of Love order the massacre/annihilation of the Canaanites?
  • [Link] Why did God punish the Canaanites for child sacrifice, when He personally ORDERED Abraham to do it?!
  • [Link] Did God force the people of Jerusalem into cannibalism?!! 
  • [Link] Forced Abortion in the Bible? 
  • [Link] The Hardening of Pharoah's Heart 
  • [Link] ...and Didn't God harden Pharoah's heart first?
  • [Link] Who Moved David to start his Tragic Census? 
  • [Link] Wasn't Elisha very cruel when he sent those bears against those little kids who were teasing him about being bald?
  • [Link] The Death Penalty for simply picking up Sticks???
  • [Link] Shouldn't the butchering of Amalekite children be considered war crimes?
  • [Link] Why couldn't Israel take in the Amalekites like the women/children of war in Deut 20?
  • [Link] Did I overstate the case for Amalekites being accepted as immigrants into Israel?
  • [Link] What about God’s obvious cruelty to the Midianites in Numbers 31? 
  • [Link] Was God being cruel in the killing of the Firstborn at the Exodus?”
  • [Link] Did God “misogynistly” give David’s wives to be raped by Absalom, showing He treats women as property?” 
  • [Link] Are the laws in the OT about rape and virginity indicative of a God who is either unfair to women (or maybe even just unrealistic/ignorant)?
  • [Link] A short answer to a question about God's use of circumcision (as improper)
  
  

• Questions about matters of fact
  • [Link] doesn't the archaeological record in Palestine TOTALLY CONTRADICT (and hence, DISPROVE) the Bible's claims about Joshua's "Conquest" of the Land?! 
  • [Link] ...are there any EXTRA-biblical refs to longevity BEFORE the flood?
  • [Link] Is there extra-biblical evidence for Post-flood longevity?
  • [Link] On Chinese characters and the Genesis Flood?
  • [Link] Exactly WHEN was the name of YHWH revealed to Israel?
  • [Link] Abortifacients in the Bible?! 
  • [Link] Who were the "Sons of God" in Genesis 6? 
  • [Link] Where in the Hebrew Bible does it predict a resurrection after 3 days?
  • [Link] Was the OT wrong about camels being domesticated at the time of Abraham? 
  • [Link] How likely is it that Noah was the only righteous person on the whole earth, at the time of the Flood? 
  • [Link] Literacy and time measurement in the Ancient World
  • [Link] Were the Amalekites really nomads, like you say?
  • [Link] Did Ephron offer the burial plot to Abraham for free, or was it just an 'expensive' business deal?
  • [Link] Why aren't dinosaurs mentioned in the bible?
  • [Link] Did women prophets have to be virgins?
  • [Link] Was Yahweh a member of the Phoenician pantheon?
  • [Link] Was YHWH just a pagan solar deity IAO?
  • [Link] What was biblical 'leprosy'?
  • [Link] A Reply to the 'Fivefold Challenge'-- part one , dealing with
    • [Link] The parting of the Red Sea
    • [Link] Joshua's 'long day'?
    • [Link] Reversal of the sun by Isaiah?
  
  

• Questions about possible contradictions
  • [Link] Well, did God LIKE what Jehu did or NOT--"another" contradiction? 
  • [Link] Well, was Terah 70 or 130 when Abe was born--not good at math, were they?!
  • [Link] OT number contradictions: Volume of Solomon's Sea and Number of Aramean chariots
  
  

• Questions about theology or interpretation
  • [Link] Did the Jews understand the 'weeks' of Daniel as 'years'?
  • [Link] Did the Mosaic Law only regulate Jewish behavior toward other Jews?
  • [Link] Adam, Eve, and Incest 
  • [Link] Might Cain still be alive somewhere?
  • [Link] Does Isaiah 45.7 teach that God created metaphysical ethical evil 
  • [Link] Series: responses to The Fabulous Prophecies of the Messiah" 
  • [Link] Messianic Expectations in 1st Century Judaism--Documentation from Non-Christian Sources
  • [Link] A question someone asked about my argument on Is 7:14 
  • [Link] Is Isaiah 53.10 about Israel, rather than about Jesus?
  • [Link] Female Beauty in the Bible 
  • [Link] AN angel of the Lord or THE Angel of the Lord? 
  • [Link] Question on contacting the dead (the Witch of Endor story) 
  • [Link] What would an inscription about Yahweh having a Consort prove?"
  • [Link] Ishmael, Muslims, Hostility
  • [Link] Does God really get hungry and have to eat food?"

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New Testament Issues:

• Questions about the New Testament as a document (e.g., authorship, dating, transmission, accuracy)
  • [Link] Did the evangelists/disciples invent the miracles stories of Jesus? …(series)
  • [Link] Did Matthew invent the setting for the Sermon on the Mount?
  • [Link] Did the gospel writers make up the words of Jesus at will?
  • [Link] Is the tomb story flawed because the term 'rolled' is used?"
  • [Link] Did John invent the story of the raising of Lazarus?!
  • [Link] How did the peasant apostle John write the book of Revelation in Greek?[ tiny]
  • [Link] Why was the New Testament written in Greek?
  • [Link] How does the memory research of Elizabeth Loftus on eyewitness testimony affect the credibility of NT documents? 
  • [Link] Were the NT writers influenced by pagan religions? (Matthew) 
  • [Link] Was Jesus Christ just a CopyCat Savior Myth?
  • [Link] An ex-Muslim's question on the Persian Mithras
  • [Link] Is the Sermon on the Mount actually an ancient Essene prayer dating to hundreds of years before Christ?! 
  • [Link] Was Nazareth a mythical place (as SOME skeptics believe)?
  • [Link] Are some of the NT letters 'pious forgeries'?  (part 1)
  • [Link] Could the resurrection appearances be a case of GROUP Hallucination? 
  • [Link] Did the Messianic Jewish Believers use the OT deceitfully or ignorantly in the New Testament
  • [Link] Does Micah 5 speak about the birth-place of the Messiah, or only His birth-family?
  • [Link] Did Jesus/NT authors misquote the Shema when they used the phrase 'with all your mind'?
  • [Link] Did the gospel authors simply rip-off stories from the OT and ascribe them to Jesus?
  • [Link] Series: interaction with James Still over NT composition and bias of authors
  • [Link] Series: responses to The Fabulous Prophecies of the Messiah" 
  • [Link] Was the NT just an elaborate hoax?
  • [Link] Messianic Expectations in 1st Century Judaism--Documentation from Non-Christian Sources
  • [Link] Does the 'bias' of the NT writers make it Unusable as evidence?! 
  • [Link] A response to a believer's question about "Was John's gospel Anti-Semitic?" 
  • [Link] What about the Gospel of Thomas?!
  • [Link] Are 1st and 2nd Peter NOT by Peter, but by someone using his name? 
  • [Link] Did the Christians simply invent the "pierced my hands and feet" passage in Psalm 22? 
  • [Link] Should the possible addition of John 8.1-11 make us paranoid about other possible inauthentic 'additions'?
  • [Link] Why does Jude quote from a non-canonical book, and we moderns not accept that book as scripture?
  • [Link] Did the Jewish War eliminate all the possible counter-witnesses to the life of Jesus in the NT?;
  • [Link] Can the gospels (or the stories of the historical Jesus) not have been written (or invented) until 100-150 AD?
  • [Link] Is there a strong parallel between Jesus' baptism and the incident of Anup the Baptiser?
  • [Link] Shouldn't the other gospel authors have recorded the Rising of the Saints miracle that is in Matthew?
  • [Link] Did Matthew simply DOUBLE the people in his miracle stories?
  
  

• Questions about the character of Jesus
  • [Link] Was Jesus Christ just a CopyCat Savior Myth? 
  • [Link] Did Jesus cry out to the pagan deity known as 'El' on the Cross? 
  • [Link] Did Jesus make an error about the time of His 2nd Advent?" 
  • [Link] Why was Jesus so mean and insulting to the Canaanite woman? 
  • [Link] Was Jesus a failure as the Messiah?
  • [Link] Why should we believe Jesus was the Messiah, if He didn’t fulfill all the prophecies when He was here?” 
  • [Link] Was Jesus really fraudulent, dishonest, sacrilegious, and conspiratorial?(58k)
  • [Link] Jesus the Hate-monger?
  • [Link] What about the theory that Jesus was descended from Aliens from outer space?
  • [Link] Is it okay to offer Prayer and Worship to Jesus, and not just to the Father? 
  • [Link] The Bible versus Family Values? 
  
  

• Questions about matters of fact
  • [Link] Two historical issues in Acts: Theudas and the Sanhedrin 
  • [Link] What about Luke's mistake about the Census?! 
  • [Link] SURELY that thing about all those resurrected people walking around in Jerusalem after Jesus' death is bogus, right? 
  • [Link] Was Nazareth a mythical place (as SOME skeptics believe)?
  • [Link] Could the resurrection appearances be a case of GROUP Hallucination? 
  • [Link] A question about the events surrounding the women's first visit to the Empty Tomb 
  • [Link] What are the names of the 12 disciples? I get 13!
  • [Link] Did Jesus/NT authors misquote the Shema when they used the phrase 'with all your mind'?
  • [Link] Did women prophets have to be virgins?
  • [Link] Why didn't Peter eat when God commanded him to? )
  • [Link] If the BirthStar appeared in the East, why did the Magi go WEST? 
  • [Link] Series: Extrabiblical References to Jesus, before 200 AD.. 
  • [Link] Do none of the New Testament letters really mention "Jesus", but only "Christ"? 
  • [Link] Was the NT wrong about roosters being allowed in Jerusalem? 
  • [Link] Did the bible lie about Jesus not being married?
  • [Link] Does John 12.41 speak of Jesus or of God?
  • [Link] Was the burial of Jesus a temporary one, because of time constraints?
  • [Link] Did the gospels make an error in their citation of the Judas-30pieces episode?
  • [Link] Questions on Mark's Geographical Ignorance... Gadara versus Gerasa, and the Long Trip Home problems"
  • [Link] "Prove" that Jesus did NOT have sex with Mary Magdalene?...
  
  

• Questions about possible contradictions
  • [Link] Well, was it 'after 3 days/nites' or 'on the 3rd day'? 
  • [Link] On a contradiction between Acts 1 and I Cor 15? [ tiny]
  • [Link] Well, did Jesus tell them to take a staff or not? Another contradiction?! 
  • [Link] Do the Resurrection accounts HOPELESSLY contradict one another? 
  • [Link] How many demoniacs were there--and why are the accounts so different? 
  • [Link] A contradiction in the Ascension location? 
  • [Link] "Three days and nights" versus "On the third day"? 
  • [Link] How did Judas die: by Hanging or by 'explosion'?
  • [Link] Are the Christologies of Mark and John radically different? 
  • [Link] Why do the gospels disagree on the last sayings of Jesus on the Cross?
  • [Link] Did Mary's question the angel contradict other parts of the narrative?
  • [Link] Contradictions in the Infancy Stories 
  
  

• Questions about theology or interpretation
  • [Link] On the meaning of 'born again' in Scripture [ tiny]
  • [Link] Are Christians committing Idolatry and Violating the 2nd Commandment in the worship of Jesus?
  • [Link] Does John 1.1 really say "in A beginning"?
  • [Link] How did the Gentiles get in the picture if the Jews were the 'chosen ones'? 
  • [Link] Doesn't Paul's argument in Romans 9 pretty clearly indicate that people's free choices are determined by God--without consideration of free will, etc.? 
  • [Link] Does I Cor 6 forbid Christians to have lawsuits?
  • [Link] When and how long was Jesus in Hell? 
  • [Link] On...the "FirstBORN of creation"? 
  • [Link] Did NT believers mix law and grace? 
  • [Link] How long was Jesus in hell--3 days or 3 hours? 
  • [Link] A response to a believer's question about "Was John's gospel Anti-Semitic?" 
  • [Link] Was First Thess 2.15ff seriously anti-Semitic??!! 
  • [Link] Jesus' Death as God's Small Price to Pay?
  • [Link] If Jesus didn’t stay dead, how could His death have been a REAL sacrifice?” 
  • [Link] Is polygamy allowed by the New Testament?
  • [Link] ...and a follow-up question on polygamy: 'one wife' or 'a first wife' 
  • [Link] Does the New Testament condone slavery?
  • [Link] Was Judas actually "obeying God" when he fulfilled the Scripture? 
  • [Link] What is "repentance"? 
  • [Link] If Jesus is the 'first fruit', how could Moses and Elijah appear from their graves?
  • [Link] Is it okay to offer Prayer and Worship to Jesus, and not just to the Father?
  • [Link] Does the NT contradict the Hebrew Bible by saying that the 'eternal law' has been annulled or changed?
  • [Link] Does the Joel quote in Acts 2 indicate astral worship by Israel?
  • [Link] Did Jesus come during the wrong empire, according to Daniel [i.e., the identity of one of the beasts]
  • [Link] Could Jesus have not been actually HUMAN? On the 'likeness of flesh' in Hebrews 2.14, and the 'in the likeness of' passages in Rom8 and Phil2.
  
  

• Questions about NT backgrounds
  • [Link] A reference to the Temple doors opening beginning around the time of the Crucifixion 
  • [Link] Did 1st Century Jews believe in an afterlife?
  • [Link] Series: Extrabiblical References to Jesus, before 200 AD.. 
  
  

• Questions about Paul
  • [Link] Series: responding to one Muslim piece on Paul being radically 'non-Jesus' 
  • [Link] A large/long series on "Jesus, Paul, and Middle Platonism", including these topics:
    • Paul’s references to the ‘brothers’ of Jesus
    • Paul’s knowledge (or lack of it) of the historical Jesus
    • Paul’s references to Jesus as “Lord”—were they really intending to refer to Jesus?
    • Paul’s reference to ‘born of a woman’ in Gal 4:4---does it really mean what the English translations ‘sound like’?
    • The abnormal growth of Christ Myth-ers
    • Earl Doherty’s reconstruction of Christian origins?
    • Paul’s references to incarnation
    • [Link] Paul the Middle-Platonist?
    • [Link] Is the Ascension of Isaiah a Middle-Platonist document?

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Post-NT Issues:

• Questions about the Canon
  • [Link] Were the Apostolic Fathers unable to distinguish between authentic and unauthentic books? 
  • [Link] Wasn't the process of deciding what books were to be included in the bible rather BOGUS?! 
  • [Link] ...What about the Gospel of Thomas?!
  • [Link] Why does Jude quote from a non-canonical book, and we moderns not accept that book as scripture?

  
  

• Questions about the early church and its beliefs/praxis
  • [Link] Are the Nazarenes and Ebionites the only TRUE Christians? 
  • [Link] My reply to a Muslim who disagreed with my assessment of the evidence on the Nazarenes and Ebionites 
  • [Link] Did the early Church believe in Reincarnation?
  • [Link] Is it mistaken to understand Pliny's reference to the Christian women as meaning 'deaconesses'?
  • [Link] A long, detailed piece on Did the Christians burn/destroy all the classical literature? 
  • [Link] Did the Christians simply invent the "pierced my hands and feet" passage in Psalm 22? 
  
  

• Questions about the social/religious context of the early church
  • [Link] Was Josephus relying on the Gospel of Matthew? 
  • [Link] Does the Secret Gospel of Mark prove the Church suppressed/hid the truth at will? 
  • [Link] Did the Christians just OUTLIVE those who "knew better and were silent"? 
  • [Link] Did the Roman empire totally distort the New Testament documents?
  • I absent-mindedly answered the question "Would eyewitnesses to the NT REALLY have been able to refute it?" TWICE--with two sets of data(!).
    1. [Link] One here;
    2. [Link] A second one here 

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Theological Issues:

• [Link] Does God condone slavery in the Bible? (OT)  [and NT there too]
• [Link] Would the culpability of human non-intervention in violent crime imply that God's non-intervention (due to theodicy reasons) was proof that God was either malevolent or impotent? 
• [Link] Did God arbitrarily decide who to save and who to condemn? 
• [Link] Does being born in a Western culture unfairly predetermine that you will become a Christian?”
• [Link] Does God's judgment in time unfairly compromise someone's 'free will'? 
• [Link] Doesn't Paul's argument in Romans 9 pretty clearly indicate that people's free choices are determined by God--without consideration of free will, etc.? 
• [Link] How did the Gentiles get in the picture if the Jews were the 'chosen ones'? 
• [Link] Is God a self-centered and insecure glory-hog, because He created an entire universe just to sit around and praise Him?
• [Link] Did God make evil? [the tiniest you will ever see here!]...somebody disagreed 
• [Link] How do textual errors in modern bibles impact 'inerrancy'? 
• [Link] "How can God not lie, and still Deceive the Wicked?" 
• [Link] "Was Jesus' death a violation of the commandment against human sacrifice?"
• [Link] But isn’t “Penal Substitution” actually illegal (if not immoral)??" 
• [Link] What is the 'right' kind of faith?
• [Link] The difference between righteousness and holiness?
• [Link] On getting back to the 'primitive church'?
• [Link] Does the Bible advocate abstinence from alcoholic beverages?
• [Link] What if Jesus had sinned?
• [Link] If God cannot look upon sin, how can the Holy Spirit be present inside the believer?
• [Link] How could Jesus be around sin, as a holy God?
• [Link] Is it okay to offer Prayer and Worship to Jesus, and not just to the Father?
• [Link] Why does God not punish people like He did in the OT?
• [Link] Are there any limits to the evil a believer can experience? 
• [Link] What use was Jesus' death on the Cross? 
• [Link] If sins are forgiven, how will Christians be judged? 
• [Link] Isn't Jesus admitting that the Unpardonable sin could be committed today?
• [Link] Did Christ die on the Cross for Satan? 
• [Link] Why can't God just forgive sin, instead of demanding justice? 
• [Link] What kind of a choice is THAT--Love Me or Burn?! 
• [Link] Evidence for the existence of the soul 
• [Link] What about Those Who Haven't Heard The Gospel 
• [Link] Are all the past great non-Christian religious leaders who REJECTED Christ languishing in Hell right now?
• [Link] "is the Bible "as violent" as the Quran/Hadith?"
• [Link] Jesus' Death as God's Small Price to Pay?
• [Link] Wouldn't a heresy inside the Bible be a fatal flaw in the Christian system?
• [Link] The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart 
• [Link] God is Wrathful, Vengeful, Jealous, and Angry every day--and you want me to have a relationship with Him?! 
• [Link] Why didn't God stop the process before it started, if He knew of the massive amounts of suffering that would befall many of His creatures?? (5 part series) 
• [Link] What is "repentance"? 
• [Link] Does female "pain-prone" reproductive physiology indicate that God apparently hates women? 
• [Link] Do ?
• [Link] "Isn't an infinite/eternal punishment for a finite/temporal sin-crime a bit disproportionate???!"

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Philosophical Issues:

• [Link] A major 75+, multiple section document on Knowing the Truth of the Christian Position--major issues.
• [Link] Is there evidence for the existence of 'spirits' and some 'spiritual dimension'?" 
• [Link] Do unconscious processes (automaticity) undermine the Christian faith?" 
• [Link] Why doesn't God give us Proof?  (the person to whom I wrote the response was very appreciative! I wrote a response to Adam, trying to answer some of his follow-up questions).
• [Link] Does complexity REALLY require a “more complex” cause? 
• [Link] "if Christianity is true, why does it need so much defending? And why doesn't God make it clearer?" (5 parts)
• [Link] How can a good God allow Natural Evil?
• [Link] "Can you provide any evidence towards the existence of God?"
• [Link] Does being born in a Western culture unfairly predetermine that you will become a Christian?”
• [Link] How could finite language be used of an infinite God? 
• [Link] Does incomplete knowledge mean God is unknowable? 
• [Link] If God is infinite, how can there still be room for us? 
• [Link] Isn't there a “God part of the Brain” that proves all this Jesus stuff is untrue? (a tiny 7k)
• [Link] A 'standard' question on foreknowledge and free-will
• [Link] God, evil, and the OK City tragedy
• [Link] Why does life have to prey on other life? 
• [Link] Objections: to disprove is NOT to prove the opposite
• [Link] Why can't God just forgive sin, instead of demanding justice? 
• [Link] "Does the savagery of predation in nature show that God either isn't, or at least isn't good-hearted?" 
• [Link] Understanding "Faith," and "Believing" our Understanding...
• [Link] "Did humanity INVENT the concept of God?" 
• [Link] What kind of a choice is THAT--Love Me or Burn?! 
• [Link] An in-depth update of the Evidence for the existence of the soul 
• [Link] The old 'God and the Big Rock'Problem (yawn) 
• [Link] "... and aren'tyou sorta misusing the term Omnipotence?")
• [Link] Short reply to an only reason view of knowledge 
• [Link] Short reply to an only logic view of knowledge 
• [Link] Was God so 'needy' that He had to create the universe?
• [Link] How much knowledge is beyond our ability to know?

• Series:'theodicy section':
  • [Link] God apparently set humanity up for failure in the Garden, so doesn't this show Him to be cruel, schizoid, or psychotic? 
  • [Link] "Isn't God REALLY the ONLY EVIL agent in the Universe?" 
  • [Link] Implications from Suffering, for the Character of God
  • [Link] Why didn't God stop the process before it started, if He knew of the massive amounts of suffering that would befall many of His creatures?? (5 part series) 
  • [Link] Would the culpability of human non-intervention in violent crime imply that God's non-intervention (due to theodicy reasons) was proof that God was either malevolent or impotent? 
• Series:
  • [Link] Most common errors skeptics make in apologetics
  • [Link] An outline of a piece (VERY incomplete) on Most common errors believers make in apologetics.

• Series: How I decide between competing claims to religious truth
  • [Link] Part ONE;
  • [Link] Part TWO

Questions relating to Islam

• [Link] How can Christians believe that there is only one God, and yet still call Jesus the Son of God--not a scholarly piece, but more informal--yet still long-winded (smile)
• [Link] Does the Qur'an or Islam teach that Jesus did NOT die on the Cross?
• "[Link] Why did Jesus allow His enemies to mistreat, shame, and execute Him--when He did not have to?".
• [Link] How Did Messiah Jesus explain His death to His disciples?
• [Link] How did Jesus' Companions the Apostles understand what happened at the Cross (for a Muslim)?
• [Link] How should we respond to the Message of Jesus and His apostles about His death on the Cross (for a Muslim)?
• [Link] How is the Christian believer's sonship to God different from Christ's Sonship to God (for a Muslim)?
• [Link] Are there 3 Gods in the Christian Trinity (for a Muslim)?
• [Link] History of Muslim explorations of God's nature and Christian intersections

Other/Multiple-area/Misc Issues:

• [Link] How well-respected are the theories of Eisenman, Allegro, Thiering, and Baigent and Leigh--about the Dead Sea Scrolls? 
• [Link] Are Christian academic institutions optional or necessary? 
• [Link] Was the bible created by the rulers to control the common people? 
• [Link] Would common childbirth pain support evolution? 
• [Link] Spoof of the methods of the GK writer (above) 
• [Link] Why would government have any authority in personal areas like marriage?