Have you ever got into trouble in Bible study for asking difficult questions?

Answer 1

I got thrown out for asking if Adam and Eve were the first people, wouldn't their childrens children be retarded.

Answer 2

Only when my Bible study group first formed. They were very concerned with getting through the material at that point, so asking difficult questions was called "opening a can of worms" and I was pushed back to the official outline.

Eventually, though, a friend of mine in the group spoke up and said that, honestly, the "cans of worms" were more interesting to talk about! Everyone else agreed. Ever after that, we left lots of time for those difficult questions, and had more fun and learned more by dealing with them. (We stayed together for 19 years!)

Answer 3

I was a Catholic until I converted to Islam.

In the Catholic version of Sunday school, one would constantly be harrassed by nuns - who would not tolerate questions. What they said was law and some were wacked with rulers or pointers for not accepting what was said.

When I became a Muslim, I guess I was lucky because I studied with a Filipino imam who was very open and intelligent. We had any number of challenging discussions, but he never said anything to indicate that something was a dictate. Mind you, I'm older now, and am used to there being nothing that is absolute - so maybe I was better prepared by my life experiences for a second attempt at religious instruction.

Answer 4

First off you shouldnt get into trouble for asking "difficult" questions. Cuz the pastor/nun/preacher/etc should KNOW everything. Plus w/e religion you follow it is difficult to understand every little tiny detail. If your getting into trouble for asking a question switch church/bible study groups

Answer 5

Oh yes. And I've gotten various degrees of responses. The Presbyterians lost their patience quite quickly, though the Jesuits were more than happy to go through the mental exercises with me. It's always easier to tear something down than to create, and any religion or philosophy is going to have holes and shortcomings. I just feel a lot better when individuals and/or organizations are big enough to admit to them.

Answer 6

Nope- in shiurim (the Jewish version of bible study), the Rabbis encourage people to find the kashas (difficulties) in what is being studied. it forces peopel to think and forces peopel to delve deeper to understand properly. My Rabbi is particularly complimentary when the question is one that cannot be answered then, but requires people to have to go and research the answer before we meet again.

Answer 7

I was booted out of Sunday School for asking tough questions constantly.. I was 9... LOL

But it's ok I really had no desire to be in Sunday School in the first place ... Booting me didn't break my pointed little heart any.. :)

Answer 8

not at all. I like it when Bible-fundamentalists give answers that conflict each other.

I think they're the ones who got into trouble, and also those people who follow their path.

Answer 9

No, never. I have always gotten an answer. Not necessarily what I wanted to hear but to the point of satisfaction.

Answer 10

A. THE FORMATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON (A.D. 100-220)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm
The idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning, that is from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history. The Canon of the New Testament, like that of the Old, is the result of a development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with doubters, both within and without the Church, and retarded by certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not reach its final term until the dogmatic definition of the Tridentine Council. ("Canon of the New Testament")
There is a lot of confusion about the earliest existing texts of the Bible. The oldest extant manuscript of the Bible is believed to be the Codex Vaticanus, (preserved in the Vatican Library), which is slightly older than the Codex Sinaiticus (preserved in the British Library), both of which were transcribed in the fourth century.
As for the story of Jesus, there were at least 50 gospels written in the first and second century CE. Four of them (Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John) were included in the official canon during the fourth century CE and are found today in every Bible. All of the original copies of the gospels were lost. What we have now are handwritten copies, which are an unknown number of replications removed from the originals.
Rudolf Bultmann, a prominent 20th-century professor of New Testament studies writes about the life of Jesus:
We can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus, since the early Christian sources show no interest in either, are moreover fragmentary and often legendary; and other sources about Jesus do not exist. (Bultmann 8)
Why Word Inspired by God (Bible) has three genealogies of Jesus pbuh.
How could the "inspired words" of God get the genealogy of Jesus incorrect (See Matthew 1:6-16 where it states 26 forefathers up to Prophet David, and Luke 3:23-31 says 41 in number). Or for that matter, give a genealogy to Jesus who had NO father?

There is difference of centuries between II Kings 19:1-37 and Isaiah 37:1-38.Why both has same verses.
See II Kings 19:1-37, now read Isaiah 37:1-38. Why is it that the words of these verse are identical? Yet they have been attributed SAME WORDS to two different authors, one unknown and the other is Isaiah, who are centuries apart; and yet, the Christians have claimed these books to be inspired by God.

What is According to:
Christians boast about the Gospels according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke and according to John. However, if we think about it, there is not a single Gospel according to Jesus himself. According to the preface of the KJV (King James Version) new open Bible study edition, the word "Gospel" was added (see below) to the original titles, "According to John, according to Matthew, according to Luke and according to Mark." Incidentally, why does every "Gospel" begin with the introduction According to. Why "according to?" the reason for this is because not a single one of the gospels carries its original author’s autograph!

Luke never met Jesus pbuh, Is the gospel of Luke really a hearsay.
If you read Luke 1:2-3, you will learn, as I did, that Luke (who was not one of the 12 disciples and never met Jesus) said that he himself was not an eyewitness, and the knowledge he gathered was from eyewitnesses, and not as words inspired by God. Incidentally, why does every "Gospel" begin with the introduction According to. Why "according to?" the reason for this is because not a single one of the gospels carries its original author’s autograph! Even the internal evidence of

Was ‘Gospel according to Matthew’ was not written by Matthew, according to Bible?
Matthew 9:9 proves that Matthew was not the author of the first Gospel which bears his name:
"And as Jesus passed forth thence, He (Jesus) saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He (Jesus) saith unto Him (Matthew), follow me (Jesus). And he (Matthew) arose, and followed Him (Jesus)." Without any stretch of the imagination, one can see that the He’s and the Him’s of the above narration do not refer to Jesus or Matthew as its author, but a third person writing what he saw or heard - a hearsay account and not words inspired by God.

Did Pagan Constantine contribute in writing the word of God?
It is worth noting, and well known throughout the religious world, that the choice of the present four "gospels" of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were imposed in the Council of Nicea 325 CE for political purposes under the auspices of the pagan Emperor Constantine, and not by Jesus. Constantine’s mind had not been enlightened either by study or by inspiration. He was a pagan, a tyrant and criminal who murdered his son, his wife and thousands of innocent individuals because of his lust for political power. Constantine ratified other decisions in the Nicene Creed such as the decision to call Christ "the Son of God, only begotten of the father."