I am confused, and need to ask questions about Christianity.?

Question

I have been a Christian all of my life, but recently I have been wondering about the Bible. Now I am not sure if I believe in God or not. The first question:

1. If Adam and Eve were the first people and they had children, the children would have had to have sex with each other. And isn't incest a sin?

2. Why would such a "loving" god kill many people?
Don't just say to teach them a lesson, there are better, more logical answers.

3. What does praying ever do? I never see my prayers put into action by God (These are not selfish prayers either) And how can reading the Bible help me with my problems? Reading something that someone said hundreds of years ago with their knowledge can't possibly help me this year.

4. If God is so loving, then why does my dad have prostate cancer? I don't understand this at all. Free will has nothing to do with this. He had no symptoms beforehand.

Please help me understand these questions so I can get a better insight to life?

Answer 1

1. Genesis was written as an allegory and even the ancients knew that. It's only because of the sola scriptura movement that Genseis is now taken (incorrectly) literally. Adam and Eve never existed.

2. God doesn't kill people, people kill people.

3. Prayer is you fervently pretending to talk to someone who obviously isn't there.

4. God doesn't exist.

The sooner you embrace reality, the sooner you can begin recovery.

Answer 2

1. Adam and Eve may not have started out as sinners, but they ended up that way. Whether their children committed incest of not, they were still sinners.

2. Because God does not want everybody. Who came up with the idea that He did? Because that's just stupid. God doesn't want everybody and said so many times in the Bible. He wasn't willing to have certain people influence the world any more. So He killed them or had them killed.

3. Prayers are an act of Faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. The Bible has the words of life in them. If you can't see that, then you've never really read the Bible, or you really aren't a Christian. You see, when you become a Christian you are a habitation of the Holy Spirit who brings understanding. I really, really, really, don't believe you are a Christian. I think you are a big fat liar.

4. Because sin manifests in different ways. In some ways, it's disease, in others, it's behavior, while in others it's birth defects. That makes you stop whatever is distracting you and consider the death which is before us all. What are you going to do about eternity? That's the question everyone should be asking themselves.

Help you to understand? Okay, stop lying.

Answer 3

1. No. The only way to populate the world would to do just that. But you must remember that people then lived for hundreds of years. So the space in generations could have been the time needed to prevent any defects. People didnt age as quickly then as we do now. Adam was 130yr old when Seth was born. Adam lived 930 yrs. There was no "law" against people intermarrying. Not at this time.

2. Because there was much sin in the world. Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This was a repeating problem and God destroyed those who were pagans, when the time was right.
3. The Word of God is eternal. It is the Word of God which brings change into our lives. I dont understand prayer either. But I know that we are to do it. Prayer is a way to have a relationship with God. But you must have faith.
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

4. I don't know. God loves us. Just because he doesnt heal someone doesnt mean that he does love that person. I believe that God CAN and DOES heal. Who he heals is his business. Some get healed in this life, and some in the next(if they are true believers in Christ, they go to heaven and get a glorified body, without disease). Disease comes to the world because of sin.

Blaming God is not the answer here. Being mad at God wont help you or get you the answers you need. Searching for God and asking to help you with your unbelief is the first thing you should probably do.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If God doesnt nothing else for people living in this world....Jesus has done everything...dying for sinners.

Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We do not think like God. The picture we see, is nothing like what the picture really is. We don't always understand WHY. But we must still trust Him. For God knows everything--past, present, and future.

Answer 4

1. Let's leave the judgment to God. I do believe that incest was a sin long before Abraham. However, I also believe laws about incest came into play about the same time that incest began to produce birth defects. There would have been no problem with that for the first few generations after the perfect original pair.

2. God knows the heart. The people He destroyed (or had destroyed) had filled the cup of their iniquity many times over and were beyond redemption.

3. Prayer is not like a child's toy list. If you ask something that is in tune with God's plan for your life, then it will be granted. However, it will be granted in God's time -- not ours.

4. Bad things happen to good people. Sin has its consequences -- and not just upon those whom initially commit the sin. There are many sins whose consequences are passed on for generations.

Answer 5

these are the question of a very "young" Christian. Not age but in experience. The adam and eve question is easy, the creation story is the oral tradition of a people just this side of the stone age. Would you rather believe that the earth is poised on the backs of elephants (another primitive creation story). This story is not important enough to help or hurt your faith, in other words who cares.
question #2
As for killing people, people die. Also if you're referring to old testament stories, do yourself a favor and jump ahead to the new testament and read it. Christ didn't do any killing did he. The people of the old testament attributed a lot of killing to God but at whose hands did the killing, you got it the people of the old testament. and the the story of exodus, read answer number one.
question 3. This is a big question with unsatisfying answers, sorry. If you are a believer you would understand the perimeters in which prayer is granted. You must not think God is santa claus or 911. When was the last time you said a prayer of thanks or adoration? Do you just have a record of asking for things to be changed to your liking , do you ever wonder that God might have other bigger plans? Have you ever had a friend that only talks to you when he needs or wants something or when he's in trouble, thats not much of a friend is it, and they are usually ungrateful when you come through anyway.
question #4. If your questions are sincere then this is really why your here asking these questions. Although if you were sincere then this would probably be the only question you would have asked and not the bonehead one about adam. My guess is that all your questions are just baiting. But just in case this is a real question I will answer this one in a very serious manner so if some one is reading this and sincerely wonders they might understand why suffering exists. Here goes.
We live in a physical universe that has rules, rules that are set. Like a big machine, it was designed specifically to cause energy to become matter and for matter to become organic and organic material to become life and life to become sentient and sentient to become spiritual and spiritual to enjoin the divine. All this from a specifically designed particle that began expanding 14 billion years ago and will dissolve in the next several billion years ago because of what we now call the accelerated expansion of the universe.
This universe has rules that are inescapable. One of them is that organic things decay. As a result things die. It is built into this universe. Your dad has cancer because of some organic process in the tissue of his body and it is as natural as his hair growing or his eyesight dimming or his reproducing and you being born. This is the pitfall of this universe, things cease to exist after time. We only have two enemies in this existence. One ends our existence (death) the other makes or existence unpleasant (sin). One fosters the other. Neither can be stopped in this universe, it's built in because of the necessity of chaos on this level to create sentient life. God is loving because he realizes this and he has created a safe place outside of time and chaos on the next level of existence, where there is no sin or death. We call this place heaven. I hope this helps. and don't worry about adam, who cares, it got nothing to do with being saved.

Answer 6

1) Incest may be a sin now, but it was necessary for them to have children with one another to multiply.
2) I am not sure, but I still believe that he is a loving God. Although he may have killed many people he saved many more.
3) Your prays are answered. God doesn't always answer are prays immediately or in the way that we may expect, but he answers them.
4) Sometimes God lets bad things happen to good people. He does it to test our faith. Look at the story of Job for example, he did nothing wrong.
I hope you will find the answers that you are seeking and I'll hope that your Dad recovers. Don't give up.

Answer 7

It is normal for one to doubt their faith at one point in their lives.
1There is no evidence in the Bible that says that God did not create other humans after he created Adam and Eve and placed them close by eachother. This is a theory that my pastor just shared with me when i asked the same question.

2And where in the Bible did God kill many people? He sent them into slavery because of their unrepented sin but did not ruthlessly kill them....

3 God has 3 answers to prayer, No, Yes, and later. Maybe what you were praying for was not in Gods huge plan for all of humanity. We only see a little bit of Gods plan so we do not understand why our prayers seem to go unanswered when really God knew that the prayer request would not work for the better in the grand scheme of things. It is hard to accept but it is the truth.

4 Maybe in your whole life you will never understand why your father has prostate cancer but as i have stated before, God knows what he is doing. I am sorry your father wsa diagnosed and i will pray that you will find peace in your faith.

Answer 8

Pray for healing for your dad. I also understand deciphering the the Pure Book which is what Holy Bibles means translated is quite the lifelong task.
God , and the God concept is a very complex, yet at the same time simple, this spectrum appeals to both children and mature wise adults.
The word Christianity means Empowered+One+Study to me means understanding the person and teachings of Lord Jesus, and keeping the focus of living ,from His perspective in your life as much as is within you.
I know the Lost take unfair advantage of all who do this,but its the old learning from things you suffer approach to spiritual education and enlightenment. When I was a small boy in the mid twentieth century this is what the old timers called "the school of hard knocks" others say Pain is Natures best teacher, but in the finale all must decide for themselves.

Answer 9

i hope this helps you ok i am catholic i dont konw if my answers will be much different but i will try nonetheless
1. alright i used to ask the same questions like how do we have different races if the first ppl were adam and eve. but as for urs they were incest but being incest wasnt a sin until moses came along it says so in Leviticus around chapter 18 i think.
2. What makes it right for God to take human life, when he forbids us to do so?
Humans can take life, but we can't bring the dead back to life, nor can we control what happens to someone after they die. A human's killing another human is a destructive and irresponsible act, for once we kill someone, we can't undo it or control the harm that results. God, however, has greater abilities and knowledge than we do, including control over life and death. If God kills someone, he is able to bring them back to life or to place them in any sort of afterlife he chooses. God's use of death is comparable to someone burning a fire in a fireplace: it can be controlled, lit or extinguished at will, and used for a purpose. In contrast, humans' use of death is like setting fire to a dry field: the fire rages out of control, and consequently is dangerous and destructive. Furthermore, what is death? Many believe that death is the end of both one's body and one's mind/personality/soul. If so, death is a destructive act for both humans and God. Yet if Christianity is true, one's soul is not destroyed, but continues to exist in an afterlife. In this case, death is not destruction, but rather a transfer from life on earth to an afterlife of eternal joy or just punishment.
(http://www.rationalchristianity.net/moral_authority.html)
alright so i personally i just think that god just chooses when its their time i wouldnt say kill, but then there is eternal happiness after so its all good
3. praying gives people strength, strengthens relationships with god, and in some cases brings miracles. reading certain books in the bible can help you with your problems by giving advice and words of wisdom, ud be surprised on what could help you.i forget which book is amazing for this tho sorry
4. you cant say things happen because god is the means to everything, he is but i dunno maybe there is a reason, its really difficult to believe in god when you question, a good friend told me its better to have faith then ask questions after not the other way around. i know this may not sound right but good always come out ot the darkest moments, maybe your dad having cancer brings your family closer or makes you stronger, maybe this is the reasoning

Answer 10

1. in the very early days of humanity, there were a limited number of human beings. as a result, marriage between close relatives was often necessary. it was not until humanity increased greatly on the earth that people no longer needed to intermarry amongst relatives. in the early days of humanity, the human genetic code was not corrupted to the extent that it is today. therefore, it was safe for close relatives to marry and have children. there was little risk of genetic abnormalities in their children. once the human race expanded and/or the human genetic code became corrupted too much – God commanded against the marriage of close relatives. (after adam and eve... in leveticus)

2/4. this does not mean sickness is always from God or that God always inflicts us with sickness to teach us a spiritual lesson. in a world tainted by sin, sickness, disease, and death will always be with us. we are fallen beings, with physical bodies prone to disease and illness. some sickness is simply a result of the natural course of things in this world

3. God answers every prayer that is lifted to him. what we have to remember is that sometimes God answers "no" or "wait." God only promises to grant our prayers when we ask according to his will. 1 john 5:14-15 tells us, “this is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. and if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.”

Answer 11

1. since adam and eve were only people living that time and it was commanded that they will multiply.
2. God is so loving God, He never planned to destroy the earth but because they did not obey and listen that is the consequence of their disobedience and unfaithfulness. imagine God just asked them to enter the ark and be saved but becauseof not trusting HIM, they were destroyed.
3.prayer is talking to GOD, He listens and He answers with the right time... BIBLE can help you with your problems, go to proverbs and psalms....
4. did you consider your lifestyle?or what bout your hereditary high risk on cancers? God loves us so much, He's doing His best to get out the best of you,sometimes we dont understand but sooner or later well see the blessings and good thing about it

God be with you as you look forward and see His blessings and goodness toyou