There are many questions that Christians dare not ask, or that they never think of asking. Here are a few, in no particular order:
— If God is love (1 John 4:8), why does God tolerate the existence of Hell? Could YOU stand the idea of someone you loved being tortured horribly for all eternity? Don't you think God just MIGHT be more loving than you are?
— If God is all-powerful and all-wise (omnipotent and omniscient), why did God put the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden to begin with? Wasn't God smart enough to understand the legal idea of an "attractive nuisance"?
— If Adam was standing right there next to Eve when she was talking with the serpent (Gen. 3:6), why didn't he say, "Hey, wait a minute, Eve is right; God said not to eat the fruit"? Why didn't he say ANYTHING AT ALL?!
— Why did Adam blame Eve for HIS action (Gen. 3:12)? Why did Eve get punished with labor pains and enslavement to Adam, while Adam was rewarded for his craven lie with dominion over Eve and a nice leather jacket (3:16,21)?
— The Bible says that Adam, Eve, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel saw God face-to-face (Gen. 2-3, Ex. 24:9-10). Why hasn't anyone seen God face-to-face LATELY, like within the last 3,250 years?
— If God is everywhere (omnipresent), how could ANYONE see God face to face?
— If God is ALL-powerful, why was God's only choice EITHER to condemn the entire Universe to Hell for all eternity, OR to (a) become "God in a man-suit," (b) deliberately go to Jerusalem when he knew his enemies were out to get him, (c) deliberately get arrested, tried, and condemned to death for insurgency, and (d) die in the worst agony anyone can imagine? Isn't God smart enough to think of a third choice?
— Gen. 4:15 says that God put a special mark on Cain so that no one would try him for murder, judge him, find him guilty (after all, he WAS guilty!), and execute him. Why? According to the Bible, the only three people alive in the world were Adam, Eve, and their only surviving son!
— Jesus said that if you had enough faith in God, anyone could make a mountain change its physical location. So why hasn't ANYONE had enough faith, in two thousand years?
— If Jesus was really "God in a man-suit," why did he always insist that ONLY God was worthy of worship? Why did he say, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone" (Luke 18:19)?
— Fig trees bear their fruit in August. Why did Jesus get mad and curse the fig tree for not bearing fruit in late March / early April (Matt. 21:19, Mark 11:13-14)?
— If Jesus was the literal, biological Son of God, where did he get his Y chromosome from?
— If Jesus got all his DNA from Mary (with God tweaking an X into a Y), why couldn't Mary do miracles too?
— The Bible tells us that God created WOMEN in God's image (Gen. 1:27, 5:1-2), just as much as men. So why do we refer to God in exclusively masculine language? What's so horrible about honoring the Mother, the Daughter, and the Holy Spirit?
— If God is love, why did "the LORD" command and approve of all those massacres of innocent women, men, children, and farm animals in the Hebrew Scriptures, especially in Exodus, Joshua, and Judges?
— If God is love, why did Jephthah's daughter have to die (Judges 11)?
— If God is love, why didn't anyone care about the gang-rape victim in Judges 19 until after she was dead?
— If God is love and God is all-powerful, why does anyone believe that Satan exists?
— If God created all human beings in God's image, why do "Christians" hate gays? Do they think a God of Love would deliberately create someone who was defective in God's image?
— If the Jews are God's Chosen People, why do "Christians" hate them?
— Why do "Christians" hate?
— If God promised Canaan to be the property of the descendants of Abraham, why did Israel NEVER win its wars against the Philistines? Why were the "Chosen People" enslaved and abused by Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece (Macedonia), Syria (the Seleucids), the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, Nazi Germany, and (in many parts of the world) Islam?
— Why do "Christians" murder gays, abortion clinic staff members (especially physicians), and minority group members, such as lynch mob victims?
— Why do "Christians" murder?
Which would Jesus bomb: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, none of the above? Why do "Christian soldiers" exist?
— Why does anyone imagine the Bible is the same kind of literal history book that a professional historian of today's world would write?
— Why does anyone imagine the Bible is a science textbook suitable for use at MIT?
— Why don't ALL professional theologians of EVERY religion believe that the Bible is the perfect, "inerrant" Word of God? Why do well-educated, devoutly Christian and Jewish theologians and scholars believe that the Bible is an ancient library of books written during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age?
— If every word in the Bible is true, perfect, and inerrant, why does 2 Thes. 2:11-12 say that God deceives the wicked? "They refused . . . to be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that [they will be] condemned [to Hell]." Why would the God of Love deceive ANYONE — ESPECIALLY in order to send them to Hell?
— If Jesus was "God in a man-suit," why did he lose his argument with the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30, Matthew 15:21-28)?
— The Christian Testament makes it clear that Jesus firmly believed the world as humanity knows it would end within the next 50 or so years — for example, Mark 9:1. Why didn't the world end by 80 CE at the absolute latest?
— Ezekiel 20:25-26 says that when the Israelites were wandering in the desert, God "gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live" and "defiled them." Why? Ezekiel says the answer is "so that [the Chosen People] might know that I am Yahweh." God couldn't think of a better way, like maybe some nice special effects? If God would deliberately lie to God's Chosen People, how can ANYONE trust that ANY commandment is good and live-with-able?
— Doesn't the phrase "lead us not into temptation" imply that God WOULD lead us into temptation, if we didn't ask? What kind of God deliberately tempts you to do wrong, then punishes you for doing it?
— If Jesus was really "God in a man-suit," why did he praise a steward's dishonesty? Why did he say, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth" (Luke 16:1-9)? Are good Christians SUPPOSED TO embezzle and cheat?
— Jesus said that God is to be found among the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, the abused, the marginalized, the hungry, the outcast, the imprisoned (Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus said that "the greatest" people are the most insignificant, overlooked people, and that if you want to follow Jesus, you should give away all your wealth and be as homeless as he was. Why does ANYONE believe in the "prosperity gospel"?