| Here is an interesting questionnaire that you should ask if someone is intent upon converting you....Personalize and print it off!This document (c) 1997 by the Heirophant. It may be reproduced in any non-profit form without permission by the author; however, for-profit reproduction requires *written* permission. Personalized by me.Contin |
Continued From Previous Page
Page 2
The questions follow. Under no circumstances will "The LORD works in mysterious ways" or other arguments in that vein be acceptable. If a question does not apply to your particular denomination, explain why.
Thank you!
26. Explain why prayer is OK, but spell casting is not, when both amount to the same thing: requesting that a superior supernatural force to intercede in a way that would be impossible according to the normally accepted laws of physics.
27. According to the Gospels, from the Christian standpoint, Jesus was the most important person to ever live. From the Roman standpoint, Jesus was a huge pain in the butt because of his political activities. Explain why nothing was written about his life for over thirty years after his death, and nothing except the Gospels was written until the third century CE.
28. Explain why you believe a person whose life is so poorly documented (see #27) was even ever born. 29. In light of Matthew 10:34, explain why Jesus is called the Prince of Peace.
30. The name "Jesus" has been anglicized. What was the original (Hebrew) name of Jesus? Where did you get this information? This is a bonus question.
31. Why is it that the life of Jesus was so similar to the lives of pagan Christs, particularly Herakles, Dionysios, and Asklepios?
32. If your God requires that people believe in him and follow his orders through their own free will, why do Christians push their views on public policy?
33. Explain why being a good Christian requires you to push your beliefs on others. If you do not believe that you have to push your views on others (no matter how much this annoys them), explain why you do not believe this despite the fact that the New Testament seems to suggest that you must do this to get to Heaven (for instance, in Matthew 28:19-20).
34. Explain why spreading the "truth of Christ" requires you to spread lies about other religions, such as the idea that Wiccans (so-called "white witches") worship the Christian devil. (Incidentally, they don't, and this rumor has been persistently spread by Christians since the second century CE).
35. At no point in the four Gospels did Jesus claim to be the son of your God. (He said "son of man" quite frequently, and at one point referred to himself as "a son of god," but that was a common Hebrew expression at the time. Someone who was "a son of god" was a Jew. This reflected the Israelites' belief that they were the chosen people of your God. See Job 1:6). Why, then, do you believe that Jesus was divine? If you don't believe that Jesus was divine, then why do you call yourself a Christian?
36. Given the fact that Jesus did not say anything original(the Golden Rule and the "turn the other cheek" idea were stolen from Buddhism; and the Beatitudes were common in the Jewish devotional literature at the time), why do you see Jesus as such a great thinker/philosopher/ethicist?
37. When Jesus said, "Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also,"why do you suppose that most Christians fight for their rights? To put it another way, why don't we, as a country of 85% Christians, let the government abuse us?
38. Why are so many Christian holidays on the same day as Pagan holidays? Couldn't the early Church fathers have converted pagans only by appealing to their reason and/or faith if Christianity is the true religion?
39. Do you believe that the Old Testament should be accepted as part of Christian theology? If so, explain how you can worship such a cruel, sadistic being (see Numbers 31:17-18, Deuteronomy 20:16, Proverbs 20:30, Amos 3:6, Deuteronomy 13:8, Psalms 3:7, Psalms 52:5, etc.); if not,explain how you can believe that Jesus is the promised savior sent by your God without the messianic prophecies and the ruling rights of the line of David, both of which are in the Old Testament in books such as Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel, Psalms, etc. (as opposed to, say, believing that Jesus was an irritating nut wandering around saying things that people didn't like much).
40. Explain why your "just and merciful" God sent bears to kill forty-two children who called his prophet Elisha "baldhead."(See 2 Kings 2:23-24).
41. If prostitution is wrong, why are there so many examples of it in Genesis? (For instance, Gen 19:8, where Lot offers his daughters to a mob so that his guests can avoid gang rape).
42. What is the sin that people committed that is so incredibly bad that your God had to become flesh and die to correct?
43. Are all members of other faiths bad? Are they all damned to Hell? Justify your answer with quotes from the Bible.
44. Are all atheists/agnostics/humanists bad? Are they all damned to Hell? Justify your answer with quotes from the Bible.
45. What was your motive in proselytizing to me?
46. Where is Heaven?
47. Where is Hell?
48. Why don't animals go to heaven or hell when they die? What makes us so special?
49. Why does Satan try to get peoples' souls?
50. Once Satan has someone's soul, what does he do with it?
Page 2
NOVO's Library