Logically Christian

Purpose :  To logically express my own philosophy and to explain and answer the questions, of christians, atheist and myself, about God and christianity.

I am not a philosophy or church authority and have had no formal training in this area.  I am just a thinking person who wants to explore the logic and philosophy behind what I have chosen to believe.  I do not believe that I can use logical debate to convince someone to give their life to Jesus.   Only the changing of a heart through grace can do that.  However, I do think that what I believe must be logical and understandable.  I am certain this will be quite a journey for me, and I hope and pray I am taking this journey with the Holy Spirit as my guide.

Remember, that my answers to these challenges are designed to show that the philosophy I believe and outline above can reasonably answer the questions.  I am not hoping to explain or prove that the tenets of my Christian philosophy are obviously true.  In other words, I hope to show that Christianity and the Christian God cannot be rejected because it is unreasonable,  illogical or unloving.   I am not attempting to scientifically prove it to be true.  That is another logical discussion completely.  For example: I do not intend in these exercises to explain why I believe there is a God.  I intend to explain why the God I believe in could act, or not act, as I he does in our world.   I hope you can see the difference.  Perhaps I will attempt to discuss the scientific merits of Christianity in another series.

My Basic Christian Beliefs

• Who is God, and What Are His Characteristics?
• What Is God’s Purpose Or Goal For Humanity?
• What Are The Basic Tenets Of Christianity?  What Is The Gospel? 

Challenges

• Atheist: How do you explain away the empty tomb and the four Gospels?  (email exchange with atheist friend)
• A Discussion Of Perspective: it makes all the difference.
• How can an all-good, all-powerful God allow disasters like hurrican Katrina, famines, and war?
• How can an all-good God tell Moses and Joshua to kill thousands of innocent women and children?
• The Bible says an adulteress woman should be stoned.  You wouldn’t do that today.  How can you take the Bible, or the Christian God, seriously?
• You say God gives humans a free-will, but when I read the Bible I completely disagree.  God clearly is deciding what is right and wrong, how can that be giving humans a free-will?  
• If God wants us to be close to him, why doesn’t he just clearly reveal himself to the world?  It is unfair of him to condemn anyone since he doesn’t reveal himself clearly. 

• Why believe in the Christian God when all the gods of all the world’s religions seem so similar?  People feel their presence and claim there are answers to prayers.  etc. etc.
• There are so many contradictions in the Bible it can’t be inspired by an intelligent God.
• Two of the gospels disagree on who Joseph’s father was.  How can that be if God is all-knowing? 
•  How can God be just if he “chose” the Israelites to be his “chosen people”? 
• Why would anyone literally “bet their life” on a God they cannot see or touch?  
• Religion, especially Christianity, has caused so many wars and killed so many people.  How can it be from a loving God? 
• How can anyone take Christianity seriously when evolution is so obviously correct and the Bible is so obviously wrong about creation?  
• How can God justify punishing Adam and Eve for eating from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”, when before they ate from it they didn’t understand good and evil?
• Why would anyone be attracted to Christianity? 
• I won’t believe in something I can’t understand.  “Just have faith”, just won’t cut it with me.
• If God is all-knowing and God never changes his mind, why pray?