The Bible God is real.

Nope, the Bible is factually incorrect, inconsistent and contradictory. It was put together by a bunch of men in antiquity. The story of Jesus was stolen from other mythologies and texts. The motivation for belief in Jesus breaks down when you accept evolution.

Miracles prove god exist.

Miracles have not been demonstrated to occur, and the existence of a miracle would pose logical problems for belief in a god which can supposedly see the future and began the universe with a set of predefined laws. Why won’t god heal amputees?

God is goodness (morality).

‘Good’ is a cultural concept with a basis in evolutionary psychology and game theory. Species whose members were predisposed to work together were more likely to survive and pass on their genes. The god of the Bible is a misogynistic tyrant who regularly rapes women and kills children just for the fun of it. The moment you disagree with a single instruction of the Bible (such as the command to kill any bride who is not a virgin, or any child who disrespects their parents) then you acknowledge that there exists a superior standard by which to judge moral action, and there is no need to rely on a bunch of primitive, ancient, barbaric fairy tales. Also, the Euthyphro dilemma, Epicurus Trilemma and Problem of Evil.

Lots of people believe in God.

Argumentum ad populum. All cultures have religions, and for the most part they are inconsistent and mutually exclusive. They can’t all be right, and religions generally break down by culture/region. “When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours”.

God caused the universe.

First Cause Argument, also known as the Cosmological Argument. Who created god? Why is it your god?. Carl Sagan on the topic. BBC Horizon – What happened before the big bang?

God answers prayers.

So does a milk jug. The only thing worse than sitting idle as someone suffers is to do absolutely nothing yet think you’re actually helping. In other words, praying.

I feel a personal relationship with god.

A result of your naturally evolved neurology, made hypersensitive to purpose (an ‘unseen actor’) because of the large social groups humans have. BBC Doco, PBS Doco.

People who believe in god are happier.

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. Atheism is correlated with better science education, higher intelligence, lower poverty rates, higher literacy rates, higher average incomes, lower divorce rates, lower teen pregnancy rates, lower STD infection rates, lower crime rates and lower homicide rates. Atheists can be spiritual.

The world is beautiful.

Human beauty is physical attractiveness, it helps us choose a healthy partner with whom to reproduce. Abstract beauty, like art or pictures of space, are an artefact of culture and the way our brain interprets shapes, sounds and colour. [Video]

Smart person believes in god or ‘You are not qualified’.

Ad hominem + Argument from Authority. Flying pink unicorns exist. You’re not an expert in them, so you can’t say they don’t.

The universe is fine tuned.

Of course it seems fine tuned to us, we evolved in it. We cannot prove that some other form of life is or isn’t feasible with a different set of constants. Anyone who insists that our form of life is the only one conceivable is making a claim based on no evidence and no theory. Also, the Copernican principle.

Love exists.

Oxytocin. Affection, empathy and peer bonding increase social cohesion and lead to higher survival chances for offspring.

God is the universe/love/laws of physics.

We already have names for these things.

Science can’t explain X.

It probably can, have you read and understood peer reviewed information on the topic? Keep in mind, science only gives us a best fit model from which we can make predictions. If it really can’t yet, then consider this: God the gaps.

Atheists should prove god doesn’t exist.

Russell’s teapot.

Atheism is a belief/religion.

Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color, or not collecting stamps a hobby. Atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods, nothing more. It is an expression of being unconvinced by the evidence provided by theists for the claims they make. Atheism is not a claim to knowledge. Atheists may subscribe to additional ideologies and belief systems. Watch this.

I don’t want to go to hell.

Pascal’s Wager “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” — Anonymous and “We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” – Gene Roddenberry

I want to believe in God.

What you desire the world to be doesn’t change what it really is. The primary role of traditional religion is deathist rationalisation, that is, rationalising the tragedy of death as a good thing. “Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be today.” – Lawrence Krauss

Christians are persecuted.

Believers claim the victim and imply that non-theists gang up on them, or rally against them. No, we just look at you the same way we look at someone who claims the earth is flat, or that the Earth is the center of the universe: delusional. When Atheists aren’t considered the least trustworthy group and comprise more than 70% of the population, then we’ll talk about persecution.

Why can’t atheists just leave us alone?

1. Because Christianity and by extension Religion have been, and continue to be, responsible for countless horrors throughout human history.
2. For all the problems we face as a society, many theists choose not only to do nothing to help, but actually engage in sabotage by actively preventing solutions from being instigated, usually by supporting irrational political positions.
3. Because as a functional member of society it benefits everyone if your decision making process is founded on evidence and reason, not superstition. Faith isn’t a virtue; it is the glorification of voluntary ignorance.

Militant atheists are just as bad as religious ones.

No, we’re not. An atheist could only be militant in that they fiercely defend reason. That being said, atheism does not preclude one from being [stupid], we just prefer that over killing one another. A militant atheist will debate in a University theatre, a militant Christian will kill abortion doctors and convince children they are flawed and worthless.

Where is god?

Why is it now that we have rational inquiry that we hear only a deafening silence from a god who once regularly engaged in human affairs? Why does god not simply speak to us or appear before us as he supposedly used to? Why are we the losers in the dice roll of time? If god places such a high value on us worshipping and believing in him then why not simply make his existence obvious to us?

The Logical problem of Jesus.

If Jesus is God then presumably he is omnipotent. If this is true, then when he allowed himself to be sacrificed, didn’t he do this with the knowledge that he was immortal? If so, then how exactly was it a sacrifice for him? What did he sacrifice?

Atheism leads to a worse society.

Atheism is correlated with better science education, lower poverty rates, higher literacy rates, higher average incomes, lower divorce rates, lower teen pregnancy rates, lower STD infection rates, lower crime rates and lower homicide rates. Atheists also have the highest reading/writing proficiency on average. Irreligion by Country, Democracy Index, Education Index, Economic freedom, Overall Human Development. Atheism is correlated with higher intelligence: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 5 Source 6 Source 7.

Atheism inspired Nazism/Communism/Social Darwinism.

These ideologies are as atheistic as Democracy.

I want to go to heaven. (Argument from wishful thinking).

“I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.” – Carl Sagan

Atheists are closed minded.

Incorrect.

“If God is the Potter, who are we to say what he does with his clay?”

Why would a perfect potter create an imperfect mold, order it to be perfect and then judge it based on the imperfections he gave it?

“Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?” – Sister Miriam Godwinson, Alpha Centauri 2239

Additional links

1. Science saved my soul.
2. Why I am no longer a Christian (First Episode)
3. PBS’s The Human Spark Part 2 Part 3
4. Sam Harris on science and morality
5. ‘A Universe From Nothing’ by Lawrence Krauss
6. BBC Horizon – What happened before the big bang?, Is everything we know about the universe wrong?
7. Cruelty in the New Testament.
8. Qualia Soup Critial Thinking, Open Mindedness, Putting faith in its place, Skewed View of Science, Evolution.
9. The Ultimate Rube Goldberg Machine + Reverse Engineering the Universe
10. Cosmic Voyage
11. Carl Sagan: A Universe Not Made For Us
12. Earth – The Pale Blue Dot, Another Interpretation
13. Carl Sagan on “God” and “gods”
14. The Known Universe
15. The design of the universe
16. Your purpose without god, and why you’ll be ok.
17. Animals Cooperating (Video): Monkeys, Crows, Chimps.
18. The laryngeal nerve of the giraffe, Evolution of the Eye
19. Taking the Bible out of context, Debating Christians (NonStampCollector).
20. Richard Feynman on doubt, uncertainty and religion
21. Welcome to this World
22. The God of the Gaps (by Neil deGrasse Tyson)
23. Instruction Manual for Life
24. From Christian to Atheist in 5 minutes
25. Just after I posted this, I found this: here. I’m reblogging it here, as it is far more thorough than mine and contains a wealth of interesting links. Enjoy!

One year has passed since I left the Revival Fellowship. This brief amount of time away from Christianity has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on the beliefs I previously held. In writing this list, I am ashamed that 25 years of my life went defending these beliefs rather than investigating them. This list is inconclusive and a work-in-progress. I’ll continue to update this list as they come to mind; feel free to make suggestions in the comments. [2011]

• The entire universe was created for me; my admiration, my pleasure.
• Everything in life was part of some divine plan: at which I was the center.
• The Bible had zero mistakes, errors or contradictions.
• It wasn’t just spiritually true, it was mathematically perfect.
• God had direct access to my thoughts and listened in all the time.
• World events, elections, tsunamis, wars—everything could be traced to prophecy.
• Armageddon was always just around the corner.
• I was able to communicate with God, at any time, by praying in my head.
• I believed that I could, through God, work miracles and heal any disease,
• If it didn’t work, it wasn’t part of God’s plan–or I didn’t have enough faith.
• When it did work, it was God; never a coincidence. Trying to deconstruct this mystery was likened to looking through a glass darkly.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza was God’s stone witness, a prophetic monument encoded with inch-based timelines.
• Miracles from other religions either didn’t happen or was they were Satan trying to deceive.
• Everything it said was true; evidence to the contrary had to be reassessed (i.e. ignored or ‘contextualized’).
• This included talking snakes and donkeys, raining frogs, walking on water, cross-breeding of men and angels, rivers being turned to blood, languages of the world being invented instantaneously, and so on.
• God gave me a divine and angelic language only He could understand.
• Hell was created by God, likened to an eternal lake of fire to torture bad people.
• I could end up here by not having the special language or by committing adultery in my heart (Matthew 5:27)
• Everyone who didn’t speak in tongues went to hell (always rephrased politely).
• I wholeheartedly believed testimonies recounted by members which opposed modern science, without skepticism. (And I was very skeptical of miracles occurring in other religions).
• Evolution was a worldwide conspiracy with an atheistic agenda.
• The Earth was created instantly and species could only reproduce “after their own kind” (Genesis 1:20-25)
• There were no transitional fossils (e.g. half-reptile, half-bird) if something like this was discovered it was fraudulent or at least up for debate.
• Numbers had magic meanings. Numbers like 7 were good and numbers like 13 and 666 were bad.
• Ordinary events in my life were able to be read into and God’s will determined accordingly.
• Dripping olive oil on someone’s head had magic healing properties.
• God was concerned about my personal well being and listened to my every prayer.
• As such, everyday mundane events in my life were able to be controlled by me/God, including traveling mercies, help in exams, assistance finding car-parks, confidence in a job interview, and so on.
• I believed this without questioning why my prayer would be answered – when He supposedly ignored the prayer of starving children, etc.

2. Why does the Revival Fellowship preach tongues ‘as a sign’ if Jesus stipulated
that no signs would be given except the resurrection? (Matthew 12:38-40,
Mark 8:12-13) Are tongues “for a sign” or not? (1 Corinthians 14:22)

3. Why do transitional/intermediate species appear in the fossil record if the Bible repeatedly says species are to reproduce after their own kind? (Genesis 1)

4. Why does God approve so much immorality in the Bible that today we find
repulsive? (E.g. why do both Testaments endorse genocide, animal torture and
slavery?) If society has moved on since then – how is Jesus the same yesterday,
today and for ever? (Hebrews 13:8)

5. Why don’t the promises of prayer in the Bible align with reality?
(E.g. Matthew 7:7, John 14:13, John 15:16)

6. Why is God’s only outward and manditory sign of salvation a well documented
(a) learned behaviour that (b) historically pre-dates Christianity? 

7. If ‘answered prayer’ is credited to God, and unanswered prayer to
bad faith – how does one avoid making self-fulfilling selective observations? 

8. Why is the Bible of 400 CE and the Bible today different by dozens of chapters
and thousands of parts? Which Bible is the Word of God? And why does man
edit it? Why are there conflicting salvation messages in God’s only book?

9. Why are the observations of the natural world documented in the Bible
so similar to the author’s pagan contemporaries at that time? Why is there so
much anti-science in the Bible? 

10. Why would God need to sacrifice Himself to appease Himself for the flaws of a creation made in His own image?

1. Speaking in tongues has nothing to do with the Biblical concept of salvation. Furthermore, speaking in tongues is a naturalistic, learned behaviour which predates Christianity.

2. The Bible is an ad hoc and contradictory assortment of mythical stories written and complied by men with questionable morals and no scientific understanding of the world they attempted to document.

3. Jesus was not divine. There is not one single piece of archaeological, forensic or documentary evidence that shows Jesus was anything more than a misguided Apocalyptic prophetic. Nothing was recorded about the man until decades after his death. Additionally, He falsely preached that God would intervene, destroy all evil, and establish a Kingdom of God on earth (rather than in heaven) and that this would occur during his lifetime. It didn’t.

4. There is no evidence that any God(s) exist. This absence isn’t proof, but it sure feels like a clue. The God documented in the Bible is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

5. Prayer does not work. There is not one single piece of documentary evidence that suggests prayer favors Christians any more than any other religion, or out performs the well-documented placebo effect.

6. Christianity doesn’t make sense. Original sin, Atonement, the Ascension, the Trinity, salvation and Hell are all man-made and non-falsifiable works of fiction.

7. Evolution is a unifying principle in biology, supported by overwhelming evidence. It makes testable predictions, withstands scrutiny, and is reinforced by discoveries across every scientific field. Creation lacks any scientific basis.

8. Bible Numerics [PDF] is a nonsensical and flawed pattern that can be found in any text.

9. British Israelism, pyramidology, and armageddon bible prophecies are elaborate fictions retrofitted onto history that require willful ignorance of archaeology, history, and probability.

10. Life is short. Dogma and guilt are debilitating.

Further reading

Easy – God is Imaginary
Medium – Why Christianity is False
Hard – Why I am not a Christian

For example, in the epistle addressed to Timothy the author urges his readers to ‘study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ (2 Timothy 2:15) Similarly, Peter challenges his readers to ‘be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you’. (1 Peter 3:15) But how can one rightly divide the word of truth if only ever exposed to one side of the argument?

In the vein of these two prominent christian figures, I challenge you to actually think about these questions and formulate an answer for the hope that is within you. Ask yourself honestly what the discrepancies, irresolvable differences and contradictions in the Bible actually mean. Ask yourself what are the implications of an erroneous Bible?

As briefly outlined in the introduction, my journey has involved the rejection of creationism, Jesus as divine, the Bible as divine and inerrant, tongues as a sign and the existence of a personal God (specifically the God described in the Bible). It’s one thing to emotionally reject this site and these questions because they contradict what you “know” is true – but it’s another to actually reject these questions intellectually after examining the issues raised. And surely more satisfying? Wouldn’t you emerge a better informed Christian with stronger faith?

Finally consider Paul’s criticism to the men of Athens who were superstitious and worshiped their God in ignorance:

 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. Acts 17:22-23

“If you really believe that death leads to eternal bliss, then why are you wearing a seatbelt?” – Doug Stanhope

I was a Christian recently enough to remember what it felt like to really believe the Creator of the universe talked to me, to really believe I would go to heaven and unbelievers would go to hell, to really believe that prayer made a difference. Other Christians also tell me they really believe that stuff, too. But something’s not quite right with that.

I assume my family really believe that I am going to hell now that I am no longer a Christian. They believe I am going to be tortured forever. Literally. However, they don’t seem too upset by this devastating “reality”. They’re probably upset that I’ve rejected values and “truths” I learned as a child. But the concern doesn’t seem on par with an eternity of hell torture. But it’s not just my family, obviously. It’s Christians in general. If Christians really believed that, wouldn’t there be serious mourning? Pleading? Great distress? There is a shocking discrepancy between the amount of concern warranted for an eternity of torture and the amount of concern gauged. And there’s something not quite right about that.

A question for Christians

This is not a post for attacking Christian beliefs or promoting atheistic views.  This is a post about understanding. I’d like to understand Christians better. So, Christians: I have a question.

If you really believed some of the people you love dearly were going to spend an eternity in hell, wouldn’t that motivate you to try harder to save them?

Let’s say we all lived in Poland at the start of World War II and you got word that soon, the Nazis were going to invade the town where several of your friends and family lived. The Nazis were going take everybody off to concentration camps in chains, and possibly kill them. And let’s say this information came from a very reliable source, so that you really believed this was going to happen.

Would you just go on about your life? Would you just mention this to your friends and family in passing, and send them the occasional pamphlet with information on the threat of the Nazis? Would you merely pray for them to see the threat and save themselves? Or, would you do everything you could to save your friends and family? Maybe you would drive out there and try to convince them of the threat until you were blue in the face. Maybe you would refuse to leave until they came away with you. Maybe you would… I dunno what, but it would be pretty drastic. I know if I were in that situation, then I would do some pretty drastic things to save my friends and family.

But this is not what Christians do for their friends and family who they really believe are on the verge of falling into eternal torture, even though they say they really believe this, and even though they feel they really believe this. So something weird is going on. Millions of Christians really believe this stuff, but they don’t act like it.

As best we can tell, humans always act so as to fulfill the strongest of their current desires, given their beliefs. But I very much doubt that Christians do not have a strong desire to save their spouses, their children, and their best friends from eternal agony. So there seems to be something weird about the belief end of the equation.

Do Christians really believe what they say and feel they believe? What’s going on here?

If you really believe this, you shouldn’t have to tell yourself, “You’re right, I really should try harder to evangelise.” No, if you really believed, you would already have that motivation! You wouldn’t need to try to manufacture it! And if you really believed, you wouldn’t need to constantly repeat the doctrines of Christianity to yourself, and do everything you can to “build up your faith.” I don’t need to remind myself that the Holocaust happened or that gravity is real. I don’t need to constantly “build up my faith” in the existence of magnetism. Something is fishy here, and I don’t get it.

The Bible does not read like a divine revelation. First, it reflects too many of the ideas and beliefs of the time and culture in which it was written. One would expect a divine revelation to transcend ideas of its times. For example, why isn’t slavery condemned or an explanation offered on the oft-documented ‘demon possessions’?

Secondly, it contains too much trivial information unimportant and unworthy of a divine being. For example, why include detailed instructions on how to obtain, beat, have sex with and sell slaves? (Leviticus 25:44-46, Exodus 21:20-21, Exodus 21:7-11) Or include endless genealogies (nine whole chapters in 1 Chronicles) or document David’s collection of 100 Philistine foreskins (or 200 – depending on whether you read 1 or 2 Samuel).

Finally–and in this case, critically–the Bible is completely ambiguous on it’s core message: salvation.

Paradoxically, mans’ “whole duty” is permanently shrouded in vague and contradictory instructions; furthermore, documented in a book complied by men (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Given the object of worship is neither “the author of confusion” nor wishes “anyone to perish” (1 Corinthians 14:33, 2 Peter 3:9); Christianity is surely flirting with cognitive dissonance on the grandest of scales. Salvation is–made apparent by it’s own instructions–a meaningless oxymoron.

Why is the notion of salvation so hazy? Consider this survey of sixteen major denominations. Chemists all agree on the fundamental facts of chemistry. Doctors all agree on the fundamental facts of medicine. Engineers all agree on the fundamental facts of engineering. There is no more reason that they should be confused or in the dark about this than that chemists, doctors, and engineers should be confused or in the dark. So why can’t all Christians agree on the fundamental facts of salvation?

Richard Carrier posits,

One would expect God who wanted us to make an informed choice would give us all the information we needed, and not entrust fallible, sinful, contradictory agents to convey a confused mess of ambiguous, poorly supported claims. The fact that God hasn’t spoken to us directly, and hasn’t given us all the same, clear message, and the same, clear answers, is enough to prove Christianity false.

So, what must one do to be saved? It depends on which Christian you ask. Even though they all agree that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, no one seems to agree on what it says. Hardly the outcome of a divine revelation.

If the Bible is really a revelation from God and if God really loves man and really wants to reconcile man to himself, would he not have made it much clearer how someone is to be saved?

I know that if my children were separated from me and I had the opportunity to write them a letter to tell them how to get back to me, I certainly wouldn’t do it in parables and language that’s ambiguous enough that it can be interpreted a thousand different ways. I would do my best to make it crystal clear how they could find me .. and if I would do that as a finite human being, certainly God being infinite and being omniscient could find a way to do that. Interview with Ken Pulliam [mp3]

The conclusion is inescapable. If Christianity were true, then the Gospel would have been preached to each and every one of us directly, and correctly, by God–just as it supposedly was to the disciples who walked and talked and dined with God Himself, or to the Apostle Paul, who claimed to have had actual conversations with God, and to have heard the Gospel directly from God Himself.

Thus, if Christianity were really true, there would be no dispute as to what the Gospel is. Instead, it seems salvation is simply a matter cherry-picking a suitable scripture.

150 ways to get saved

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

Take your pick…

Call on the name of the Lord.
‘Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ — Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13

Be a member of a saved person’s household.
‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.’ – Acts 16:31

Say the right things.
‘For by thy words thou shalt be justified.’ — Matthew 12:37

Burn your work.
‘If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire’. — 1 Corinthians 3:15

Do the right things.
–’And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life.’ — John 5:29
–’I the Lord … give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.’ — Jeremiah 17:10
–’For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.’ — 2 Corinthians 5:10

Believe the right things.
– ‘A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.’ — Romans 3:28
– ‘Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ — Romans 5:1
– ‘A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.’ — Galatians 2:16
– For by grace are ye saved through faith. — Ephesians 2:8

Do and believe the right things.
‘Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone’. — James 2:17

Work your way to heaven.
– For you render to each one according to his works. — Psalm 62:12
– For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. — Matthew 16.27
– And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. — Revelation 20:12-13
– Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. — 2 Corinthians 11:15
– The Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work. — 1 Peter 1:17
– What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? — James 2:14, 17, 20, 24, 26
– I will give unto every one of you according to your works. — Revelation 2:23

Do what is lawful and right.
When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness … and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul. — Ezekiel 18:27

Do God’s will
He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. — 1 John 2:17

Do the will of Jesus’ father.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. — Matthew 7:21

Be a doer of the law.
Who will render to each one according to his deeds. … For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. — Romans 2:6, 13

Call upon God.
As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. — Psalm 55:16

Trust in the Lord.
The LORD shall … save them, because they trust in him. — Psalm 37:40

Get to know God.
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction. — 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

Wait for him.
Wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee. — Proverbs 20:22
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us. — Isaiah 25:9

Just look at him.
Look unto me, and be ye saved. — Isaiah 45:22

Get lost.
The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. — Matthew 18:11, Luke 19:10

Get lucky.
– I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. … Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. … Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: — Romans 9:15-22

Hope.
For we are saved by hope. — Romans 8:24

Repent.
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. — Luke 13:3, 5

Don’t be so darned wicked.
When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul. — Ezekiel 18:27

Don’t offend the little ones.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. — Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:14, Luke 17:2

Don’t be filthy or naughty; receive the engrafted word.
Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
— James 1:21

Walk upright.
Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved. — Proverbs 28:18

Don’t lust.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. — James 1:15

Bridle your tongue.
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. — James 1:26

Believe in Jesus.
– Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. — John 3:16
– He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. — John 3:36
– Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. — John 6:47
– Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. — Acts 16:31

See Jesus and believe in him.
Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. — John 6:40

Confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. — Romans 10:9

Confess Jesus before men.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. — Matthew 10:32
Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God. — Luke 12:8

Obey Jesus.
And [Jesus] being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. — Hebrews 5:9

Hear the words of Jesus and believe in whoever sent him.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. — John 5:24

Hear and do the sayings of Jesus.
Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. — Matthew 7:24

Keep Jesus’ saying.
If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. — John 8:51

Drink Jesus’ water.
Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. — John 4:14

Be dead with Jesus.
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: — 2 Timothy 2:11

Be born again.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. — John 3:3

Be born of water and the spirit.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. — John 3:5

Believe Paul’s gospel.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Believe and be baptized.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. — Mark 16:16

Have a contrite spirit.
The LORD … saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. — Psalm 34:18

Don’t be deluded by God.
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned. — 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

Don’t be blinded by God.
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. … God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. … Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. — Romans 11:7-10

Bear good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. — Matthew 7:19, Luke 3:9, 13:9

Be grafted in.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. — Romans 11:23

Be chosen, not just called.
For many are called, but few are chosen. — Matthew 22:14, 20:16
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. — 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Be perfect.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. — Matthew 5:48

Be meek.
When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. — Psalm 76:9
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. — Matthew 5:5

Be washed by the Holy Ghost.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. — Titus 3:5

Get your sins remitted by someone who has received the Holy Ghost. (Or who has been breathed on by Jesus)
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. — John 20:22-23

Be pure in heart.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. — Matthew 5:8

Be upright in heart.
My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. — Psalm 7:10

Be converted and become like a little child.
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:15

Be a saint.
The LORD … forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever.. — Psalm 37:28

Be a child of the needy.
He shall save the children of the needy. — Psalm 72:4

Be persecuted for righteousness sake.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:10

Be righteous.
Righteousness delivereth from death. — Proverbs 10:2, 11:4
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. — Matthew 25:46

Be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees.
Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:20

Forsake all that you have.
Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. — Luke 14:33

Hate your own life.
The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25

Lose your life for Christ’s sake.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. — 10:39, Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33

Belong to a household that has at least one believer.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. — Acts 16:31
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. — 1 Corinthians 7:14

Get saved by your spouse.
For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? — 1 Corinthians 7:16

Save your whole family by hearing Simon’s magic words.
Call for Simon … who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. — Acts 11:13-14

Follow the commandments (at least some of them).
–If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. — Matthew 19:17-19

–And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? … Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. — Mark 10:17-19

–Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life. — Revelation 22:14

Keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. — Revelation 14:12

Keep some of the commandments, give all your money to the poor, and follow Jesus.
And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? …
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
…thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.– Luke 18:18-22

Do the commandments and teach others to do them.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:19

Sow to the Spirit.
He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. — Galatians 6:8

Endure to the end.
He that endureth to the end shall be saved. — Matthew 10:22,
24:13, Mark 13:13

Wait until you die and then hear the voice of the Son of God.
The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. — John 5:25

Be faithful unto death.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. — Revelation 2:10

Get buried with Jesus by being baptized into death.
We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. — Romans 6:4-5

Always wear a wedding garment.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. — Matthew 22:11-13

Don’t get married. (Married people don’t go to heaven.)
They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. — Luke 20:35

Have lots of babies (and be faithful, charitable, holy, and sober).
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. — 1 Timothy 2:14-15

Become a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.
There be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. — Matthew 19:12

Don’t defile yourself with women. (Be a virgin male.)
…the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were
not defiled with women; for they are virgins. — Revelation 14:4

Don’t love your family more than Jesus.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. — Matthew 10:37

Abandon your home and family for Jesus’ name’s sake.
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. — Matthew 19:29, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 18:29-30

Hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and your own life.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. — Luke 14:26

Don’t hate your brother.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. — 1 John 3:15

Ask your parents to beat you with a rod.
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. — Proverbs 23:13-14

Receive a child in the name of Jesus.
Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me. — Luke 9:48a

Receive a Christian.
He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. — Matthew 10:40

Receive a prophet in the name of a prophet.
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. — Matthew 10:41

Receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man.
He that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. — Matthew 10:41

Receive the gift of eternal life from God through Jesus.
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Romans 6:23

Don’t despise government or walk after flesh.
The Lord knoweth how … to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. — 2 Peter 2:9-10

Don’t resist the powers that be.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. — Romans 13:2

Wash your wicked heart.
Wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. — Jeremiah 4:14

Wash your face and anoint your head when you fast.
When thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; hat thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. — Matthew 6:17-18

Heed yourself and the doctrine.
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. — 1 Timothy 4:16

Get saved by Jesus’ name.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [beside’s Jesus’] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. — Acts 4:12

Get saved by God’s name.
Save me, O God, by thy name. — Psalm 54:1

Get saved by God’s shining face.
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. — Psalm 80:3, 7, 19

Don’t doubt.
He that doubteth is damned. — Romans 14:23

Don’t fall away after you’re saved.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. — Hebrews 6:4-6

Don’t eat your own vomit.
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. — 2 Peter 2:21-22

Don’t blaspheme the Holy Ghost
He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. — Mark 3:29, Matthew 12:31-32, Luke 12:10

Don’t let God make you wicked.
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. — Proverbs 16:4

Convert a sinner.
Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death. — James 5:20

Turn yourself over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so your spirit may be saved. (For fornicators only.)
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you … deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. — 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

Enter at the strait gate.
Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. — Luke 13:23-24

Enter through the Jesus door.
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. — John 10:9

Don’t look back.
Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. — Luke 9:62

Become an Israeli citizen.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. — Romans 11:26

Don’t be a Jew.
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. — Matthew 8:12

Don’t be a serpent or a viper, and make sure none of your ancestors were prophet killers.
Ye are the children of them which killed the prophets … Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? — Matthew 23:31-33

Don’t be an unrighteous fornicator, idolater, adulterer, effeminate, thief, covetous, drunkard, reviler, extortioner, or an abuser of yourself with mankind.
The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. — 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Don’t be fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murdering, whore mongering,
a sorcerer, an idolater, or a liar.
The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. — Revelation 21:8

Fear God.
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. — Proverbs 14:27

Fear God and cry a lot while praying.
[Jesus] who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared. — Hebrews 5:7

Don’t let your eye become evil.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! — Matthew 6:23

Pluck out your eye if it offends you.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. — Matthew 5:29-30, 18:8-9, Mark 9:43-49

Cut off your right hand if it offends you.
If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. — Matthew 5:29-30, 18:8-9, Mark 9:43-49

Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. — Matthew 6:4-5

Be ordained to eternal life.
As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. — Acts 13:48

Be drawn by by the Father.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44

Be elected by God before you’re born.
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. — Romans 9:11
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. — 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Don’t be ashamed of Jesus.
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. — Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26

Don’t let anyone see you do anything good.
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. — Matthew 6:1

Don’t let anyone say anything nice about you.
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! — Luke 6:26

Don’t love the world or the things in it.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. — 1 John 2:15

Don’t be a friend to the world.
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. — James 4:4

Be given by the Father and come to the Son.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. — John 6:37

Come to the Father by Jesus.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. — John 14:6

Be given by God to Jesus (or whatever).
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. — John 17:1-2

Be saved by Jesus’ life (if you’re a friend) or by his death (if your an enemy).
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. — Romans 5:10

Don’t get circumcised.
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing … ye are fallen from grace. — Galatians 5:2-4

Be dead in your sins and uncircumcised flesh, and then let God quicken you with Christ.
But God … when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. — Ephesians 2:4-5

Be chosen from the beginning.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. — 2 Thessalonians 2:13
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. — Colossians 2:13

Be predestinated by God.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate … Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. — Romans 8:29-30
He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestined us … according to the good pleasure of his will. — Ephesians 1:4-5

Be poor, not rich.
He shall … save the souls of the needy. — Psalm 72:13
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. –Matthew 5:3
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. … But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. — Luke 6:20, 24
Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. — Matthew 19:23-24
But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. — Luke 6:24
Ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. — James 5:1

Be poor in this world, be rich in faith, and love God.
Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? — James 2:5

Be sad.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. — Matthew 5:4

Cry a lot.
Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them. — Psalm 107:13, 19
Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. — Luke 6:21

Don’t laugh.
Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. — Luke 6:25

Be last.
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. — Matthew 19:30, 20:16; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30

Be least.
He that is least among you all, the same shall be great. — Luke 9:48b

Eat the bread that comes down from heaven.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. — John 6:50

Eat Jesus’ body and drink his blood.
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. — John 6:53-54

Have faith in Jesus’ blood.
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. — Romans 3:25

Be saved and justified by Jesus’ blood.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. — Romans 5:9

Make people revile you, persecute you, hate you, avoid you, say bad things about you, and call you names for Jesus’ sake.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. — Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven. — Luke 6:22-23

Follow peace and holiness with all men.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. — Hebrews 12:14

Believe in the foolishness of preaching.
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. — 1 Corinthians 1:21

Be innocent.
He [God] shall deliver the island of the innocent. — Job 22:30

Give a cup of water to a Christian.
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. — Matthew 10:42, Mark 9:41

Love Christians.
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. — 1 John 3:14

Love your enemies, do good to them, and give them lots of money.
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. — Luke 6:35, Matthew 5:44-45

Love God and your neighbor.
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. — Luke 10:26-28

Be a peacemaker.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. — Matthew 5:9

Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. — Matthew 25:34-36

Be merciful.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. — Matthew 5:7
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. — James 2:13

Forgive people.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14

Don’t judge.
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. — Matthew 7:1,
Luke 6:37

Be humble.
He [God] shall save the humble person. — Job 22:29
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 7:1

Love the truth.
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. — 2 Thessalonians 2:10

Do good. Avoid evil.
Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. — Psalm 37:27

Don’t pray in public.
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. — Matthew 6:5

Just ask.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. — Matthew 7:7-8

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? You decide!

John W. Loftus over at Debunking Christianity has been fine-tuning his “Outsider Test for Faith” for a few years now. It’s a fantastic thought experiment which should be taught in Sunday School. His latest variation is copypasta below.

When believers criticize the other faiths they reject, they use reason and science to do so. They assume these other religions have the burden of proof. They assume human not divine authors to their holy book(s). They assume a human not a divine origin to their faiths.

Believers do this when rejecting other faiths. So dispensing all of the red herrings about morality and a non-material universe, The Outsider Test for Faith simply asks believers to do unto their own faith what they do unto other faiths. All it asks of them is to be consistent.

The The Outsider Test for Faith asks why believers operate on a double standard. If that’s how they reject other faiths then they should apply that same standard to their own. Let reason and science rather than faith be their guide. Assume your own faith has the burden of proof. Assume human rather than divine authors to your holy book(s) and see what you get. If there is a divine author behind the texts it should be known even with that initial skeptical assumption.

So The Outsider Test for Faith uses the exact same standard that believers use when rejecting other religions. If there is any inconsistency at all it is not with The Outsider Test for Faith. It is how believers assess truth claims. For it should only take a moment’s thought to realize that if there is a God who wants people born into different religious cultures to believe, who are outsiders, then that religious faith SHOULD pass The Outsider Test for Faith.

If Christians want to reject The Outsider Test for Faith then either they must admit they have a double standard for examining religious faiths, one for their own faith and a different one for others, or their faith was not made to pass The Outsider Test for Faith in the first place. In either case all of their arguments against The Outsider Test for Faith are based on red herrings, special pleading, begging the question, the denigrating science, and an ignorance that I can only attribute to delusional blindness.

Skepticism vs gullibility.

1) We are all raised as believers. As children we believed whatever our parents told us, all of us.

2) We were raised in our respective families and cultures to believe what our parents told us about religion.

3) Psychological studies have shown that people have a very strong tendency to believe what they prefer to believe. Cognitive Bias studies show this.

4) Psychological studies have shown that most of us, most of the time, look for that which confirms what we believe rather than that which disconfirms it, even though the latter is the best way to get at the truth. This is known as Confirmation Bias.

5) Neurological studies have shown that people have a sense of certainty about the beliefs they have that is unrelated to the strength of the actual evidence, as Robert Burton argues in On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not

6) Skepticism is not usually an inherited characteristic. We must acquire the capacity to doubt what we are raised to believe. Skepticism is the adult attitude.

Full stop. There are a lot of books on these subjects. This data is undeniable, noncontroversial and obvious. We must think about the implications of what these undeniable facts tell us about who we are as human beings. If we were raised as Christians then we seek to confirm what we were raised to believe because we prefer that which we were raised to believe. If we were raised as Muslims then we seek to confirm what we were raised to believe because we prefer that which we were raised to believe. If we were raised as Orthodox Jews then we seek to confirm what we were raised to believe because we prefer that which we were raised to believe. If we were raised as Scientologists then we seek to confirm what we were raised to believe because we prefer that which we were raised to believe. If we were raised as Hindu’s then we seek to confirm what we were raised to believe because we prefer that which we were raised to believe.

7) When there are billions of people who are certain of an inherited faith they all learned in the same manner, who live in separate geographical locations around the globe, who all prefer to believe what they were raised to believe, and who all seek to confirm that which they were raised to believe, it should cause them to doubt what they were raised to believe. What is there not to understand about this?

8) It will not do to argue against atheists that this data applies to us too. This is a fallacious argument that cannot be used to sidestep the implications for one’s own inherited religious faith. All believers who are certain of their faith will use this same fallacious argument against atheists. But doing so does nothing to solve the problem of religious diversity, since they still have not come up with a method that can solve their own differences. Atheists are doubters. We are skeptics. Knowing this data causes us to require hard, cold evidence for that which we can accept. We have concluded this requirement is never met by any religious faith.

9) Skepticism is a filter that adults use to help us sift out the wheat of truth from the chaff of falsehood. We cannot doubt that filter! There is no other alternative.

10) The Outsider Test for Faith is the best and only way to get at the truth if you want to know the truth. Examine your own faith with the same level of skepticism you use when examining the other religious faiths you reject. We cannot have a milquetoast test when it comes to the truth. We cannot merely say to people that they should be skeptical without offering a standard of skepticism. Why? Because if we ask believers who are certain of their faith to test it with doubt then to a person they will say they have, and that their faith is sure. But ask them to test their faith with the same level of skepticism they use when examining the other religious faiths they reject and that will get their attention.

1. There is no evidence for the resurrection outside the Bible. Non-Christian historical references to Jesus don’t occur until about six decades after the time when Biblical scholars think he probably died. When these non-Christian sources refer to Jesus’ miracles, there’s no reason to see them as anything more than a report of what Christians of the time believed.

2. There is little evidence that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or based directly on eyewitness accounts. Most of what the Bible says about Jesus’ life and supposed resurrection is in the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, (a.k.a. the Gospels). But Biblical scholars now agree these books were originally anonymous, their names added later. The traditional Christian claims about who wrote them is now widely doubted by scholars.

3. This means that the Gospels can’t be trusted as evidence for miracles. Imagine someone trying to convert you to another religion based on the “proof” of the miracles worked by the religion’s founder… in the form of a handful of anonymous tracts recounting his life. Would you accept that “proof”? Of course not. Among other things, the stories could just be legends.

4.One of Paul’s letters provides evidence that a number of people claimed Jesus had appeared to them after his death. But this isn’t proof of a miracle. The passage is 1st Corinthians 15:3-9, and most Biblical scholars agree it was really written by Paul. But again, would you accept similar evidence in favor of another religion’s miracles? The Mormon church has statements signed by several people attesting to miracles that are supposed to confirm the truth of the Book of the Mormon, but you probably won’t convert to Mormonism based on that. Also, Paul doesn’t tell us how he knows about all these appearances, so we can’t be confident his report is accurate.

5. Reports that Jesus’ disciples were martyred prove nothing. Reports of the martyrdom of Jesus’ disciples do not occur in this historical record until long after their deaths would have occurred, and accounts sometimes conflict with one another. It could be that most, even all, of these stories are legends. In any case, not only do people sometimes give up their lives for delusions, even outright charlatans have been killed for their claims. Joseph Smith was probably a charlatan, but he died at the hands of a lynch mob. So we can’t rule out deception among Jesus’ followers.

6. Claims that this or that individual couldn’t possibly have hallucinated are nonsense. Even apparently sane people hallucinate for a wide variety of reasons and under a wide variety of circumstances. We can’t rule this out for people who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus.

7. Even if there were several people in Paul’s day who would have claimed to have all seen the risen Jesus at the same time, their testimony might not have stood up to scrutiny. There have been cases where a group of children have claimed to see the Virgin Mary, and been taken seriously by adults who should have known better. In many of these cases, the children were questioned individually and their descriptions of what they saw didn’t match, suggesting deception or delusion.

“Scientifically the best that can be done is to investigate the facts and then decide which theory is most in accord with the facts” – Pr Darryl Williams.

Superficially this statement almost sounds scientific. But it’s not. Irrespective of this statement’s sincerity; it is both illogical and deceptive.

Science 101

The scientific method draws conclusions from facts. I.e “Here are the facts–what conclusions can we draw from them”? However, as the Revival Fellowship already “know” the conclusion (evolution is false) “the facts” have to be drawn from the conclusion. I.e. “Here’s the conclusion–what facts can we find to support it?” Which, to point out the obvious, is not scientific investigation.

Slide nights 101

The teachings do not draw any conclusions from scientific investigation. Instead they masquerade outdated and well-documented fallacies as “science” to support their desired conclusion. The slides rehashed at every single Creation vs Evolution slide night are erroneous, badly researched and obsolete; void of any so-called scientific investigation.

The three most common arguments are irreducible complexity, specified complexity and the ever popular argument from incredulity. These ideas have long been scientifically disproved, many times over. If the Revival Fellowship was interested in “investigating the facts and then [deciding]” this would be common knowledge. But it’s not.

What do the facts say?

Facts point to common ancestry. Facts point to transitional species. Facts point to comparative anatomy. Facts point to geographical distribution. Facts point to natural selection. Facts point to genetics.

The facts do not point to creation. In fact, there are no facts that support creationism at all. Zero.

Furthermore, the Genesis account conflicts with that we know and observe today. For example;

1. Genesis describes light being created before the Sun. (Genesis 1:3 & Genesis 1:16)
2. Plants created before there was a sun to drive their photosynthetic processes. (Genesis 1:14-19)
3. Birds created before land animals; contrary to the evidence. (Genesis 1:21 & Genesis 1:24)
4. God creating “a solid firmament” in the sky. (Genesis 1:6-8)
5. And, all species created to only reproduce “after their own kind”. Yet there are hundreds of examples of transitional species throughout the fossil record. Which appear in a temporal progression, linking modern species to much older, very different species through a “general lineage” of similar and progressively older fossils. (Genesis 1:20-25)

Why does it matter?

The Revival Fellowship routinely misinform their congregation. They dogmatically deny a well established, thoroughly-documented and plainly observable branch of science. Instead preach a mythical story which is internally inconsistent and at odds with the world we live in.

If the Bible is wrong about natural and observable facts; just how reliable are the unobservable, supernatural ‘facts’?

Moreover, Christianity is–must be–totally committed to creation as described in Genesis. Inasmuch “when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (Romans 5:12, NLT) The whole justification of Jesus’ life and death is predicated on the existence of Adam and the forbidden fruit. Without the original sin, there is no need for redemption. Without Adam’s fall into a life of sin–of which the wages are death–Christianity serves no purpose.

Evolution is the development from one form to the next, to meet the ever-changing challenges, from an ever-changing nature. There is no fall from a previous state of sublime perfection.

Without Adam, without the original sin, Jesus Christ is reduced to a man with a mission on a wrong planet.

Pr Darryl and Co. don’t “decide which theory is most in accord with the facts”. They can’t.

Further reading

• Evidence for common descent on Wikipedia
• Why Evolution is True (PDF) 
• Evolution Misconceptions on Youtube
• Evolution FAQs on Talk Origins

Pastor’s Manual

Articles of Association

Wedding Receptions

Separation

Internet Social Networking

Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:3

I will be slowly be adding to this list of unique Revivalisms. [Ed–I didn’t.] Feel free to make suggestions [Comments are now closed].

Why do the Revival Fellowship operate “voice gifts” (a phrase not found in the Bible) according to Paul’s criticisms to the Corinthian church? (1 Corinthians 14)

Why are these “voice gifts” spoken in 17th century English?

Why has this ceremony been appended to Communion? Why isn’t this in the Bible?

Why does Revival Fellowship-style prayer in English consist of fast and repetitive “Hallelujah-Praise-the-Lord-Thank-you-Jesus-Hallelujahs”? Is this how the disciples would have prayed in their native tongue?

Why is this prayer style so popular if it is inherently more repetitive than the oft-shunned Lord’s Prayer? Why doesn’t this qualify as “vain repetitions” that Jesus despised? (Matthew 6:7)

Why are opening and closing prayers dotted with the antiquated phrase “Yea”?

Why do the Revival Fellowship distance themselves from every weird and immoral idea documented in the Old Testament except tithing?

Why do they preach the Pyramid is “an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt” (Isaiah 19:19) when the Bible stipulates “if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it”? (Exodus 20:25).

Why do the Old and New Testaments both advocate slavery? (Leviticus 25:44-46, Ephesians 6:5, 1 Timothy 6:1-2)

Why does the Bible go into detail about how to obtain slaves, (Leviticus 25:44-46), how to beat slaves, (Exodus 21:20-21) when to have sex with female slaves and how to sell one’s daughters as sex slaves? (Exodus 21:7-11)

Why did Jesus endorse this? (Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 5:18-19)

If society has moved on since then – how is Jesus the same yesterday, today and for ever? (Hebrews 13:8)

If God took the time to write one book to last for millennia, why did He choose to fill a large portion of it with so much trivial, irrelevant and immoral material?

Why did the people responsible for editing the King James Version not believe what the Revival Fellowship teach about tongues? Why are they trusted with this complex task when they got salvation ‘wrong’?

Why is the Bible of 400 CE and the Bible today different by dozens of chapters and thousands of parts? Which Bible is the Word of God? And why does man edit it?

Why are there so many Bible translations with conflicting salvation messages?

What makes the King James Version any more divine? How can it be proven ‘more inspired’ than its competitors?

Why include a woman killing a man with a tent peg (Judges 4:21) or a man cutting up his concubine and mailing her body parts around? (Judges 19:29)

Why include Moses instructing his soldiers, “kill everyone but save the virgins for yourselves”? (Numbers 31:18)

Why is the scriptural value of Pi (π) incorrect? (1 Kings 7:23-26 & 2 Chronicles 4:2-5) Why didn’t God take this opportunity to demonstrate His all-knowing nature, when inspiring his authors?

Who has ascended to heaven? Enoch? (Genesis 5:24) Elijah? (II Kings 2:11) Jesus? (Mark 16:19) Why did Jesus say no man but himself has ever ascended to heaven? (John 3:13)

Why has no historian documented anything about three hours of darkness, dead people coming out of their graves, earthquakes or any other supernatural happening that are alleged to have happen after the Resurrection?

Why would the Bible teach being pleasant to ‘enemies’ if it would heap coals of fire on their head? (Romans 12:20, Proverbs 25:21-22)

How would Moses have witnessed and written of his own death? (Deuteronomy 34:5) Or, why would Moses have described himself as the most humble person on the face of the earth? (Numbers 12:3)

Why are the observations of the natural world in the Bible no different than man’s understanding at that time? (PDF)

Why does Job believe in fire-breathing dragons? (Job 41:1-34)

Why does the Bible describe angels coming to Earth to mate with humans to produce half-and-half, angel-human offspring? (Genesis 6:1-4)

Why did the Biblical authors think the Earth was a flat disc? (e.g. Matthew 4:8, Deuteronomy 13:7, Job 38:13, Proverbs 8:26-27, Isaiah 40:22, Daniel 4:10-11, Job 11:9). Why does the Bible use the Hebrew word for ‘circle’ and not ‘sphere’ or ‘ball’ which are used elsewhere?

Why did the Biblical authors think the Earth was set on unmovable pillars? (Isaiah 24:18, Psalms 93:1, 1 Samuel 2:8)

Why did the Biblical authors think the sky was a solid dome in which the sun, moon and the stars are embedded? (Genesis 1:6-7, Psalms 148:4, Genesis 1:14-17, Proverbs 8:28) Or that God is ‘enwraped’ in clouds and walks on the dome of heaven (Job 22:14) on sky that is as hard as ‘molten mirror’? (Job 37:18)

Why does the Bible say the Earth is between 6,000 and 8,000 years old? And that it was created in 7 days? And that man is made of dirt and woman from a piece of the man’s rib? Which passages of the Bible support it being allegorical?

How are symbolic passages of the Bible distinguished from factual?

Why wasn’t Jesus able determine the symbolic from the literal? Why did Jesus think there was a worldwide flood (Luke 17:27) or that Adam and Eve were real people? (Mark 10:6, Matthew 19:4)

Why didn’t God reveal his divine authorship by mentioning something like electricity or DNA or the actual age and size of the universe? Why did God pretend not to understand the world when inspiring His authors?

Why does the Bible contain superstitious ‘remedies’ for everyday ailments that have since been cured? (e.g. the ‘bodily discharge’ in Leviticus 15)

Why didn’t God transcribe a useful medical guide into the Bible for these primitive people rather than transcribing rituals that accomplish nothing?

Why didn’t God explain how to manufacture antiseptic solutions, sterile dressings, vaccines or antibiotic creams?

Why didn’t God design the human immune system to prevent all infections in the first place and eliminate the discharges completely?

Why would God intentionally inflict human beings with all of these different types of abnormal ‘discharges’?

Who was Joseph’s father? Jacob (Matthew 1:16) or Heli? (Luke 3:23)

Why doesn’t John, Mark or Paul mention the virgin birth? Why did the early Jewish Christians deny the virgin birth?

What would we think of a teenage girl who claimed God impregnated her today?

What makes the claim any more reliable when it happened 2000 years ago in a far more superstitious society?

What is the correct recipe for the new moon sacrifice? 2 young bullocks, 1 ram and 7 lambs? (Numbers 28:11) Or, 1 young bullock, six lambs and 1 ram? (Ezekiel 46:6)

Why don’t we still perform new moon sacrifices today when Jesus endorsed the Old Testament in it’s entirety and specifically stated He was not coming to change the old law? (Matthew 5:18-19, John 14:15) Why don’t we stone our kids for answering back (Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21) or kill family members for joining different faiths? (Deuteronomy 13:6, 8-15)

Does God repent? Yes? (Genesis 6:6, I Samuel 15:11,35) or No? (Numbers 23:19)

Did the world develop many different languages after Babel? (Genesis 11:1,6-9) or prior to Babel? (Genesis 10:5) When God ‘confused the languages’ was He the author of confusion? (Genesis 11:9, 1 Corinthians 14:33)

If God created languages independently at Babel why do modern languages appear derivative of older languages?

How many horsemen did David take from Hadadezer? 700? (2 Samuel 8:4) or 7000? (1 Chronicles 18:4)

Is God a God of peace (Romans 15:33) or a ‘a man of war?’ (Exodus 15:3 – Is God a man?)

Does God want people to ‘beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Isaiah 2:4) or to prepare war, ‘beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong’? (Joel 3:9-10)

Why would Joshua command the Sun to stand still in the sky (Joshua 10:12-13) if the Sun does not move? Why did God pretend not to understand astronomy here (surely this would have been another good opportunity to demonstrate his all-knowing nature)?

Why did God and Abraham swear oaths to each other (Genesis 21:22-24, Genesis 21:31) if Jesus says, ‘swear not at all; neither by heaven . . . nor by the earth (Matthew 5:34-37) and Paul says ‘swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation’? (James 5:12)

How old was Ahaziah when he began to reign? 22? (2 Kings 8:26) or 42? (2 Chronicles 22:2)

What about Jehoiachin? Was he 18? (2 Kings 24:8) or 8? (2 Chronicles 36:9) Did he reign 3 months (2 Kings 24:8) or 3 months and 10 days? (2 Chronicles 36:9)

How many chiefs of the officers that bare the rule over the people were there? 550? (1 Kings 9:23) or 250? (2 Chronicles 8:10)

Did Saul’s daughter have any sons? Yes (2 Samuel 21:6) or No? (2 Samuel 6:23)

Was Lot Abraham’s nephew (Genesis 14:12) or brother? (Genesis 14:14)

Who sold Joseph into Egypt? Midianites (Genesis 37:36) or Ishmaelites? (Genesis 39:1)

How many baths did Solomon have? 2,000 (1 Kings 7:26) or 3,000? (2 Chronicles 4:5)

How many overseers were there on the Temple? 3,300 (1 Kings 5:16) or 3,600? (2 Chronicles 2:18)

Did Josiah die in Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29-30) or Jerusalem? (2 Chronicles 35:24)

When did Nebuzaradan come unto Jerusalem? On the 7th (2 Kings 25:8) or the 10th (Jeremiah 52:12) day of the fifth month?

How many animals went on the Ark? Two of every kind (Genesis 6:19-20) or seven of every clean animal and bird and two of every unclean animal? (Genesis 7:2-3)

How long was the flood? 40 days and nights? (Genesis 7:17, 8:6) or 150 days? (Genesis 7:24, Genesis 8:3)

Why does God forbid image-making in Exodus 20:4 and then command the making of two gold cherubs in Exodus 25:18?

Are sins and iniquities inherited for 4 generations? (Exodus 20:5) Or longer? (Deuteronomy 5:9). Or not at all? (Deuteronomy 24:16, II Chronicles 25:4, Ezekiel 18:19-20) Are we born into sin or not? (Rom 5:12, Romans 14:19, Romans 6:23)

Did David collect 200 Philistine foreskins for a wife? (1 Samuel 18:27) or did David pay 100 foreskins? (2 Samuel 3:14) Why doesn’t this currency reflect the wisdom of an all-loving God?

Did Saul consult the Lord? Yes (I Samuel 28:6) or no? (I Chronicles 10:13-14)

How did Saul die? Did he commit suicide by having his armor-bearer run him through? (I Samuel 31:4-6) or did the Amalekite kill him? (II Samuel 1:8-10) or did the the Philistines slay him? (II Samuel 21:12) or did he fall on his sword? (I Chronicles 10:4-5)

How did Baasha die in the 26th year of Asa’s reign? (I Kings 16:6-8) if he built a city in the 36th year of Asa’s reign? (II Chronicles 16:1)

How old was King Ahaziah when he began to reign? 22 (II Kings 8:26) or 42? (II Chronicles 22:2)

Will the Earth last forever? Yes (Psalms 104:5, Ecclesiastes 1:4) or no? (Hebrews 1:10-11, II Peter 3:10)

Did the apostles receive the Holy Spirit on the first Easter Sunday (John 20:22) or at Pentecost fifty days later? (Acts 1:5-8, Acts 2:1-4)

Did Paul become speechless, see nothing and hear a voice (Acts 9:7) or did he see a light and hear nothing? (Acts 22:9)

How will an army of locusts be instructed not to harm any of the grass (Revelations 9:4) if all the grass in the world is consumed by fire? (Revelations 8:7)

Why does this ‘thou shalt not kill‘ commandment advocate an infinite cycle of killing: “He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death”? (Leviticus 24:17)

How are we saved from eternal torture? Through faith (Ephesians 2:8,9, Romans 3:20, Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16) or works? (Matthew 19:16-21, James 2:24)

Is God is good? (Psalm 145:9) and without iniquity? (Deuteronomy 32:4) or does He create evil? (Isaiah 45:7)

Why does God give ‘statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live’? (Ezekiel 20:25,26)

How God did tempt Abraham (Genesis 22:1) if ‘God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man’? (James 1:13)

Why does Luke write that Jesus was born at the time when Caesar Augustus required everyone to take part in a census (at which time Quirinius was governor of Syria and Herod was king of Judea) if (a) No historian of the Roman Empire makes any mention of a universal census in the reign of Augustus? (b) King Herod died four years before the Common Era began? And (c) Quirinius was not the governor of Syria during the reign of Herod?

Why can Bible numerics be reproduced in any other work of literature?

Why has the Revival Fellowship started withdrawing Ivan Panin’s book from the bookstores? Why hasn’t this been publicly addressed?

Further reading

• Bible Contradictions
• Bible Numerics in the RCI (PDF) 
• Criticism of the Bible
• Ethics in the Bible
• Science and the Bible
• Slavery in the Bible
• The Bible and history
• The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible
• Creationists And The Scriptural Value Of Pi
• What the Bible says about…

Why [were] there 8 Steps to Salvation on the Revival Fellowship website if the Bible repeatedly says that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone? (e.g. John 3:16, Romans 3:28-30, Romans 4:5, Romans 5:1, Romans 10:4, Romans 10:9, Romans 10:13, Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:5-6, Galatians 3:24, Ephesians 2:8-9)

Why are there fifteen salvation accounts in Acts that don’t include references to tongues–other than the oft-quoted 3x which do?

Why are none of the other qualifying signs listed in Mark 16 taken in an essential-every-time way? For example:

• Why aren’t all believers immune to snake bites?
• Why don’t all believers successfully lay hands on the sick?
• Why don’t all believers cast out devils? (What does this even mean?)
• Why aren’t all believers resistant to deadly poison?

Why is tongues treated differently? How is the Revival Fellowship justified in making tongues a universal sign but relegating the other signs to mere possibilities?

Why are there approximately 250 million Christians worldwide who speak in tongues that don’t preach it as a doctrine? Why hasn’t the Holy Spirit (that they supposedly have evidenced by their tongues) shown them the ‘truth’? How could the Spirit be so much ‘weaker’ in these 250 million people than in the approx. 30,000 in the Revival fellowship? How are Revival Fellowship tongue speakers any more enlightened then the other tongue speakers? What is the statistical probability of 250 million tongue-speaking Christians worldwide, being collectively misled by the Spirit, in contrast with the 30,000 in the Revival Fellowship?

Is it reasonable that the God, who will determine the salvation of humanity on whether they spoke in tongues or not, did not state this ‘truth’ more clearly and unequivocally so that people are not misled?

Why do a series of specific scriptures have to be read in a certain order from one translation to validate the Revival Fellowship’s salvation message?

Why is the only scripture that supposedly links tongues with Holy Spirit so hazy? (John 3:8) Why would Jesus only tell one person, at night, in secret and in a nonsensical riddle?

Why did the first people who spoke in tongues in the Bible speak known languages? Why doesn’t this happen anymore?

When did tongues transition from known languages (xenolalia) to unknown languages (glossolalia)? Why did this happen? Why isn’t this explained in the Bible?

Why is the event that happened at Pentecost so different to what happens in the Revival Fellowship?

Why does the Revival Fellowship sit alone in the essential-tongues realm of Chrisitanity?

Why are there are so few people that can ‘really’ understand the Bible to the extent of the Revival Fellowship?

Why are there so many tongue speakers worldwide in all sorts of religious and secular scenarios?

Why do tongues predate Christianity?

Why did Jesus forgo so many opportunities to explain necessity of speaking in tongues in avoiding eternal torture?

Why didn’t the authors of epistles clearly re-iterate the simple requirement that a true believer must speak in tongues, rather than rely on the assumed knowledge of the readers?

Why didn’t the essential-tongues doctrine exist before the 1900s?

If this is because we are in the ‘latter rain’ now – what about the Christians before the latter rain? What does this mean for those who died for the faith or those who wrote, translated and complied the Bible?

Why has speaking in tongues existed prior to Christianity? If one is of God and one is not – how would an unbeliever discern God’s sign? (I Corinthians 14:22)

Why do tongues primarily include phonemes from the language of the speaker? For example, why are English tongues primarily made up of unpatterned reorganizations of the English language? Why is this the pattern in every country?

Why is tongues a proven learned behaviour? (Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1986, Vol. 95, No. 1,21-23 PDF)

Sixty subjects listened to a 60 second sample of tongues (defined to them as pseudolanguage) and then attempted to produce tongues on a 30 second baseline trial. Afterward, half of the subjects received two training sessions that included audio- and videotaped samples of tongues interspersed with opportunities to practice tongues. Also, live modelling of tongues, direct instruction, and encouragement were provided by an experimenter. Both the trained subjects and untreated controls attempted to produce tongues on a 30 second post-test trial. About 20% of subjects exhibited fluent tongues on the baseline trial, and training significantly enhanced fluency. Seventy percent of trained subjects spoke fluent tongues on the post-test. Our findings are more consistent with social learning than with altered state conceptions of tongues.

Why were 20% immediately able to reproduce fluent tongues?

Why were 70% able to speak in tongues after more exposure and practice?

How is ‘practice’ any different to ‘seeking’?

Why are the statistics of this Godless experiment so similar to people who ‘receive’ in the Revival Fellowship?

How will anyone ever be able to distinguish between the two?

How do I know my tongue is ‘of God’ if I repetitiously ‘practiced’ after hearing tongues my whole life (let alone the 60 second samples)?

Why does the Bible condemn repetitious prayer? (Matthew 6:7)

Why were there no seekers meetings in the Bible?

If Jesus was baptised as an example for us and also received the Spirit as an example for us – why didn’t he speak in tongues? If Jesus didn’t ‘need to’ because he was God, why was he baptised?

Why do most new tongues sound like the word they’ve been repeating really fast? E.g. Hallelujah, halla, halla, halla, etc

How do the pastors distinguish between repetitive harla-harla-harla’s and tongues that sound identical?

How could anyone tell the difference?

Why do seekers need to be ‘alleluiaering’ (and very repetitively at that) for God to fill them with the Holy Spirit?

Isn’t that doing the hard-yards for God? How is this in anyway a sign ‘to them that believe not’? (1 Corinthians 14:22)

Why didn’t the disciples harla-harla-harla? Or anyone else in the Bible?

Why does someone have to ‘let go’ of their tongue before the Holy Spirit may gain access?

What is stammering?

Why does no one stammer in the Bible?

How much of the Holy Spirit do you have when stammering?

Why are the phrases below so popular? And what do they mean?

• “When I was seeking I felt my tongue starting to change, but it just didn’t quite happen”
• “We were not sure if I spoke in tongues so the pastor prayed with me to confirm it”
• “When I was seeking I got tongue tied and had to stop for a while”
• “After I spoke in tongues it still took me a few weeks to realise what I had”
• “I got a stammering tongue at first, but after a while it got more fluent”

Why are these not addressed in scripture?

Why are some tongues received ‘quietly’ without a life transformation and other times no tongues are present but a positive life transformation? Which one is God inspired? Which one is Biblical?

Why does Paul ask whether all speak in tongues rhetorically? (1 Corinthians 14:28-30)

Why does the Revival Fellowship preach this is the context of a ‘meeting’ if Paul also asks if all are apostles? Or prophets – which clearly not all ‘in a meeting’ are apostles or prophets? (1 Cor 14:28-30) Why is the answer an implied ‘no’?

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

Why does the Greek word used in these questions imply the answer is ‘no’? (mē)

Why have other scriptures with the same Greek word (mē) been translated as a negative or rhetorical ‘no’? (E.g. Romans 9:14; Luke 22:35; Romans 11:1; Romans 3:5-6)

Why do other translations read, ‘Not all have the gift of healing, do they? Not all speak in other languages, do they? Not all interpret, do they?’ (1 Corinthians 12:30)

Why is the Revival Fellowship alone in this interpretation? Why doesn’t the Strongs concordance (sold in the Vogue bookshop) back up this unique interpretation? Why aren’t there any other published concordances that have the same interpretation?

Why would Paul write to the Corinthian church asking them ‘do all speak in tongues?’ in the same breath as ‘are all prophets?’ Clearly the desired answer to this series of rhetorical questions are all the same. Is it then a yes or a no?

Was the entire Corinthian church prophets? Is it more likely that everyone in the church was all of these things or not all of these things?

Why does Paul distinguish between differing manifestations of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 12:7-11)

Why does Paul say, ‘for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will’? (1 Corinthains 12:7-11)

Why doesn’t the Revival Fellowship mandate other signs that follow believers in the Bible? E.g. boldness, prophesy, etc

Why haven’t linguists found any identifiable semantics, syntax, or morphology in tongues?

Why did Luke, when preaching ‘repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ stipulate he had ‘not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God‘? (Acts 20:21-27) Why was there no mention of tongues?

Why does Ephesians 1:13 say the Holy Spirit the seal given after belief? Why aren’t tongues mentioned at all?

Why does Paul write that, ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes’? (Romans 10:4)

Further reading

• Glossolalia as Learned Behavior: An Experimental Demonstration (PDF)
• Why Tongues Can’t be the Definitive Sign
• Speaking in Tongues
• A study on Glossolalia as language

If God wanted to reveal himself to us, why did he do it through a contradictory and confusing Bible that has led to thousands of splits in Christian theology, so that almost nobody – if anybody – heard the revelation correctly?

Why does the Bible state that God does not desire anyone perish (Isaiah 1:18, Ezekiel 33:11, John 3.16-18, John 6:37-40, Acts 17:22-34) if the majority of humankind is going to hell? (Matthew 7:14, Luke 13:23,24, Ecclesiastes 7:28) Why is God’s plan of salvation a failure by his own standards? If this outcome is a success, what would count as a failure?

Why is our need to be saved from eternal torture and the entire ‘problem of evil’ predicated on such a small mistake by one person? Why did this minor slip-up anger God so much that He cursed every single person born since? (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3) Why were Adam and Eve tempted beyond what they could bear? (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Why is there so much suffering in the world?

If God can’t stop the suffering – how is He omnipotent?

If God can stop the suffering and hasn’t – how is He good? (Is God love? [1 John 4:8])

If all the suffering and evil in the is the result of the Devil and our ‘free will’, how were we foreknown and predestined before the foundation of the world? (Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:29-33) And why then would God specifically liken our free will to clay being molded in His hands? (Romans 9:14-21)

Why didn’t God create human beings such that they freely desire to do good, thus removing the need to create a Hell at all? If this was impossible for God to do – how did God create heaven?

Why isn’t God compatible with human reason? Why does Christianity always come back to faith? Why is faith defined as hoping something is true without evidence? (or perhaps in spite of evidence? Hebrews 11:1).

Given this biblical definition, how is faith any different than willful ignorance? Is this what Paul referred to when he said, ‘God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise’? (1 Corinthians 1:27) If so, why? And why did God design us with reason capable of penetrating faith? Is then God ‘faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able’? (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Is it fair or rational for God to hide himself so that he can only be known by faith and then insist that every single human being find him by picking the right one out of thousands of conflicting and incompatible religions?

If you had the power to help all people who are suffering or in need, at no cost or effort to yourself, would you do it? Why hasn’t God done this? Why are there so many starving children in the world (etc etc etc)?

Why are some people going to be eternally tortured just because of their birth circumstances?

If it was always God’s plan to provide salvation through Jesus, why didn’t he send Jesus from the very beginning, instead of confusing and misleading generations of people by setting up Judaism which he knew in advance would prove to be inadequate? (Hebrews 9:13, Hebrews 10:4-11)

Why does an all-loving God discriminate against people with handicaps and genetic problems? (Leviticus 21:17)

Are all sins forgivable? (Acts 13:39) or only some? (Mark 3:29)

Why has God killed more people than Satan? (Especially since God finds no pleasure in death [Ezekiel 18:32])

Who has seen God? Abraham? (Genesis 18:1) Jacob? (Genesis 32:24-30) Moses & 73 elders? (Exodus 24:9-11) Did Moses spoke with God face-to-face? (Exodus 33:11) or just look at his back? (Exodus 33:22-23) Did Isaiah see God? (Isaiah 6:1-13) or Ezekiel? (Ezekiel 1:27-28) or Amos? (Amos 7:7) Why does the Bible say no one has ever seen God (John 1:18, 6:46, I John 4:12) and that God is un-seeable? (1 Timothy 6:16)

Is God a fair and righteous judge? Why does God claims to judge right (Genesis 18:25) but admits jealousy, (Exodus 20:5) command Abraham to sacrifice his own son, (Genesis 22:1-2) threaten disaster to make people be good, (Jeremiah 18:11) admits he makes calamity (Amos 3:6) and claims liability for good AND evil (Isaiah 45:7)

Did God love his enemies when he destroyed the entire world with a flood? When he killed all the firstborn of Egypt? When he killed 90,000 Midianites (Numbers 31)? 10,000 Canaanites (Judges 1)? 50,000 Benjaminites (Judges 20)? 1,000,000 Ethiopians (2 Chronicles 14)?

Can evil happen to the righteous? Why does God tell Satan how righteous Job is and then give permission for him to be struck with painful boils from head to toe (Job 2:3-7) when Proverbs 12:21 tells us no evil can happen to the righteous?

Why would God, on the very same day Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, order the massacre of 3000 of His people? Why would God tell Moses, ‘Thou shalt not kill’? and then on the same day instruct each man to strap a sword to his side and kill ‘his brother and friend and neighbor’? (Exodus 32:27)

Why would an all loving God advocate animal and human sacrifice?

Does God afflict people with illnesses? In Exodus 4:11 God says He is the cause of blindness, deafness, dumbness although He does not willingly cause grief or affliction (Lamentations 3:33).

Why would a loving God send bears to maul Children? (2 Kings 2:23-24)

Why would a loving God kill someone for picking up sticks? (Numbers 15:35) or helping God’s special box from falling on the ground? (Exodus 40:20)

Why does God approve of selling one’s daughter? Why does God set up conditions for how to go about selling one’s daughters (Exodus 21:7) only to forbid it? (Leviticus 19:29)

Who inscribed the commandments on stone? Did God dictate the second set of 10 Moses? (Exodus 34:27-28) Or did God inscribe the second set? (Deuteronomy 10:1-2,4)

Why does God go into minute detail regarding sacrifices and burnt offerings (Leviticus 1-7) only to deny saying anything about sacrifices or burnt offerings later? (Jeremiah 7:22)

Where do the rules on what types of food to eat come from? God? (Leviticus 3:17, 11:1-47) Or, man not God? (Col 2:20-23)

Should we judge others in righteousness? (Leviticus 19:15) or not otherwise you will be judged? (Matthew 7:1)

Why does God specify He never changes and always keeps promises (Numbers 23:19) if He admits not keeping a promise in 1 Samuel 2:30-31, 2 Kings 20:1-6 and Jonah 3:10?

If God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2) how did He deliberately send a ‘lying spirit’ into the mouth of Ahab’s prophets? (I Kings 22:20-30, II Chronicles 18:19-22) Or send people delusions to make them believe false things and be damned? (II Thessalonians 2:11-12) Even if God was able to ‘create’ lies but not lie ‘specifically’ – why would He send delusions to make people believe false to be damned? (II Thessalonians 2:11-12)

Why are there no documented cases of any miracle that cannot be explained by natural laws or coincidence? For example, why has God never healed an amputee?

Why does the Bible describe plants being created before the sun – when science says the opposite? How did the plants photosynthesize? (Genesis 1:11 & Genesis 1:16)

Why does Genesis describe birds being created before land animals – when the fossil record says the opposite? (Genesis 1:21 & Genesis 1:24)

Did God create a false fossil record to challenge our faith? Are we being tested more than we can bear? (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Why does the Revival Fellowship deny a literal interpretation of a worldwide Flood? (Is it contrary to modern geology?) Similarly, why does the Revival Fellowship deny a literal interpretation of the six “days” in the Creation week? (Contrary to modern astronomy?) If the pattern is in place for liberal interpretation when science calls for it – why then interpret creation literally? Why is evolution treated differently from other scientific advances that are contrary to the Bible?

Why are Christian scientists trusted by the Revival Fellowship with the ‘complex’ stuff (creationism) if they’ve got the ‘simple’ stuff wrong (salvation message)? I.e. none of the Christian scientists featured in Creation vs Evolution slide nights preach the RF’s idiosyncratic tongues doctrine.

Why do the pastors endorse scientific findings that disprove salt-damp-apparitions of Mary, or debunk the Shroud of Turin, or document the increasing frequency of earthquakes – yet deny the science (an entire branch!) that support evolution?

How does one explain the existence of transitional fossils in the fossil record when the Bible repeatedly and unequivocally states species are to reproduce “after their own kind”? (Genesis 1:20-25)

Why would God create so many transitional species in the exact order they would have evolved?

If God’s ways are higher than scientists’ – why are they quoted at Evolution vs Creation slide nights at all – regardless of their position?

Why is there no evidence of any creation ‘from nothing’ (Latin ex nihilo) in any branch of science? Why are there vast quantities of evidence of evolution in every branch of modern science?

By what process do we breed varieties of dog or horse today? If artificial section is a ‘plausible version of evolution’ in this context, why isn’t natural selection also plausible?

How do genes ‘know’ whether their ancestors were artificially or naturally selected? E.g. why can a species of plant or animal be manipulated by men but not by nature?

Wouldn’t this process provide a natural benefit to their offspring thereby creating a natural mechanism for the same sort of processes to occur?

Why does the biological or natural explanation make so much more sense than the supernatural?

If evolution was a world-wide conspiracy to discredit a creator-God, wouldn’t evolution be an anomaly in the scientific world? Instead, nothing in biology make sense except in the light of evolution (PDF) Why?

Why do comparative sequence analyses indicate so much shared DNA? Why would God create species to appear in ‘cousinship’?

Why would an ex nihilo Creator design ‘defunct’ pseudogenes in non-evolving species? Or such useless “junk DNA” within the human genome?

How did Adam name millions and millions of species? (Genesis 2:18-22) If there were fewer species ‘back then’, by which process did the newer ones appear? Again, why isn’t this reflected in the fossil record?

If God did take 13 billion years to create the universe (not 6 literal days) why wouldn’t He also create living creatures during the same length of time?

Or, if God took did take his time to create the universe but only the ‘in-His-own-image’ creation was formed from dust: why did it take so much more time to create the ’simple stuff’ (which is presumable less complex and less valuable) than the most valuable and highly complex organisms such as humans?

Why would God create a species from scratch with an organ like the appendix? Why would God sign-off his masterpiece with an Appendicitis-causing, near-pointless organ?

Why would God design our bodies to lack the ability to synthesize our own vitamin C? Why does our genetic code contain all the information required except one crucial gene which has mutated and “switched off”? Why would a loving God create most of the sequence for synthesizing vitamin C, but not all of it?

Why did God design the eye backwards, upside-down and with a blind spot? Or susceptible to angle-closure glaucoma, macular degeneration and retinal detachment?

Why do human fetuses grow a very thin coat of hair or fur before birth, and then shed it in their 8th month? Why would God add a completely meaningless step in human embryonic development?

Why would God design a koala’s pouch upside-down?

Why do embryonic dolphins have legs?

Why do whales have hind limbs and pelvic girdles?

Why do flightless birds have wings?

Why do ungulates have toes that do not reach the ground?

Why do dolphins have lungs – not gills?

Why do we have a coccyx bone?

Why do some snakes have non-functional hind limbs?

Why would an all-powerful creator decide to plant his carefully crafted species on islands and continents in exactly the appropriate pattern to suggest that they had evolved and dispersed from their site of evolution? And why do they nearly always resemble those on the nearest continent or large island?

For example, why would God put lemurs in Madagascar and nowhere else?

Why put platyrrhine monkeys in South America only, and catarrhine monkeeys in Africa and Asia only?

Why no mammals in New Zealand, except bats who would fly there? Why does the flightless Kiwi still have useless wings?

Why would the creator put only marsupials mammals here in Australia, except bats who could fly here and those who could arrive in man-made canoes?

Why would God create ichneumon wasps, that paralyze their victim, then lay eggs inside with the promise of larva gnawing it alive from within? Surely God wouldn’t have thought this creation was ‘good’? (Genesis 1)

Assuming God used evolution as His mode of creation: why would He allow mankind to evolve for millions of years of soulless, brutal existence only to “add in” a soul later, and then show up a few thousand years later to change the whole plan with Jesus?

Why is the most reliable gospel written a minimum of 50 years after Jesus died by someone who never saw Him?

Why did Jesus reappear to the disciples after being resurrected as someone they didn’t recognize? (Luke 24:31,37, John 20:10-16) How does this impact the credibility of the resurrection?

Why did Jesus appear in person to quell doubters in the past but no longer does?

Why does Jesus say He judges no one (John 8:15, 12:47) if ‘the Father entrusted all judgment to the Son’? (John 5:22)

Why does Matthew 1:1-16 claim that there are 27 generations between David and Jesus and Luke 3:23-38 claim 41?

Why did Jesus pray, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” if He is God? (Luke 22:42) Why did Jesus and God have conflicting ideas about the cross?

Why is Christianity so different from what Jesus preached?

Does it make sense to claim that wrongdoing can be forgiven by transferring the blame from a guilty person to an innocent one and then punish the innocent?

Why did Jesus quote a scripture ‘as it is written‘ that isn’t anywhere in the Bible? (John 7:38)

Why did Jesus have to die on the cross if people in the Old Testament were saved by their works?

Why did Jesus tell people they would not taste death before He comes again in his kingdom, over 2000 years ago? (Matthew 16:28, Mark 9:1, Luke 9:27)

Why is Coniah (also called by the Greek name Jechoniasis) listed as a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ when he was to be forever childless by God? (Jeremiah 22:28-30)

Why did Jesus say, ‘this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled’? (Matthew 24:34) and ‘there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom’? (Matthew 16:28)

Which generation was Jesus referring to? Why have 80 generations of Christians wholeheartedly believed that Jesus’ return was imminent in their generation?

Why did the earliest Christians, the generation immediately following Jesus’ death, expect Jesus to return at any moment? (I Thessalonians 4:15-17) Why did Jesus say this on more than one occasion (Mark 9:1, Matthew 26:64, Mark 13:30) if he hasn’t returned yet?

Why did Jesus encourage the beating of slaves? (Luke 12:47) Why didn’t Jesus correct any of the Old Testament’s instructions on how to obtain slaves, (Leviticus 25:44-46), how to beat slaves, (Exodus 21:20-21) when to have sex with female slaves and how to sell one’s daughters as sex slaves? (Exodus 21:7-11)

Why did Jesus rebuke a disciple for requesting time off to go to his father’s funeral by saying ‘let the dead bury their dead’? (Matthew 8:22)

Why did Jesus waste expensive ointment on himself rather than sell it to help the poor and say, ‘Ye have the poor with you always’? (Mark 14:3-7) Why didn’t Jesus alleviate poverty?

If Jesus bears witness of himself, is his witness true (John 8:14) or not true? (John 5:31)

Why would Jesus say, ‘I can of mine own self do nothing’ (John 5:19, John 5:30) or, ‘My Father is greater than I’? if he was God? (John 14:28) Why would Luke refer to him as, ‘a man approved of by God’? (Acts 2:22)

Why did Jesus teach his disciples to love their enemies, to do good to those who hated them, to forgive the sins of others and to treat others how they want to be treated; (Matthew 5:43-48) and then after call the scribes and Pharisees sons of the devil, fools, hypocrites, serpents, and white-washed tombs (Matthew 23:13-39)? Especially if ‘whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire’? (Matthew 5:22)

Why is the Golden Rule demonstrated by Jesus Himself so far beyond our comprehension?

Why does Jesus say He will kill children in Revelation 2:23?

Was the way to discipleship to ‘love one another’ (John 13:34-35) or to hate your father and mother, your siblings, your children, your wife and your own life? (Luke 14:26)

Why couldn’t the Comforter be present at the same time as Jesus? (John 14:16)

Why did Jesus drown innocent animals? (Matthew 8:32).

Why did Jesus refuse to heal a sick child until he was pressured by the mother? (Matthew 15:22-28).

Why did Jesus teach that marrying a divorced woman is adultery? (Matthew 5:32)

Why did Jesus teach not to work to obtain food? (John 6:27)

Why did Jesus teach not to have sexual urges? (Matthew 5:28)

Why did Jesus teach to take money from those who have none and give it to rich investors? (Luke 19:23-26)

Why did Jesus teach not to plan for the future? (Matthew 6:34)

Did Jesus led Peter, James, and John up a high mountain after six days (Matt. 17:1, Mark 9:2) or eight? (Luke 9:28)

Did Jesus tell the Lord’s Prayer before the multitudes during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1, 6:9-13, 7:28) or before the disciples alone, and not as part of the Sermon on the Mount? (Luke 11:1-4)

Why did Jesus condemn public prayer (Matthew 6:5-6) and Paul encourage it? (I Timothy 2:8)

Did Jesus curse the fig tree before purging the temple (Mark 11:14-15,20) or after? (Matthew 21:17-19)

Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Why didn’t He know figs weren’t in season? Why didn’t he make figs appear instead of just cursing it?

Did the effects of the curse come in to fruition immediately? (Matthew 21:9) Or the morning after? (Mark 11:12-14,20)

Why does Jesus say we should take no thought for ourselves or for tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself (Matthew 6:25-28, 30-34) when Paul says if a man does not provide for himself or his own he is considered disorderly ? (II Thessalonians 3:10)

Why does Jesus teach non-resistance and non-violence (Matthew 6:38-42) and then command people to take arms for coming conflict (Luke 22:36-37) and use a whip to physically drive people out of the temple? (John 2:15)

Why did Jesus say He will come back ‘with a sword in his mouth’ and a ‘robe dipped in blood’ along with an army to strike down the nations and will rule them with an iron rod’? (Revelation 1:16, Revelation 19:13)

Did a Centurion approach Jesus (Matthew 8:5-7) or not? (Luke 7:3.6-7)

Why did Jesus preach ‘peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you’ in John (14:27) and in Matthew: ‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’? Or why did Jesus say, ‘he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one’? (Luke 22:36)

Did John find out Jesus was the Messiah while imprisoned? (Matthew 11:2-3) or did John already know? (John 1:29-34,36)

Was Jesus was in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights? (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1) or 2 days and 2 nights? (John 20:1)

Did the Transfiguration occur 6 days after Jesus made his prophecy of his second coming? (Matthew 17:1-2) Or after 8 days? (Luke 9:28-29)

Did Jesus encounter one (Mark 10:46-47) or two blind men? (Matthew 20:29-30)

Was Jesus brought an ass and a colt (Matthew 21:2-7) or a single colt? (Mark 11:2-7)

Did Simon of Cyrene carry the cross (Matt 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26) Or did Jesus carry it alone? (John 19:17)

Did a thief on the cross believe (Luke 23:39-41) or not? (Matthew 27:44, Mark 15:32)

What were Jesus’ last words? ‘My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46) ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit’ (Luke 23:46) or ‘It is finished’? (John 19:30)

Did the observers at Jesus’ execution watch from afar? (Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49) or did they stand next to the cross? (John 19:25)

Did Mary tell the disciples what happened (Matt 28:8) or did she tell no one because she was afraid? (Mark 16:8)

Who did Jesus first appear to? Mary? (Matthew 28:9) Cleopas? (Luke 24:15-18) or Peter? (1 Corinthians 15:5)

Does Jesus first make an appearance after Mary leaves the tomb? (Matthew 28:9, Mark 16:8-9) Or, on the road to Emmaus? (Luke 24:13)

Did Jesus permit Mary to touch Him? Yes (Matt 28:9, Luke 24:39) or no? (John 20:17)

How many times did Jesus appear to humans after his resurrection? Twice? (Matt 28:9-10,17-20) Three times? (Mark 16:9,12,14-18) four times? (John 20:14-17, John 19-23, John 26-29, John 21:1-23) or six times? (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

How does the resurrected Jesus visit twelve disciples after Judas died? (1 Corinthains 15:5)

Did Mary go to the tomb after the sun had risen (Mark 16:2) or while it was still dark? (John 20:1)

How many people visited Jesus’ tomb? 1? (John 20:1) 2? (Matthew 28:1) 3? (Mark 16:1) Or more than 4? (Luke 24:10)

After Jesus’ crucifixion did the disciples stay in Jerusalem (Luke 24:5-7, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4) or not? (Matthew 28:16, Mark 16:7)

Did Jesus get his disciples before (John 1:40-42, 3:22-24) or after John’s imprisonment? (Mark 1:14,16-18)

Was Jesus crucified at the third hour (Mark 15:25) or the sixth hour? (John 19:14-15)

Did Mary prepare spices for Jesus before (Luke 23:56) or after the Sabbath? (Mark 16:1) or was it Nicodemus? (John 19:39)

Why did Jesus think there was a worldwide flood (Luke 17:27) and that Adam and Eve were real people? (Mark 10:6, Matt. 19:4)

Why did Jesus promote a literal hell like a ‘furnace of fire’ with ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth’? (Matthew 13:41-42)

Why did Jesus look at his critics ‘with anger’? (Mark 3:5)

Why did Jesus say, ‘I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’? (Matthew 10:35-36)

Why would God hide Himself from these studies?

Why is He hiding now when in the past He revealed Himself in so many different ways? (Exodus 3:2-6, 1 Samuel 3, Luke 9:35 etc)

If answered prayer is credited to God and unanswered prayer to ‘bad faith’ – how is this any different than “selective observation”?

Why was Paul’s prayer to remove his thorn in the flesh ignored? (2 Corinthians 12:7)

Why did Paul have to post-rationalize this unanswered prayer as an opportunity to “glory in [his] infirmities”? (2 Corinthians 12:9). In a modern, RF context, why wouldn’t this rationale impress new people?

Why is selective observation so prevalent in Christianity? (E.g. how many times has the whole assembly rallied around someone extremely ill only for them to die according to the mysterious ‘will of God’?) How much more faith is needed?

Why was Jesus’ prayer to avoid the cross unanswered? (Matt 27:39, Luke 22:42)

Why is Jesus’ prayer for Christian unity still unanswered? (John 17:20-22)

Why was Paul’s prayer to be delivered from unbelievers in Jerusalem unanswered? (Romans 15:31)

Why is there a whole chapter in Acts that details the exact opposite of what Paul prayed for in Romans? (Acts 21)

Why is answered prayer dependent on the faith of a believer? Why is this so different to what happened to doubters in the Bible? (e.g. John 20:27)

How can we expect God to help our unbelief (Mark 9:24) if He won’t answer prayer from someone who is doubting? (Mark 11:24, James 1:6-8, James 5:15)

Why are believers promised the power of doing “greater works than these” (John 14:12) when they are unable to even recreate ‘regular’ works (i.e. not greater); like walking on water (John 6:16-21) turning water into wine (John 2:1-11) and raising the dead after four days? (John 11:1-44)

Why don’t the promises of prayer in the Bible align with reality? (Matthew 7:7, John 14:13, John 15:16)

E.g. why can’t we really get “whatsoever we ask the Father in His name”? (John 16:23) Or, “call unto me, and I will answer thee” – why doesn’t this really happen? (Jeremiah 33:3)

Why is a ‘lack of faith’ used as an explanation for unanswered prayer, when the Biblical ratio of “faith to healing” is likened to “seed to mountain”? (Matthew 17:20) Why is reality the other way round?

Why was healing promised if God is under no obligation to answer sinners (Psalms 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-2, James 5:16, I John 3:21-22) who are born into sin? (Romans 5:12-14)

How can God see this sin after it has been washed clean (Revelation 7:15) and forgotten? (Jeremiah 31:34)

If God can see their sins (even after forgetting them) how are they ever able to be healed as a “sinner”? How does one escape this catch-22?

Why is God under no obligation to answer prayers that fail to give Himself glory (John 14:13, II Cor 12:9-10) if we don’t know what gives God glory? (John 9:3)

If God is under no obligation to answer selfish prayer (James 4:3) what can a believer logically expect to pray for?

Why are the “left-overs” nonfalisfiable, self-fulfilling prayers? (E.g. “Lord, give me strength”, “Help me stay on the straight and narrow” etc)

Why didn’t Jesus or the disciples anoint people with oil? Why is the only mention of this healing ceremony documented after Jesus by someone who never met Him?

Why would God heal someone but permit the Devil simulate the “illusion of symptoms”? (E.g. “By His stripes I was healed…” “I already have the victory…”) Why isn’t this concept explained in the Bible? How does one demonstrate the “healing” to an unbeliever with persisting symptoms?

Why does the Bible frequently indicate prayer will be answered affirmatively (e.g. Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:22-24; John 14:13-14; James 5:14-15) when there are so many stipulations and clauses to the contrary?

• E.g. Selfishness (Proverbs 21:13)
• Doubt (Matthew 21:21-22)
• Greed (James 4:2-3)
• Pride (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)
• Unforgiveness (Mark 11:24-25)
• Stubbornness (Zechariah 7:11-13)
• Not fellowshipping (John 15:7)
• Not seeking to please the Lord (1 John 3:22)
• Unconfessed sin (1 Peter 3:12)
• Improper motives (James 4:3)
• Not asking according to God’s will (1 John 5:14-15)
• Not knowing how to pray (Luke 11:1)
• Lack of faith (Hebrews 11:6)
• Misunderstanding of faith (Mark 11:24)
• Wavering faith (James 1:6-7)
• Failure to apply spiritual authority (Mark 11:23)
• Lack of perseverance (Galatians 6:9) etc

Unlike Pastor Darryl’s proverbial frog in the saucepan – falling away wasn’t something that gradually crept up on me, nor was I oblivious to the slowly boiling water. These double-minded-man questions accumulated over a period of nine years which I became very good at ignoring. These doubts came to a climax when I decided to address them and begin thinking critically about what I believe – which I had previously taken for granted. Ultimately as a result of this critical thinking I consciously and very deliberately decided to stop fellowshipping.

My testimony

I was brought up in the Lord and had the best upbringing and childhood anyone could ever ask for. I am not bitter towards the Fellowship or anyone still there – it will always be a part of who I am and I still am friends with saints (although historically these friendships don’t stand much of a chance).

My first real confrontation with ideas that opposed the doctrine of the Revival Fellowship happened whilst enrolled in a Christian high school. (Perhaps this is why the Pastor’s Manual characterises these as “dangerous for the spiritual well-being of our children”.) Here I was challenged by wishy-washy Christians who said faith alone was needed for salvation and that speaking in tongues was not important or even ‘for today’. Over a period of 5 years I became very well versed in both this false doctrine and the RF defense. At the time I didn’t think too much about why there were two different versions or how it was possible to argue opposing ideas out of the same book – given that it was God’s infallible Word.

These doubts came to a head during uni. I had a lot of unanswered questions regarding contradictions in the Bible, speaking in tongues, Bible numerics, the British Israel teachings, creationism, and teachings on the Pyramid of Giza. Still, I figured these niggling thoughts were Satan trying to distract me from the ‘bigger picture’. At this point I decided I wanted to find true Christianity. So I began systematically studying and probing each and every aspect; seeking to find (as promised in Matthew 7:7).

I had assumed that the more I search the scriptures – the clearer things would become. This couldn’t be further from actuality: one by one, each avenue I explored I encountered critical issues. This included the multifaceted and contradicting nature of God, a plethora of discrepancies within the Bible, Jesus as God, tongues as a sign and the teachings on creationism.

It soon became evident that the only reason I kept attending the meetings was out of habit, guilt and indecision as to what I should do or believe instead.

Where I’m at now

I still don’t have any answers; this site simply represents the questions that lead me to doubt. I am writing a follow-up post called Hope After Faith which will sketch out my evolving worldview covering questions of ontology, moral philosophy, and the limits of knowledge. [Editor’s note: that was an ambitious version of me. He meant well.]

Jordan Hillier
hello@jordanhillier.com
December 2009