Christian riddles

Submitted by JJJoseph (Canada), Jan 26, 2007 at 01:10

These are all easy questions to answer. Christians study these apparent contradictions in order to figure out the true message in these ancient documents. The documents (the Dead Sea scrolls, for example) are several thousand years old and difficult to read or understand. In addition, there may be similar messages in different scrolls recorded by witnesses at different times. All the evidence is assembled for students into one handy sourcebook, the "Bible".

Useful answers can be found by focused research. Each Christian goes through this process to learn for himself instead of simply memorizing one standard document (which is not a good way to learn). Jews also learn by researching ancient documents. In most cases, Jews and Christians are researching the same documents, but arriving at different conclusions. For example, the expression "Son of Man" is similar to saying someone is a Son of England, or a Son of Egypt. It doesn't mean that England or Egypt placed sperm into a woman. Some may conclude that a man placed sperm into Mary (creating a different "Son of Man"), but that doesn't quite fit with the rest of the evidence.

After reviewing all the contradicting evidence, most Christians come to similar, but personal, conclusions. A true Christian doesn't memorize any conclusions, which is why people say Christianity is a "personal" faith.

Feel free to join a Bible study group and see how Christians learn to do research. There is no charge!

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".