General

Questions on Protestant-Christianity

Hi guys, I notice that many people on Basil in the chat section usually get the wrong view or inflated view about God or our religion, so I will attempt to list down some common questions and answers.

Also notice that this is from a Protestant. I am not Pentecostal, and you might get something different from everyone.

[b]Q. All non-believers are going to Hell? You've gotta be kidding me.[/b]

Yes, it is true. However, the one thing that many people do is take it the wrong way. I wonder how many Christians used this as an insult. We are either saying it with the wrong purpose or people take it the wrong way. I think it is more commonly the first.
Sure, all non-believers are going to Hell. But, that doesn't mean we cast you out. The reason for missionaries is to spread the Word so that people will [b]not[/b] go to Hell, and to give people peace and contentment.
In my opinion, the people who we need to reach the most are the East Asian countries. Specifically, Japan. The danger is that they do not know about God, in either a good or bad way. Many people in America reject God, but some people don't even know him in [b]a way.[/b] We want to reach as many people as possible, to spread the good news and the warning.

[b]Q. God created evil, right? Then, is he not a horrible God who enjoys dealing out pain?[/b]

I just read an article about this. And, of course, my answer will be "no."

For this, I am going to start from the beginning. The book of Genesis.

God created the world. Genesis outlines the beginning pretty well. He created the heavens, the earth, the lights, the land, the waters, the sky, life, and the first man. He formed the man out of dust and breathed life into him. He also made him in the image of Himself. And, He also gave him all the life on the planet, the plants and the animals (now including multi- and single celled organisms, I suppose).
Then, God put him in the Garden of Eden, a garden he had planted in the east. And, in the middle was the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then, he gave him the garden, but warned him not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it your will surely die.
Then, he created the first woman by taking a rib out of the man and created woman. Because woman was created from man, it is "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

And, they were naked and free of shame, basically, innocent.

So, I suppose you can say that heterosexuality is the original and true bonding. It is sacred from creation, as you could say (but it is not said in the Bible).

And then, the serpent came along. And then, he began to tempt the woman to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He lied to the woman that she would not die, and argued that He doesn't want you to eat it because you will be like God. So Eve, the woman, took it and shared it with the man, Adam.

For this, God was angry at the serpent, and punished both the serpent and the woman. For the serpent, He made it crawl on the belly for the rest of its days and put a feeling of hostility between the serpent and the woman. He also said, "he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

For the woman, He increased the pain of childbirth, and made woman's desire her husband, and said "he will rule over you."

For the man, for eating of the fruit even though being warned, He cursed the ground, and He said we would work the ground, painfully, and eat food until we return to the ground, where we came from.

Therefore, by eating and gaining the capacity to know knowledge, we have taken sin.

I suppose you could say that it was their choice to listen to the serpent. Therefore, you could say that God gave us the choice of having sin.

The serpent is said to be the Devil, Satan. However, as I question myself many times, I either refer back to the Bible to re-confirm it or to correct it.
And, with evil in this world, you could say it is the absence of God. It is like light and darkness: darkness is the absence of light. When you reject God, you reject the original truth. Therefore, people will accept other lies or our own limited findings as truth.

[b]Q. If God cared about all of us, why doesn't he just stop all suffering?[/b]

Perhaps, because, from the story above, we brought it on ourselves. However, He did provide a way out: Jesus Christ. He sent his son to Earth to become man to become a sacrifice that would cleanse us of our sins. Additionally, he sent us "the Counselor," or, "the Holy Spirit." He ascended back to Heaven, as he explained that the Counselor would not come if he did not go. The Holy Spirit is received by followers of Christ in the Pentecost. Because the Holy Spirit made us speak in tongues on the day it was given to us, I believe that the Pentecostal churches sometimes emphasize the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. I do not go to a Pentecostal church, so my church doesn't emphasize speaking in tongues or other things, but I heard that some churches got very... charismatic.

[b]Q. Why do churches ask for money? Don't they have enough and not be greedy?[/b]

Well, I don't have a verse I know about on this subject, but I do know that they do not usually spend it lavishly. Of course, there are always bad churches and scammers. But all of us aren't.
We call these tithes, I think. They are given to help with the expenses with running the church so that the ministry and the services can continue. It is like a tax for supporting public service. After all, churches open their doors to the public, right?

[b]Q. Is being gay a sin?[/b]

Yes. I believe so.
The fact that the story of Sodom is there, and that the apostle Paul in the New Testament spoke out against sexual immorality, it makes sense to say, "yes." Should I not mention that homosexuality is not the original bonding? Woman was made from man, which is why they are one flesh (the term used for "doing it&quot. Yes, we say, "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," and there are also additional reasons.

- Sexual identity may be lost in homosexual relationships.
- HIV (and the fact that it is a horrible disease)
- Adultery is forbidden.
- Babies are only made in one way.
- Family will not be accepted.
- Still looked down upon here, no matter the gay rights movement. A sign to show that it isn't looked down upon if you never hear a problem about it.