A commenter on my YouTube channel asked a series of questions about God. I took them seriously. I first began to answer him by email. Another viewer then asked that the reply be public. What follows is those exchanges, which can be found in the comments to this video: https://youtu.be/_NIimzgFyvY
This is the original comment:
Hi Paul, I have a question for your God talks I struggle with. 91% of adults simply adopt and keep the religion they were raised in. If you were born in Afghanistan, you would almost certainly be Muslim. If born in India, Hindu. If born in Northern Ireland Christian, if born in Europe Christian, if born in the US Christian. Is it fair that geography determines who goes to heaven as people who do not have a relationship with or believe in Jesus and have a different faith / religion will not go to heaven according to the Bible ? Also if someone is born in a remote tribe who never heard of Jesus, God, Christianity and The Bible and has no relationship with Jesus or God will they go to hell ? According to the Bible they do ! Same question for all the people who lived thousands of years before Jesus, Christianity and The Bible even existed would they all have gone to hell ? According to the Bible they do ! Many traditional Christian teachings state that faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation. These views hold that rejecting or not having this belief results in eternal separation from God. Missionaries often work to share this faith because they believe unbelievers face spiritual danger. Also I came across Deuteronomy 22:20–21 which says: But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.”(Deuteronomy 22:20–21) I believe in God but I have hard time with the Bible because of texts like Deuteronomy 22:20–21 and because God killed millions of people in the flood and in the Bible God often commands a group of people to kill other people or even worse kill first borns. Most Christians only talk about the nice parts in The Bible and never mention verses like Deuteronomy 22:20–21 which I do not shy away from because it is written in The Bible. Most Christians never even read the Bible from beginning to end so when I mention Deuteronomy 22:20–21 they simply say that this is not mentioned in the Bible or they get angry while I simply read to them what is literally written in the Bible Can you explain why God says a woman should be stoned to death when she can not prove she is a virgin. It is literally written in the Bible it is very clear what is meant with this so one can not say you should not take it literally or that we as humans simply do not understand it because I do understand it very well and it is clear what is meant with it !! Also one can not say these were different times as God dictated the Bible to be written for eternity and in no way shape or form would this be ok in any period of time. Your God talks are at 2 AM in the morning when I am a sleep so I can not attend your God talks but luckily you record them so I surely listen to your God talks when you go into these issues. I know these are some tough issues but I am not the only one who has trouble with things written in the Bible. Only the fact that God killed millions of people in the big flood people who he created and are all his sons and daughters as he is the father. God is all powerful but he can not have a normal conversation with his own children about this like a father on Earth would with his children ! A father on Earth would not kill his own children when they misbehave but God does which makes it even worse as he is an all powerfull being with unconditional love. That means God loves people and all of his creation with unconditional love and umcondituonal means with no judgment which is what most Christians get wrong God does not judge that is impossible with unconditional love. A man on Earth who kills a lot of people is a mass murderer and goes to jail for the rest of their lives so what does that make God ? I have a hard time with the Bible because of all the things mentioned above and frankly the Bible upsets me and moreover that Christians follow the Bible blindly even tough there are horrific things in it. We have seen in World War 2 what happens when people all follow blindly what Hitler told them to do. I know captured German soldiers were shown pictutes and video of the death camps and they were horrified as they blindly followed what Hitler told them to do. I feel Christians follow blindly the Bible which has lots of horrific chapters and verses in it which are all over looked by Christians. I mean who follows the rules of a God who killed millions of people in a flood and then goes onto say in his 10 commandments Do not kill people which makes God not only a mass murderer but also a hypocrite. Why do I need a middleman like Jesus when I can talk to God directly. Why do I need the Bible and why do I need Christianity ? I belong to a group of people who do not go to church, do not believe in a middle man like Jesus, do not have a relationship with Jesus because he has been dead for thousands of years and do not believe everything in the Bible truely happed and we feel the Bible has a lot of morally wrong stuff in it that Christians are always try to find excuses for to make all the wrongs in the l Bible seem right I just believe in God and nothing more and nothings less and talk to him on my walks in nature will I go to hell for not believing in Jesus, not believing in salvation and are we all are sinners that we need to repent and be saved by Jesus !? I don’t believe all these things but I do believe in God and always try to help people and do good deeds whenever possible will I still go to hell ? According to the teachings of the Bible I do. I understand if all the things I mentioned above are too heavy or complicated to react to on your God talks.
This is the second commenter’s reply.
•20 hours ago@paulschmehl2124 Hi Paul! It would be greatly appreciated if you answered their comments here with a public comment of your own, since it’s a topic that many discuss, and that is often brought up in your videos. I completely understand if you find it too personal or something else like that that makes you uncomfortable talking about it publicly. If you are able to discuss it publicly though without making you feel uncomfortable, it would be greatly appreciated. I find much of your commentary interesting and insightful, hence why I am very interested in your reply to the comment. Thank you and keep up with the great content.
I did reply in that thread. I then thought further about the venue. YouTube comments age out as new ones arrive. A serious question deserves a reply that can still be found later.
So I will take his questions up on the God Talks livestream and publish the same material here, with the video embedded and this post linked from the video. That gives people a choice of format and a record that does not disappear down a comment thread.
If I had read his first line more carefully, I would have seen it sooner: “I have a question for your God talks.” He asked for this setting. The other commenter asked that it not stay private. Both requests are fair.
This post is only the process. I do not have all the answers. The ones I have, I will give as plainly as I can. Each question will get its own talk and its own article.