Thought Provoking Questions About The Bible
Written by Darrell Genzlinger
Last entry December 2005
Revised July 2006
1. Why, after each day of creation, God saw that it was good except the second day? After the second day the Bible just says 'it was so'.First Day: God created light. It was good.
Second Day: God created heaven. It was so.
Third Day: God created earth and vegetation. It was good.
Fourth Day: God created sun, moon, and stars. It was good.
Fifth Day: God created fish and fowl. It was good.
Sixth Day: God created animals and man. It was good.I believe the angels were already created. Lucifer and one-third of the angels had already rebelled against God. And God created heaven and He set aside heaven as the abode for the rebellious angels. That is why God did not say, “It was good” on the second day.
2. According to the Bible, what two things were not created during the six day creation?
Darkness and waters. And possibly the angels. Darkness (and waters) were created before the six day creation. Is. 45:7.
3. Has Satan and his angels been cast out of heaven yet (10/12/2002)?
No, I don’t believe that he has. We know that Satan still had access to heaven in Job’s day as told in Job 1:6-12.
Was Satan cast out of heaven at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection?
No, I don’t believe he was. The Bible states in Eph. 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” I believe Satan still has access to heaven, and he will be thrown out of heaven during the Great Tribulation as foretold in Rev. 12:7-17.
I believe that Satan will have access to heaven until Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24 where it says, “powers of the heavens will be shaken.” However, this could be referring to the powers of the physical heavens, such as, gravitational forces. Or both interpretations could be fulfilled.
4. What is heaven like?
Before paradise was lost the world was perfect. There was an abundance of plants and animals that grew and reproduced after their kind. I don’t think that there was any death or dying at that time. If heaven is paradise regained then we should expect it to be like it was before the fall of man into sin with one exception. Man will be like the angels. They will be neither male nor female (Gal. 3:28). And they do not marry nor are given in marriage (Matt. 22:30).
If there are animals in heaven will there be any dogs? Rev. 22:15. Or snakes? Gen. 3:15. Or will animals reproduce? Maybe they are sexless too. Or will they defecate or perspire? Will man defecate or perspire? Will there be a total elimination of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, i.e., the clock never runs down or gets rusty?
I believe that if there will be animals in heaven, and that they too will be non reproductive. Man will be a vegetarian. He doesn’t need to eat anything, but if he does it will be wholly consumed with no waste material or energy. He will not defecate or perspire or get tired or need rest or sleep. If man has an accident and injures himself he will be healed by the leaves of the tree of life. Rev. 22:2.
5. Is God the only one who is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent?
I think that He is. I don’t believe the angels have that capability. God is the only one who is all- knowing, all-powerful, and all-present. Satan does not know what I am thinking, so if I don’t verbalize my feelings and show my emotions, he has no way of knowing my feelings about certain things or about certain people.
6. How was Arphaxad the father of Salah (Shelah) who was the father of Eber and also Cainan who was the father of Shelah? Compare Genesis 11:24 with Luke 3:35-36.
Genesis Genealogy: Arphaxad - Salah - Eber
Luke Genealogy: Arphaxad - Cainan - Shelah - EberPossible solution: Cainan died before his wife could bear him any children. Cainan’s brother, Salah, married Cainan’s wife and had a child called Eber and raised up Eber for Cainan. Matthew 22:24.
Argument against this solution: Eber was not of Cainan’s seed which is what Luke 3 would lead one to believe.7. What is Luke’s genealogy? It differs with Matthew’s genealogy.
Matthew’s genealogy is the royal line of David from Solomon to Joseph the stepfather of Jesus. [Matthew’s genealogy leaves out several generations. (See II Kings.)]
Luke’s genealogy is the line from David’s son, Nathan, to Mary the mother of Jesus. But the genealogy never mentions Mary by name.
8. Was Nathan David’s son or David’s stepson, i.e., Bathsheba’s son by Uriah?I believe that Nathan was David’s son. If he was David’s stepson Mary, mother of Jesus, couldn’t be of David’s seed. Uriah was a Hittite. Ex. 33:2.
9. Did the Holy Spirit implant a fertilized egg into the Virgin Mary’s womb, in other words, did God use Mary as a surrogate mother, or did the Holy Spirit fertilize one of the Virgin Mary’s eggs?
I believe the Holy Spirit fertilized one of the Virgin Mary’s eggs, and as a result, Jesus the Christ was born. Jesus is the Seed of David. The Lord said to David, “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.“ (2 Sam. 7:12; NKJV). If the Holy Spirit supplied a fertilized egg to Mary’s womb then Jesus couldn’t be an ancestor of David. That is why Jesus is called the Son of Man or true Man, as well as the Son of God or true God.
10. How does (did) sin propagate throughout generations of mankind?
Gen. 2:7 says that God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. This is something that God did not do with any other creature. So, man became a human being, which has God’s immortality and the ability to pass this immortality on to his offspring through his sperm.
God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. While Adam slept God took one of Adam’s ribs and made Eve. God made Eve from Adam. The Bible doesn’t tell us whether God breathed into Eve the breath of life like He did with Adam. I personally don’t believe He did. Anyway, Eve’s life and immortality most likely was passed from Adam. Adam was perfect and now Eve was perfect. The two became husband and wife (Gen. 2:21-24).
Eve succumbed to eating the forbidden fruit first. Before any of Eve’s eggs were fertilized she ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Then Adam did also eat of the forbidden fruit.
I believe that through Adam’s sperm (seed) only, life and immortality passes on to each succeeding generation. I don’t believe that original sin is propagated on to Eve’s offspring through her eggs. (I may have to rethink this if human sperm can be produced in the laboratory; i.e., without male participation.)
When the Holy Spirit entered the Virgin Mary He must have purged all sin from Mary’s egg. Otherwise, I would have to believe that the Virgin Mary was a surrogate mother since Mary’s egg would have been sinful.
That is why the Bible always refers to Adam as the chief culprit and not Eve. 1 Cor. 15:22 reads, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ’s all shall be made alive.“ And Romans 5:12 reads, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Since Adam sinned all his descendants are sinners. Adam’s living sperm passed this curse on to each succeeding generation.
Note: We often think of physical death as the extinction of life, but in reality, we should think of death as either eternal separation from God or, for a Christian, eternal residence with God.
11. Should we baptize infants? Or wait until they are old enough to make up their own mind?
Arguments for infant baptism: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:19. Infants can not reason. Some imbeciles never can reason. Some infants die before they can reason. It is God that gives man the Holy Spirit to believe anyway. Besides, man baptizes with water, but it is Jesus who baptizes us (man) with the Holy Spirit. See Matthew 3:11. Judas undoubtedly was baptized with water, and he is in hell. See John 17:12. The malefactor on the cross was probably not baptized with water but was baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit, and he went to be with Jesus that very day. See Luke 23:43. Does believing come first or baptism with water come first? Neither. Baptism with the Holy Spirit comes first; whether an infant or an adult. In fact, the infant could be a fetus, like John the Baptist was. See Luke 1:41.Argument against infant baptism: We should believe and be baptized. And the little children and the mentally challenged can not believe so they should not be baptized until they are older.
12. Are the unbelievers (the unsaved) going to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire?
Argument for: The rich man wants Lazarus to warn his people. Luke 16:20-31.Anyone not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire, as will Death and Hades (Hell). This is the Second Death. Rev. 20:13-15.
13. Was Ishmael a believer or an unbeliever?
I think the Bible tells us that he was a believer. Genesis 25:17 tells us that Ishmael was 137 years old when he gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered unto his people. I believe the phrase “gathered to his people” has a specific meaning in the Bible. See Gen. 25:8 for Abraham; Gen. 25:17 for Ishmael; Gen. 35:29 for Isaac; Gen. 49:29 and 49:33 for Jacob; Num. 20:24, 20:26 and 27:13 for Aaron; Num. 31:2 and Deut. 32:50 for Moses; Judges 2:10 for Joshua and that generation that conquered Canaan. Esau did not make the list.
Also, being gathered unto his people would mean that Ishmael was with Abraham, his father. And, referring to the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham whereas the rich man was not, and there was a great gulf between the rich man and Abraham.
The Lord said to Moses, “And when you have seen it (Canaan), you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered.” Gen. 27:13.
For someone who is not saved see what the Lord says about Pharaoh king of Egypt in Ezekiel 29:5. “You (Pharaoh) shall not be picked up or gathered.”
"Do not gather my soul together with sinners." Psalm 26:9.
"They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth." Jer. 8:2b.
"They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground." Jer. 25:33.
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." 2 Thess. 2:1.
14. Whose wedding did the Master attend in the parable “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant” in Luke 12:35-37?
It reads, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.” (NKJV).
The question is whose wedding did the Master return from? I believe it is our wedding. Jesus and His Church.
And He will come and serve them. Who is them? My interpretation is that they, the servants, are the people who became believers on earth after the rapture.
15. Where in Old Testament is there an analogy of the pretribulation rapture and those left behind to go through the tribulation?
Jacob married Leah seven days before he married Rachel. Leah is a type of Christian Church where we become Christ’s Bride seven years before Rachel, a type of Jewish believers, that become Christ’s Second Bride. Genesis 29:15-30.
16. Has Ezekiel 29:8-16 been ultimately fulfilled?
I don’t believe it has. The land of Egypt has not been made desolate and waste, where neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and made uninhabited for forty years, and at the end of forty years God will bring them back to Egypt.
If Egypt has never been made desolate and waste for forty years yet, the amillennialists are in error when they say that Jesus Christ’s Second Coming to earth is imminent. The amillennialists would have to believe that forty years remains yet before the end of the world could occur. Therefore, Christ’s Second Coming could not be imminent as they say it is. Lutherans, like Catholics, are amillennialists. Martin Luther did not go far enough with the reformation. He probably had bigger fish to fry.
17a. Will the believer get a new body when he dies?
Yes. A person’s physical body, including the heart and brain, will return to dust from which it came (Eccl. 12:7), and when believers are resurrected we will get a new body. The dead believers will be resurrected with an incorruptible body (1 Cor. 15:50-58). The living believers at the rapture will be changed to an incorruptible body in the twinkling of an eye.
17b. Will the nonbeliever also get a new body?
I don’t know but I don't think so.
18a. Will the believer's soul die? [The soul is what makes you you. A person's personality.]
No, it does not. Jesus did not leave His soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption (Acts 2:27). A believer’s soul never dies as implied in John 11:25-26 and stated as a fact in James 5:20.
18b. Will the unbeliever's soul die?
Yes. A nonbeliever’s soul is dead already (from conception). But, the soul of a nonbeliever will die a second death (Rev. 20:14-15).
19a. Will the believer’s spirit die?
No. It never dies. The believer’s spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7), so a believer’s spirit never dies.
19b. What about the nonbeliever’s spirit? Will the unbeliever's spirit die?
No. Jesus said, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," in Matt. 25:41, "and these will go away into everlasting punishment," in verse 46. The unbeliever will 'suffer the vengance of eternal fire' (Jude 7).
20. What does it mean to be “born again” as used in John 3:3?
Born once die twice. The unbeliever has a physical birth only. He will have a physical death and a spiritual death.
Born twice die once. The believer has a physical birth and a Spiritual rebirth. He will have only a physical death.
The believers will be raised in the “first resurrection”. The “second resurrection” will only consists of those people who experience the “second death”. Rev. 20.