All the major faiths of the world preach that only through following their teachings and believing in their god will one reach heaven.  This means everyone else goes to hell.  To a christian, all the muslims are hell-bound.  To a muslim, all the christians are infidels and will never reach God.  I find it hard to believe that a loving God would set up half the world for failure.  Each faith is strict about the requirements to spend eternity with God.  How do we come to terms with this concept that ours is the only way?

Sincerely,
Too Exclusive

Dear Too Exclusive,

One of the key components to any religion is that we accept that particular religion’s god as he is.  It isn’t fair to simultaneously try and find which god is real (Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, etc.) and also have a pre-conceived notion about how we want God to behave.  If the Muslim’s are right, then Allah exists, and it doesn’t matter whether Allah is loving or not – Allah is what Allah is.  If the Buddhists are correct, it doesn’t matter whether we like reincarnation or not – reincarnation exists.  The same is true with Jehovah, the God of the Bible.  God is who God is, without regard to our opinion of how we feel He ought to be.  We may feel that He has “set up” a large portion of society for failure, but if the God of the Bible is real (and we feel confident He is!), we must take Him at His Word that all have evidence of His existence and are without excuse if they don’t follow Him (Rom 1:20).

The key to finding which god is the true God is to look at the evidence – primarily the key documents for each religion.  When you compare the Koran, the Dharma, the Veda, and other books of faith to the Bible… there is no comparison.  The Bible is accurate scientifically, prophetically, historically, and contextually consistent; it never contradicts itself and contains truths that only God would know and yet can be proven true by practice.  We highly recommend you read our article “Who Wrote The Bible?” for further explanation of the proof that the Bible is from God.  When analyzing religion in the search for truth, follow the evidence, and it will always lead you to the Bible.

My question pertains to one omitted book of the Bible, in particular, the book of Enoch.  I have learned that certain religions have omitted certain books, mainly the Gnostic gospels.  I have found adequate reasons for these New Testament scriptures to be omitted in certain cultures, but what about the book of Enoch?  I have recently purchased a book containing the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it includes the book of Enoch!  I was SOOO excited because I had previously purchased a single copy of this book, but couldn't find any evidence of it containing any truth.  The Dead Sea Scrolls and my purchased book of Enoch are in correlation. Also, in the book of Jude 1:6, there are references made to the fallen angels which are made known in the book of Enoch!  What is this mystery all about?  Did they omit it because people were somehow calling upon fallen angels (or their offspring) by name (demonic worship)?  Is this book valid?

Sincerely,
Connecting Dots

Dear Connecting Dots,

There are many writings that were included with the Dead Sea Scrolls that have non-biblical origins.  There are non-biblical writings that include commentaries on the Old Testament, paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and wisdom writings.  Just because the book of Enoch was included in the Dead Sea Scrolls doesn't mean that it ought to be included in the Bible.

The question of what books to include in the Bible and what books to exclude as false is a major issue – and it is an issue that the early christians had to face.  Twenty-seven books are included in the New Testament canon (the word ‘canon’, when applied to Scripture, means ‘the officially accepted list of books’), and each one of these books is documented by early christians as being a divinely-inspired piece of literature.  In other words, the early christians believed that God wrote it.

The key to understanding why some books are included in the Bible and other books (even books from the same time period) are excluded is to remember that the Bible claims to be God’s Book (2 Pet 1:19-21).  The early christians (or Jews in the case of the Old Testament) lived during the time when these books were being written, and they were fully aware of who was doing the writing.  Today, we can’t tell which religious documents were written by apostles and which documents were written by heretics… but the early christians certainly could!  If someone claimed that a letter was written by the apostle Paul, all they had to do to verify the authenticity of the letter was to ask Paul for themselves.  The early christians were in the best position to differentiate between authentic apostolic writings and manmade documents.  This is exactly why the early church quickly adopted the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, and they have been almost universally accepted as the only New Testament books ever since.  Numerous historical documents verify that the New Testament canon that we use today was accepted, read, collected, distributed, and used by the early christians from very early on.  People who seek to say that they have “found” some new Bible books that have been missing from the canon have to prove that their books were accepted by christians (or Jews if discussing Old Testament canon) from the beginning – no one has been able to do that.

Hi.  I guess that this isn't your typical question, but I figured that you guys would be able to help me.  I am doing a project where you pick a famous person, research them, and then make a presentation to persuade a panel of judges (the teachers) to vote your person into an imaginary "world hall of fame".  I decided to pick Jesus.  But my teacher said that He would be "hard" to find accurate resources on, so I would have to have three by this Friday.  Would you guys know two factual books on Jesus?  I already have the Bible as one resource.  Thank you.

Sincerely,
Honor Student

Dear Honor Student,

There are hundreds of books that are written about the historical life of Jesus.  Let’s start with some of the ancient writings that attest to Jesus’ life.  Apart from the Bible, here is a list of ancient writers that spoke about Jesus.

1. Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrote multiple times about Jesus in his book, Antiquities.
2. The historian, Thallus, mentions the darkness that fell over the land at the time of Jesus’ death.
3. The Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote of Jesus’ crucifixion at the hands of Pontius Pilate.
4. Pliny the Younger recorded the practices of early christians and their worship of the man Jesus.
5. The Babylonian Talmud confirms Jesus’ crucifixion just before Passover and the accusations against Jesus.
6. Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian who lived sometime between the late first century and the early third century, wrote a letter to his son (which is preserved in the British Museum) that mentions Jesus as a wise man that was put to death for His wisdom.

These aren’t the only writings on the topic of the historical Jesus, but they are certainly the oldest.  Two great modern books that cover the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth are More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell and The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel.

Is God real?

Sincerely,
Searching

Dear Searching,

Your question is one of the fundamental questions of life: “Does God Exist?”  It is important that everyone asks this question at some point in their life; it is a basic question that is worthy of an honest answer.

We will try to give you some key evidence that there is a Creator, but we will also point you in the direction of some resources that may help you in your quest for answers.  So here we go:

1. Look at a watch and ask yourself the question, “Is this designed?”  Of course, a watch is designed – just like a house, a car, a camera, and other modern technological marvels.  You know they are designed because they are complex, they have purpose, and they are organized in a meaningful way.  Now look at your eye, your hand, even a single follicle of hair.  Are they designed?  They are infinitely more complex than a watch.  They have very distinct purposes, and they are all organized in a meaningful way.  You were designed by God; you have a Designer.  If you believe in watchmakers, you can believe in God.
2. The most basic laws of science tell us that nothing ever comes from nothing (1^st Law of Thermodynamics).  Einstein made it clear that nothing can be destroyed; energy can turn into matter and matter into energy, but everything that is here has always been here.  That begs the question, “Where did it all come from?”  Scientists all agree that everything we see had to come from somewhere, but the only logical answer to that question is ‘God’.  God, a supernatural deity not bound by the laws of physics, created all that we see and enjoy in this universe.
3. God’s Word is also proof that God is.  The Bible is a book that only God could write.  It has prophecies that are fulfilled hundreds of years after they are spoken.  It has remained unchanged by tradition or persecution for thousands of years.  It makes statements about how our world works hundreds of years before scientists realized the concepts for themselves.  The Bible is a book composed by over forty different writers over thousands of years, and yet it has no contradictions within it.  The Bible could not have been written by anyone but Deity.

These are just three reasons to believe in God; there are many more that space prevents us from mentioning.  We also recommend you go back and read through the posts in our EVIDENCES category.  You will see that you aren’t the only one who has questions about God, and you will also see that there are answers to every question.  We also recommend reading Case For A Creator by Lee Strobel and Has God Spoken? by A.O. Schnabel. Both books are well worth the read.

What's wrong with saying "I don't know"?  Throughout history, I've never, even once, read or heard of a society that, instead of using supernatural events to explain how we all got here, actually said, "Well, we just don't know".  I sometimes wonder if the contents of the Bible are simply a result of our inability to admit we just don't know something.  It seems to me if people want to know the answer to something bad enough, they always somehow find or come up with one every time, letting nothing stand in there way, not even reality.  What are your thoughts?

Sincerely,
Everybody Knows Everything

Dear Everybody Knows Everything,

There is nothing wrong with saying “I don’t know”.  In fact, we often have to admit that to people who ask questions on AYP.  God even says that there are some secret things we won’t understand in this life (Deu 29:29).  If the Bible were only a story of how we got here, it would rank amongst the thousands of other myths and legends created by cultures to explain mankind’s existence.  However, the Bible is unique.  The Bible is different than any other book ever written.  If God were to write a book, it would be no more impressive than the Bible.  The Bible is full of detailed prophecies written hundreds of years before their fulfillment, it is scientifically accurate (i.e. the Bible taught the world was round centuries before mankind realized it was – Pr 8:27), it is archaeologically accurate, and it is flawlessly without internal contradiction… even though it was written by over sixty different writers over thousands of years.  In short, the Bible is a book that couldn’t be written by man.  It contains details and facts that no human being could know.  We believe the Bible’s account of history because the Bible is unlike any other book.  For more information on the Bible’s origins, read “Who Wrote The Bible?”.