Christian Witch

1. “God has a plan” does not equal “every minutia of earth is carefully orchestrated like a Broadway play”. It means god knows what he’s doing. And sometimes that means letting the chips fall where they may. Also, prayer is not wish fulfillment. It’s to establish a relationship with god.

2. Faith, by definition, can never have concrete evidence of truth, otherwise it would not be faith. (Not sure I understand the question.)

3. Faith is a moral virtue because it measures a persons ability to trust, and as a social species, trust is essential to build society.

4. Don’t understand the question. Who says it doesn’t?

5. God doesn’t punish anyone for ignorance and there’s nothing to suggest that he does.

6. There’s a million different answers for this. Some people believe that there is no hell; there are arguments over its translations and references in the Bible. Some people believe it’s a sanctifying fire that is necessary for every soul to go through to be cleansed. Personally, i believe that loving someone does not mean you spare them from consequences.

7. I believe God wants worship so that no one forgets who to assign credit to. If I created the universe, i would be pissed if my creation forgot the work I created. It’s a matter of recognition and acknowledgement and respect.

8. Everyone is free to choose whichever path works best for them. That is their right as human beings.

9. There’s different ways of answering this as well. In the Old Testament, one interpretation is that it’s not about it being a life that’s being sacrificed, it’s about sacrificing an important and valuable source of food. Some say that that’s the point of Jesus’s sacrifice, and that’s why God does not need blood to forgive sin. In terms of forgiveness, I think there’s Levels to it. In the Old Testament, God did not require a sacrifice for every minor slight. Similarly, I don’t think most people are as all-forgiving as my interpretation of God is. My interpretation of God is a god who forgives the Worst of the Worst. So much so that, yes, I can see why it would justify the martyrdom of Jesus’s innocence. I don’t believe there is any good that a human is capable of doing that God is not capable of doing.

10. The Bible was written by man, it is as flawed as man is.

11. Who says which prayers God does and does not answer? We have no way of knowing, which is the point. Again, if prayer acted as wish fulfillment there would be no need for faith.

12. I don’t understand the 300,000 year reference but no, people were not punished simply because they lived prior to Jesus’s time. Some believe they are in purgatory until the rapture at which point they have the chance to choose. Personally I don’t believe that the concept of time really applies to the creator of the universe.

13. Interpretation is different.

14. Again, if there was a cheat code, faith wouldn’t be necessary. God reveals himself to all who seek him in time, in his own way.

“Well did you go on our website?”

“No but I checked your app”

“We don’t have an app”

“…Yes you do. It was in the packet I was sent. I’m on it right now.”

“No way, seriously? They never told us. Oh wow look right in the app store and everything.”

“…Anyway can you tell me what happens if there’s no provider within two hours of where I live?”

“Oh I have no idea. Try calling back during business hours.”

Now, I wont go so far as to dismiss all of it outright. It’s tempting to do so, but our everyday truths were once dismissed as wild fantasy for centuries. The reality is I just don’t know definitively one way or the other.

But I do know two things. People love to tell stories. That is a unifying truth of every human for all time. And there will always be people who take advantage of other’s desperation to believe in a certain story.