I will be slowly be adding to this list of unique Revivalisms.
Feel free to make suggestions.

Why do the Revival Fellowship operate “voice gifts” (a phrase not found in the Bible) according to Paul’s criticisms to the Corinthian church? (1 Corinthians 14)

Why are these “voice gifts” spoken in 17th century English?

Why has this ceremony been appended to Communion? Why isn’t this in the Bible?

Why is communion a permanent Sunday fixture? Especially if “whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”? (1 Corinthians 11:27)

Why does Revival Fellowship-style prayer in English consist of fast and repetitive “Hallelujah-Praise-the-Lord-Thank-you-Jesus-Hallelujahs”? Is this how the disciples would have prayed in their native tongue?

Why is this prayer style so popular if it is inherently more repetitive than the oft-shunned Lord’s Prayer? Why doesn’t this qualify as “vain repetitions” that Jesus despised? (Matthew 6:7)

Why are opening and closing prayers dotted with the antiquated phrase ”Yea”?

Why do the Revival Fellowship distance themselves from every weird and immoral idea documented in the Old Testament except tithing?

1. Why are there contradictions in the Bible?

2. Why does the Revival Fellowship preach tongues ‘as a sign’ if Jesus stipulated
that no signs would be given except the resurrection? (Matthew 12:38-40,
Mark 8:12-13) Are tongues “for a sign” or not? (1 Corinthians 14:22)

3. Why do transitional/intermediate species appear in the fossil record if the Bible
repeatedly says species are to reproduce after their own kind? (Genesis 1)

4. Why does God approve so much immorality in the Bible that today we find
repulsive? E.g. why do both Testaments endorse genocide, animal torture and
slavery? If society has moved on since then – how is Jesus the same yesterday,
today and for ever? (Hebrews 13:8)

5. Why don’t the promises of prayer in the Bible align with reality?
(E.g. Matthew 7:7, John 14:13, John 15:16)

6. Why is God’s only outward and manditory sign of salvation a well documented
(a) learned behaviour that (b) historically pre-dates Christianity?

7. If ‘answered prayer’ is credited to God, and unanswered prayer to
‘bad faith’ – how does one avoid making self-fulfilling “selective observations”?

8. Why is the Bible of 400 CE and the Bible today different by dozens of chapters
and thousands of parts? Which Bible is the Word of God? And why does man
edit it? Why are there conflicting salvation messages in God’s only book?

9. Why are the observations of the natural world documented in the Bible
so similar to the author’s pagan contemporaries at that time? Why is there so
much anti-science in the Bible?

10. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross if people in the Old Testament were
saved by their works? In any case, why did God have to sacrifice Himself to
make Himself happy with His own creation?

Please share anything discussed at a Basics Night in response to this.

In the past, as a Christian attending the Revival Fellowship, I would have immediately dismissed the contents of this website as “foolish questions… and contentions” or “vain babblings” and would have thus labeled them “unprofitable and vain” (Titus 3:9, 2 Timothy 2:16).

However, the New Testament encourages Christians to rationalize or defend their beliefs; which I initially set out to do.

For example, Paul, urges Timothy, “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. (2 Timothy 2:15)

Similarly, Peter challenges his readers to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15)

How is one to rightly divide the word of truth

- if only ever exposed to one side of the argument?

In the vein of these two prominent figures in Christiany history, I challenge you to actually think about these questions and formulate an answer for the hope that is within you. Ask yourself, honestly, what do the discrepancies, irresolvable differences, and contradictions in the Bible actually mean. Ask yourself, ‘What are the implications of an erroneous Bible?’

As briefly outlined in the introduction, my journey has involved the rejection of creationism, Jesus as God, the Bible as divine and inerrant, tongues as a sign and the existence of a personal God (specifically the God described in the Bible).

Below are five books that I found very useful in gaining perspective on these five topics other than assuming the Revival Fellowship’s as the default.

Bible	Creation*	Jesus#	Tongues	God§

It’s one thing to emotionally reject this site and these questions because they contradict what you “know” is true – but it’s another to actually reject these questions intellectually after examining the issues raised. And surely more satisfying? You will emerge a better informed Christian with a much stronger faith.

Finally, think of Paul’s criticism to the men of Athens who were superstitious and worshiped their God in ignorance (Acts 17:22-23).

This site is not a collection of bitter ramblings or the sorry tale of someone who lost their first love or stopped overcoming. Rather, this site is the collection of thoughts, formatted as questions, that lead me away from The Revival Fellowship and ultimately Christianity.

Unlike Pastor Darryl’s proverbial “frog in the saucepan” – falling away wasn’t something that gradually crept up on me, nor was I oblivious to the slowly boiling water.

These ‘double-minded-man’ questions accumulated over a period of 9 years – which I became very good at ignoring. These doubts came to a climax when I decided to address them and begin thinking critically about what I believe – which I had previously taken for granted. Ultimately as a result of this critical thinking I consciously and very deliberately decided to stop coming.

I was brought up in the Lord and had the best upbringing and childhood anyone could ever ask for. I am not bitter towards the Fellowship or anyone still in the Lord – it will always be a part of who I am and I still am friends with saints (although historically these friendships don’t stand much of a chance).

My first real confrontation with ideas that opposed the doctrine of the Revival Fellowship happened whilst enrolled in a ”Christian” high school. Here I was challenged by “wishy-washy” Christians who said faith alone was needed for salvation and that speaking in tongues was not important or even ”for today”. Over a period of 5 years I became very well versed in both this ”false doctrine” and the Revival Fellowship’s defense. At the time I didn’t think too much about why there were two different versions or how it was possible to argue opposing ideas out of the same book – given that it was God’s inspired Word.

It wasn’t until later, during uni, that I revisited these thoughts when coming across more inconsistencies and oddities within the teachings of the Revival Fellowship. In particular, I had a lot of unanswered questions regarding Bible numerics, British Israel, the pyramid and creationism (in addition to tongues). Still, I figured these niggling thoughts were Satan trying to distract me from the “bigger picture”. At this point I decided I wanted to find “true Christianity”. So I began systematically studying and probing each and every aspect; seeking to find (Matthew 7:7).

I had assumed that the more I search the scriptures – the clearer things would become. This couldn’t be further from actuality: one by one, each avenue I explored I encountered critical issues. For example, the multifaceted and contradicting nature of God, a plethora of discrepancies within the Bible and numerics, Jesus as God, tongues as a sign and the myth of creation etc

It soon became evident that the only reason I kept attending the meetings was out of habit, guilt and indecision as to what I should do or believe instead.

I still don’t know what to do instead and I don’t have any answers: this site simply represents the questions that lead me to doubt. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t looked into any of these things because they’ve ruined what I’ve always “known” to be true. However, I do wonder why and why things can’t be probed too much if it’s True You Can Prove It?

Why did God choose to fill a large portion of His only book with such trivial and irrelevant information?

Why include a woman killing a man with a tent peg (Judges 4:21) or a man cutting up his concubine and mailing her body parts around? (Judges 19:29)

Why include Moses instructing his soldiers, “kill everyone but save the virgins for yourselves”? (Numbers 31:18)

If God is going to take the time to write a book that will last for millennia, why fill it with such irrelevant (and immoral) material?

Why would an all-knowing, all-seeing and all-loving God command full-scale genocide throughout the Old Testament? (Deuteronomy 7:1-2, Deuteronomy 20:16) or describe the pleasure of dashing children against rocks? (Psalms 137:9)

Why do the Old and New Testaments both advocate slavery? (Leviticus 25:44-46, Ephesians 6:5, 1 Timothy 6:1-2)

Why does the Bible go into detail about how to obtain slaves, (Leviticus 25:44-46), how to beat slaves, (Exodus 21:20-21) when to have sex with female slaves and how to sell one’s daughters as sex slaves? (Exodus 21:7-11)

Why did Jesus endorse this? (Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 5:18-19)

If society has moved on since then – how is Jesus the same yesterday, today and for ever? (Hebrews 13:8)

Why did the people responsible for editing the King James Version not believe what the Revival Fellowship teach about tongues? Why are they trusted with this complex task when they got salvation ‘wrong’?

Why is the Bible of 400 CE and the Bible today different by dozens of chapters and thousands of parts? Which Bible is the Word of God? And why does man edit it?

Why are there so many Bible translations with conflicting salvation messages?

What makes the King James Version any more divine? How can it be proven ‘more inspired’ than its competitors?

Why is the scriptural value of Pi (π) incorrect? (1 Kings 7:23-26 & 2 Chronicles 4:2-5) Why didn’t God take this opportunity to demonstrate His all-knowing nature, when inspiring his authors?

Who has ascended to heaven? Enoch? (Genesis 5:24) Elijah? (II Kings 2:11) Jesus? (Mark 16:19) Why did Jesus say no man but himself has ever ascended to heaven? (John 3:13)

Why has no historian documented anything about three hours of darkness, dead people coming out of their graves, earthquakes or any other supernatural happening that are alleged to have happen after the Resurrection?

Why would the Bible teach being pleasant to ‘enemies’ if it would heap coals of fire on their head? (Romans 12:20, Proverbs 25:21-22)

How would Moses have witnessed and written of his own death? (Deuteronomy 34:5) Or, why would Moses have described himself as the most humble person on the face of the earth? (Numbers 12:3)

Why are the observations of the natural world in the Bible no different than man’s understanding at that time? (PDF)

Why does Job believe in fire-breathing dragons? (Job 41:1-34)

Why does the Bible describe angels coming to Earth to mate with humans to produce half-and-half, angel-human offspring? (Genesis 6:1-4)

Why did the Biblical authors think the Earth was a flat disc? (e.g. Matthew 4:8, Deuteronomy 13:7, Job 38:13, Proverbs 8:26-27, Isaiah 40:22, Daniel 4:10-11, Job 11:9). Why does the Bible use the Hebrew word for ‘circle’ and not ‘sphere’ or ‘ball’ which are used elsewhere?

Why did the Biblical authors think the Earth was set on unmovable pillars? (Isaiah 24:18, Psalms 93:1, 1 Samuel 2:8)

Why did the Biblical authors think the sky was a solid dome in which the sun, moon and the stars are embedded? (Genesis 1:6-7, Psalms 148:4, Genesis 1:14-17, Proverbs 8:28) Or that God is ‘enwraped’ in clouds and walks on the dome of heaven (Job 22:14) on sky that is as hard as ‘molten mirror’? (Job 37:18)

Why does the Bible say the Earth is between 6,000 and 8,000 years old? And that it was created in 7 days? And that man is made of dirt and woman from a piece of the man’s rib? Which passages of the Bible support it being allegorical?

How are symbolic passages of the Bible distinguished from factual?

Why wasn’t Jesus able determine the symbolic from the literal? Why did Jesus think there was a worldwide flood (Luke 17:27) or that Adam and Eve were real people? (Mark 10:6, Matthew 19:4)

Why didn’t God reveal his divine authorship by mentioning something like electricity or DNA or the actual age and size of the universe? Why did God pretend not to understand the world when inspiring His authors?

Why does the Bible contain superstitious ‘remedies’ for everyday ailments that have since been cured? (e.g. the ‘bodily discharge’ in Leviticus 15)

Why didn’t God transcribe a useful medical guide into the Bible for these primitive people rather than transcribing rituals that accomplish nothing?

Why didn’t God explain how to manufacture antiseptic solutions, sterile dressings, vaccines or antibiotic creams?

Why didn’t God design the human immune system to prevent all infections in the first place and eliminate the discharges completely?

Why would God intentionally inflict human beings with all of these different types of abnormal ‘discharges’?

Who was Joseph’s father? Jacob (Matthew 1:16) or Heli? (Luke 3:23)

Why doesn’t John, Mark or Paul mention the virgin birth? Why did the early Jewish Christians deny the virgin birth?

What would we think of a teenage girl who claimed God impregnated her today?

What makes the claim any more reliable when it happened 2000 years ago in a far more superstitious society?

What is the correct recipe for the new moon sacrifice? 2 young bullocks, 1 ram and 7 lambs? (Numbers 28:11) Or, 1 young bullock, six lambs and 1 ram? (Ezekiel 46:6)

Why don’t we still perform new moon sacrifices today when Jesus endorsed the Old Testament in it’s entirety and specifically stated He was not coming to change the old law? (Matthew 5:18-19, John 14:15) Why don’t we stone our kids for answering back (Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21) or kill family members for joining different faiths? (Deuteronomy 13:6, 8-15)

Does God repent? Yes? (Genesis 6:6, I Samuel 15:11,35) or No? (Numbers 23:19)

Did the world develop many different languages after Babel? (Genesis 11:1,6-9) or prior to Babel? (Genesis 10:5) When God ‘confused the languages’ was He the author of confusion? (Genesis 11:9, 1 Corinthians 14:33)

If God created languages independently at Babel why do modern languages appear derivative of older languages?

How many horsemen did David take from Hadadezer? 700? (2 Samuel 8:4) or 7000? (1 Chronicles 18:4)

Is God a God of peace (Romans 15:33) or a ‘a man of war?’ (Exodus 15:3 – Is God a man?)

Does God want people to ‘beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Isaiah 2:4) or to prepare war, ‘beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong’? (Joel 3:9-10)

Why would Joshua command the Sun to stand still in the sky (Joshua 10:12-13) if the Sun does not move? Why did God pretend not to understand astronomy here (surely this would have been another good opportunity to demonstrate his all-knowing nature)?

Why did God and Abraham swear oaths to each other (Genesis 21:22-24, Genesis 21:31) if Jesus says, ‘swear not at all; neither by heaven . . . nor by the earth (Matthew 5:34-37) and Paul says ‘swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation’? (James 5:12)

How old was Ahaziah when he began to reign? 22? (2 Kings 8:26) or 42? (2 Chronicles 22:2)

What about Jehoiachin? Was he 18? (2 Kings 24:8) or 8? (2 Chronicles 36:9) Did he reign 3 months (2 Kings 24:8) or 3 months and 10 days? (2 Chronicles 36:9)

How many chiefs of the officers that bare the rule over the people were there? 550? (1 Kings 9:23) or 250? (2 Chronicles 8:10)

Did Saul’s daughter have any sons? Yes (2 Samuel 21:6) or No? (2 Samuel 6:23)

Was Lot Abraham’s nephew (Genesis 14:12) or brother? (Genesis 14:14)

Who sold Joseph into Egypt? Midianites (Genesis 37:36) or Ishmaelites? (Genesis 39:1)

How many baths did Solomon have? 2,000 (1 Kings 7:26) or 3,000? (2 Chronicles 4:5)

How many overseers were there on the Temple? 3,300 (1 Kings 5:16) or 3,600? (2 Chronicles 2:18)

Did Josiah die in Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29-30) or Jerusalem? (2 Chronicles 35:24)

When did Nebuzaradan come unto Jerusalem? On the 7th (2 Kings 25:8) or the 10th (Jeremiah 52:12) day of the fifth month?

How many animals went on the Ark? Two of every kind (Genesis 6:19-20) or seven of every clean animal and bird and two of every unclean animal? (Genesis 7:2-3)

How long was the flood? 40 days and nights? (Genesis 7:17, 8:6) or 150 days? (Genesis 7:24, Genesis 8:3)

Why does God forbid image-making in Exodus 20:4 and then command the making of two gold cherubs in Exodus 25:18?

Are sins and iniquities inherited for 4 generations? (Exodus 20:5) Or longer? (Deuteronomy 5:9). Or not at all? (Deuteronomy 24:16, II Chronicles 25:4, Ezekiel 18:19-20) Are we born into sin or not? (Rom 5:12, Romans 14:19, Romans 6:23)

Did David collect 200 Philistine foreskins for a wife? (1 Samuel 18:27) or did David pay 100 foreskins? (2 Samuel 3:14) Why doesn’t this currency reflect the wisdom of an all-loving God?

Did Saul consult the Lord? Yes (I Samuel 28:6) or no? (I Chronicles 10:13-14)

How did Saul die? Did he commit suicide by having his armor-bearer run him through? (I Samuel 31:4-6) or did the Amalekite kill him? (II Samuel 1:8-10) or did the the Philistines slay him? (II Samuel 21:12) or did he fall on his sword? (I Chronicles 10:4-5)

How did Baasha die in the 26th year of Asa’s reign? (I Kings 16:6-8) if he built a city in the 36th year of Asa’s reign? (II Chronicles 16:1)

How old was King Ahaziah when he began to reign? 22 (II Kings 8:26) or 42? (II Chronicles 22:2)

Will the Earth last forever? Yes (Psalms 104:5, Ecclesiastes 1:4) or no? (Hebrews 1:10-11, II Peter 3:10)

Did the apostles receive the Holy Spirit on the first Easter Sunday (John 20:22) or at Pentecost fifty days later? (Acts 1:5-8, Acts 2:1-4)

Did Paul become speechless, see nothing and hear a voice (Acts 9:7) or did he see a light and hear nothing? (Acts 22:9)

How will an army of locusts be instructed not to harm any of the grass (Revelations 9:4) if all the grass in the world is consumed by fire? (Revelations 8:7)

Why does this ‘thou shalt not kill‘ commandment advocate an infinite cycle of killing: “He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death”? (Leviticus 24:17)

How are we saved from eternal torture? Through faith (Ephesians 2:8,9, Romans 3:20, Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16) or works? (Matthew 19:16-21, James 2:24)

Is God is good? (Psalm 145:9) and without iniquity? (Deuteronomy 32:4) or does He create evil? (Isaiah 45:7)

Why does God give ‘statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live’? (Ezekiel 20:25,26)

How God did tempt Abraham (Genesis 22:1) if ‘God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man’? (James 1:13)

Why does Luke write that Jesus was born at the time when Caesar Augustus required everyone to take part in a census (at which time Quirinius was governor of Syria and Herod was king of Judea) if (a) No historian of the Roman Empire makes any mention of a universal census in the reign of Augustus? (b) King Herod died four years before the Common Era began? And (c) Quirinius was not the governor of Syria during the reign of Herod?

Why can Bible numerics be reproduced in any other work of literature? [further, reading]

Why has the Revival Fellowship started withdrawing Ivan Panin’s book from the bookstores? Why hasn’t this been publicly addressed?

Further reading:

Bible Contradictions
Bible Numerics in the RCI (PDF)
Criticism of the Bible
Ethics in the Bible
Science and the Bible
Slavery in the Bible
The Bible and history
The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible
Creationists And The Scriptural Value Of Pi
What the Bible says about…

Why does the Revival Fellowship preach tongues ‘as a sign’ if Jesus stipulated that no signs would be given except the Resurrection itself? (Matthew 12:38-40, Mark 8:12-13)

Why are there 8 steps to salvation on the Revival Fellowship website if the Bible repeatedly says that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone? (e.g. John 3:16, Romans 3:28-30, Romans 4:5, Romans 5:1, Romans 10:4, Romans 10:9, Romans 10:13, Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:5-6, Galatians 3:24, Ephesians 2:8-9)

Why are there fifteen salvation accounts in Acts that don’t include references to tongues? (other than the oft-quoted 3 which do) [further reading]

Why are none of the other qualifying signs listed in Mark 16 taken in an essential-every-time way? For example:

• Why aren’t all believers immune to snake bites?
• Why don’t all believers successfully lay hands on the sick?
• Why don’t all believers cast out devils? (What does this even mean?)
• Why aren’t all believers resistant to deadly poison?

Why is tongues treated differently? How is the Revival Fellowship justified in making tongues a universal sign but relegating the other signs to mere possibilities?

Why are there approximately 250 million Christians worldwide who speak in tongues that don’t preach it as a doctrine? Why hasn’t the Holy Spirit (that they have evidenced by their tongues) shown them the ‘truth’?

How could the Spirit be so much ‘weaker’ in these 250 million people than in the 30,000 in the Revival fellowship? How are Revival Fellowship tongue speakers any more enlightened then the other tongue speakers? How is this possible?

What is the statistical probability of 250 million tongue-speaking Christians worldwide, being collectively misled by the Spirit, in contrast with the 30,000 in the Revival Fellowship?

Why are there so many tongue speakers worldwide in all sorts of religious and secular scenarios?

Why do tongues predate Christianity?

Why did Jesus forgo so many opportunities to explain necessity of speaking in tongues in avoiding eternal torture?

Why didn’t Jesus equate tongues with the reception of the Holy Spirit?

Why didn’t the authors of epistles clearly re-iterate the simple requirement that a true believer must speak in tongues, rather than rely on the assumed knowledge of the readers?

Why did Luke, when preaching ‘repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ stipulate he had ‘not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God‘? (Acts 20:21-27) Why was there no mention of tongues?

Why does Ephesians 1:13 say the Holy Spirit the seal given after belief? Why aren’t tongues mentioned at all?

Why does Paul write that, ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes’? (Romans 10:4)

Is it reasonable that the God, who will determine the salvation of humanity on whether they spoke in tongues or not, did not state this truth more clearly and unequivocally so that so many people are not misled? Why isn’t it more obvious?

Why do a series of specific scriptures have to be read in a certain order from one translation to validate the Revival Fellowship’s salvation message?

Why is the only scripture that supposedly links tongues with Holy Spirit so hazy? (John 3:8) Why would Jesus only tell one person, at night, in secret and in a nonsensical riddle?

Why did the first people who spoke in tongues in the Bible speak known languages? Why doesn’t this happen anymore?

When did tongues transition from known languages (xenolalia) to unknown languages (glossolalia)? Why did this happen? Why isn’t this explained in the Bible?

Why is the event that happened at Pentecost so different to what happens in the Revival Fellowship?

Why does the Revival Fellowship sit alone in the essential-tongues realm of Chrisitanity?

Why are there are so few people that can ‘really’ understand the Bible to the extent of the Revival Fellowship?

Why didn’t the essential-tongues doctrine exist before the 1900s?

If this is because we are in the ‘latter rain’ now – what about the Christians before the latter rain? What does this mean for those who died for the faith or those who wrote, translated and complied the Bible?

Why has speaking in tongues existed prior to Christianity? If one is of God and one is not – how would an unbeliever discern God’s sign? (I Corinthians 14:22)

Why do tongues primarily include phonemes from the language of the speaker? For example, why are Russian tongues primarily made up of unpatterned reorganizations of the Russian language? Why is this the pattern in every country?

Why can tongues be proven a learned behaviour? (Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1986, Vol. 95, No. 1,21-23 PDF)

Sixty subjects listened to a 60 second sample of tongues (defined to them as pseudolanguage) and then attempted to produce tongues on a 30 second baseline trial. Afterward, half of the subjects received two training sessions that included audio- and videotaped samples of tongues interspersed with opportunities to practice tongues. Also, live modelling of tongues, direct instruction, and encouragement were provided by an experimenter. Both the trained subjects and untreated controls attempted to produce tongues on a 30 second post-test trial. About 20% of subjects exhibited fluent tongues on the baseline trial, and training significantly enhanced fluency. Seventy percent of trained subjects spoke fluent tongues on the post-test. Our findings are more consistent with social learning than with altered state conceptions of tongues.

Why were 20% immediately able to reproduce fluent tongues?

Why were 70% able to speak in tongues after more exposure and practice?

How is ‘practice’ any different to ‘seeking’?

Why were there no seekers meetings in the Bible?

Why are the statistics of this Godless experiment so similar to people who ‘receive’ in the Revival Fellowship?

How will anyone ever be able to distinguish between the two?

How do I know my tongue of God if I repetitiously ‘practiced’ after hearing tongues my whole life (let alone the 60 second samples)?

Why does the Bible condemn repetitious prayer? (Matthew 6:7)

If Jesus was baptised as an example for us and also received the Spirit as an example for us – why didn’t he speak in tongues? If Jesus didn’t ‘need to’ because he was God, why was he baptised?

Why do most new tongues sound like the word they’ve been repeating really fast?

How do the pastors distinguish between repetitive harla-harla-harla’s and tongues that sound identical?

How could anyone tell the difference?

Why do seekers need to be ‘alleluiaering’ (and very repetitively at that) for God to fill them with the Holy Spirit?

Isn’t that doing the hard-yards for God? How is this in anyway a sign ‘to them that believe not’? (1 Corinthians 14:22)

Why didn’t the disciples harla-harla-harla? Or anyone else in the Bible?

Why does someone have to ‘let go’ of their tongue before the Holy Spirit may gain access?

What is stammering?

Why does no one stammer in the Bible?

How much of the Holy Spirit do you have when stammering?

Why are the phrases below so popular? And what do they mean?

– When I was seeking I felt my tongue starting to change, but it just didn’t quite happen
– We were not sure if I spoke in tongues so the pastor prayed with me to confirm it
– When I was seeking I got tongue tied and had to stop for a while
– After I spoke in tongues it still took me a few weeks to realise what I had
– I got a stammering tongue at first, but after a while it got more fluent

Why are these not addressed in scripture? [further reading]

Why are some tongues received ‘quietly’ without a life transformation and other times no tongues are present but a positive life transformation? Which one is God inspired? Which one is Biblical?

Why does Paul ask whether all speak in tongues rhetorically? (1 Corinthians 14:28-30)

Why does the Revival Fellowship preach this is the context of a ‘meeting’ if Paul also asks if all are apostles? Or prophets – which clearly not all ‘in a meeting’ are apostles or prophets? (1 Cor 14:28-30) Why is the answer an implied ‘no’?

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

Why does the Greek word used in these questions imply the answer is ‘no’? (mē)

Why have other scriptures with the same Greek word (mē) been translated as a negative or rhetorical ‘no’? (E.g. Romans 9:14; Luke 22:35; Romans 11:1; Romans 3:5-6)

Why do other translations read, ‘Not all have the gift of healing, do they? Not all speak in other languages, do they? Not all interpret, do they?’ (1 Corinthians 12:30)

Why is the Revival Fellowship alone in this interpretation? Why doesn’t the Strongs concordance (sold in the Vogue bookshop) back up this unique interpretation? Why aren’t there any other published concordances that have the same interpretation?

Why would Paul write to the Corinthian church asking them ‘do all speak in tongues?’ in the same breath as ‘are all prophets?’ Clearly the desired answer to this series of rhetorical questions are all the same. Is it then a yes or a no?

Was the entire Corinthian church prophets? Is it more likely that everyone in the church was all of these things or not all of these things?

Why does Paul distinguish between differing manifestations of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 12:7-11)

Why does Paul say, ‘for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will’? (1 Corinthains 12:7-11)

Why doesn’t the Revival Fellowship mandate other signs that follow believers in the Bible? E.g. boldness, prophesy, etc

Why haven’t linguists found any identifiable semantics, syntax, or morphology in tongues?

Further reading:

Glossolalia as Learned Behavior: An Experimental Demonstration (PDF)
Why Tongues Can’t be the Definitive Sign
Speaking in Tongues
A study on Glossolalia as language

Why would an all-loving and all-powerful God chose to reveal his life-saving-truth by way of human sacrifice, in a remote corner of the Roman Empire, 2000 years ago, and will eternally torture everyone who hasn’t heard of it or can’t believe it?

If God wanted to reveal himself to us, why did he do it through a contradictory and confusing Bible that has led to thousands of splits in Christian theology, so that almost nobody – if anybody – heard the revelation correctly?

Why does the Bible state that God does not desire anyone perish (Isaiah 1:18, Ezekiel 33:11, John 3.16-18, John 6:37-40, Acts 17:22-34) if the majority of humankind is going to hell? (Matthew 7:14, Luke 13:23,24, Ecclesiastes 7:28) Why is God’s plan of salvation a failure by his own standards? If this outcome is a success, what would count as a failure?

Why is our need to be saved from eternal torture and the entire ‘problem of evil’ predicated on such a small mistake by one person? Why did this minor slip-up anger God so much that He cursed every single person born since? (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3) Why were Adam and Eve tempted beyond what they could bear? (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Why is there so much suffering in the world?

If God can’t stop the suffering – how is He omnipotent?

If God can stop the suffering and hasn’t – how is He good? (Is God love? [1 John 4:8])

If all the suffering and evil in the is the result of the Devil and our ‘free will’, how were we foreknown and predestined before the foundation of the world? (Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:29-33) And why then would God specifically liken our free will to clay being molded in His hands? (Romans 9:14-21)

Why didn’t God create human beings such that they freely desire to do good, thus removing the need to create a Hell at all? If this was impossible for God to do – how did God create heaven?

Why isn’t God compatible with human reason? Why does Christianity always come back to faith? Why is faith defined as hoping something is true without evidence? (or perhaps in spite of evidence? Hebrews 11:1).

Given this biblical definition, how is faith any different than willful ignorance? Is this what Paul referred to when he said, ‘God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise’? (1 Corinthians 1:27) If so, why? And why did God design us with reason capable of penetrating faith? Is then God ‘faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able’? (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Is it fair or rational for God to hide himself so that he can only be known by faith and then insist that every single human being find him by picking the right one out of thousands of conflicting and incompatible religions?

If you had the power to help all people who are suffering or in need, at no cost or effort to yourself, would you do it? Why hasn’t God done this? Why are there so many starving children in the world (etc etc etc)?

Why are some people going to be eternally tortured just because of their birth circumstances?

If it was always God’s plan to provide salvation through Jesus, why didn’t he send Jesus from the very beginning, instead of confusing and misleading generations of people by setting up Judaism which he knew in advance would prove to be inadequate? (Hebrews 9:13, Hebrews 10:4-11)

Why does an all-loving God discriminate against people with handicaps and genetic problems? (Leviticus 21:17)

Are all sins forgivable? (Acts 13:39) or only some? (Mark 3:29)

Why has God killed more people than Satan? (Especially since God finds no pleasure in death [Ezekiel 18:32])

Who has seen God? Abraham? (Genesis 18:1) Jacob? (Genesis 32:24-30) Moses & 73 elders? (Exodus 24:9-11) Did Moses spoke with God face-to-face? (Exodus 33:11) or just look at his back? (Exodus 33:22-23) Did Isaiah see God? (Isaiah 6:1-13) or Ezekiel? (Ezekiel 1:27-28) or Amos? (Amos 7:7) Why does the Bible say no one has ever seen God (John 1:18, 6:46, I John 4:12) and that God is un-seeable? (1 Timothy 6:16)

Is God a fair and righteous judge? Why does God claims to judge right (Genesis 18:25) but admits jealousy, (Exodus 20:5) command Abraham to sacrifice his own son, (Genesis 22:1-2) threaten disaster to make people be good, (Jeremiah 18:11) admits he makes calamity (Amos 3:6) and claims liability for good AND evil (Isaiah 45:7)

Did God love his enemies when he destroyed the entire world with a flood? When he killed all the firstborn of Egypt? When he killed 90,000 Midianites (Numbers 31)? 10,000 Canaanites (Judges 1)? 50,000 Benjaminites (Judges 20)? 1,000,000 Ethiopians (2 Chronicles 14)?

Can evil happen to the righteous? Why does God tell Satan how righteous Job is and then give permission for him to be struck with painful boils from head to toe (Job 2:3-7) when Proverbs 12:21 tells us no evil can happen to the righteous?

Why would God, on the very same day Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, order the massacre of 3000 of His people? Why would God tell Moses, ‘Thou shalt not kill’? and then on the same day instruct each man to strap a sword to his side and kill ‘his brother and friend and neighbor’? (Exodus 32:27)

Why would an all loving God advocate animal and human sacrifice?

Does God afflict people with illnesses? In Exodus 4:11 God says He is the cause of blindness, deafness, dumbness although He does not willingly cause grief or affliction (Lamentations 3:33).

Why would a loving God send bears to maul Children? (2 Kings 2:23-24)

Why would a loving God kill someone for picking up sticks? (Numbers 15:35) or helping God’s special box from falling on the ground? (Exodus 40:20)

Why does God approve of selling one’s daughter? Why does God set up conditions for how to go about selling one’s daughters (Exodus 21:7) only to forbid it? (Leviticus 19:29)

Who inscribed the commandments on stone? Did God dictate the second set of 10 Moses? (Exodus 34:27-28) Or did God inscribe the second set? (Deuteronomy 10:1-2,4)

Why does God go into minute detail regarding sacrifices and burnt offerings (Leviticus 1-7) only to deny saying anything about sacrifices or burnt offerings later? (Jeremiah 7:22)

Where do the rules on what types of food to eat come from? God? (Leviticus 3:17, 11:1-47) Or, man not God? (Col 2:20-23)

Should we judge others in righteousness? (Leviticus 19:15) or not otherwise you will be judged? (Matthew 7:1)

Why does God specify He never changes and always keeps promises (Numbers 23:19) if He admits not keeping a promise in 1 Samuel 2:30-31, 2 Kings 20:1-6 and Jonah 3:10?

If God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2) how did He deliberately send a ‘lying spirit’ into the mouth of Ahab’s prophets? (I Kings 22:20-30, II Chronicles 18:19-22) Or send people delusions to make them believe false things and be damned? (II Thessalonians 2:11-12) Even if God was able to ‘create’ lies but not lie ‘specifically’ – why would He send delusions to make people believe false to be damned? (II Thessalonians 2:11-12)

Why are there no documented cases of any miracle that cannot be explained by natural laws or coincidence? For example, why has God never healed an amputee?

How does one explain the existence of transitional fossils in the fossil record when the Bible repeatedly says species are to reproduce “after their own kind”? (Genesis 1:20-25)

Why would God create so many transitional species in the exact order they would have evolved?

Why does the Bible describe light being created before the Sun? (Genesis 1:3 & Genesis 1:16) Why doesn’t this square up with modern astronomy (or common sense)? In any case, how was a “day” measured without a star to orbit?

Why does the Bible describe plants being created before the sun – when science says the opposite? How did the plants photosynthesize? (Genesis 1:11 & Genesis 1:16)

Why does Genesis describe birds being created before land animals – when the fossil record says the opposite? (Genesis 1:21 & Genesis 1:24)

Why does the Revival Fellowship deny a literal interpretation of a worldwide Flood? (Is it contrary to modern geology?) Similarly, why does the Revival Fellowship deny a literal interpretation of the six “days” in the Creation week? (Contrary to modern astronomy?) If the pattern is in place for liberal interpretation when science calls for it – why then interpret creation literally?

Why is evolution treated differently from other scientific advances that are contrary to the Bible?

Why do pastors at the Revival Fellowship endorse scientific findings that disprove salt-damp-apparitions of Mary, debunk the Shroud of Turin and/or document the increasing frequency of earthquakes – yet deny an entire branch of science?

Why are Christian scientists trusted by the Revival Fellowship with the complex stuff (creationism) if they’ve got the simple stuff “wrong” (salvation message)?

Did God create a false fossil record to challenge our faith? Are we being tested more than we can bear? (1 Corinthians 10:13)

If God’s ways are higher than scientists’ – why are they quoted at Evolution vs Creation slide nights at all – regardless of their position?

Why is there no evidence of any creation ‘from nothing’ (Latin ex nihilo) in any branch of science? Why are there vast quantities of evidence of evolution in every branch of modern science?

By what process do we breed varieties of dog or horse today? If artificial section is a ‘plausible version of evolution’ in this context, why isn’t natural selection also plausible?

How do genes ‘know’ whether their ancestors were artificially or naturally selected? E.g. why can a species of plant or animal be manipulated by men but not by nature?

Wouldn’t this process provide a natural benefit to their offspring thereby creating a natural mechanism for the same sort of processes to occur?

Why does the biological or natural explanation make so much more sense than the supernatural?

If evolution was a world-wide conspiracy to discredit a creator-God, wouldn’t evolution be an anomaly in the scientific world? Instead, nothing in biology make sense except in the light of evolution (PDF) Why?

Why do comparative sequence analyses indicate so much shared DNA? Why would God create species to appear in ‘cousinship’?

Why would an ex nihilo Creator design ‘defunct’ pseudogenes in non-evolving species? Or such useless “junk DNA” within the human genome?

How did Adam name millions and millions of species? (Genesis 2:18-22) If there were fewer species ‘back then’, by which process did the newer ones appear? Again, why isn’t this reflected in the fossil record?

If God did take 13 billion years to create the universe (not 6 literal days) why wouldn’t He also create living creatures during the same length of time?

Or, if God took did take his time to create the universe but only the ‘in-His-own-image’ creation was formed from dust: why did it take so much more time to create the ’simple stuff’ (which is presumable less complex and less valuable) than the most valuable and highly complex organisms such as humans?

Why would God create a species from scratch with an organ like the appendix? Why would God sign-off his masterpiece with an Appendicitis-causing, near-pointless organ?

Why would God design our bodies to lack the ability to synthesize our own vitamin C? Why does our genetic code contain all the information required except one crucial gene which has mutated and “switched off”? Why would a loving God create most of the sequence for synthesizing vitamin C, but not all of it?

Why did God design the eye backwards, upside-down and with a blind spot? Or susceptible to angle-closure glaucoma, macular degeneration and retinal detachment?

Why do human fetuses grow a very thin coat of hair or fur before birth, and then shed it in their 8th month? Why would God add a completely meaningless step in human embryonic development?

Why would God design a koala’s pouch upside-down?

Why do embryonic dolphins have legs?

Why do whales have hind limbs and pelvic girdles?

Why do flightless birds have wings?

Why do ungulates have toes that do not reach the ground?

Why do dolphins have lungs – not gills?

Why do we have a coccyx bone?

Why do some snakes have non-functional hind limbs?

Why would an all-powerful creator decide to plant his carefully crafted species on islands and continents in exactly the appropriate pattern to suggest that they had evolved and dispersed from their site of evolution? And why do they nearly always resemble those on the nearest continent or large island?

For example, why would God put lemurs in Madagascar and nowhere else?

Why put platyrrhine monkeys in South America only, and catarrhine monkeeys in Africa and Asia only?

Why no mammals in New Zealand, except bats who would fly there? Why does the flightless Kiwi still have useless wings?

Why would the creator put only marsupials mammals here in Australia, except bats who could fly here and those who could arrive in man-made canoes?

Why would God create ichneumon wasps, that paralyze their victim, then lay eggs inside with the promise of larva gnawing it alive from within? Surely God wouldn’t have thought this creation was ‘good’? (Genesis 1)

Assuming God used evolution as His mode of creation: why would He allow mankind to evolve for millions of years of soulless, brutal existence only to “add in” a soul later, and then show up a few thousand years later to change the whole plan with Jesus?

Why is Christianity so different from what Jesus preached?

Why did Jesus pray, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” if He is God? (Luke 22:42) Why did Jesus and God have conflicting ideas about the cross?

Did Jesus curse the fig tree before purging the temple (Mark 11:14-15,20) or after? (Matthew 21:17-19)

Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Why didn’t He know figs weren’t in season? Why didn’t he make figs appear instead of just cursing it?

Did the effects of the curse come in to fruition immediately? (Matthew 21:9) Or the morning after? (Mark 11:12-14,20)

Why does Jesus say He judges no one (John 8:15, 12:47) if ‘the Father entrusted all judgment to the Son’? (John 5:22)

Does it make sense to claim that wrongdoing can be forgiven by transferring the blame from a guilty person to an innocent one and then punish the innocent?

Why did Jesus quote a scripture ‘as it is written‘ that isn’t anywhere in the Bible? (John 7:38)

Why did Jesus have to die on the cross if people in the Old Testament were saved by their works?

Why does Matthew 1:1-16 claim that there are 27 generations between David and Jesus and Luke 3:23-38 claim 41?

Why did Jesus tell people they would not taste death before He comes again in his kingdom, over 2000 years ago? (Matthew 16:28, Mark 9:1, Luke 9:27)

Why is Coniah (also called by the Greek name Jechoniasis) listed as a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ when he was to be forever childless by God? (Jeremiah 22:28-30)

Why did Jesus say, ‘this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled’? (Matthew 24:34) and ‘there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom’? (Matthew 16:28)

Which generation was Jesus referring to? Why have 80 generations of Christians wholeheartedly believed that Jesus’ return was imminent in their generation?

Why did the earliest Christians, the generation immediately following Jesus’ death, expect Jesus to return at any moment? (I Thessalonians 4:15-17) Why did Jesus say this on more than one occasion (Mark 9:1, Matthew 26:64, Mark 13:30) if he hasn’t returned yet?

If God descended to Earth as a man why are the only accounts recording this astonishing claim in the gospels? Why are there no eyewitness or objective accounts of Jesus’ divinity?

Why is the most reliable gospel written a minimum of 50 years after Jesus died by someone who never saw Him?

Why did Jesus appear in person to quell doubters in the past but no longer does?

Why did Jesus reappear to the disciples after being resurrected as someone they didn’t recognize? (Luke 24:31,37, John 20:10-16) How does this impact the credibility of the resurrection?

Why did Jesus encourage the beating of slaves? (Luke 12:47) Why didn’t Jesus correct any of the Old Testament’s instructions on how to obtain slaves, (Leviticus 25:44-46), how to beat slaves, (Exodus 21:20-21) when to have sex with female slaves and how to sell one’s daughters as sex slaves? (Exodus 21:7-11)

Why did Jesus rebuke a disciple for requesting time off to go to his father’s funeral by saying ‘let the dead bury their dead’? (Matthew 8:22)

Why did Jesus waste expensive ointment on himself rather than sell it to help the poor and say, ‘Ye have the poor with you always’? (Mark 14:3-7) Why didn’t Jesus alleviate poverty?

If Jesus bears witness of himself, is his witness true (John 8:14) or not true? (John 5:31)

Why would Jesus say, ‘I can of mine own self do nothing’ (John 5:19, John 5:30) or, ‘My Father is greater than I’? if he was God? (John 14:28) Why would Luke refer to him as, ‘a man approved of by God’? (Acts 2:22)

Why did Jesus teach his disciples to love their enemies, to do good to those who hated them, to forgive the sins of others and to treat others how they want to be treated; (Matthew 5:43-48) and then after call the scribes and Pharisees sons of the devil, fools, hypocrites, serpents, and white-washed tombs (Matthew 23:13-39)? Especially if ‘whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire’? (Matthew 5:22)

Why is the Golden Rule demonstrated by Jesus Himself so far beyond our comprehension?

Why does Jesus say He will kill children in Revelation 2:23?

Was the way to discipleship to ‘love one another’ (John 13:34-35) or to hate your father and mother, your siblings, your children, your wife and your own life? (Luke 14:26)

Why couldn’t the Comforter be present at the same time as Jesus? (John 14:16)

Why did Jesus drown innocent animals? (Matthew 8:32).

Why did Jesus refuse to heal a sick child until he was pressured by the mother? (Matthew 15:22-28).

Why did Jesus teach that marrying a divorced woman is adultery? (Matthew 5:32)

Why did Jesus teach not to work to obtain food? (John 6:27)

Why did Jesus teach not to have sexual urges? (Matthew 5:28)

Why did Jesus teach to take money from those who have none and give it to rich investors? (Luke 19:23-26)

Why did Jesus teach not to plan for the future? (Matthew 6:34)

Did Jesus led Peter, James, and John up a high mountain after six days (Matt. 17:1, Mark 9:2) or eight? (Luke 9:28)

Did Jesus tell the Lord’s Prayer before the multitudes during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1, 6:9-13, 7:28) or before the disciples alone, and not as part of the Sermon on the Mount? (Luke 11:1-4)

Why did Jesus condemn public prayer (Matthew 6:5-6) and Paul encourage it? (I Timothy 2:8)

Why does Jesus say we should take no thought for ourselves or for tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself (Matthew 6:25-28, 30-34) when Paul says if a man does not provide for himself or his own he is considered disorderly ? (II Thessalonians 3:10)

Why does Jesus teach non-resistance and non-violence (Matthew 6:38-42) and then command people to take arms for coming conflict (Luke 22:36-37) and use a whip to physically drive people out of the temple? (John 2:15)

Why did Jesus say He will come back ‘with a sword in his mouth’ and a ‘robe dipped in blood’ along with an army to strike down the nations and will rule them with an iron rod’? (Revelation 1:16, Revelation 19:13)

Did a Centurion approach Jesus (Matthew 8:5-7) or not? (Luke 7:3.6-7)

Why did Jesus preach ‘peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you’ in John (14:27) and in Matthew: ‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’? Or why did Jesus say, ‘he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one’? (Luke 22:36)

Did John find out Jesus was the Messiah while imprisoned? (Matthew 11:2-3) or did John already know? (John 1:29-34,36)

Was Jesus was in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights? (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1) or 2 days and 2 nights? (John 20:1)

Did the Transfiguration occur 6 days after Jesus made his prophecy of his second coming? (Matthew 17:1-2) Or after 8 days? (Luke 9:28-29)

Did Jesus encounter one (Mark 10:46-47) or two blind men? (Matthew 20:29-30)

Was Jesus brought an ass and a colt (Matthew 21:2-7) or a single colt? (Mark 11:2-7)

Did Simon of Cyrene carry the cross (Matt 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26) Or did Jesus carry it alone? (John 19:17)

Did a thief on the cross believe (Luke 23:39-41) or not? (Matthew 27:44, Mark 15:32)

What were Jesus’ last words? ‘My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46) ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit’ (Luke 23:46) or ‘It is finished’? (John 19:30)

Did the observers at Jesus’ execution watch from afar? (Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49) or did they stand next to the cross? (John 19:25)

Did Mary tell the disciples what happened (Matt 28:8) or did she tell no one because she was afraid? (Mark 16:8)

Who did Jesus first appear to? Mary? (Matthew 28:9) Cleopas? (Luke 24:15-18) or Peter? (1 Corinthians 15:5)

Does Jesus first make an appearance after Mary leaves the tomb? (Matthew 28:9, Mark 16:8-9) Or, on the road to Emmaus? (Luke 24:13)

Did Jesus permit Mary to touch Him? Yes (Matt 28:9, Luke 24:39) or no? (John 20:17)

How many times did Jesus appear to humans after his resurrection? Twice? (Matt 28:9-10,17-20) Three times? (Mark 16:9,12,14-18) four times? (John 20:14-17, John 19-23, John 26-29, John 21:1-23) or six times? (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

How does the resurrected Jesus visit twelve disciples after Judas died? (1 Corinthains 15:5)

Did Mary go to the tomb after the sun had risen (Mark 16:2) or while it was still dark? (John 20:1)

How many people visited Jesus’ tomb? 1? (John 20:1) 2? (Matthew 28:1) 3? (Mark 16:1) Or more than 4? (Luke 24:10)

After Jesus’ crucifixion did the disciples stay in Jerusalem (Luke 24:5-7, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4) or not? (Matthew 28:16, Mark 16:7)

Did Jesus get his disciples before (John 1:40-42, 3:22-24) or after John’s imprisonment? (Mark 1:14,16-18)

Was Jesus crucified at the third hour (Mark 15:25) or the sixth hour? (John 19:14-15)

Did Mary prepare spices for Jesus before (Luke 23:56) or after the Sabbath? (Mark 16:1) or was it Nicodemus? (John 19:39)

Why did Jesus think there was a worldwide flood (Luke 17:27) and that Adam and Eve were real people? (Mark 10:6, Matt. 19:4)

Why did Jesus promote a literal hell like a ‘furnace of fire’ with ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth’? (Matthew 13:41-42)

Why did Jesus look at his critics ‘with anger’? (Mark 3:5)

Why did Jesus say, ‘I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’? (Matthew 10:35-36)

Why are believers promised the power of doing “greater works than these” (John 14:12) when they are unable to even recreate ‘regular’ works (i.e. not greater); like walking on water (John 6:16-21) turning water into wine (John 2:1-11) and raising the dead after four days? (John 11:1-44)

Why don’t the promises of prayer in the Bible align with reality? (Matthew 7:7, John 14:13, John 15:16)

E.g. why can’t we really get “whatsoever we ask the Father in His name”? (John 16:23) Or, “call unto me, and I will answer thee” – why doesn’t this really happen? (Jeremiah 33:3)

How can we expect God to help our unbelief (Mark 9:24) if He won’t answer prayer from someone who is doubting? (Mark 11:24, James 1:6-8, James 5:15)

Why is a ‘lack of faith’ used as an explanation for unanswered prayer, when the Biblical ratio of “faith to healing” is likened to “seed to mountain”? (Matthew 17:20) Why is reality the other way round?

Why was healing promised if God is under no obligation to answer sinners (Psalms 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-2, James 5:16, I John 3:21-22) who are born into sin? (Romans 5:12-14)

How can God see this sin after it has been washed clean (Revelation 7:15) and forgotten? (Jeremiah 31:34)

If God can see their sins (even after forgetting them) how are they ever able to be healed as a “sinner”? How does one escape this catch-22?

Why does the Bible frequently indicate prayer will be answered affirmatively (e.g. Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:22-24; John 14:13-14; James 5:14-15) when there are so many stipulations and clauses to the contrary?

• E.g. Selfishness (Proverbs 21:13)
• Doubt (Matthew 21:21-22)
• Greed (James 4:2-3)
• Pride (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)
• Unforgiveness (Mark 11:24-25)
• Stubbornness (Zechariah 7:11-13)
• Not fellowshipping (John 15:7)
• Not seeking to please the Lord (1 John 3:22)
• Unconfessed sin (1 Peter 3:12)
• Improper motives (James 4:3)
• Not asking according to God’s will (1 John 5:14-15)
• Not knowing how to pray (Luke 11:1)
• Lack of faith (Hebrews 11:6)
• Misunderstanding of faith (Mark 11:24)
• Wavering faith (James 1:6-7)
• Failure to apply spiritual authority (Mark 11:23)
• Lack of perseverance (Galatians 6:9) etc

Why isn’t the efficiency of prayer obvious when studied? (American Heart Journal (151, no. 4 [2006]: 934-42) Google Docs: “Intercessory prayer itself had no effect“).

Why would God hide Himself from these studies? Why is He hiding now when in the past He revealed Himself in so many different ways? (Exodus 3:2-6, 1 Samuel 3, Luke 9:35 etc)

Why was Paul’s prayer to remove his thorn in the flesh ignored? (2 Corinthians 12:7)

Why did Paul have to post-rationalize this unanswered prayer as an opportunity to “glory in [his] infirmities”? (2 Corinthians 12:9). In a modern context, why wouldn’t this rationale impress “new people”?

If answered prayer is credited to God and unanswered prayer to ‘bad faith’ – how is this any different than “selective observation”?

Why is selective observation so prevalent in Christianity? (E.g. how many times has the whole assembly rallied around someone extremely ill only for them to die according to the mysterious ‘will of God’?) How much more faith is needed?

Why was Jesus’ prayer to avoid the cross unanswered? (Matt 27:39, Luke 22:42)

Why is Jesus’ prayer for Christian unity still unanswered? (John 17:20-22)

Why was Paul’s prayer to be delivered from unbelievers in Jerusalem unanswered? (Romans 15:31)

Why is there a whole chapter in Acts that details the exact opposite of what Paul prayed for in Romans? (Acts 21)

Why is answered prayer dependent on the faith of a believer? Why is this so different to what happened to doubters in the Bible? (e.g. John 20:27)

Why is God under no obligation to answer prayers that fail to give Himself glory (John 14:13, II Cor 12:9-10) if we don’t know what gives God glory? (John 9:3)

If God is under no obligation to answer selfish prayer (James 4:3) what can a believer logically expect to pray for?

Why are the “left-overs” nonfalisfiable, self-fulfilling prayers? (E.g. “Lord, give me strength”, “Help me stay on the straight and narrow” etc)

Why didn’t Jesus or the disciples anoint people with oil? Why is the only mention of this healing ceremony documented after Jesus by someone who never met Him?

Why would God heal someone but permit the Devil simulate the “illusion of symptoms”? (E.g. “By His stripes I was healed…” “I already have the victory…”) Why isn’t this concept explained in the Bible? How does one demonstrate the “healing” to an unbeliever with persisting symptoms?