By the way, before I answer your questions, please do not take anything I say as preaching. I respect your beliefs, and I am not trying to change them; it is totally your call what you believe, and again, I respect that. Having said that though, please do not trust everything you see about Christianity on this forum; it seems to me that some of the posts are really misrepresentative of the faith as a whole, and thus if you really do want to be able to understand (and defend your beliefs against) Christianity, you should look for the truth behind the matter, not lies spread by those who have never read the Bible in the first place. Feel free to PM me with any other questions you may have, if you wish.
1) When it is said that "Jesus died for our sins," what does this actually mean? Did he somehow absorb the sins and make them go away?
Basically, according to the Bible, all humans are sinful. This means that Christians believe we are unable to get to heaven when we die without someone to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins. Since no human being would be able to die for the sins of the entire world (he himself being required to pay for his own sins), and since God still loved human beings despite their sinfulness, Jesus died to pay the punishment for the sins of the entire world. So he did not necessarily absorb their sins, but he did pay the punishment they were going to pay.
2) What is original sin, and why is everyone said to have committed it?
According to Christians, original sin is the idea that because Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden (for more backstory read Genesis 1-3, if you wish), sin entered humanity's spiritual bloodline, giving them and all of their descendants down to modern times what is referred to as a "sin nature." Basically, human beings are incapable of being good because of this sin nature; thus, since every single person has committed at least one sin because of this "sin nature," everyone is guilty of "original sin."
3) Why are churches anti-birth control, and anti- homosexual?
Most churches believe that birth control is an early way of killing an unborn child, and obviously killing another human being is against both the Old Testament law and the New Testament teachings of Jesus. As for homosexuality, like another poster said on this thread, it is considered a perversion of the natural marriage covenant ordained by God to be between a man and a woman.
4) What is baptism, why is it significant.
Functionally, baptism is immersion in a pool of water to represent the washing away of one's sins and emerging as a new person. Christians see baptism as a way of identifying themselves publicly with Jesus Christ, because Jesus himself was baptized by John the Baptist, and he told his followers to do likewise. Contrary to what some sects say, however, the Bible never says that baptism is necessary for salvation.
5) Why is Jesus the way to heaven, and not god? Does that mean people did not go to heaven before jesus came around.
But according to the Bible, Jesus is equally God and man together in one earthly body, only without sin. So technically, if you are saying that Jesus is the way to heaven, you are in essence saying that God is the way to heaven, and vice versa. Again, like a previous poster put it, the people before Jesus went to heaven if they believed that Jesus would come to die for their sins and lived by the Old Testament law. Since he had not yet come to pay the price for their sins, they needed to offer animal sacrifices until he came as the final sacrifice for their sins.
6) Were Mary and Joseph married? If so, why wasn't Mary stoned or punished for bearing a child from someone else other than her husband? Doesn't mother Mary in a way disprove abstinence as being a 100% effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancy? Doesn't that in turn undermine the rule for not having children out of wedlock, since any women could get pregnant at any time, so no matter what the risk is there.
Absolutely. There were no sexual relations involved in order for Mary to bear Jesus; it was a supernatural occurrence, and thus did not qualify as an offense against Old Testament law. She became pregnant, according to the Bible, while she was still a virgin, before she married Joseph, so there could be no mistake that he was not the baby's father. In fact, it is interesting that you should mention her being stoned, because if the religious leaders and self-righteous people of the time had their way, she would have been stoned, because they did not actually believe that her baby had come from God; instead, they (and Joseph, until God told him otherwise) believed that she had been unfaithful to him, and wanted to punish her for it. On a side note, it is not possible for a girl to get pregnant without sexual activity today. Mary's case was a one-time occurrence through supernatural action by God, and since the Bible says that Jesus was God's one and only son, that means that he will not be supernaturally impregnating any more girls today. So no, the effectiveness of abstinence is not disproved by the virgin birth of Jesus.
7) Does Christianity blame the jews for killing Jesus. I can't get a straight answer for this.
Absolutely not. And do me a favor, slap the next person who tries to tell you they do. Jesus himself was a Jew; how then could the Jews logically be blamed for his death? The only people who spread this odious lie are those who wish to use Christianity to further their own hateful racist purposes. In reality, Christians believe that everyone (including Christians, i.e., all human beings) are responsible for the death of Jesus, since everyone has sinned, and if no one sinned, Jesus would not have needed to die to pay their punishment for them. Those who try to heap the blame on the Jews are not true Christians, because instead of acknowledging that they had a hand in his death, they try to shove the blame off on others.
8. If a new testament of the bible were published NOW, would it be excepted as canon?
There can be no new testament beyond what is already written. The Old Testament tells of the creation of mankind, their fall, and their need for a savior; the New Testament tells of the coming of that savior (Jesus), his sacrifice, and his eventual return for those who believe in him. Nothing more is needed; God's plan with regard to the human race is already spelled out. Thus anything else added to it would be erroneous, and not acceptable as canon.
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On a final note, I want to thank you for asking these questions instead of listening to so many others who try to blatantly attack the Christian faith with lies and slander rather than facts. Too many non-Christians try to defend their beliefs with slanderous attacks on Christianity, rather than seeking to understand both sides and presenting well-reasoned, logical arguments to defend their personal beliefs and opinions against Christianity. While I personally am a Christian, I respect your beliefs, and will not attempt to change them unless invited to do so (which, I noticed, you very explicitly told me NOT to do:) ). Anyway, I wish you the best, and I hope I have sufficiently answered all of your questions. Again, if you wish to further discuss anything pertaining to this matter with me, feel free to PM me any time. I promise I will not try to convert you:D.
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