This is super interesting, so I'm PTF.
I must start by saying I don't know much about religion, so forgive any of my ignorance. It wasn't a big part of life growing up, even though my parents were culturally Catholic. They didn't attend church though. Even though I'm an atheist, I'm extremely impressed with Caracarn's bible knowledge. It makes me curious to read it, but I have so many other books on my list. Also, if I read the bible, I'd be (self) obligated to read other religious texts for a fair comparison.
Cara, I'm asking these questions purely out of curiosity, and mean no negative judgement to any previous posts.
Do you believe everything that is in the bible is true? Also, what version of the bible?
You mentioned that you must accept Jesus to get into Heaven. What happened to people who lived and died before Jesus was born?
Do you believe god is Omni-Benevolent? If so, how do you justify an Omni-Benevolent being condemning "good" souls, just because they weren't raised a certain way?
Where do you believe God came from? If he's always been here, does that mean infinite time? Before the big bang? Did he cause the big bang?
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions!
First, it can be confusing and can lead you down the wrong path to truly get in to this without someone to walk alongside you and help your study, so I encourage anyone to seek out a good church or a Christian you know who is well versed in the Bible to help your study. This is a great organization to connect you to a church that is focused on teaching the Bible clearly:
https://archmin.org/arch-mapI welcome the opportunity to respond, but know that what I say are simply a result of what I have learned through years of personal study. I encourage anyone to investigate the claims for themselves with proper guidance to assist from a local church and come to your own comfort. I will add a suggestion to ask yourself a question. Can anything else on your reading list be more important than truly investigating what could turn out to be one of the most important questions in your life? Be aware that the Qu'ran is not allowed to be translated from Arabic so be skeptical of any copies you find that are not Arabic. Quereshi explains this. This was something I was not aware of until I read more on it and I have always wondered why there were not Qu'rans in the bookstore along with Bibles in English. That is why, so it would likely prove a challenge to read it. You will also find out that it is actually rarely read by anyone, it is an oral text and meant to be memorized. Maybe that will intrigue you enough to pick that book up from your library and dig in. So on to your questions.
Do you believe everything that is in the bible is true? Also, what version of the bible?Yes. 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All scripture is God-breathed". Jesus said himself in Matthew 5:18 that it is all true. This is also the passage that denies the fact of some wrong interpretations that the NT somehow abolishes the OT. It does not. This then leads to the typical push back, "Aha! Then you are saying we should stone people and that men should have concubines and all the other things the OT says that are no longer acceptable". No I am not, because we are not under the law, we are under grace. By Jesus' death and resurrection atoning for all our sins (yes, even the unbelievers and for for everyone for all time)as a believer you are a new creation. God does not see you once you are saved, he sees Jesus. John 10:35 speaks to the infallibility of the Bible. This does not mean that the OT was wrong or invalid, it just does not apply because we are no longer living under the law because Jesus has come. This is a concept that is in no way explainable in a few sentences. God is very clear. If any part of the Bible is false then how do you know that any of it is true? He welcomes your scrutiny because over 2,000 years of skepticism has yet to show any of it evidentially false. Something which cannot be said of other religious texts.
It is also important to understand each book, chapter and verse in context. Skeptics, atheists and others like to pull a single verse out and interpret it without its context. I'd have to dig out some examples of the typical passages. This tends to be with certain things like treatment of women, etc. that are used to show broad application but when read in context scripture is clear they are not general but specific to certain circumstances. Another form of attack is that the Bible makes no sense in some passages grammatically or because the style is different because of a different author. This is when you need too look at sources that go back to the original Greek and Hebrew. These "errors" vanish then, because Greek has a lot of verb variations that allow for nuances that English does not account for, for example, so our translations introduce some things that appear as issues that really are not when one studies the original text.
So I would recommend, and most Bible focused churches use, the NASB, because it's translation focus was to adhere as close to the original "sense" (see Greek nuances above) as any English translation we have. Translations are another source of skeptics ammo where the original KJV was shown to have a lot of problems, but that was a result of the translators and has no impact (hopefully obviously) on the original text. Any modern translations have corrected these translation errors.
You mentioned that you must accept Jesus to get into Heaven. What happened to people who lived and died before Jesus was born?OK, so this is the answer, but without a lot of understanding of Scripture it is not going to be that clear. As with anything here, I would suggest you seek out a pastor to get discipled and taught properly, as self study here will likely only confuse because of context and understanding of many things. In short Paul explains in detail, using Abraham and David as examples that the answer to you question is the same as how we are saved now. The Scripture says the their belief in God was "credited to them as righteousness". From Romans 4:23-24 "The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” In other words, righteousness is “credited” or given to those who have faith in God. Started another way, which might be more clear, since God sent Jesus those who believed in God were "credited" with believing in Jesus.
Do you believe god is Omni-Benevolent? If so, how do you justify an Omni-Benevolent being condemning "good" souls, just because they weren't raised a certain way?God by nature is all loving and all god yes. He cannot be any other way due to his holiness and that is why he cannot tolerate sin. As man it is impossible for us to be sinless, which is why Jesus took our sins upon himself and we are then presented before God as blameless and in His image. I think your question goes along the "why do bad things happen to good people" track in one aspect. God never promises us that believing in him will result in wonderful things. This is the fallacy of what has come to be known as the prosperity gospel. You hear it from the preachers on TV and the radio. Honestly this is what I feel drives many people away, because they say "I prayed for God to heal my mom from cancer, and she died, therefore there must not be a God". These preachers only share the "fun" passages that make everyone feel good but do not cover the passages that talk about God's wrath. Again a holy God cannot be in the presence of sin. It is not because God is "bad" it is because he is so good that this exists. Romans 8:28 says "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.". This is incorrectly used as by those who do not understand that this means only good things happen to people who believe in God. That is not what this says. It says everything God does is good. The hard part for us is that sometimes that means he needs to do something truly awful to us to save someone else. In the focus of eternity what happened is good, but we may never know how, or understand why. God never promises to make that clear to us. "Bad" things have happened in my life. I have lost jobs, I have had children choose difficult lifestyles, I have been divorced. In some cases I can see how these things very clearly led me to the place I am now, forcing me to move to other states, wrestle with difficult issues, and to try to work good from it. I trust the God has it. He knows the plan for the universe and my part in it. I do not. It is my job to strive for Christlikeness and trust that will get me to fulfill my purpose. Someone who followed the prosperity gospel thinking God has given up on me might lose faith and become an atheist as an example. With a clear understanding of all of Scripture I understand this is part of fallen man.
The second part of your question is God condemning someone for being raised a certain way. This is also a misinterpretation of what is happening. All it takes is accepting Jesus as your Savior to be saved. How you were raised may make that more a challenge but each person has this transaction between them and God. They either believe or they do not. I cannot save anyone. It is a transaction between each of us and God. I am not responsible for my six children believing in God. The book for Romans again is the source of the verse dealing with this Romans 1:18-20 - "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.". What this means is that the existence of God is made so clear through everything around you by the world we live in and everything created in it that man is without excuse to not believe in God. It is only through suppressing the truth, that one can deny God. Again, I get this is a confusing explanation, but that is the heart of it but it will seem foolish on the surface and because men like to think they are all knowing and powerful they use this confusion to say, "There is no God". God does not condemn anyone for how they were raised. He condemns them for denying the truth.
Where do you believe God came from? If he's always been here, does that mean infinite time? Before the big bang? Did he cause the big bang?Psalm 90:2 "Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." God did not come from anything. He was not created. He just always was and always will be. Again, not a concept we are going to explain with science and therefore not one that allows an answer to your second question, other than is eternity infinite time? As a believer I go to Genesis 1:1a and clearly see that "In the beginning God created the heavens" so yes he was before the start of what we know as the universe and he will be there after it is all gone in Revelation 21:1 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away," and he caused the big bang if that was how it really worked. Certainly provides an simple explanation for the scientific quandary that stuff just appeared as the big bang says, doesn't it? Isn't is also interesting that back when Genesis was written, when they had no reason to believe that there was a big bang, when it would have been so much easier to create a story that something hatched the earth and all the other things you see in myth. Instead you have simple words that explain the simple act of creation for an all powerful Creator. I'm not sure where people see the "story" here. God told Moses how he made things and Moses wrote them down in what we call Genesis 1. Is it easier to believe that some guy back in the day with no science was able to piece this together on his own?
Hope that helps and gives you some inspiration to learn more.