Banned Questions About Jesus

50 Questions

Additional Info
Some of the questions discussed in this book include:
* Why did Jesus have to suffer so much before he died? Or did he have to?
* What happened during the “missing years” of Jesus’ life unaccounted for in the Bible?
* Does it really matter if Jesus was born to a virgin or not? What if Mary wasn’t a virgin, or if Joseph (or someone else) was the father?
* The Bible says that Jesus had siblings. Does that mean that there are people alive today who are from his family’s bloodline? Where are they? Who are they?

From Christian Piatt: “When I was a teenager, my youth minister threw a bible at my head for asking questions. Too often, for various reasons, people don’t have the opportunity to ask the hard questions they have about faith, religion, salvation and the bible. And when questions are left unanswered in communities of faith, people either seek answers elsewhere or lose interest all together.

“The purpose of the series is to collect the most compelling and challenging questions from various theological areas and pose them to a panel of “experts” who are challenged with responding in two hundred words or less in plain English. This volume addresses challenging or controversial questions about scripture collected from people on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking media.

“Respondents include theology professors, clergy, lay leaders, liberals, conservatives and voices representing a spectrum of views. The idea behind the books is not so much to provide definitive answers as it is to stimulate thought, reflection and discussion. By offering multiple perspectives, readers have the opportunity to arrive at their own questions. Better, they come to understand that questioning faith is not taboo, but rather that it can be at the foundation of a strong and growing faith.

“The directive given to each respondent guided them to be concise and to speak in plan language, but also not to rely exclusively on “the Bible says it” justifications, or to wax abstract or overly intellectual. Instead, they write from personal experience as much as possible, and provide real-life contexts that will allow the average seeker or churchgoer to apply such ideas to their daily lives.”