Resurrection Focus for Research and Some of my Unresolved Concerns about Christianity

Christianity hangs on the resurrection. Whether or not this event and the claims around it were real makes or breaks this 'religion.'  For this reason a thorough examination of the resurrection is crucial and hence it is the topic I am currently researching.

The next source I am examining is a 1981 debate between Ahmed Deeat and Josh McDowell on the topic of "Was Christ Crucified" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7nxQ5_QlvE.) It presents the Muslim vs Christian view points on the subject. I am yet to complete viewing it and will refrain from further comments until I have done so.

*******

Seeing as I am trying to update this blog once a week for as long as is sustainable, this week I will turn my attention to some of my unresolved concerns about Christianity. I will try to get through as many of them as I can in this session.

Most of these concerns are logic issues and many of them are surrounding elements that are at the heart of Christianity.

1) Sin

I have issues with the concept of Sin. First with its origin. According to research in science, the universe is approximately 14 billion years old (https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU521AU534&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=age%20of%20the%20universe,) the Earth is about 4.54 Billion years old (https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU521AU534&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=age+of+the+earth,) first life on Earth started around 3.6 billion years ago and modern humans came into the picture around 200 000 years ago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolutionary_history_of_life.) The Bible attributes blame to humans for sin and for the imperfections of this 'fallen' world. It seems illogical that the universe is influenced by actions of these tiny creatures - us -  who relatively speaking have only been around for a short time.

The second issue I have is the question of why sin and an imperfect creation were even allowed in the first place. Which leads to my next point.

2) Old Creation vs New Creation & OT vs NT

In the Bible God promises that he will create a new creation in which there will be no sin. So it begs to be asked, why bother with the old imperfect, sin-filled creation at all?

If God is all powerful and all knowing then a) he had the power to create the new creation upfront and b) he could foresee what would happen with the present (old) creation, but still let it happen.

The Bible says that God is loving. Would it not have been more loving to start with the new creation? That way there would never have been evil, suffering, rebellion and a need for hell. On the topic of predestination, I've heard it argued that maybe the old creation occurred so that only people that really wanted to be in God's kingdom (the new creation) could be chosen. Whilst those who don't want to have God as their king (which is the definition of an unbeliever  and of hell - eternal separation from God) don't have to. I.e. free will. But would it not have been more loving to use his omnipresence and omniscience to only create the souls that freely desire to worship him, hence eradicating the need to create defiant souls and send those to hell?

A similar line of reasoning can be applied to the Old Testament vs the New Testament. Why bother going through all the OT judges and prophets who get largely ignored and don't solve the problem of sin? Also, why only offer a relationship to God for one nation of people (Jews) and wait a long time before opening up the offer to all man kind (Gentiles?) Is this kind of favouritism and racism really loving? Why let suffering continue and souls slide between the OT and Jesus?

And then comes the question of the Devil/Satan, our next point.

3) Devil/Satan

The Devil/Satan is associated with sin and evil - perhaps being the root of it all. So then, a) if God is all powerful and can see past/present/future - why even create the Devil/Satan in the first place? and b) why hasn't the Devil/Satan been destroyed - can't or won't an all powerful being eliminate the problem?

Points 2) and 3) make it difficult to reconcile God's qualities of Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience and Omnibenevolence with his choices and the way things are. They call into question either or both his power or his love.  I would be keen to hear people's responses to these logic issues.

Those are the biggest logic-based concerns I have. I'll return to the remaining issues another time.