100 tough questions- h #32.  Were Jesus and Mary Magdelene married? This is a constant question that has been raised over the decades and the last few have seen many books published on the idea.  Itis safe to say that the books are wrong and the two were never married.  This is so for several reasons: 1. The devil uses the idea to try and ruin Christ's message and deceiev people away from salvation; 2. Jesus had too many enemies and they would have uncovered any conspiracy eventually and told the whole world.  In fact there is no ancient expose published or any other record saying the ressurrection was false; 3 There were too many eye-witnesses to Jesus ressurrection and accension, believers know where Jesus went. We know that Jesus was tempted 'every way' {Heb. 4:14-16} and romance would have been one of those temptations.  mary M. could very well have been that person who was used to tempt Jesus and see if He would depart from His purpose?  Since He was not selfish, and suffered on the cross, we know that when we face temptation for the wrong romantic interest we can gain strength and courage from Him for He understands those situations. #33. Should Christians advocate the Death Penalty? To the physical world and its inhabitants, this sentence seems like the fair thing to apply to those who have taken a life and in the Old Testament we have God setting the criteria for its use.  BUT this does not meanthat we blindly apply it nor that we do so because it is the popular idea and will win friends among the secular world, nor does it mean we get to use it for revenge, avengence or any other unjust attitude that may arise in a person. Here is 1verse a believer needs to consider when facing this issue. Micah 6:8 "He has showed you, o man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Here we see that justice needs to apply to all, no matter how vile one considers the crime, then to be merciful to all, no matter the crime.  No one is left out, there are no 'excepts' here andfinally one needs to walk with God and with that walk one will be able to see clearly what they are to do when death penalty advocates raise this question. #34 Are children really innocent? The secular world has been harping on this more and more recently. They feel that because children do not or have not experienced life like adults have that they are immune to its temptations and desires.  They keep say how children as victims are innocent as if adult victims were guilty of something so they deserved their attack.  In crimes, most victims are innocent whether a child or an adult and there is no difference between the two. Yet in the spiritual world, children are not immune to the effects of the Fall of Man and are under the same curse until they choose Christ's salvation. They are not innocent as they lie, steal, cheat, kill and commit other immoral acts.  We know from Romans 3:23 and 6:23 that there are no exemptions for children, they are included in the 'for all...' or 'there is none...' they do not get a free pass from God's judgment because of their age or innocence. We know this to be true because NOT ONE child responded to Noah's preaching and went upon the ark for safety and they perished with their families when the flood waters came. The way of salvation is the same for all. #35 Were the books of the Old Testament copied from other sources? Minimalists or those who do not accept the Bible as true have put this idea forth for some time now yet not one of them can produce one shred of evidence that that is so. We as believers know it isn't true for we accept God's word that all of scripture was inspired by God and the Holy Spirit aided the human authors.  There was no copying of other texts or other religion's sacred works, for if there was then God would not be God and He would have sinned in producing the Bible then saying He did it all. Most likely, the scribes of the false religions saw something in the Bible that they liked and they copied for their own purposes.  We know that the ancient babylonians were great copyists (Mesopotamia and the Bible, ed. by chavalas and younger) and that the Israelites did not have that reputation at all.    Secular people are always looking for some sort of an excuse to dismiss the Bible but they fail each time because they are not looking for the truth but an escape from it. #36 When non-believers bring up the Salem witch trials and the Inquisition and attack Christ, what can i say in answer to them? This is a common point that is raised by those who do not believe as they look to charge Christ and Christians with sinful behavior and  to undermine the claims of believers. The answer to these accusations are several: 1. Why accuse Jesus for the acts of those who do not understand or mis-apply His words. A separation must be made here to show that what Christ taught and what people who claim to follow Him do.  Not everyone who claims to be a christian follows Christ's teaching but their own version of it.  2. This is a part of history which no one can change, it happened and can't be changed. They are a good example of what takes place when people do not follow Christ but their own desires. 3. Modern Christians did not participate and are not responsible for the actions of others, especially those of the long dead. A believer should then place the eyes of the unbeliever off the human failure and place themupon Christ.  For a person is to follow Christ and His words NOT humans. 4. Jesus did not command or give instructions for such injustices and these events go contrary to what He taught. Jesus is not responsible for the choices people make nor the actions that they commit. Such responsibilities lie with the individual since Jesus already gave His instructions on how to act  2,000 years ago and it is up to the believer to choose to follow them.  If they do not choose to do so, then sin abounds. 5. Such accusations are merely an attempt to justify the accuser's own choices to follow sin and not Jesus. They look for excuses to remain in their unsaved lifestyle and  a believer has to point out that the actions of others is not a justifiable excuse for one's own disobedience and that they are being called to follow Christ not other people. #37 How can we know that the Gnostic writings are false? Since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts (mss.), many people think these are the lost writings of the ancient christians.  Not so and one main reason is God's promise to preserve His word.  We have over 5,000 complete and fragmentary mss. copies of the New Testament where as we only have minimal fragments {and not many copies} of the Gnostic writings.  Having incomplete work is NOT keeping His promise nor is having part of His word discovered after centuries of inaccessibility by people.God is fair and honest which means we can be sure all people had access to all His words and teachings throughout history or God would not be fair, honest, just and sin by being deceitful and failing to keep His promise. Thus we can be sure that the Nag Hammadi library is not part of the inspired words of God.  There is a reason they were buried for 1800 years or so. Also, in his lecture Archaeology & the Extra-Canonical Gospels, Dr. Craig Evans points out that archaeological discoveries (he lists the important archaeologists who made the discoveries) all support the 4 gospels held  in the New Testament and not one supports the gospel of Thomas or any other extra-gospel.  This is important as too many people make claims that these extra writings shed light on early christianity but there is no proof for their arguments. One has to get the complete story of the discovery and history of the extra-biblical works and see how their claims do NOT line up with the message of the Bible. Most supporters for the extra-biblical texts rely on hearsay, conjecture, theory and have nothing with which to support their perspective.  #38 Why do some churches ignore the social aspects of Christ's teachings? To be fair, most churches do not do so, they just place a higher priority on preaching or evangelizing than helping others out of tough situations but still have departments which provide aid quietly to those in need.  They feel that there are other christian and secular organizations who focus on those problems and thatthey need to focus on preaching the word.  Realisitcally, all believers should be aware that not everyone is an evangelist and not everyone can preach thus planting the seeds through good works is just as important as presenting the four spiritual laws. Many, Many non-christians have been preached to and preached to and know the Bible better than most christians BUT their heart has not been 'primed' to receive the good news.  Sometimes it takes acts of kindness, the experience of the love of God through believers before those seeds take root.  God works in many different ways as He knows the hearts of those who do not believe thus the believer cannot restrict themselves to just one method of reaching the lost.  They must be in tune with God and listen for His direction while doing good works.  Matthew 5:16 tells us to do good deeds andlet men see it for God's glory not our own.  Thus aiding people is not a part time evangelistic tool but a part of everyday christian life. People are NOT always open to preaching  but they will become open if they see christians doing what Christ tells us to do and that is good deeds all the time. Remember Christ STOPPED preaching to 1. heal the sick, 2, feed the crowds, 3. raise the dead, 4. talk to others, 4. receive children,  and so on.  Preaching is only 1 part of winning souls and one must be listening to God for the right time to do that while good works are to be done all the time.