"Did the Witch of Endor actually summon the spirit of Samuel?"

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"Did the Witch of Endor actually summon the spirit of Samuel?"

1 Samuel 28:7-14 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”

So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.” The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?” But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.” The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

The practice of witchcraft and magic is addressed several times throughout the Bible ("Were Sorcerers, Mediums, and Necromancers really performing magic in the Bible?"), but this is a narrative account that seems to demonstrate the power of one particular medium. Commonly referred to as the "Witch of Endor", we see in this story how she apparently calls forth the spirit of Samuel at Saul's request. The medium asks who she should "bring up". Where is this spirit coming "up" from? Heaven? Where does the Witch get this power? Is the spirit actually Samuel or is it an illusion? If it is Samuel's spirit, then how has the Witch accomplished this miraculous feat? If it is an illusion, is it divine in nature like a prophetic vision or is it more like a trick performed by modern magicians? Does Saul ever actually see the spirit or is he simply falling for the Witch's ruse? Later in 1 Samuel 28:15 it says that Samuel's spirit speaks to Saul which seems to imply that this is not an illusion.

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"Why did Jesus need to spit on a man's eyes to heal his blindness?"

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"Why did Jesus need to spit on a man's eyes to heal his blindness?"
Mark 8:22-25 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to [Jesus] a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Jesus performs many healing miracles in the New Testament, but this one stands out as particularly strange. What is the significance of spitting in the man's eyes? Couldn't the healing have been accomplished without such a crude symbolic act? Also, why did the first attempt to heal the man's blindness not seem to work? The man could not see clearly until after Jesus laid hands on his eyes a second time. If this was unintentional, then why was Jesus' healing so imprecise? If this was intentional, then what was the purpose or lesson that what meant to be taught? Is this the same blind man as described in the story of John 8:59-9:6? If so, then why is the healing miracle described differently? In John, Jesus spits onto the ground to make clay to place on the man's eyes and it takes place in a different location. Regardless of whether the two stories describe the same or different miracles, why would Jesus need to use different methods to heal the same affliction? In yet another story (Mark 10:46-10:52) a blind man is healed instantaneously with no physical contact or spit involved.

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"Why did God take the form of a burning bush to speak with Moses?"

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"Why did God take the form of a burning bush to speak with Moses?"
Exodus 3:1-5 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

In this well-known passage God communicates directly with Moses, and chooses to do so by taking the form of a burning bush. The question is why? Why a burning bush? Would a burning rock have worked just as well? Why did the bush need to be burning? Is there a natural explanation for this phenomenon? There's also some confusion in the passage as to who is actually speaking to Moses. Initially we are told "an angel of God" is speaking, but then soon after we are told it is God himself. Which is it?

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"Was Jesus really born of a virgin?"

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"Was Jesus really born of a virgin?"

Matthew 1:18-20 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."

This is one of the most miraculous claim made in the Bible. Was Jesus really born of a virgin? Was this a common story in other religious traditions? Why do only half of the gospels discuss the virgin birth?

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"Why did God need to use a rib to create Eve?"

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Genesis 2:21-22 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

When God creates Adam, the Bible says he created him from dust and then breathed life into him. Why then, when it comes to the creation of Eve, does God have to use a rib? Could he have used one of adams fingers, or his tailbone? Why did he need anything from Adam at all? 

There is also the biological question of how could Adam's rib, which contained Adam's DNA, have created anything other than a copy of Adam?

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"Is there any evidence of an unusually long day as described in Joshua?"

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"Joshua 10:12-14 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
    and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
    until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel."

This event seems suspiciously absent from the stories of other ancient cultures during the same period. Wouldn't such a suspension of physics cause all sorts of other catastrophes around the world? Why is the sun described as having "stopped in the midst of heaven"? Is the sky the same thing as heaven? Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that the Earth stopped rotating on its axis? Why would God do this just to support the violence and killing perpetrated by Joshua? What is the Book of Jashar and why is it not included in the Bible?

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"Was there really a global flood?"

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Genesis 7:17-20 The flood continued for forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains covering them fifteen cubits deep.

Do we have any evidence of a global flood? Where did all of the water come from? How much would it have to rain to cover the planet with water above the highest mountains?

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"Why did Jesus have to cast demons into pigs?"

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Matthew 8:28-32 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, the two demon-possessed men met him coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him saying, "If you cast us out, send us away in the herd of pigs." And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

In these verses were are told that Jesus cures two men of demonic possession by casting the demons into a herd of pigs that proceed to run into the sea and drown. Why did Jesus need to use the pigs? Why did the demons seemingly want to inhabit the pigs? Could Jesus have cured the two men without causing the pigs to kill themselves? What happened to the demons after the pigs died? Did they "die" as well?

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"Were Sorcerers, Mediums, and Necromancers really performing magic in the bible?"

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Deuteronomy 18:10-11 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead.

Several passages in the bible refer to Sorcerers, Mediums, and Necromancers and the magic they supposedly perform. Were these people actually performing magic? Where did they obtain these abilities? Have we ever observed magic occurring?

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"How were the Pharaoh's sorcerers able to replicate God's miracle with Aaron's rod?"

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Exodus 7:8-12 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

These verses specifically refer to the rod turning into a serpent as a miracle, but somehow the Pharaoh's sorcerers were able to recreate this miracle with their "secret arts". What were their secret arts? How did these magicians have powers comparable to God? If it was God's intent to convince the Pharaoh of Moses' divine authority, why wouldn't he begin with an example that could not be replicated (or seemingly replicated) by any man, angel, or demon?

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