"Should prayer be public?"

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"Should prayer be public?"

Matthew 6:5-6 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer is such a prominent aspect of Christianity. Why do these verses seem to condemn the practice in public? Are all people who pray publicly hypocrites? What "reward" have the hypocrites already received? Why are there so many instances of public prayer elsewhere in the Bible? If public prayer is acceptable then what is the purpose of this passage? Does prayer even work?

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"Why did God kill Onan for refusing to inseminate his dead brother's widow?"

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"Why did God kill Onan for refusing to inseminate his dead brother's widow?"

Genesis 38:7-10 But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother's wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

We don't know what wickedness Er was guilty of to warrant his killing, but there are some very confusing events that follow. Judah tells Er's brother Onan to marry Er's widow and give her children. Why does God kill Onan for spilling his seed on the ground rather than inside his dead brother's wife? God wasn't even the one who originally asked Onan to do this. Is there anywhere else in the Bible that informs us God expects this behavior with a punishment of death for disobedience? How was Onan to know that God would find it wicked? We are also not told if Er's widow had any say in the matter. Why is God, or at least the author of Genesis, seemingly unconcerned with the wife's wellbeing or consent in this scenario? Even if this practice was necessary to the culture of the time, why would God not condemn it?

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"Why did God tell Abraham to kill his own son?"

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Genesis 22:1-2 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

Genesis 22:9-12 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

We are told that Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his own son.  As Abraham is about to strike Isaac, an angel tells him to stop and that God now knows he is fearful of him, so he spares Isaac.  Why did God need to test Abraham at all? Up to this point Abraham has been extremely loyal. Why did God need to test him in this way? As an omnipotent being, wouldn't he have already known if Abraham was fearful of him?  Why is it important that Abraham fears God?  Why did God choose human sacrifice as the test? Does God support human sacrifice? If he does not support human sacrifice, why would he want a follower who would willingly do such a thing even if commanded to? Abraham obviously believed that his God could and would demand such a sacrifice.

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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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"Why would God command his people to kill their disobedient children?"

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Leviticus 20:9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

This seems like an unjust punishment. What constitutes cursing your father or mother? Why would God ask his people to pass judgement or punishment on his behalf? Couldn't he reserve ultimate justice for the disobedient child in the afterlife? Why would he not allow the individual a chance to redeem themselves and be forgiven for their sins?

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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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"Why did God need a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden?"

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Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

After Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden God places a guardian called a "cherubim" to prevent them from reentering. What is a cherubim? What is the significance of placing the cherubim in the east? There are no mentions of swords before this time, so did God introduce the concept of violent weapons to the world? Why did the sword need to be on fire? Why didn't God just hide the Garden from Adam and Eve?

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"How was there night and day before God created the Sun and stars?"

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Genesis 1:3-5 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

In the Genesis 1 creation story God "separated the light from the darkness" to form days and nights. Since days and nights are a result of the Earth's rotation relative to the Sun, how did God have a day and night on the first day of creation without the Sun? If the light mentioned in verse 3 was enough to provide night and day then why did he need to wait until the fourth day to make the Sun and other stars?

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