Questions Every Christian Should Be Able To Answer
In a world (and in a city) in which remnants of a Christian worldview continue to deteriorate, it is incredibly important for Christians to be well equipped to answer the questions that arise from the neighbors, co-workers, family and friends in their lives.
A seminary professor of mine brought up an interesting blogpost entitled "65 Apologetics Questions Every Christian Parent Needs to Learn to Answer". The focus of the post is to outline questions that Christian parents should be able to answer for their children. Scanning the post it seemed clear to me that all of the questions are equally relevant not only for Christian parents but also for Christians in general.
I taught an apologetics and evangelism seminar this summer at Cornerstone. In a world (and in a city) in which remnants of a Christian worldview continue to deteriorate, it is incredibly important for Christians to be well equipped to answer the questions that arise from the neighbors, co-workers, family and friends in their lives.
Peter reminds us of this when he writes:
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15 ESV)
(Pastor Brian preached on this passage here.)
So I have picked out a few of the questions that I find particularly relevant and important for those living in Los Angeles. How many are you able to answer? Do you feel prepared to answer the difficult questions about the Christian faith? What do you not know how to answer, and how can you be equipped in order to be prepared?
I will follow up with another post where I begin walking through what it looks like to have biblical answers to these questions. Each question obviously can have a long, complicated, involved answer. But there are foundational, biblical truths that ought to undergird our answers to these questions as Christians.
As Christians we ought to never shy away from hard questions. I hope this inspires you to look up some of the answers given on the blog linked above, and I look forward to walking through some of these answers together in future blog posts.
A seminary professor of mine brought up an interesting blogpost entitled "65 Apologetics Questions Every Christian Parent Needs to Learn to Answer". The focus of the post is to outline questions that Christian parents should be able to answer for their children. Scanning the post it seemed clear to me that all of the questions are equally relevant not only for Christian parents but also for Christians in general.
I taught an apologetics and evangelism seminar this summer at Cornerstone. In a world (and in a city) in which remnants of a Christian worldview continue to deteriorate, it is incredibly important for Christians to be well equipped to answer the questions that arise from the neighbors, co-workers, family and friends in their lives.
Peter reminds us of this when he writes:
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15 ESV)
(Pastor Brian preached on this passage here.)
So I have picked out a few of the questions that I find particularly relevant and important for those living in Los Angeles. How many are you able to answer? Do you feel prepared to answer the difficult questions about the Christian faith? What do you not know how to answer, and how can you be equipped in order to be prepared?
- Why does a good God allow evil to exist?
- Why does God remain so "hidden"?
- What is the difference between absolute and relative truth?
- Do all religions ultimately point to the same God? Why or why not?
- What does the Bible say about the exclusivity of Jesus with regard to salvation?
- Why did Jesus have to die on the cross for our sins to be forgiven (couldn’t God have just pardoned sins without a gruesome death involved)?
- Why does it matter whether or not Jesus was resurrected (and that the resurrection wasn’t simply a metaphor)?
- How do Christians determine what parts of the Bible are prescriptive (binding commands) and which are descriptive (narrative, and non-binding)?
- How can Christians believe miracles are possible, given what we know about science (e.g., the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection)?
- What happens to people who have never heard the Gospel?
I will follow up with another post where I begin walking through what it looks like to have biblical answers to these questions. Each question obviously can have a long, complicated, involved answer. But there are foundational, biblical truths that ought to undergird our answers to these questions as Christians.
As Christians we ought to never shy away from hard questions. I hope this inspires you to look up some of the answers given on the blog linked above, and I look forward to walking through some of these answers together in future blog posts.
