#STRask

Questions about whether God’s moral laws are merely subjective if he can command us to break them, and whether contrasting the Torah with barbaric Near Eastern laws to show moral improvement proves anything since you can’t justify bad laws by comparing them to worse ones.   Are God’s moral laws objective, or can they be broken if God commands us to break them? Aren’t his laws merely subjective if...

Questions about why God went ahead with creation if he knew about all the suffering that was going to happen, why Christians say God is responsible for all the good that happens but not the bad, and whether there’s a more satisfying answer to the problem of evil.   How should I respond to a Buddhist who asks why God went ahead with creation if he knew about all the suffering that was going to happ...

Questions about whether quantum mechanics disproves an objective reality and indicates we can’t perceive true evidence that God exists, and whether an infinite, intelligent, loving designer would have designed logic to exclude the possibility of suffering.   I’ve been struggling with the idea that quantum mechanics disproves an objective reality. Does God exist, or is the evidence we perceive actu...

Questions about whether feeling uncomfortable when people see you pray means you’re ashamed, and advice for a single person who feels like church is pointless since it’s set up for couples and families.   I have no problem talking to people about Jesus and my faith, but I am very uncomfortable with people seeing me pray. Is that wrong, and does it mean I am ashamed? Church seems pointless to me si...

Questions about how to balance hating evil and protecting the innocent with loving our enemy, and how we can be salt and light in the world while also resting in the fact that God is in control.   How should we balance hating evil and wanting to protect the innocent with loving our enemy? How can we be salt and light in the world but at the same time rest in the fact that God is in control—i.e., h...

Questions about how Christians should regard the argument that the family structure should change and we should have fewer babies since the world is overpopulated, and whether charitable works like feeding the poor are acts of justice as well as love.   How should Christians regard the argument that the family structure should change and we should have fewer babies since the world is overpopulated...

Questions about how to respond to a pro-LGBTQ pastor who says we can’t really know what Scripture says about homosexuality or other controversial topics since we’re not apostles or prophets, and how to understand and apply prophetic books of the Bible like Jeremiah and Ezekiel.   How can I respond to a pro-LGBTQ pastor who says we can’t really know what Scripture says about homosexuality or other...

Questions about how to respond to an unbeliever who says the belief that we’re all broken is a sad way to view life, how to reconcile Zechariah and Elizabeth being blameless with Jesus being the only sinless man, and whether the psalms about delighting in God’s Law are outdated and legalistic.   What’s the best way to respond to an unbeliever who says the belief that we’re all broken and need a Sa...

Questions about how we know that God is one being instead of three distinct divine beings in perfect unity, and why God would give notable miracles to Oneness Pentecostals if their theology is truly heretical.   I see real distinctions between the persons of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit interacting, speaking, and acting in different roles—but what specifically makes God one being instead of...

Questions about suggestions for a book to give a strong pantheist who’s a fan of Neale Donald Walsch, and how karma is different from the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 or the teaching about reaping what you sow in Galatians 6.   My neighbor, who is a strong pantheist, gave me Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch. Do you have any suggestions for what I could give him in return? How is...

Questions about how the unity of the Bible can be evidence it’s from God if the books could have been cherry-picked later, whether the fact that some passages in our Bibles aren’t canonical means every part of the Bible can be called into question, and why the Gospels don’t tell who wrote them.   How would you argue that the unity of the Bible is evidence it’s from God? Couldn’t a skeptic object t...

Questions about the claim that science explains things that happen and that’s why it can’t explain the supernatural, whether there will be morality in Heaven, and reconciling the idea that we all intuitively know morality with the argument that Christianity gave our culture its morality.   If science explains things that happen, then the reason it can’t explain the supernatural is that the superna...

Questions about whether other religions are different expressions of the same God, and how to reconcile the idea that people who have never heard the gospel are guaranteed to go to Hell with the fact that God is a good judge who shows mercy on whom he chooses to show mercy.   Are other religions different expressions of the same God? If the Bible centers on one region, how did isolated people come...

Questions about how to reconcile 1 Corinthians 13:5, which says that love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, with God keeping a record of everything we have done and judging us by it, and how the idea that people are condemned for their sin, not for lack of belief in Jesus, squares with John 3:18.   How do we reconcile 1 Corinthians 13:5, which says that love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, with Re...

Questions about what to say to someone who finds it hard to believe in a God that lumps non-criminals in with murderers and rapists when he sends them to Heaven or Hell, and whether all receive the same punishment in Hell.   What could you ask a non-believer who finds it hard to believe in a God that lumps non-criminals in with murderers and rapists when he sends them to Heaven or Hell? Do all rec...

Questions about why God gave Moses the Ten Commandments instead of sending Jesus, and what it means to call Jesus Christ the “Lamb of God.”   What are your thoughts on why God gave Moses the Ten Commandments instead of sending Jesus? What does it mean to call Jesus Christ the “Lamb of God”?

Questions about how to deal with someone whose mission is to tear down everyone else’s beliefs about Jesus, how to help a child or teen who seems liable to turn away form God due to peer pressures, and how to reach a daughter who says she wouldn’t be a Christian even if it were true.   How do you deal with a Christian who has deconstructed and whose mission is to try to tear down everyone else’s b...

Questions about how we know God is who he says he is and isn’t lying about his character, how to trust God when it seems like he’s working against us, and how to respond when it feels like God hates you.   How do we know God is who he says he is and isn’t lying about his character? How does a person trust God when it seems like he’s working against us? How should you respond when it feels like God...

Questions about what it means to be holy, how to fight your sins without slipping into a works-based mindset, and whether, as a Christian, it’s better to be humble, meek, and self-deprecating because none of us does good or bold and confident because we’ve been saved by the Creator.   What does it mean to be holy, and why is this important? How do I rest in Jesus’ completed work and still fight my...

Questions about whether Genesis 1 indicates that humans are basically good and that we’ve emphasized sin too much, and how, if the heart is “desperately wicked,” anyone could believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and be saved.   Since, in Genesis 1, God made humans in his image and called us “very good,” does that mean humans are basically good and we’ve emphasized sin too muc...

Questions about how to respond to someone claiming the Quran is the true word of God and how one can discuss the gospel with a Baháʼí.   How would you respond to someone claiming the Quran is the true word of God? How can I discuss the gospel with a Baháʼí?

Questions about inspiration when the New Testament writers quote the Septuagint rather than the original text, whether we could add books to the Bible if new letters from the apostles were found, and how to handle passages like John 7:53–8:11 that were added to the original biblical text.   Can you explain verbal plenary inspiration with regard to the New Testament writers quoting the Septuagint i...

Questions about whether Christians are complicit in abortion if they shop at companies whose health plans cover it, the claim that putting up Christmas decorations at work discriminates against other religious holidays, and an employer that won’t work around an employee’s religious obligations.   Many are appalled by Christians who lived near World War II concentration camps who failed to resist t...

Questions about where Jesus went when he “ascended into Heaven” in Acts 1, the idea that Jesus has already returned, whether we’ll see or hear from Jesus after we die, and whether Jesus would have ceased to exist at the cross if annihilation is the punishment required for our sins.   Where did Jesus go when he “ascended into Heaven” in Acts 1? What do you think about the idea that Jesus has alread...

Questions about what we make of the eyewitnesses to Joseph Smith’s golden plates, our thoughts on the Book of Mormon itself, and why we consider Latter-day Saint theology to be “another gospel.”   What do you make of the eyewitnesses to the golden plates, what do you make of the Book of Mormon itself, and why do you consider it “another gospel”?