#STRask

Questions about claiming to know the one and only perfectly true denomination on earth and how a person can know they are going to Heaven.   Are you about to tell me you know the one and only perfectly true denomination on earth? How can a person know they are going to Heaven?

Questions about whether confidence in a belief should be informed by how long the belief has been held or by how many have held it, and whether it’s irrational and illogical to believe in God and one has to go against reason to believe in him.   Should confidence in a belief be informed by how long the belief has been held or by how many have held it? Is it irrational and illogical to believe in G...

Questions about how to tell the difference between someone who is righteously offended by homosexuality and a bully, and how to challenge cultural Christians to think more deeply about the Christian worldview when they complain about men wearing women’s dresses in public.   How do you tell the difference between someone who is righteously offended by homosexuality and a bully? How can I challenge...

Questions about what to do if your child came home and told you they were gay, and whether it’s strategically wiser to set emotionally charged sexual ethics aside at first and begin with other sins when evangelizing.   What would you do if your child came home and told you they were gay? Given how emotionally charged sexual sin is today, is it strategically wiser to set sexual ethics aside at firs...

Questions about what happened with Germany in World War II if the idea of intrinsic human value came from the Christian worldview, and how to explain the fact that Christians on both sides of World War II slaughtered each other while claiming to fight in the name of God.   If the idea of intrinsic human value came from the Christian worldview, then what happened with Germany in World War II? How d...

Question about what Christians should think about capitalism.   What should a Christian think about capitalism?

Questions about the benefits of holding Greg’s view on not expecting to hear special messages from God, and how the ideas of God putting something on someone’s heart and prompting someone to pray a certain thing fit with Greg’s theology.   What are the positive benefits of holding Greg’s view on not expecting to hear the voice of God and using more appropriate language for describing how the Holy...

Question about what Hebrews 7 means when it says Jesus became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.   What does Hebrews 7 mean when it says Jesus became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek?

Questions about what Jesus meant in the passage where he says, ”It is written that you are called gods” (John 10:34–36), and why he would compare himself to those who are merely called gods.   Can you give a more detailed explanation of the passage where Jesus says, “It is written that you are called gods” (John 10:34–36)? It seems like he’s downplaying the fact that he’s God by comparing himself...

Question about where Scripture teaches unambiguously that Jesus is God.   Where does Scripture teach unambiguously that Jesus is God? Jesus also said he wasn’t God when being called a blasphemer, so when you say “unambiguously,” what do you actually mean?

Questions about how the new earth ties in with the the teaching that we go to Heaven after we die, whether the Isaiah 65:17–25 passage about the new earth is metaphor, whether people in Heaven are aware of things happening on earth, and the prohibition against communicating with the dead.   How does the new earth and the new Jerusalem mentioned in Revelation tie in with the teaching that we go to...

Questions about responding to the claim that someone who died saving the life of another shouldn’t be punished with Hell, and answering someone who says they don’t need a relationship with God and that if there’s a just God, then we should all be judged according to our deeds.   How would you respond to the claim that someone who died saving the life of another shouldn’t be punished with Hell? Wha...

Questions about how God’s divine prerogative in Romans 9 differs from the capriciousness of Allah, why we should bother with evangelism if God draws those whom he draws and no one has a choice, and the role of faith in the elect in Reformed theology if God guaranteed their salvation.   How is God’s divine prerogative shown in Romans 9 different from the capriciousness of Allah? If God already know...

Questions about whether or not a human clone would have a soul, when each identical twin receives a soul, whether anencephalic babies have a soul, and whether the fact that scientists can use AI to decode people’s thoughts by analyzing their brain activity disproves the soul.   Would a human clone have a soul? When identical twins form from a single-cell fertilized egg, when does each receive a so...

Questions about advice for parents whose daughter was turned away from the faith by the culture, and what to do when you’ve been a Christian for 35 years and are feeling cold to evangelism and a deeper understanding of Scripture.   Do you have any advice for us after this culture turned our dear daughter away from the faith she grew up in? As someone who’s been a Christian for approximately 35 yea...

Questions about why people are using the Old Testament laws to condemn people if we’re not under those laws, thoughts on Christians celebrating the feasts of the Law out of obedience to the Lord, and whether we should keep the feasts so we’ll recognize Christ at his second coming.    If the Old Testament laws were not even meant for us, then why are so many using the old laws to condemn people now...

Questions about how to answer someone who says, “Everyone deserves love and happiness,” in response to objections to same-sex weddings, and how to think about same-sex adoption when looking through the lens of the greater good.   How would you answer someone who said, “Everyone deserves love and happiness,” in response to my objections to same-sex weddings? How should I think about same-sex adopti...

Questions about how to make a biblical case for God’s good design in creating two genders and the rightness of submitting to his design for our own bodies, and how “gender-affirming” care can be wrong if it’s not discussed in the Bible.   Would you make a biblical case for God’s good design in creating two genders and the rightness of submitting to his design for our own bodies? My trans, Episcopa...

Questions about whether the despair portrayed in Psalms and Job is descriptive, prescriptive, or something else, whether the Beatitudes are descriptive or prescriptive, how to meditate on God’s Word, and whether reading the Bible gives us information about God or a relationship with him.   Should we view the despair of believers portrayed in Psalms and Job descriptively, prescriptively, or some ot...

Questions about the difference between believing and knowing from a biblical perspective, why it’s considered bad manners to ask for testable, repeatable evidence for the existence of gods, and why Christians don’t prove God exists by asking him to change carbon dioxide into hydrogen.   How would you understand the difference between believing and knowing from a biblically informed Christian persp...

Questions about our best answer when an atheist asks us to prove God exists, how God can be merciful and forgiving without the existence of fallen humanity, and why, if God is complete in himself and already receives glory from the angels, he would create us to witness his glory.   What is your best answer when an atheist asks you to “prove God exists”? Since God is a Trinity, he can be love witho...

Questions about why the Sadducees and Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus and why God doesn’t say anything when we pray to him.   Why did the Sadducees and Pharisees want to kill Jesus? Why doesn’t God say anything when we pray to him?

Questions about whether 1 Corinthians 3:15 indicates that a person can be saved but have nothing to show for it in the way they live, and whether a lack of good works after salvation means the person is not really saved.   Does 1 Corinthians 3:15 indicate that a person can be saved but have nothing to show for it in the way they live, and if so, how does this fit with passages like James 2 and Joh...

Question about the questions we need to answer for our youth to help keep them from walking away from the faith.   What questions do we need to answer for our youth to help keep them from walking away from the faith?

Question about how to love those who hate us.   How would you answer the question my former professor says is the most pressing question his students are asking right now: How do we love those who hate us?