#STRask

Would a Human Clone Have a Soul?

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 soul?
• Do anencephalic babies have a soul?
• Does the fact that scientists have been able to decode people’s thoughts by using AI to analyze their brain activity disprove the idea that the soul is real and that consciousness is an immaterial, private experience?

This Culture Turned Our Dear Daughter Away from the Faith

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 years, I'm feeling very cold to evangelism and a deeper understanding of Scripture, and I’m looking for some advice on where to get started.

If We’re Not Under the Old Testament Laws, Why Are We Using Them to Condemn People?

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?
• What do you think about my friends insisting that Christians celebrate and honor the various feasts of the Mosaic Law—not out of a spirit of legalism, but merely out of obedience to the Lord who saved them?
• Just as part of the purpose of the Mosaic Law and sacrificial system was to teach God’s people how to recognize Jesus when he came, should Christians be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles and other commands so we can recognize Christ at his second coming?

Everyone Deserves Love and Happiness

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 adoption when looking through the lens of the greater good? If same-sex marriage is legal, what is the greater good in terms of children—giving a child a home or fighting against same-sex adoption ever occurring?

What Is a Biblical Case for Submitting to God’s Good Design for Our Bodies?

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, Episcopal brother is asking why “gender-affirming care” is wrong and harmful if it’s not discussed in the Bible.

Is the Despair Portrayed in Psalms and Job Descriptive or Prescriptive?

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 other middle way?
• Are the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5 descriptive, prescriptive, or both?
• How do we meditate on God’s Word just by reading it, and how is meditating on God’s Word different from yoga?
• How should I respond to someone who says, “The Bible gives us information about God. You can’t read it again and again and say you have a relationship with God.”

What Is the Difference Between Believing and Knowing?

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 perspective, with knowing from a secular perspective being that which one can see, smell, touch, or demonstrate empirically?
• Why is it considered very bad manners to ask for testable, repeatable, consistent evidence that gods and goddesses do exist?
• What prayer can anyone say over a small amount of baking soda so that when vinegar is poured onto it, the bubbles test positive for hydrogen instead of carbon dioxide, thereby giving evidence that the supernatural being to whom the prayer is offered does exist?

What Is Your Best Answer When Asked to Prove God Exists?

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 without needing creation, but how can he be, by nature, merciful and forgiving without fallen humanity, and wouldn’t that make us necessary?
• If God is complete in himself, he didn’t need to create us, and if his angels are there, he already receives glory, so why is it to the benefit of an uncreated creation that they should be created and witness the glory of God?

Why Did the Sadducees and Pharisees Want to Kill Jesus?

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?

Can a Person Be Saved but Have Nothing to Show for It?

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 John 15?
• If good works demonstrate/follow salvation, does that mean I’m not saved since I still fail so much when it comes to selfishness, not helping others much, not giving much, etc.?