#STRask

What Apologetics Strategies Can We Use with Agnostics?

Questions about apologetics strategies to use with an agnostic who says it’s pointless to worry about whether there is a God because we can’t know if he exists and whether it’s a bad strategy to debate things like miracle claims with someone who rejects them.

• What apologetics strategies can we use with an agnostic who says we can’t know whether there is a God, therefore it’s pointless to worry about it and you should just live your best life?
• If someone thinks the stories of the Bible can’t be true because there isn’t enough evidence to support things like the Nephilim or miracle claims, should you debate them about these things?

What Does a Personal Relationship with God Look Like on a Practical Level?

Questions about how to explain what a personal relationship with God looks like on a practical level and whether it’s okay to pray to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit.

• How do I explain to my 20-year-old son what a personal relationship with God looks like on a practical level?
• What are your thoughts on praying to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit?

What’s the Best Evidence for the Reliability of the Old Testament?

Questions about the best evidence for the reliability of the Old Testament, whether Greg subscribes to the idea of four independent Gospel accounts or two-source theory, and why the apostle Paul wrote so much of the New Testament.

• What’s the best evidence for the historical reliability of the Old Testament? How do we know that what the Old Testament writers wrote back then is what we have today?
• Does Greg subscribe to the idea of four independent Gospel accounts or something more like the two-source theory?
• Why do you think the apostle Paul was commissioned to write so much of the New Testament explaining Christian theology when he wasn’t present for Jesus’ teachings during his earthly ministry?

Why Would You Say Evolution Has No Purpose?

Questions about the claim that evolution has no purpose and whether the fact that people who have aphantasia are unable to form mental images shows that the ability to picture something is based in chemistry rather than a soul.

• Why would you say evolution has no purpose when it’s a fine-tuned process that ensures the propagation of life and is anything but random since it’s controlled by a survival-fitness feedback loop?
• Since people who have aphantasia are unable to form mental images, doesn’t that mean the ability to picture something is based in chemistry rather than a soul?

Are the Crusades Proof That Christians Are Evil?

Questions about how to respond to someone who says the Crusades are proof Christians are evil, the facts around the church burning people at the stake for saying the world is not the center of the universe, and whether that history damages the witness of the church.

• How do you answer someone who says the Crusades are proof that Christians are evil?
• What are the facts around the church burning people at the stake for saying the world is round and not the center of the universe? Does this prove the unreliability of biblical authority and damage the historic witness of the church?

Is Matthew 23:23 an Argument for Social Justice?

Questions about how to respond to someone who uses Matthew 23:23 as an argument for social justice and what to say to a family member who argues that Christians are not being persecuted but are only losing their privilege.

• How would you respond to someone who uses Matthew 23:23 as an argument for social justice?
• What should I say to a family member who argues that Christians are not being persecuted but are only losing their privilege?

Does the Bible Teach That Elijah Was Reincarnated as John the Baptist?

Questions about responding to someone who says the Bible teaches reincarnation when it says John the Baptist “is Elijah who was to come” in Matthew 11:14 and whether Matthew 24:36–44 is referring to the rapture.

• How should I respond to someone who says the Bible teaches reincarnation in the verse about John the Baptist being Elijah (Matt. 11:14)?
• Is Matthew 24:36–44 referring to the rapture, and if not, what’s the best way to convince someone it isn’t about the rapture?

Do You Believe in the Clarity of Scripture?

Question about whether Stand to Reason accepts the doctrine of biblical perspicuity (the idea that the Bible is clear in what it teaches about essential doctrines).

• Does Stand to Reason accept the doctrine of biblical perspicuity, and if so, how would it be verified or falsified?

Is an Embryo a Baby?

Questions about whether the fact that you can freeze an embryo but not a baby proves an embryo isn’t a baby and whether it would be wrong to use IVF with genetic testing to avoid carrying a baby with an inherited genetic disorder that always results in stillbirth.

• Putting a baby in a freezer would kill it, but freezing an embryo would keep it alive. Does that prove an embryo isn’t a baby?
• Would it be wrong to use IVF with genetic testing to prevent carrying a baby with an inherited genetic disorder that always results in stillbirth?

How Will Jesus Sit at the Right Hand of God if He Is God?

Questions about what the Bible means when it says Jesus will sit at the right hand of God if Jesus is God and why the writers of the Synoptic Gospels didn’t write about Jesus claiming to be God.

• If Jesus is God, what does the Bible mean when it says Jesus will sit at the right hand of God?
• Why didn’t the writers of the Synoptic Gospels pick up on Jesus speaking of himself as a divine deity, as God himself?