#STRask

What Topics Should I Cover in an Apologetics Series?

Questions about what topics to cover when presenting an apologetics series in a church and how to handle addressing people’s doubts in an apologetics class when discussing them can confuse others and cause more doubts.

• What 4–6 topics would you recommend I cover in an apologetics series in my church?
• In apologetics meetings at my church, some members are helped by publicly talking about doubts and core questions, and some find these same discussions confusing and even doubt-inducing. How can one deal with this in a proper way?

How Can We Not Be Anxious When We Know God Allows Bad Things to Happen to Us?

Questions about how to make the case that the Bible is the Word of God and how we can be “anxious for nothing,” as the Bible commands, when we know God allows bad things to happen to us.

• How can we make the case that the Bible is the Word of God?
• The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing, but how can we not be anxious and stressed when we know God allows plenty of bad things to happen to us?

Why Is Abraham Considered a Great Man of Faith When He Had so Much Evidence?

Questions about why Abraham is considered to be a great man of faith when God gave him so much evidence of his existence and a response to the idea that a person’s salvation is questionable because his faith is “all head and little heart.” 

• Since God appeared to Abraham several times, it seems he had more evidence than most to trust God, so why is he considered to be a great man of faith?
• What do you think about people questioning my salvation because my faith seems to them to be “all head and little heart”?

How Can Something Be Evil in Itself if Evil Is Only a Lack of Good?

Questions about how Greg can say something is evil “in itself” if evil is only a lack of good, how Jesus could have had a fully-human experience if he never doubted, and whether all bad things that happen to us are spiritual attacks.

• How can Greg say something is evil “in itself” if evil is only a lack of good?
• How could Jesus have had a fully-human experience if he never doubted God’s existence, never struggled to hear from God, and never grieved as he wondered if he’d see a loved one again?
• Are all negative and bad things that happen to us spiritual attacks?

Can Science Test Supernatural Worldviews?

Questions about whether science can test supernatural worldviews and how to respond to the claim that the Bible isn’t against abortion since it contains a command to execute adulterous women without checking to make sure they’re not pregnant.

• Can science test supernatural worldviews? If so, how? If not, why not?
• How would you respond to the claim that the Bible isn’t against abortion since it contains a command to execute adulterous women without any provision to find out if they’re pregnant.

How Do You Know if Something You’re Doing Is a Sin?

Questions about how you can know if something you’re doing is a sin, what the author of Ecclesiastes meant when he said, “There is nothing new under the sun,” and whether the possibility that Moses was a lunatic or liar brings the whole Tanakh and New Testament into doubt. 

• How do you know if something you’re doing is a sin?
• Since there are new things every day, what did the author of Ecclesiastes mean when he said, “There is nothing new under the sun”? 
• If Moses could have been a lunatic/liar, does that start a chain reaction that brings the Tanakh and the New Testament into doubt?

Why Would God Create Animals and Allow Them to Suffer?

Questions about why God would create animals and allow them to experience so much suffering and whether Christians should be content and accept their circumstances without fighting back no matter what.

• Why would God create animals and allow them to experience so much suffering and gruesome deaths?
• Should Christians be content and accept their circumstances no matter what, or are there times when they ought to fight back?

What if the First Columbo Question Makes Someone Feel Ashamed?

Questions about what to do if someone feels ashamed because he can’t answer the first Columbo question and whether there there are arguments we can use for God’s existence based on our experience of the transcendent when we create things or watch a great performance.

• What if someone feels ashamed because he can’t answer the first Columbo question, “What do you mean by that?”
• Are there any arguments we can use for God’s existence based on our experience of the transcendent and the desires we feel when we create things or watch a great performance?

Do These Verses Contradict “Once Saved, Always Saved”?

Questions about whether Revelation 2:1–7 and Colossians 1:21–23 can be reconciled with a belief in “once saved, always saved.” 

• I’ve always believed “once saved, always saved,” but passages like Revelation 2:1–7 seem to say overwise. What am I missing?
• How does one reconcile Colossians 1:21-23a with the teaching of “once saved, always saved”?

Why Say the Beginning of the Universe Points to God?

Questions about why one should conclude the beginning of the universe points to God rather than another explanation and whether logic is created or an aspect of God’s character.

• Why conclude the beginning of the universe points to the Christian God rather than one of the other explanations people offer?
• Is logic an aspect of God’s character, or is it a created dimension he is not bound by?