Do you diatribe or dialogue?

When discussing our faith, what should we do with difficult questions? Ask them.

This was the way with Jesus. He asked over 300 questions in the Gospels. On the other hand He was asked around 180 questions. (I haven’t counted these up myself, I’m relying on the work of others, including Randy Newman whose book Questioning Evangelism is excellent.)

How many questions do you think Jesus answered? In terms of a direct answer, I count three (Matt.22:36-37; Luke 11:1; John 18:37). Maybe you can identify more, but here’s the point for now: the vast majority of questions which Jesus was asked did not so much provoke answers, they provoked further questions. That’s a challenge for all of us.

Maybe you enjoy answering questions and can download your theological views on friends at will. Maybe you dread such questions, worried that you’ll be stumped or let God down. But both approaches can reveal something amiss: we feel our primary duty is to answer questions.

Jesus was different. When Divine Wisdom descended to a confused world, He was peppered with questions. But He didn’t so much answer questions as ask them. The One who ‘knew all people’ (John 2:12) never stopped inquiring about them. How can we be any less inquisitive when we really don’t know our hearers or where they’re coming from?

So when we’re challenged about our beliefs, instead of giving answers, here are some questions we can pose in return:

More generally…

• What’s the most important part of the objection for you?

• What beliefs of your own are informing your view? Where do they come from?

• What do you understand of my position on this? How would you explain the Christian view?

What about hypocrisy in the church?

• What examples do you have in mind – historical, contemporary, personal?

• How have those experiences impacted you?

• Do you think hypocrisy is a Christian problem or a human one?

• Where does it come from?

• How can we find healing for hypocrisy?

Doesn’t science contradict faith?

• Do you think science and faith are enemies?

• Is there only one way to look at the natural world, or at people?

• Do you live your life only according to reason and evidence?

• Do you know any Christians who are also scientific? How do you think they process the question?

Aren’t Christians bigoted about sex and sexuality?

• Do you think people can disagree and still show love and respect?

• What do you think sex is for?

• What do you think the ‘me too’ movement has shown us about how powerful and meaningful sex is (when it goes wrong)?

Are Christians anti-trans?

• It’s so tricky, do you know how best to help those with gender dysphoria?

• When mind and body don’t align (in this area or others), what is the way forward, do you think?

• Should genuine disagreement on this be labelled hate or bigotry?

• Do you think the confusion surrounding this topic might be a sign that our society has taken some wrong steps as regards sex, gender and sexuality?

Does suffering rule out a loving God?

• What examples of suffering make you ask the question most? How have they impacted you?

• How does that suffering strike you: evil, wrong, unfortunate, ‘one of those things’? How do you think Christians reconcile the issue – especially those who have really suffered? • How do you think pain/evil relates to beauty/goodness in the world?

How can a loving God judge?

• How do you feel about injustices that have happened to you? Or in history?

• Do you think wrongdoing incurs a kind of debt? Why or why not?

• What do you make of Martin Luther King’s belief that the arc of history bends towards justice? What do you think that would mean for us at a personal level?

Asking questions like these opens up conversation where cutting straight to the answers may shut it down. There’s a great risk that we deliver a ‘God diatribe’ but miss a ‘good dialogue’. So, in order to take my own medicine, let me leave you with a couple of questions: • If we’re never curious about others – their beliefs, motivations and concerns – why should they care about our faith? And, • If we’re not inquisitive about them, what does that say about us?