Sitting in on the Alpha course, an informal bible study geared at those who have questions about God but may not attend church, at Trinity Church tonight opened my eyes to an area of ministry I have not really been exposed to yet. The hard questions. Something I’ve been anticipating, something I knew was coming. The questions that almost make you question your faith. How do we answer these?
In Colossians (4:6) Paul offers, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
As much as I enjoy spending time studying the Word I don’t see myself becoming a polished theologian. I don’t think that’s what Paul was hinting to the church at Colossae to become. Certainly preparing ourselves for battle with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) is vital not only to the growth and understanding of our own faith, but is the only way I know how to even begin to chip away at the tough questions. Here are some examples from tonight:
“If we have given our lives to Christ, but remain habitual sinners in some areas, what is going to happen to us on Judgment Day?”
“How can God forgive everyone? Why would he forgive good people, and then really bad people? Does he punish them?”
“If God wants everyone to be saved, but yet chose to write the names of certain people in the Book of Life, is there favoritism?”
Some of these seemed obvious to me, some had me fumbling through my words trying to steer the conversation back to Jesus loving us and simply desiring a personal relationship with us. And some things that fell out of my mouth had other believers looking at me saying, “Yes, I understand that Christ died for our sins, but what about (insert many questions regarding Catholic priests molesting children, here)?”. Sometimes, “I don’t know,” doesn’t suffice when people have been hurt and are honestly searching for right answers.
Tonight I learned we are going to be faced with many diffucult questions on this journey. Whether stemming from bitterness, confusion or a passion to know more. I know I don’t have all the answers. Tonight was a great reminder of that. I can rest peacefully though because I know I have the right answer. Some may choose not to accept it. And that’s fine, my prayer is that Truth will continue to be spoken from my lips no matter how many people tell me I’m wrong. And most importantly, that these seeds would continue to be watered after I’ve moved on.
