5 difficult, vital questions every christian should consider
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5 difficult, vital questions every christian should consider

Venturing into the deep with Jesus.

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Nobody has a conclusive answer on every question. It doesn't matter if you do or don't believe in God. There will be questions that humanity will always continue to grapple with for many generations to come. However, sometimes grappling with certain questions is a way of growing as an individual and as a community.

I'm talking about the Christian community specifically. Today, I want to raise five questions that could go on indefinitely without a conclusive answer for everyone but which are still vital to the Church. These questions are not all the same but they all are tied up with how we relate to each other. That is, not all of them are inherently practical but they do have practical and relational importance.

Today I am not going to try answering these questions but will leave that to you, your friends and families, your small groups and your churches. The first question is this: In what sense are we to depend on the Lord with the realization that He doesn't do everything for us? There is one simple reason why this question can be very difficult to answer: one can overemphasize dependence on the Lord vs overemphasizing the importance of making choices on your own.

If you overemphasize depending on the Lord, then you might be inclined to think that you do not need to do much. On the other hand, you might be inclined to think that you have little need for the Lord's providence in your life.

Secondly, how are we to understand failings in the Christian life? It seems reasonable to say that not all failings are the result of sin. Take a simple case of a Christian student trying desperately hard to pass an elementary class but who has not been successful. He prays constantly and studies with more energy for that class than any other class and yet he still never succeeds. Why is he failing? Is it because he isn't trying hard enough? Is he not saying the right prayers?

It is also reasonable to say that God will never play hide and go seek about our flaws and sins. If we have a specific sin that is holding us back from succeeding at something, then we can trust God to reveal that to us when we ask. But suppose we pray for that multiple times and have seemingly done all we can to be successful at whatever we're failing at. Where does the answer lie? This is something we all must wrestle through.

If appealing to Scripture alone was enough to settle doctrinal and ethical disputes, then why doesn't everyone agree with each other? Christians disagree on, how to understand God's sovereignty on how it relates to human responsibility in the context of salvation (Calvinism vs Arminianism), the moral status of the unborn, the legal permissibility of same-sex marriage, whether outside information about God from creation is needed to make sense of the biblical portrait of God's nature, and so on.

You might be wondering why this is even a problem to begin with. Let me put it this way. If Scripture gives a fairly straightforward message on all those issues, then some are inclined to think that everyone would agree about those issues. But not everyone does agree about those issues.

So where is the problem? Is it because Scripture does not give us an accurate picture about those issues? I'm inclined to think does give us an accurate picture because I believe that whatever God says is true even when He does not say everything about the truth of different issues.

Some of the underlying issues that affects on how we would even approach these questions are about how we go about developing theological and ethical positions as Christians. Some will say "Just the Bible", "The Bible and maybe traditions", "The Bible, Tradition, Reason, and Experience", "The Bible, tradition, Reason and Experience". Do you resort to one source or multiple? How would your answer affect your ability to adequately address each question?

Fourth, how are we to understand and address doubts in the Christian life? Before you can address an issue, you must understand it. Is doubt the same as unbelief which Scripture says is sinful? Are all doubts meant to be understood and addressed in the same way? Doubts in the Christian life can come in a wide variety.

There are intellectual doubts (lacking confidence in the historical reliability of Scripture, skepticism regarding certain doctrines of the faith), emotional doubts (lack of trust in God for emotional wounds from others, questioning God's goodness because of suffering/unanswered prayers) and doubts regarding decision making (lacking confidence in taking a step forward because of unanswered questions).

Are we to always go to the heart of the issue every time we know it for any of these doubts? When should we hold off addressing certain doubts and focus on other ones? Of course one could say that we address the doubt(s) that is of the more immediate concern. I would agree with that strategy but not everyone does.

Finally, how are we to understand unanswered prayers? It is here where I want to make three distinct but related points. We must first understand who God is in His nature. We must not ignore the reality that confronts us when our prayers go unanswered.

And, we must try to find some way to reconcile them or put them in harmony with each other. Whenever we do pray to God about anything, we incorporate/apply our understanding of who He is/we are and both of our roles in the universe with respect to whatever we are praying.

Suppose I pray for a skeptical friend for 40 years for God to rescue and save him and my friend never becomes a Christian. What should I conclude from that? If God is the only "player" in the process of salvation, then it would seem easy for Him to save anyone. There would seemingly be no resistance that He could not handle.

But, if He doesn't save my friend, is it because He doesn't want to? On the other hand, if God does not save him because my friend has resisted God to being beyond reach, what does that say about God being all powerful?

Let me end with this. I do not raise these questions to imply there is no answer or that we must give up hope or that Christianity does not have the resources to answer them. I believe firmly that Christianity is able to answer all these questions even when they are unavailable from where we are. Next time we meet, I will give my own take on these questions. that itself might require multiple pieces, so we will see. Until then, stay tuned!

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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