Here are three final questions that you might want to memorize or write down, if you need some help getting a good conversation started regarding Christ or the truth of the Christian faith. These three questions appear to be relatively simple, but they actually deal with some of the fundamental issues of human existence. Using these will allow you to penetrate to the core of the person you're talking to, and hopefully, expose them to the truth of God.
"Do you believe in "right" and "wrong"? Why? What is the basis for Morality?" Objective morality is a common feature of our world. In other words, everyone believes in "right" and "wrong"; in "good" or "bad", as I'm sure the person will that you're talking to. The question is why do they believe in this. If there is no God, there could be no moral values, for there would be nothing to anchor/ground them. But as we look around the world, regardless of ethnic group, geography, or period of history, we see that moral values exist. Therefore, God exists as the source of objective morality. Speaking with them about their belief in right/wrong and leading it back to God, is a great approach to take.
"Do you believe that absolute truth exists? Why? What is it's foundation?"As Christians, we believe that truth exists, is absolute (i.e. it's for all people, at all times..), and that it is defined as that which describes reality. If someone says they don't believe in absolute truth, just ask them "Are you absolutely sure about that?". This shows that it's a self-defeating statement and can't be correct. If someone says that we can't know any truth for certain, just ask them "Do you exist?". This is undeniable, since to deny their own existence they would have to first exist, in order to deny it. Upon these simple principles, we can build up our case to show that truth exists, we can know it, and then we can begin to lead them to the truth of God's existence using good arguments (cosmological, design, moral, etc..).
What is your philosophy on life? Why? How did you come to develop it?"This question gets right at the heart of the person's worldview. Whether they answer that they are an Atheist, Agnostic, Buddhist, Pantheist, Polytheist, etc... now you know where to begin your conversation. The strategy and wisdom of asking good questions is that you will know the correct starting point for you conversation about the Lord. If a person doesn't believe in truth, for example, why would you start speaking to them of God's existence? If a person is Islamic or Hindu, why would you start giving them arguments for God's existence? You would be starting in the wrong place, wasting your/their time, and covering something that is irrelevant to their current situation. Asking good questions help avoid this mistake by pinpointing where the person is at in their beliefs. Of course, if they answer with one of these alternative worldviews, you need to know a bit about it before you can engage them on it. Intelligent Faith 315 will cover all of these different philosophies and more, in the months to come, so don't worry!
- Pastor J.
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