Anyone Who Asks

Anyone Who Asks: How Christians Answer Questions

The following is an edited transcript.

Answering questions is, I think, something that Christians should be prepared to do. There's a verse that says, "Hey, be ready to give an answer when people ask you about the hope that's within you." So, I do think that means being able to say, "I believe in Jesus, that's why I have hope." But I also think it means being a little bit more articulate—being able to explain exactly why you believe and why you have hope, and also being able to share from the Bible. So you're not just giving your feelings or your thoughts, but you're actually saying, "Well, the Bible says this." I do believe there is, yes, not a burden, but a weight for Christian staff to do that.

So, this is how I go about answering questions. There are different ways people do it. I'm sure Tiff would do it a different way, but this is kind of my process. I think you guys have a lot of the skills already, just from what we've done in the activity.


1. Examine the question.

The first one is to examine the question. And I think you guys were able to do that when I gave you those sentences, right? You ask, "Is the person making assumptions?" meaning, "Are they assuming something that may or may not be true?" Or, "Is something incorrect in the statement?" Did they say something where it's like, "Well, actually, that's false, and they're presenting that as part of their question?" Also, is there an underlying motive or hidden question? Sometimes, if you're dealing with actual people—not just anonymous submitted questions—they may have a reason for asking the question. Maybe something happened to them in the past, and they want an answer to that, or maybe they're angry about certain things. So, that's what I mean by this. When you know the person, you understand that, hey, they have a context. The Bible has a context, but so do people, and everybody's context is different. You wouldn't know where people are coming from unless you ask them, "Hey, why are you asking this?" Of course, you don’t need to be that straightforward, but you could say something like, "Tell me your story," or, "What made you think about this?"

2. Establish definitions.
After you look at the question, establish definitions and ask follow-up questions if necessary. That was really the point of the discussion—because you guys were able to look at the ambiguous keywords I threw in there on purpose, and then you said, "Well, we need to define what this means. What does 'special knowledge' mean?" So, you make definitions that way. I purposely do not give you those definitions to make you think about it. You need to establish definitions so that both you, as the person giving the answer, and the person asking the question are on the same page. If you're talking about two separate things, you'll never come to an agreement on anything. You need at least to have a starting basis, where you say, "Okay, well, maybe they don’t even know what you think God is." Maybe they've never heard that God is an actual person we can talk to or hear from.

So, establish definitions and ask follow-up questions if necessary. And normally, it is necessary.


3. Know what the Bible says.

Third, what do you know for sure that the Bible says? This is where we start getting into the answers. At this point, it does require a little bit of Bible knowledge already. If you're a new Christian, it might be hard for you to give answers to questions because you're new yourself. If you've been coming to church for a long time, the hope is that through the sermons, Sunday school lessons, small groups, and your own devotional reading, you've at least soaked in enough of the Bible to be aware of the basic concepts. For example, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). You know for sure that's what the Bible says. You get concrete verses like that, and then you form your answers from that.

4. Study themes.

Next, what keywords or themes can you look up? This is where it's helpful to think about questions in terms of themes. Sometimes a person will ask a very pointed question, but there might be a broader theme you can address instead. For instance, if someone asks, "Who should I marry?"—what does the Bible say about who I should marry?—the Bible isn’t going to give you a specific name, but there are themes the Bible talks about in terms of marriage, love, and being connected to others. You look at those broader themes and can then give answers.

You might say something like, "The Bible doesn’t give you a specific name, but it does say you're not supposed to marry someone who's not a Christian," which already eliminates a lot of people.


5. Be thoughtful, kind, and caring.

Finally, how can you answer in a thoughtful, kind, and caring way? I don’t want to lose that component when answering questions. You don’t want it to be combative. We're not approaching this lesson from a debate standpoint. The goal is to respond in a thoughtful, kind, and caring way, especially when your friends, family, or someone who isn’t combative asks you a question. Honestly, even in a debate-like environment, I think this is a good witness—just be thoughtful, kind, and caring in your responses. Christians don’t need to beat people with the Bible. All you need to do is present what it says, and people will take it or leave it.

So, that’s my process. Now, in terms of specific tools, the back of your Bible might have a thing called a concordance, where you can look up keywords. And similarly, you can use the internet to search, "What does the Bible say about love, marriage, dating, etc." But use the Bible first before going to the internet. I think this is important to train your mind to think, "Okay, how can I do this personally?"

So, this is how I answer questions that you guys give me. I don’t think I do it perfectly all the time, but I just want to show you that there are different approaches, and this is mine.