Hi!
I have a question that i would like to ask everyone, so please take a moment to think about it and well, help me out here. Thanks!
To Christians:
When you're sharing your faith with non-believers, whether you planned the meeting or not, what are the questions that they challenge you that you did not actually know the answers to and how did you eventually answer them without anything to refer to on the spot?
I've realized that they're questions that many Christians can't answer and thus avoid it by giving ambiguous replies that don't actually answer the question. For instance, when it comes to why Chrisitanity is the one true religion, the one and only truth. The answer i commonly hear is "Because the Bible says so and the Bible holds the truth and we believe that." And then they quote from the Bible (particularly 2 Tim 3:16) to support them but hardly have any other form of firm evidence. Sharing personal experiences is good but not necessarily enough to support the argument. Well, a muslim could always quote the same way from the Koran which he believes in and say he believes for sure that it's the truth and quote his own experience. I find that after hearing these replies so many times, it somehow seems to have been taken off some kind of an "answer key" if you know what i mean. I think that's very saddening.
This is just one such example, i'm sure most of you would have heard more. So think about it and please share, so it can enlighten everyone and maybe it can help us answer questions better in the future.
Thanks!
I must clarify that sharing Christ is not like selling insurance.And the ability to answer questions asked does not mean the religion is good or convincing.
I acknowledged the fact that there are questions we as christians cannot answer. Where did God came from? etc... and mainstream church teaches that there is no need to pretend to misquote some Bible verse and force it down the non-believers throats. Simply say.....Sorry I do not have the answer and will try to find out"
and even so, there are some questions we simply do not have the answer because the Bible does not reveal that and we do not want to make some smart guesses and mislead people. Preach as plainly as we can...no need to resort to marketing sales trick.
If we know all the answers...why dun we be God instead?
For instance, when it comes to why Chrisitanity is the one true religion, the one and only truth. The answer i commonly hear is "Because the Bible says so and the Bible holds the truth and we believe that."
In logic, this is the fallacy of begging the question or circular reasoning - Petitio Principii.
And then they quote from the Bible (particularly 2 Tim 3:16) to support them but hardly have any other form of firm evidence.
2 Tim 3:16 doesn't vouch for the New Testament, since there was no NT Scripture in Apostle Paul's time.
So think about it and please share, so it can enlighten everyone and maybe it can help us answer questions better in the future.
Study apologetics, in particular negative apologetics for the more 'offensive' questions.
The question you should ask your friend then is, how did the Bible come about? Why is it that you placed so much emphasis on it? Only if you understand these, then can you know why christians say the things they say and quote the Bible?