Common Questions about Christianity:
Concise Answers to Complex Questions

Part Six: Personal

1. “People at church are hypocrites.”

2. “People who believe in God are weak—they need a ‘spiritual crutch’ to live. God fulfills their emotional need.”

3. “I’m a good person. I haven’t needed God before and have done fine by myself. Why would I need Him now?”

4. “I want to be spiritual, not religious” (postmodern spirituality); I don’t need a religious organization (church) to help me grow spiritually (they have too many rules to follow and inhibit my spiritual freedom).”

5. “God doesn’t answer my prayers so He must not exist or care for me.”

6. “If I am Christian, then all my sins and wrongdoings are forgiven, right? Doesn’t God’s forgiveness give me a license to sin?”

1. “People at church are hypocrites.”

• A hypocrite is someone who believes in some kind of standard and yet fails, at least sometimes, to reach this standard. Taken in this sense, isn’t everyone a hypocrite? Don’t we all fall short of our own standards?

• Yes, people at church are hypocrites. in fact, that is why we need Jesus; we are not perfect and fall short of God’s perfect moral standard. Consequently, we will incur God’s judgment, since he is holy and will judge imperfection. Jesus wasn’t a hypocrite; he did not sin. Jesus loves you so much that he paid the price for your sins. Remember, all of us our hypocrites! Look to Christ and not to Christians.

• If everyone is a hypocrite and all “hypocrites” are sinners, and if the church is for sinners, then it appears that the church is also for hypocrites. Since everyone is a hypocrite it seems that church is for everyone.

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2. “People who believe in God are weak—they need a ‘spiritual crutch’ to live. God fulfills their emotional need.”

• To begin with, many people affirm that belief in God, the Bible, in Jesus is rational faith and not blind faith. Blind faith is to jump out of a building on fire without knowing there is something to catch your fall. You jump without considering the consequences. Rational faith says there are good reasons to believe that we will be safe if we jump out of the burning building. Tthere are firemen below, there is a safety net, others testify that they jumped down and are “safe,” etc. Thus, faith is not necessarily a “weakness” Believing in Christ may be an example of “reasonable faith/belief” based upon credible evidence.

• Are you presently in a relationship? Been married? Had a past girl/boyfriend before? Did/Does this relationship exist primarily because of an “emotional need?” Is being emotionally fulfilled a by-product of being in a relationship? While we do not believe God solely exists to fulfill our emotional needs, we acknowledge that having an intimate and dynamic relationship with God meets our deepest spiritual need and provides us with emotional support and peace.

• Using the same logic, could we not hypothetically turn this objection around? “People who do not believe in God are not as rational as those that do—they do not evaluate all the evidence for his existence.”“People who do not believe in God are full of arrogance and pride—they need to protect their ‘egos’ in order to fulfill their selfish needs.”“People who do not believe in God are running scared—they need an excuse to deny God’s holiness because they are afraid of what God says.”

• Who would postulate such a God that Christianity believes in? To say it another way, if you created a God would you create beliefs such as the Trinity and the divine and human nature of Christ co-existing in one person. Would you formulate God’s holiness, God’s judgment, hell as everlasting punishment? If I am weak, then wouldn't I be inclined to create a “softer” God.

• This argument is similar to the idea that it is permissible for children to have imaginary friends, but it is not wise for adults to have an imaginary friend God. However, we know that our child’s imaginary friend does not exist. The same case cannot be made against the existence of God.

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3. “I’m a good person. I haven’t needed God before and have done fine by myself. Why would I need Him now?”

• How did you reach this conclusion that you are good? Where did your standard of goodness come from? If it is based on your own standards then isn’t that a “relative goodness?” (Mark 10:17-31) How can you explain how society reaches the conclusion that certain actions and behaviors are “good” and others are “bad?”

• Goodness is a “relative goodness” and when measured with God’s “absolute” and “perfect” goodness it falls short of God’s standard. Jesus taught that murder, for instance, is not just taking the life of another person. Murder is also having thoughts of anger towards that person (Matthew 5.21-22). To be innocent of a particular crime (“thou shall not murder”) is not enough. We must be totally righteous as well (to provide and protect the sanctity of life). In other words, not only do you need to not transgress God’s moral law,all the time, but you must fulfill its righteousness all the time as well.

• Non-Christians can be just as or more moral and ethical than Christians without even reading or obeying the Bible. However, isn’t it possible that this goodness and morality is, nevertheless, a result of God’s grace and being created in his image? If this is theoretically possible, then wouldn't it be wise to investigate whether this God exists or not?

• God’s existence is not premised on whether you have lived a good and moral life. God exists irrespectively of your car, finances, and status. Perhaps success and finances aren’t the most important/ultimate needs in life? What about spiritual needs?

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4. “I want to be spiritual, not religious” (postmodern spirituality); I don’t need a religious organization (church) to help me grow spiritually (they have too many rules to follow and inhibit my spiritual freedom).”

• Admittedly, churches could and should be more spiritual, that is to be more open to the person, presence, and power of the Spirit. Churches should consider, for instance, the role of “spiritual disciplines” , such as prayer, fasting, solitude, silence) in their overall preaching, teaching, education, and discipleship ministries.

• Although it depends on one’s definition of “spirituality” and “religious” it appears that this position forces us to choose between an “either/or” option. However, it is not apparent that there are no spiritually religious churches or religiously spiritual churches. Cannot both traits exist in one church? In addition, it appears that this position may produce a false disjunction between “spirituality” and “doctrine” as well.

• By throwing out the “bathwater” have you also thrown out the “baby?” Is it possible that you have overreacted or lack understanding and patience in reaching your conclusion? (You could, for instance, look for another church or perhaps even reform your own church to be more “spiritual.”)

• In general, you will not be as effective if you attempt to “grow spiritually” by yourself , through your own beliefs, styles, and means. This view represents an “autonomous” (self-law) understanding of spiritual growth that lacks the knowledge, wisdom, experience, and history that a “tradition” and “church community” possesses.

• At times, this view may also represent a “pluralistic” interpretation of religion and spirituality. Thus, seeing truth as “pragmatic” and “eclectic” they seek to borrow “spiritual practices” from different religious traditions in their quest for creating a “montage” form of spirituality irrespective of each religion’s doctrines and beliefs.

• In an attempt to break free from the “organizational church” you have become your own “criteria” for determining what is “good” and “right.” Is it possible the “real issue” is not necessarily and only “spiritual,” but also a problem of the ego and authority as well?

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5. “God doesn’t answer my prayers so He must not exist or care for me.”

• Many people have acknowledged that God has and continues to answer their prayers.

• Perhaps there are good reasons, that are beyond our understanding, for God not answering our prayers in the same way that parents do not give their children everything that they ask for.

• Theology of God: God has the first word. He spoke first through his creation, the universe. Metaphysically speaking, He is also primary; he pre-existed creation. Prayer is our response to God, the second word/movement. We cannot know and learn how to pray unless we first understand that prayer is also our response to who God is, what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. A correct understanding of God through “being in” relationship with Him, is foundational to understanding and developing a life of prayer.

• Theology of Prayer: Is prayer primarily a means of receiving something from God? Is God like a “genie” or “Santa Claus?” Is prayer a means of submitting ourselves to God’s will? In other words, some suggest that prayer is alligning our wills with God’s will.

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6. “If I am Christian, then all my sins and wrongdoings are forgiven, right? Doesn’t God’s forgiveness give me a license to sin?”

• Yes, all your sins and wrongdoings—past, present, and future are forgiven if you have asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins/wrongdoings and pledged your allegiance to follow him.

• This is a “hypothetical” question that a “true” believer may (on occasion) ask, but rarely applies because he or she no longer thinks in this manner. When a person becomes a “real” Christian, then he or she is not only forgiven, but they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Because of this “new life” of the Spirit living within us, Christians now have a desire to please and obey God (rather than sin and please ourselves).

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