“What, in your opinion, is the greatest hindrance to the growth of Christianity today? Is it atheism (which is what I tend to think), or is it some political system that has no use for God?”
“Our son will be coming home from college for the Christmas holidays, and the last time he was here he let it be known that he didn’t believe in God like he used to. We ended up in a big argument because we couldn’t answer his questions, but we don’t want that to happen again.”
“I was surprised the other day when our church treasurer urged people to be as generous as possible before the end of the year, and the only reason he gave was so we'd get a big deduction on our income tax. Shouldn't we have purer motives than this for our giving?”
“If God is a loving God, how can He send anyone to hell? It seems to me that He ought to let everyone into heaven if He truly loves us. I honestly hope it’s like that, because I haven’t been a very good person (I’m in prison right now), and I don’t like thinking about hell.”
“I just discovered that my fiancé has a drug problem. He says he got into drugs because he was bored and unhappy, but he says I shouldn't worry because when we get married he'll be happy and he won't have any reason to use drugs. Should I believe him?”
“I had an uncle who lived a terrible life—fathering a couple of illegitimate children, treating people like dirt, you name it. Well, on his deathbed he claimed he received Christ and was forgiven, and believed he'd be going to heaven. He seemed happy, but was he right? Why should he go to heaven just like someone who's been a Christian all their life?”
“I used to be very active in my church and I taught Sunday school for over 30 years, but now I’m in my 80s and crippled from arthritis and other problems, and I can’t even get out. Why is God keeping me here? I’d rather be in heaven. Is it wrong to feel this way?”
“My husband and I are very disillusioned with the churches we’ve been in. We’ve moved around a lot in the last 10 years, and almost every church we’ve gone to either had some kind of conflict going on or else it just didn’t have much to offer. I know you tell people that it’s important to go to church, but we’ve about given up. Any advice?”
“Recently, I read about some missionaries in a foreign country who were captured by some rebels there and then beaten and left for dead. Why would they put themselves in such a dangerous place?”
“In recent months, I've had a real problem with arthritis, and some days I can hardly get out of bed. My doctor tells me I need to get on some kind of medicine but I don't want to do that. I've prayed and prayed for God to heal me, but nothing happens. Why won't God answer?”
“What do you think is the greatest need in our churches today? Do you think it's better preaching, new styles of worship, more youth work, or what? I'm on the board of our church, and we've been debating this recently.”
“I don't have any use for hypocrites. I'm in jail right now, and I've seen several guys supposedly get religion here, but they admit privately that the only reason they're doing it is to impress the parole board. They're just phonies.”