“I'm retiring in a few months after 38 years on the same job. All my life I've looked forward to the day when I wouldn't have to work any more but now I'm dreading it. Suddenly, I realize I'm going to be bored out of my mind. What can I do?”
“I teach the kindergarten children in our church, and they are always asking questions I can't answer. The other day they asked me where God came from. I said that He's always existed, but I could tell it only confused them. What would you have said?”
“I've heard that the Bible says Jesus is going to come back to earth some day. Is that true? That kind of scares me because I know I'm probably not ready. Do you think He'll come soon? I hope not.”
“If someone said they had time to read only one book of the Bible, which one would you suggest? That's my situation because the doctor says I have only a month or two to live because of cancer. I know I'm not ready to die.”
“Do you think we'll get to meet all kinds of famous people when we get to heaven? I'd love to find out what they were really like, and learn about the things they did while they were on earth that didn't make it into the history books.”
“Is it wrong to want to die and go to heaven? I've lived a full life and God has been very good to me, but now I'm feeble and sick and I yearn to go to heaven. But so far God hasn't seen fit to answer my prayer. Am I wrong to pray this way?”
“I know I've messed up my life, but I don't want to make things worse. My boyfriend is demanding I get an abortion, but I don't want to. The reason he gives me is that he claims the Bible says children who are born out of wedlock can't ever go to heaven. Is he right?”
“When I was a child (about 8, I think), I asked Jesus to come into my life. I'm older now, but down inside I've always worried that my childish commitment wasn't enough, and I wonder if I'm really saved. What do you think?”
“What does it mean to believe in Jesus? I have a high school friend who says I need to believe in Jesus, but when I ask her to explain she has a hard time doing it. Maybe you can help me understand.”
“My doctor is trying to get me to take some medicine because he says I'm depressed, but I don't want to. I admit I'm down emotionally, but hasn't God promised to heal us if we have enough faith?”
“This is probably an odd question to ask someone like you, but if you were the devil, what would you try to do in the world? And how would you do it? Don't worry—I'm not fascinated with the devil or anything like that, but I'm just curious what you'd say.”
“What is your definition of a liar? I can see why it would be wrong to tell a falsehood that hurts someone, but what's wrong with telling little half-truths that don't hurt anyone?”