“Why does God offer to forgive us, no matter how bad we’ve been? I don’t see why God even puts up with us, since we’ve rejected Him and broken every law He ever gave us. If I were God, I think I’d just do away with the human race.”
“Some friends invited me to their apartment for Thanksgiving this year, but I refused. I’ve had a miserable year — death of my husband, financial problems, sickness. It would be hypocritical for me to say I’m thankful. You’ll probably disagree, but can you understand why I feel this way?”
“I’m a university student from another country, and in our society we don’t have anything like your holiday of Thanksgiving. Does it have something to do with your Christian religion?”
“We have some relatives coming for dinner this Thanksgiving, and to be honest I’m not looking forward to it. They usually end up arguing about something or gossiping about other members of the family, and it just gets everyone upset. How can we keep this from happening?”
“Personally, I find reincarnation very attractive. The idea of an endless heaven doesn’t appeal to me, but once I die I look forward to living again and again — maybe on this earth, maybe somewhere else. Wouldn’t that be exciting?”
“Our church has been asked by a local college to find families to take care of some of their foreign students over Thanksgiving. We’ve thought about doing this, but I’m not sure if we’re really up to it. What do you think? ”
“I agree that people ought to be legally free to believe in God and follow whatever they think He wants them to do. But since I don’t feel any need for God or religion myself, then I ought to be just as free to live any way I want to, shouldn’t I?”
“What do you think of when you hear the word Satan? You don’t imagine that Satan is a real person in a red suit and a forked tail, or something like that, do you? I think Satan is just a symbol for evil.”
“Our paper ran a story recently about the pastor of one of our local churches who’s been forced to resign because he got caught in an extramarital affair. How could this happen? Aren’t people like this supposed to be a good example to others?”
“I know Christmas is still weeks away, but I’m already dreading it. For us, it’s just one hassle after another, plus spending money on relatives we almost never see. I know I shouldn’t feel like this, but I can’t help it. How can I change my attitude?”
“Why are some Christians so grumpy? We have some neighbors like this—always complaining about something and making life difficult for everyone around them. I’m sure they’re sincere about their faith, but I wish they weren’t so unpleasant.”
“What does it mean to follow Jesus? My life is so busy that I can’t imagine taking a couple of hours every day to pray, like I guess saintly people are supposed to do.”