The Reluctant Evangelist - What if I Can’t Answer Their Questions?

What if people ask questions I can’t answer? Won’t I look foolish or worse, make God look foolish?

There’s no such thing as an expert in God

Some of us are nervous about sharing our faith because we don’t feel like we’re “experts” and think that we need to be in order to explain the gospel effectively. Not true! First, there’s no such thing as an expert in God. There is always more to learn because God is infinite. There will always be questions we can’t answer and concepts we can’t explain.

If we get to point where we think we have God all figured out and placed nicely in a box, then we need to repent, because we don’t have the right God. God doesn’t fit into our boxes so we shouldn’t try and put Him in one. None of us will ever have it all figured out until we’re standing face to face with Him. Even then, it will probably take the rest of eternity to really understand Him.

It’s OK to Say ‘I don’t know…’

It’s also OK to say, “I don’t know, to be honest. That’s a great question. We can look into it together.” There might be others you can ask and then get back to the person you’re sharing with. Different people have researched different things. My husband, Joe, for example, has done LOTS of research into the topic of evolution and creation. If someone I’m sharing with has a question about that, I would ask Joe. Others might know a lot about the original Bible manuscripts or ancient Jewish culture. You’re not expected to know everything.

Second, this is all about relationships. If you brought in someone with a doctorate in theology to answer their questions, the person you’re talking to still wouldn’t necessarily believe. They don’t have a relationship with that person. They want to hear from you. You’re the one who cares about them.

The Big Secret…

Most questions aren’t actually questions and don’t require answers. They’re smokescreens. A smokescreen is something you put up so you can hide behind it and not be found. Many times (although certainly not always) questions and objections are not really things the person wants answered. They’re simply a way to not deal with the real issues.

So if the question or objection is only a way to hide from the real issue, then what’s the real issue?

That we’re sinful and don’t want to surrender our lives to God. We think we can do better than He can with our lives.

Romans 1:18-20 spells it out pretty clearly: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

These verses continue to explain that people choose to worship the creation rather than the Creator and therefore exchanged the truth for a lie. As a result, their hearts were darkened and they continued down an ever worsening path of sin and disobedience.

God said that He has made Himself clear and evident to people. We can look at nature, at the complexity of our bodies, the vastness and order of space and the intricacies of a cell and see evidence of God. Consequently, we are all without excuse.

When someone says that the Bible has been changed or what about evolution or how do I know this is all true, deep down they know it’s true - they may just not want it to be true. Their objections are a way to justify their unbelief. I don’t need to believe this because the Bible is full of contradictions.

So how do you handle smokescreen questions or how do you find out whether a question is a sincere question or not?

You ask more questions.

Jesus was a pro at this (and everything else…). Many times, rather than answering people’s questions, He instead asked them another one! Following that principle, your conversation with someone could go something like this:

The Bible is full of contradictions.

Which contradictions are you referring to? We could look at them together if you’d like.

I don’t know, I’ve just heard that there are contradictions.

Have you read the Bible?

Frequently, the answer is no. Maybe they watched a TV show or heard someone say that the Bible has contradictions and it conveniently supported their desire to believe that the gospel isn’t true and they can live life the way they want to.

I probably sound harsh explaining it this way, but I don’t mean to be. We’re all guilty of this in one way or another, aren’t we? We WANT to believe something is true or something else is false, so we look for things that support what we want to believe. We’re willing to accept any shred of a story without researching it as long as it supports what we desperately want to be true. Very infrequently do we ever search for truth purely objectively, whether we’re talking about the Bible, or truth regarding our health, politics, or other people. We usually decide first what we want to be true and then look for supporting “evidence”.

The Covid pandemic is a great example. I really don’t like the idea of wearing a mask. They’re uncomfortable, I feel like I can’t breathe, I can’t be heard or understood when I talk and they make me very anxious. I desperately want it to be true that masks are unnecessary or even harmful because that would support my desired truth and reality.

So, I see a Facebook article about the dangers of masks and how they really don’t help and I cling to that, without checking the source of the article, investigating how the conclusions were formed or looking at articles from the other side of the argument. I find support for what I want to be true and cling to it, regardless of whether it’s accurate or not.

When it comes to issues of faith, this shouldn’t make us critical of people wanting to believe something and looking for things to back up their desired truth. It should help us to be compassionate. Coming clean that we’re sinful and accountable to God for how we live our lives is scary! It’s hard to humble ourselves and admit our need. As I’ve said, this is all in the context of a relationship, so we need to find ways to gently help the person we’re sharing with see that maybe they haven’t explored the issue as thoroughly as they could.

Beliefs are held for a variety of reasons, only one of which being that they were researched and explored and found to be true. We hold some beliefs because that’s what our parents or other people in positions of authority have told us and we never questioned it. We hold other beliefs simply because we like them and they make us feel comfortable, unique and valued. Sometimes we believe something because it’s a way of rebelling against our families, society, or someone who hurt us.

I think this is one reason why sometimes people are very defensive and touchy when asked about their beliefs. There’s a lot of emotional baggage attached to them. It’s helpful to understand the “why” of someone’s beliefs. There’s usually a story behind it.

I have one friend who is very distrustful of the medical community. If you met her and talked about that topic, you would think she’s just very opinionated and judgmental about it. But if you go deeper, you’ll find out that her grandmother died because of a mistake a nurse made. She’s also very much against mandatory vaccines because her son has a medical condition that she believes is a result of a vaccine.

There are very personal reasons and stories behind beliefs. It doesn’t even matter if those beliefs are based on facts - the person just has to perceive them as facts.

If the person you’re talking to isn’t willing or interested in looking for answers to their questions, then those questions really aren’t the problem. Express your willingness to explore that question with them if they’re ever interested, then keep building the relationship and try to find out what is really in their way.

Our family was at a fossil site several years ago and my husband, Joe, was talking to one of the volunteers working to uncover the fossils. When he brought up creation as opposed to evolution, the man was argumentative. Joe left the argument alone and just got to know the guy a bit. It turned out that he had grown up in a religious home where they had refused to answer his questions which made him very frustrated and caused him to turn away from Christianity. There was obviously more to the story than an argument about whether evolution is true.

Smokescreen questions don’t necessarily require answers - they require relationship.

Sometimes questions are legit

Sometimes the person you’re talking with has legitimate questions that you should answer. As I said earlier, you don’t have to have all the answers at the tip of your tongue. If you’re not sure, tell them you’ll look into it and get back to them. Your pastor would be a great resource for either answers or where to look for answers.

The most important thing you can do is not to have a “canned” answer for every question someone raises about Christianity, but rather to love them. Get to know them. Understand their story. Show them compassion and grace. People aren’t generally argued into the Kingdom of God - they’re loved in.