Conversational Evangelism: How to Respond to 7 Common Questions From Nonbelieversਨਮੂਨਾ

The Problem in Just Answering Nonbelievers’ Stated Questions

To truly embrace Christianity one must embrace Christ. Everything else about the Christian faith flows from this foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10-11; Ephesians 2:20). In answering questions about Christianity, we have an opportunity to share Christ. Whether we are defending the faith with a skeptic or answering genuine questions about Christian beliefs, our goal is to help the nonbeliever take steps toward Christ with answers that point to Him.

So the bottom line is that we need to learn how to provide solid answers to nonbelievers’ frequently asked questions, but we need to do so in a way that encourages them to overcome their obstacles and take one step closer to Christ. But we are not really helping them to go further in their spiritual journey unless we can not only answer their questions but also address the issues behind the questions. This is not an easy art to master.

Each day we will look at a specific question or objection that commonly emerges in conversations with nonbelievers.

1. It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and you don’t hurt anyone else.

There is ample experience to verify that people can be sincerely wrong. We do it all the time when we make a wrong turn in traffic. The same is true in other areas of life. Further, being sincerely wrong may be fatal. If we skate on what we think is thick ice and fall through, it can be disastrous. Sincerely believing a blinking light at a railroad crossing is just stuck can be fatal if we cross and a train is coming.

The questions behind this statement about sincerity need to be addressed. Sincerely believing without evidence or against the evidence is not a wise course of action in any area of life, let alone one with eternal consequences. Also, we need to determine what terms we might want to clarify with them. For example, we may want to ask,

• “What do you mean by being sincere? Does sincerity guarantee you a good outcome?”
• “How would you define what it means to not hurt someone?”
• “How do you know that your beliefs will not harm someone in some way?”
• “Is it possible that someone’s beliefs can harm them in ways they aren’t aware of?”

We ask these questions because we want them to grasp an important truth: It is not our sincerity but the object of our belief that is important.

Finally, we need to emphasize that sincerity is no safeguard to the truth, and use something like the following to illustrate our point: “I’m sure the terrorists of 9/11 were sincere in what they believed, but they were sincerely wrong.” Then to build a bridge, we can ask: “If it does really matter what we believe (because not all views are equally valid), how do you personally determine who is right and who is wrong?” Asking this question in this way could lead to greater spiritual openness to hear about our Jesus.