Linda walked up to me after church, a cup of coffee in her hands. As we exchanged pleasantries, she suddenly said: “I’m a bit confused. A friend has been talking to me and she says that we all become ghosts after we die. That’s not right … is it?”
What do you say?
We were studying John’s Gospel in homegroup, and had finished reading chapter 16. Dave, always enthusiastic to ask his questions, got us started by saying “I like to think of the Holy Spirit as a kind of electricity that keeps us going...”
What do you say?
Most of the youth group had been to see the movie, and it was the subject of an excited discussion as I walked up to them. “It’s really scary to think that the devil can just take people over like that,” said one girl. “But at least you wouldn’t be responsible for the stuff you did when you were possessed,” a boy replied.
What do you say?
The answer to all of these very real situations above is to teach a doctrine from the Bible. Linda needs to understand the Bible’s teaching on death. Dave needs to know that the Holy Spirit is a person and not an impersonal force or power. And the excited teenagers in the youth group need to be impressed with the truth about Satan: that Christians cannot be possessed by the devil; that Christ has defeated him, but that we continue to be tempted and tested by the Evil One. And that he cannot “make” us do anything.
That’s the idea behind a new series of titles from The Good Book Company called Questions Christians Ask. It aims to give short, readable answers to the common confusions we have about what the Bible teaches on certain important subjects. But it approaches those subjects through the questions we ask, and the experiences we face in life, rather than as an exercise in dry theology.
And these questions are important, not just for us to understand, but also for the way we relate to those who are approaching belief in Christ, or want to know more about the gospel.
So use these resources to really know your faith, so you can stand firm in it, and so that you can give an answer for the hope you have to those who ask you. You need you to believe your beliefs, so that they are able to doubt their doubts.
And watch out for some great deals on the blog this Friday!
Tim Thornborough is the founder and Publishing Director of The Good Book Company. He is series editor of Explore Bible-reading notes, the author of The Very Best Bible Stories series, and has contributed to many books published by The Good Book Company and others. Tim is married to Kathy and has three adult daughters.