Are you Prepared?

In light of the fact that the funding for deBUNKED is going so well I thought it would be good to share with you a list of questions that we keep.  The following list came in over a 2 month period!
 
I’m letting you know right up front, it’s a LONG list.  I’ve not exaggerated the number of questions on this list.  Truth be told, I’ve cut some out because I know that many of you won’t read this if it’s too long.  Also, these are pretty much in the sequence in which I received them.
 
You may be asking why we need to take the time to answer these questions.  To you it may not matter at all.  I’ve had folks tell me something to the effect that they’re not concerned about the questions, they have faith and nothing will shake that.  At one event one of the speakers actually made the comment that when someone asked him questions like the one’s I’ve listed below his response was:
 
“I don’t know anything about that, but I know this, Jesus loves you and died for your sins!”
 
My response is, Praise God!  I’m not concerned about folks that have faith that strong.  The problem is that there are a lot of other folks that do struggle with issues and need help.  To make that point let me let one of the young men from a college in Texas illustrate why we are taking this so serious.
 
“These questions keep burning in my mind. It is even making me somewhat fearful to try to share the Gospel. I feel like my faith is hanging on by a thread and any more well articulated thought through objections to it would destroy it. I’m leaning on just not thinking about it and go on and try not to worry but I don’t think that’s a proper way to deal with this since its basically running away. I want to just trust that God is all Loving, Righteous, and Just as the Bible says since it’s the final authority on all things and that His judgments are final and good. But these doubts just won’t go away. Please help.”
 
God has commanded us to study to show ourselves approved and that we’re supposed to have answers for why we believe what we believe.  It’s my humble opinion that means we need to care about the questions people are asking.  I hasten to add this, I KNOW that my answering their questions isn’t what will save them.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit, He will do the convicting and converting.  We do the conversing and through our obedience God is glorified.
 
I had a Pastor at a recent event tell the congregation why he supported Reasons for Hope so strongly.  He said,
 
“In our world today may young folks are asking us fact based questions and too many in the church are answering with faith based answers!  When someone asks a fact based question, we should be able to give them a fact based answer and then take it to the Gospel.  That’s what Carl and Reasons for Hope does.”
 
That BLESSED me more than you can ever know.  Knowing that people see our hearts and understand what we’re trying to accomplish is so encouraging.
 
One last point.  The questions you see below are the ones that we go after in the deBUNKED series.  When younger generation asks, we go after it to the best of our ability pointing to God and His Word.
 
So, without further ado, here goes.
 

• “I have many questions on whether He exists because scientists have said they’ve proven earth is an old earth. Is that true?”

 

• “What evidence is there to show it’s an old/young earth?”

 

• “I’m really struggling if God does exist. Please help me on knowing and believing he’s real.”

 

• “Is it possible man could have written the Bible?”

 

• “I’ve had doubts for weeks now. And I need them to go away.  It’s consuming my life. I will definitely read the book.” (I sent her two books to help with trusting if the Bible is accurate or not.)

 

• “If our religion is right, why are all the other religions wrong like Islam, Buddhism, Muslim etc.”

 

• “Hey, can you me those videos you made at KBI about “created or evolved? I’m doing a science project on it.”

 

• “Me and my friend are doing a project on this, ‘What do we need to learn About the Christian way?'” (In later correspondence she wrote, “TJ: Hey, we took first at FSIN science fair we did created or evolved.”  Carl: “You are the BEST!!! Congratulations.”  TJ: “Thanks, we did it cause you inspired us. It was a real good presentation at KBI.”)

 

• “Hey can you send me those charts please? It’s hard proving it to my teachers”

 

• “How do scientist know the universe hasn’t been here for long ages?”

 

• “Here’s a really difficult question. You talked a little about it at camp, and it left me wondering.. Is Jesus God?”

 

• “Is it possible that our loved ones that passed are looking down on us? They just can’t communicate with us.”

 

• “Do you believe that God has sent people (like mediums) to communicate with us? Or is it possible?”

 

• “In the Bible there our multiple works of magic. Like Moses having a sword (or whatever it is) and it turns into a snake. Why doesn’t God have that happen now?”

 

• “Wow, I can’t believe he walked this earth!! But why did He?”

 

• “In the Bible God spoke to man, why doesn’t He speak to us? If He did He would have more believers…”

 

• “It’s hard to imagine some of the consequences we have to deal with. Like deadly weather and out brakes of sicknesses we have today. Did God create weather events and deadly sicknesses for consequences of our sins?”

 

• “If there was a naturalistic process and time wouldn’t space always be there? Space makes no sense to me. Why would God make all the other planets and have a meteorite hit the earth all the time? Space really makes me wonder if God exist.”

 

• “How do we know for a fact there is a heaven and a God? Is it possible man just made the Bible up?”

 

• “In the Bible it states the earth was meant to be perfect before Adam sinned and everything wasn’t supposed to die. Wouldn’t the earth become over populated?”

 

• “How can people from hell speak to God?”

 

• “Scientist have proof there was an ice age. Does the Bible prove that?”

 

• “If the continents were once together, wouldn’t it take millions of years for them to move where they are today?”

 

• “I’m really scared that God doesn’t exist and we are all here by chance or accident. I’m so scared of dying right now, I can barely move. I have all these questions cause I want to see my family again.”

 

• “What’s your point of view on scientist finding fossils that are supposedly thousands of years old?”

 

• “Do you think its possible that people can make that visit to heaven then come back to earth?”

 

• “I’m just struggling to find it hard to believe a God made all that space out there.. How do we know it’s not millions or billions of years old?”

 

• “Another thing I noticed is.. we are all different (physical appearances) how does the Bible support that? I don’t think it can.”

 

• “Hey I was reading an article in the National Geographic magazine. They had a very little article about a fossil that is a flatfish. They said its 50 million years old.”

 

• “I will be speaking at a chapel service in a high-school in about a week and a half. It’s my first time speaking in front of a crowd. I’m kinda’ scared, honestly. . Do you have any tips on public speaking that you can share with me?”

 

• “Hi Carl, I have this friend, who believes in evolution and he asked me this question, since I told him the missing link is still missing. There aren’t any fossils, right? This is what he wrote: How many transitional fossils would it take to convince you, Terry? What would they look like? What age? What attributes?”

 

• “This is something else he wrote me, which I have no idea how to debate: Do paleontologists use fossils to date other fossils? Sure. Why? Because they are so, so incredibly organized into particular layers. It’s a screaming testimony to the age of the Earth. Is that the only means they use? No way! Radiometric dating! Luminesence! Electron spin resonance!”

 

• “I had someone ask me questions on how people from China have slanted eyes one way and Asia another way and so forth but do you have an explanation on how that happened? Also, why did God give men nipples? I am not trying to sound bad but I have been very curious to what the function of them is or was.”

 

• “What about those who never heard about Yahweh God before Jesus or Jesus after he died?”

 

• “What about the ancient Mayans, African peoples, ancient Chinese civilizations, etc? Were every single one of them lost? Is it not possible that maybe at least a few of them came to know of God through “general revelation” and got saved and maybe God showed Himself to them in a special way that’s not recorded in the Bible?”

 

• “How could a loving God send people to hell who hadn’t heard of Him?”

 

• “Why does the Bible condone rape & murder & racism & slavery?”

 

• “How is our religious experience different from the religious experiences of people sacrificing their children to the angry volcano god?”

 

• “If God created everything, then who created God?”

 
I could continue, but I won’t.  Don’t let anyone tell you that the younger generation isn’t seeking.  They are!  The real issue is are the “mature” Christians prepared to do what God commanded us to do and give the answer why we believe, in meekness and fear.
 
Please pray for our deBUNKED outreach and pray for us.  Most importantly, Stay Bold!