THE BIG QUESTIONS GUIDE

This guide is meant to be an introductory-level resource to refer to when students ask some of the bigger questions relating to God, the Bible, Creation, other religions, etc. This definitely isn’t an exhaustive list, and some of your students will probably ask questions outside of the few listed here, but hopefully this guide will be helpful in answering some of the bigger questions that students commonly ask.

DOES GOD EXIST

There are several arguments that can be made for God’s existence, including:

• The Moral Argument – Right and wrong are the same across all cultures, genders, ages, and ethnicities. For example, killing babies is always considered morally wrong, no matter the location or time you find yourself in. Without God, all morality would be open to the society or individual to say what is right and wrong.
• The Design Argument – The universe is too finely tuned, too exact in it’s measurements, and too specific in its metrics for it to be here all by chance. The common illustration goes that the universe is so well-designed, that without God, the chances for life to function here is the same as a tornado whipping through a junk yard and producing a Double Decker Airbus – it just wouldn’t happen.
• The Creation Argument – This argument shows that something can’t come from nothing. Everything we have in existence, including ourselves, has to come from somewhere. It has to have an origin somewhere. So, when science teachers claim the Big Bang started the Universe, we have to ask what came before the Big Bang? They might say that gravity existed before and could create self-replicating particles that ultimately could produce what we now have as the universe. But, our response is, “Well then what created the gravity?” Everything has to come from something. As Christians, we believe that this “something” is God.

IS JESUS THAT GOOD

Throughout the Bible, Jesus claimed to have a “divine nature.” He claimed to be God in human flesh. In John 10:30-33 Jesus calmly states, “The Father and I are one…” The Jews He was speaking to understood exactly what was going on. They didn’t care about the miracles Jesus was performing or the people He was healing, they only cared about Him claiming to be God. So they instantly grabbed rocks to stone Him to death, because they refused to believe that Jesus was God and said that He was “blaspheming.”

But not only did Jesus simply claim to be God, He proved it by raising from the dead. If we can trust our Bibles as historically accurate (a whole other talk, but it is) then how do we explain the Resurrection? The tomb was empty and everyone knew exactly where it was to see it for themselves. So did the disciples steal the body? Not a chance. There were Roman soldiers, the equivalent of today’s Navy Seals, guarding the tomb fiercely.

Some people will say, “Well maybe Jesus rose spiritually, not physically?” But the Bible has record of Jesus eating with, talking with, and appearing to more than 500 people after His resurrection. But perhaps the biggest proof of Jesus’ resurrection is the overwhelming conviction of His Disciples. If the Disciples had found a way to steal Jesus’ body and spread the lie about His resurrection, there is no way that they would be willing to devote the rest of their lives, and eventually die for that lie. Rather the Disciples were so sold out to spreading the good news of Jesus’ resurrection that all twelve would eventually die for their faith. And as we know, people do not die for what they know is a lie. Jesus had risen, proving finally that He was in fact God.

WHY DOES GOD ALLOW EVIL & SUFFERING IN THE WORLD?

Evil and suffering are not directly from God, but rather the results of human sin. The world is not the way that God created it. From the first sin in the Garden of Eden, all of humanity is vulnerable to the effects of sin in the world. Why does one person suffer and another does not? Why do catastrophes happen to some and not to others? It is because sin is in the world. But there will come a day when the Lord will return and cleanse this world of all sin and all suffering.

Revelation 21:4 – "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,"

IS JESUS REALLY THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN?

We believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven because that is what He said. In John 14:6, Jesus clearly states, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” Now, just because someone claims to be God and the only way to Heaven doesn’t mean we automatically believe them. If a random person off the street claimed to be God, we would probably call them crazy. But the difference between the random person off the street and Jesus is that He had proof to back up His claim.

Nobody else in all of history claimed to be the only way to Heaven and then performed the miraculous deeds to back it up. From calming storms, to healing the sick and lame, to fulfilling over 350 prophesies, to the most significant event of all, raising from the dead, Jesus proved He was God. Since Christ has done all of these things and proved He was God in the flesh, it is logical to believe what He said: That he is the only way to get to Heaven.

Other people and religions will claim that there are multiple “ways” to get to Heaven, or that “all roads lead to the same place,” but the Bible doesn’t support this at all. And so we must believe Jesus at His word, and share this truth with as many people as we can.

WOULD A LOVING GOD REALLY SEND PEOPLE TO HELL FOR ETERNITY?

Even though this is a difficult thing to wrap our minds around, the short answer is, yes.  God is a loving God and wants the best for every person, but we have the freedom as humans to choose accept God’s mercy and salvation or not.  The sad reality is that many people choose to reject God’s mercy, and because of this, they will be separated from God in Heaven, and spend Eternity in hell.