The Question that Stops Christians in Their Tracks

Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason explains how to rephrase the question that stops Christians in their tracks.

#StandtoReason #Apologetics #Christianity

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[STRvideos]

Here are some common questions and helpful resources on Hell —

If sin is finite, why is Hell eternal?

Why did God create people if he knew so many would go to Hell?

How can we square God's desire for all to be saved with the existence of Hell?

What’s the difference between Hell, Hades, Sheol, and Gehenna?

Did Jesus descend into Hell?

Be sure to check out Tim Barnett's three-part series on why STR believes Hell is biblical:

Here are two problems that Hell solves:

[egjrdtj]

Winning a debate and holding the correct ideas are two different things.

[ChrisC]

If you care about winning more than about being truthful, you've already lost the battle.

[MarkJesus]

Asking questions is actually the best way to teach because it's the best way to get people to actually listen because you have first listened to them.

[KobusBotha-wlin]

Bitter truth is better than a sweet lie.

[jackstand]

I thought the question was gonna be "If God is omniscient, why would he create a mankind of which most are destined for hell?"

[incoggfg]

It's not about winning a debate, it's about speaking the truth. Like it or not, the truth doesn't always sit well with those who don't like the truth

[daddywoodentop]

What you've just described us an excercise in obfuscation and sophistry

[craigbassett]

It's good for us to remember that everyone isn't taught by the same techniques. Not all teachers teach use the same methods. This is why we had some teachers that we loved and others not so much. To ram the notion of sin down someone's throat doesn't always work. To make them see their sin can work much better. This is what I think he was doing here. I train/teach a lot of people about commercial insurance (yeah, I know) and I use the method of asking questions all the time. It works great to lead people to an answer they might not otherwise see.

Remember, some plant seeds, some water those seeds and some harvest those seeds. No matter what part you play, you do it as unto the Lord and He gets the glory. Your reward is in Heaven. His "sidestepping" the question wasn't to deflect from it, it was to frame the answer in such a way that the one asking could see it without feeling accused. Jesus did this all the time with parables. When asked who my neighbor is, Jesus presented the answer in such a way as to force the one asking to consider his own condition, not ram some rule down his throat which he already knew the answer to.

[bobwoods]

A priest and a rabbi were having lunch when the rabbi asked if the priest had ever broken his vows? The priest thought a bit and replied he had. He said a woman had come to him who was so lovely both in spirit and in physical beauty and a relationship developed.
He gave into temptation and slept with hef.
The rabbi said to priest really? That is better than my ham sandwich!

[devinbryne]

The Truth is the Truth no matter how hard it may be to swallow. I'd rather be divided by truth than united in error.

[benvanrensburg]

I am thankful for this honesty about a dishonest rhetorical trick. Note that the original question was not actually answered, but circumvented, by the oratory. (BTW If anyone else claims to be the only forgiver, does that make him / her the Only Way, too?) Now, for the record: I, too, have done wrong things. I got punished for most of them and I'm not complaining. As for the rest, I reject the idea of shoving the rightful punishment off onto any innocent person past, present or future. So the circumvention does not work, in my case. And, besides, we know what the answer to the original question is. I am glad that the presenter admitted it.

[williamburts]

Dude, it's not about argument, it's about realization. Truth is that which is realized to be true not argued to be true.

[petes.]

Not only did this not provide a rational answer to the question, it comes across as manipulative with these used car salesman tactics.

That being said, they could work on people who are vulnerable and searching for answers. And in this case, they would likely take any answer.

But as far as convincing someone not of the same faith, it falls flat.

You’d have a better chance at appearing credible with your initial honest answer of “yes, if you’d don’t believe the way I do, you’re doing to hell”.

[endofscene]

"If I just answered the question honestly then I would have looked really bad."

[jmazz]

God loves you unconditionally, but only under certain conditions.

[DLFfitness]

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan

[royalreigns]

This is exactly what drove me from religion. I ask questions about religion because I want the answer.

[buckygoldstein]

There's a Christian couple, Fred and Martha. As they got on in years they started to wonder what Heaven was like, so they made a pact. Which ever one died first would come back a year after their death and tell the other what Heaven is like.

Well Fred passed first and on the anniversary of his death Martha anxiously awaited for him to tell her what she had to look forward too. That evening when she still hadn't heard from him she gave up and went to bed. Just as she was drifting off to sleep she heard "Martha...Martha". She jumped up and said "Is that you Fred?" "Yes Martha, it's me." She said "I've been waiting for you all day. What kept you?" "Well we're pretty busy here." Martha finally anxiously asked "What's it like there?"

Fred said "Oh, we get up pretty early and then we screw. After a bit we have breakfast and then we screw some more till lunch. After lunch we take a little nap and then we screw till dinner. After dinner we screw till it's time to go to sleep."

Martha said "Really Fred, that's what Heaven is like?" Fred replied "Heaven? I'm not in heaven. I'm a jack rabbit in Arizona." ;-)

[walterbrown]

A very clear answer to such a question as you pose can be found in Scripture. God's Word is the Christians reference, and I have found no reason to not direct such questions to it. It's not what I believe, but what God says that matters. Reason tells me that if I wish to know God's position on a matter, His Word would be the place to start in a search for answers.