Accessible guide addresses questions Christians most fear being asked

Known for his Contagious Christian series, apologist and best-selling author Mark Mittelberg aims to help believers stop avoiding hard questions in their witness for Christ, in The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (With Answers).

Encouraging his fellow Christians to "do some extra reading, do some extra study," Mittelberg reminds readers of I Peter 3:15, which "commands all of us as believers to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks for the reason for the hope that we have"—and he sets out to help.

Working with David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, and Tyndale House Publishers, 1,000 Christians were asked what issues they were most afraid non-Christians would raise in conversation about faith. Knowing that they might encounter these questions, Mittelberg says, means that Christians often avoid addressing faith issues out of fear.

In his new book, he tries "to give current answers that are based on the best research, best information, biblical, logical, backed up with evidence, that a Christian can really read and understand and digest, so that then they can feel more confident to get into those conversations with friends and family members at Thanksgiving or Christmas or whenever."

Churches are often not instructing their members in such accessible apologetics, he said. "In many cases the church has not really stepped up to the challenge of saying we've really got to equip our people to be able to answer the questions, to be able to explain why they believe what they believe and why they know it's true, how they can be confident," he said.

"Some churches obviously do, but I think there's a real need. ... Sometimes as Christians, we still think if we just give our testimony and quote our Bible verse that we've answered the question, and that's just not the case in a culture that's increasingly secular and really moving away from the Christian worldview," he added.

Believers, especially those raised in the church, must remember that the Christian worldview is not automatically accepted.

"These days when we as Christians say, 'Well, the Bible says it and that settles it, that's the whole answer? … When we're in a secular culture that says, 'Look, the Bible is not a book we accept, and your subjective experiences, you know, people in other religions have those feelings, maybe they feel Buddha in their heart, they feel Krishna or … just talk to some really committed Muslims.

"These people are confident, they are passionate, as we know, they'll give their lives for what they believe, and so we live in a culture where it's no longer enough just to talk in terms of my experience and quote a Bible verse. We need to really step back and say, 'How do I know that I know, and how can I show my friends who don't accept the same common premises?' "

The book addresses apologetics questions such as "What makes you so sure that God exists at all—especially when you can't see, hear or touch him?" and "Why should I think heaven really exists—and that God sends people to hell?" Hot-button social issues are also addressed, including same-sex attraction: "Why do you condemn homosexuality when it's clear that God made gays and that he loves all people the same?"

In writing the book, Mittelberg set out to "learn from the top people in the field and really research it, but translate it for the ordinary Christian and put it in terms that can be readily understood and use anecdotes and stories and illustrations from everyday life and current situations."

Small groups or Sunday school classes can take advantage of the discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

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