THE LIES WE LIKE - YOU ASKED, WE ANSWERED

For the final week of our series “Lies We Like”, we’ve been following the great questions you’ve been asking in the polls you completed on our app. We want to use this week to get to some of the questions we weren’t able to answer in the series.

Monday - The Trinity
Tuesday - Predestination
Wednesday - Prayer
Thursday - Heaven / The End Times
Friday - The Nature of God

Each of these could easily be their own series, but we’re going to do our best to give you some context and share resources that will help you continue to navigate these tough questions with the Lord and others.

We realize we won’t be able to do all of these questions justice in a single blog post, so here are some suggestions for how to continue navigating your hard questions:

1. Ask GOD first. The best possible resource for your toughest theological questions is the Bible itself. GOD’s Word is living and active, useful to you in every season or circumstance (Hebrews 4:12). Search the Word and take your tough questions to the Lord in prayer. If you come to Him with a heart open to His truth, you can trust the Holy Spirit to guide you (James 1:5).
2. Invite wise counsel. Seek out someone you trust who has been following Jesus longer than you have. Ask them to search the Scriptures with you, discuss, and pray over your questions together. If you’re not sure who to ask, reach out to a Compassion Staff Member and ask them to help connect you.
3. Utilize trusted resources. If you’re interested in our church’s stance on doctrinal issues, a great place to begin is the content of our Pastor Emeritus, Cam Huxford’s Theology Bootcamp. For theological study, concordance resources help locate words and phrases within the Bible and other texts. Some helpful concordances include Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Nave's Topical Bible, and online tools like Blue Letter Bible and Bible Hub.
4. Don’t get discouraged. It’s important to keep in mind that all of these questions are what we would call ‘non-essentials’. Unlike core doctrines, like the divinity of Christ or the necessity of faith for salvation, non-essential doctrines are not considered necessary for a person to be saved or be considered a Christian. Theologians have been debating questions just like these for hundreds of years, so don’t be discouraged when you don’t find ‘easy answers’. Our journey to understand GOD and His teachings should engage both our hearts and our minds. Here’s a helpful worksheet that can guide you as you develop your theology (study of the nature of God).
5. “In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; but in all things, love”. This is a guiding principle of the Restoration Movement, of which our church is a part. There’s room for healthy, respectful debate in the Kingdom and one day we will all see clearly the things that seem like a mystery today (1 Cor. 13:12). What matters most to GOD is the posture of our hearts and how we demonstrate love for one another as we grow together. Keep seeking Him with humility and grace for others on their journey, remembering that following Him is a lifelong pursuit.

Come back next week for our Habakkuk series where we’ll be wrestling together with why GOD doesn’t always answer our tough questions!