101 Questions for Christians (Can YOU reply to these?)

I don’t think these questions should be unfamiliar to Christians. The answers and conversations surrounding these questions should be common amongst both new believers and mature believers, and both adult converts and those who grew up in Christian homes.

You might like to share these questions at a study group. Also, if any of the questions presents you with particular difficulty in answering then I urge you to start a conversation with other Christians about that question, and seek the answers together.

If you are not a Christian, but have Christian friends, you might like to challenge them to reply to  some of these!

Additional: These questions are not in any particular order and are not meant to make up a Catechism or curriculum.  They are merely written off the top of my head as a creative exercise.  There is no reason, other than for readability/reference-ability, why I have written every tenth entry in bold.

1. Why do you believe that God exists?
2. Why do you believe that the God of the bible is this God?
3. Why do you believe there is only one God?
4. Why do you believe that the bible is true and trustworthy?
5. Why would God make such a terrible world with disease and pain?
6. Why should anyone follow a God who lets bad things happen to good people?
7. Why should someone who is basically a good person be punished in hell for not believing in your God?
8. Why is it important to believe in the Trinity?
9. What is the meaning of life?
10. What if it doesn't make me happy to follow God?
11. How come there are so many denominations?
12. How do we know that we can trust the bible when there are so many different interpretations?
13. What about Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc?
14. There is no absolute truth! (Isn't there?)
15. What causes division in the church?
16. Is division in the church ever a good thing? Why?
17. Have the gifts of the Spirit ceased?
18. What was the biblical form for the gifts? (What did they look like in practice?)
19. Do Christians have to give 10%?
20. What about “prosperity preaching” - doesn't this prove Christianity is a scam to make money?
21. Are all homosexuals going to hell? 
22. Hell is going to be better than heaven! (Isn't it?)
23. Do babies and children that die go to heaven? 
24. What about people who never get the chance to hear the gospel - do they go to hell? (This doesn’t seem fair)
25. What is the gospel?
26. How does the gospel save people?
27. Does this mean everyone will eventually be saved?
28. Why eternal punishment? (and not just a short time)
29. What does it mean to be born again?
30. How does a person become born again?
31. How should we read the bible?
32. What is a study bible?
33. What is a bible commentary?
34. How does a Christian “hear” from God?
35. Why pray if God already knows what we will pray?
36. What is worship?
37. What is discipleship?
38. What is the difference between general and special revelation?
39. Does God know what I'm thinking? Explain
40. What is a miracle?
41. What is God’s purpose in miracles?
42. Can miracles be from the devil?
43. Can we make God bring a miracle by praying hard enough?
44. What does it mean to be holy and how does this apply to us and to God?
45. Do miracles depend upon our purity and sinlessness?
46. Do blessings depend upon whether we are sinful? (or have sinned)
47. Can we be perfect in this life (completely free from sin)?
48. How were people saved in the Old Testament?
49. What qualities should Christian leaders possess?
50. Why are there different versions of the bible?
51. What is the best version of the bible for me? (and why)
52. What is the difference between the Old and New Testaments?
53. Are the books of the bible in chronological order? Explain
54. What does the future hold? 
55. When do/did the “last days” begin?
56. What is God’s purpose in the suffering of his people?
57. What is the purpose of hell?
58. Who goes to hell?
59. What will hell be like?
60. What is the purpose of heaven?
61. Who goes to heaven?
62. What will heaven be like?
63. Is there any place other than heaven or hell where people might go when they die?
64. Do animals go to heaven?
65. What is the difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity?
66. Why is Roman Catholicism wrong?
67. What was The Reformation?
68. What is the best way to know error or untruth when you see it?
69. What should you do if you find out you are wrong?
70. How do people identify their gifts from God?
71. How do they use their gifts from God?
72. What is the best form of church governance?
73. What is the difference between a biblical pastor and a biblical teacher?
74. Can we know for certain that we are saved?
75. How do we reach assurance?
76. Can we say if someone else is saved or not? Explain
77. Can we lose salvation having once had it? Explain
78. What does it mean that God is sovereign?
79. Do we have free will? Explain
80. If we don't have free will, does that make us robots? Explain
81. If we do have free will, does our decision to follow Jesus mean we are smarter than those who choose not to? Explain
82. Why is it important to have assurance of salvation as a Christian?
83. What is discipleship?
84. When is Jesus coming back?
85. What should help Christians to get through hard times?
86. What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth?
87. What does Israel have to do with Christianity (both past and present Israel)?
88. Why did they sacrifice animals in Israel in the Old Testament?
89. Why has the sacrifice of animals ended and will never be needed again?
90. What does it mean to glorify God?
91. How should marriage glorify God?
92. What does it mean to be made in the image of God?
93. How does ‘being made in the image of God’ inform our stance on abortion, war, and euthanasia?
94. Can we earn our salvation? (Why/why not?)
95. What is the fall?
96. How does the fall explain so much of the imperfect world we live in?
97. How does creation demonstrate the existence of a Creator?
98. How does creation show the glory of the Creator?
99. Should we read all of the bible literally? Explain
100. How should Christians seek to make converts? (Methods, attitudes towards God, attitudes towards men)
101. How do we examine ourselves to see whether we are Christians or not?

Get talking!

100 Questions that you absolutely have to ask!

A call for common sense and a well reasoned life, an attempt at inspiration, an encouragement to develop yourself, a personal challenge, and much more.

1. Who am I?
2. What is the purpose for my existence?
3. Is there a God?
4. If there is a God, how would I find out about him?
5. Is religion worthwhile?
6. When faced with a hard decision, how do I decide?
7. How should I decide?
8. Am I a person that other people appreciate?
9. If yes, then why? If no, then why? (I’m only counting this as one question)
10. Do others feel physically and emotionally safe around me?
11. If yes, then why? If no, then why?
12. Do I get enough exercise to be healthy?
13. How can I get more exercise?
14. How can I enjoy exercise more?
15. How can I enjoy life more?
16. What stops me from enjoying life?
17. Am I an active and contributing part of a community? (Community could be family)
18. How can I be better involved in my community?
19. How can I help others to have a better life?
20. Do I listen to other people?
21. When I listen, am I trying to understand the person or am I putting my own experience into what they are saying too much? (Selfish listening versus empathic listening)
22. What do I do that is selfish?
23. What do I do that is selfless?
24. Do I act in a morally consistent way? (Applying the same standard of rules to myself as others)
25. Where do my morals come from?
26. Are my morals fair?
27. Do I care about justice in the world?
28. Where does our desire for justice come from?
29. Am I a positive or negative person?
30. Am I optimistic? Pessimistic?  Realistic?
31. Can I take criticism without getting defensive?
32. Can I give criticism without being offensive?
33. What is love?
34. Why do we want to love and be loved?
35. Why does it take work to love others sometimes?
36. Why is love so satisfying at times while being so unsatisfying at other times?
37. Why do we hurt other people?
38. Why are puppies so cute and cuddly?
39. Why is the sky blue?
40. Why are spring blossoms so pretty?
41. How does the Internet work?
42. What is my favourite food?
43. Why do we find things funny?
44. Why do we laugh at inappropriate things sometimes?
45. What do I want to do with my life?
46. When will I die?
47. What happens when I die?
48. Am I scared of dying?
49. How can I deal with the death of loved ones and my own certain death?
50. Do I think about things enough?
51. Do I make space to think hard about important things?
52. Do I distract myself with entertainment too much?
53. What do I miss out on doing because of entertainment?
54. Is my entertainment social?
55. When was the last time that I stepped out of my comfort zone socially?
56. When was the last time that I took a calculated risk?
57. Do I trust the media?
58. If so, how far do I trust the media?
59. What routines do I adopt unconsciously in my life?
60. What routines do I rely on for “mental comfort”?
61. How adaptable am I when my routine is upset?
62. Do I try and develop my ability to adapt to unfamiliar situations?
63. Am I aware of potential sources of danger around me?
64. Am I over or under cautious when trusting other people?
65. Do I threaten people?
66. Am I trustworthy?
67. Do I make promises I can’t keep?
68. Am I a procrastinator?
69. Which social/cultural/religious groups do I associate myself with?
70. Do I feel better being associated with a group or being identified as an individual?
71. Do I show much creative talent?
72. What is creativity?
73. Am I a good learner?
74. Am I a good teacher?
75. Is there a difference between teaching and learning?
76. Am I good at helping or serving others?
77. Is it worth giving to charity?
78. Do I care about money?
79. Should people care about money?
80. How much money is “enough”?
81. How much pain/sadness must I know to be able to appreciate joy/happiness?
82. If God exists, does he want me to be happy?
83. If God exists, is he happy?
84. Could I learn another language if I tried?
85. Am I a shy person?
86. Do I think that war is an appropriate way of dealing with conflict?
87. How can I know if global warming is really happening?
88. What does “sustainable living” mean?
89. Who should be my role models and heroes?
90. Am I any one's hero?
91. What makes a person worthy of being a hero?
92. Do people ever follow the wrong person?
93. Should I feel bad if I make a mistake?
94. Am I capable of choosing based on rational/logical thought even if my emotions/feelings make me want to choose something else?
95. Is there ever a time when someone should go with their emotions instead of the logic?
96. When is it okay to be afraid?
97. How would I bring up kids in an ideal world?
98. Is a mortgage worth getting?
99. Should I have a second helping?
100. What other questions do I need to ask myself?