Sic ’em (politely and constructively)!

Last updated on: September 8, 2012 at 11:53 am by Leah Libresco

Sic ’em (politely and constructively)! 2012-09-08T11:53:59-04:00 Leah Libresco

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Tony Jones blogs for Patheos at Theoblogy and he’s put out an open call for tough questions for Christians. Quoth he:

I’m not afraid of doubt. I, myself, am a doubter. But I consider a large part of my vocation as a Christian theologian to proffer intellectually honest answers to the big questions of faith.

So this series is for everyone who doubts. It’s for your friends who are agnostic and atheistic. It’s a place for them to email me a question, and get an honest answer — even if the answer doesn’t necessarily show Christianity in the best light. It’s a place for you to submit the biggest hurdle you have to fully giving yourself over to the Christian faith.

Send him your questions and feel free to crosspost them here. Hemant Mehta’s let his readers know about this, too, so there should be a pretty large number of questions in the mix. Therefore, I’d suggest asking only questions to which you don’t think you know the answer.

For example, you can ask “Why don’t you follow the laws in Deuteronomy, hypocrite?” but it’s a pretty common question, and you’ve got a pretty good guess that Tony will say “There’s a new covenant, and the old way of relating to God and the old way of showing love through obedience has been transmuted.” If you think that’s an unsatisfactory answer, skip the lead-in question and jump straight to the follow-up that actually interests you.

Don’t ask a question that you think will produce a boring, dumb, or hackneyed response. Ask the question that actually springs the bear trap, so you don’t have to wait to snipe from the comments. Or ask about an aspect of Christianity that leaves you confused. Have at him!

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