As a Christian, you’ve probably encountered difficult questions about your faith—questions that challenge core beliefs, raise doubts, or require more than a simple response. Whether you’re talking with a skeptical friend, a curious coworker, or even wrestling with these questions yourself, it’s important to engage with them thoughtfully and honestly. Let us explore six of the most difficult questions about the Christian faith and provide clear, biblically grounded, and intellectually honest answers. These responses won’t just help you defend your faith—they’ll also deepen your own understanding and strengthen your confidence in what you believe.
“No one religion can be for the whole world. It’s impossible”, he shouted.
Question 1: Why Is Jesus the Only Way?
Answer: One of the difficult questions about the Christian faith is why, as Christians, we believe that Jesus is the only saviour. We believe this because Jesus himself said so. We believe in who Jesus is and we believe what he says.
In John 10:9, Jesus says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. In John 14: 6 He boldly declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. These statements make it clear that there is no other gate, no other truth. Life and salvation are in no other.
In Acts 4:12 we read, “there is salvation in no other: no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Christians do not subscribe to ideas of religious pluralism.
We believe in ONE God eternally existing as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul, who lived in a culture of religious pluralism – Judaism, eastern mystic religions, Roman imperial cults, and various schools of Greek philosophy – tells the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (Acts 17) who had invited him a meeting of the Areopagus:
“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So, you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.
Paul did not invite these people to add Jesus Christ to the pantheon of gods but instead invited them to the one true God.
Question 2: Show me where Jesus ever said, “I am God, worship me”
Answer: Jesus never said this and yet the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus, as God.
Secondly: In John 1:1- 5 we read,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
Jesus is the “Word made flesh”. John 1:14-16 (NIV). The scripture is clear.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In John 1: 10 – 13 we read:
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
There Was No Need For Those Words
To go back to the question, “where did Jesus say, “I am God, worship me?” There was no need for Jesus to say those words because He did not come in that capacity. He laid aside his Godship to come into the world as a sinless man to redeem Adam’s fallen race.
As God, he could not redeem man and man needed a saviour or redeemer. Man had fallen from grace, lost his communion with God. Sin was a barrier. Jesus had to become the sacrifice required to atone for man’s sin. Blood had to be shed because,
“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22).
Third: Jesus Revealed That He Was God in Every “I Am” Statement
I Am the Bread of Life (John 6:35); I Am the Light of The World (John 8:12); I Am the Gate for The Sheep (John 10:7); I Am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11); I Am the Resurrection and The Life (John 11:25); I Am the Way the Truth and The Life (John 14:6); I Am the True Vine (John 15:1)
No Prophet has ever or can ever make these claims.
Jesus also made other claims: In John 8 we read his exchanges with the crowd of Jews:
At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
Jesus gives the final statement that ends the discussion: “Very truly I tell you, . . . before Abraham was born, I am!”
Jesus Never Refused Worship.
Men like Paul and Barnabas refused it (Acts 14). Angels refused (Revelation 22:9). Everyone who recognized Jesus for who he was, worshipped him and was never denied – not Mary, not Thomas, not Peter, or anyone else.
Jesus never came to witness about Himself, so there was never a need to say, “I am God. . .”
The Holy Spirit bears witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ and enables believers to bear effective witness to him.
1 John 4:2-3 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. John 14:26; 16:13-14 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
16:13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
Another of the questions about the Christian faith is :
Question 3: The Bible was written by men. It is not outdated?
Answer: Is there a book that men didn’t write?
Yes, men wrote the bible, but we believe those men, (about 40 different men, during a span of about 1,500 years), to have been inspired by God.
We believe the bible to be authentic for several reasons.
“The Bible has been translated many times and has been corrupted.“
Answer: Yes, the Bible has been translated into various languages and reprinted to make the language more understandable. The Bible has to be presented in a way for people of any educational level to understand how to be saved and how to grow in their faith in Jesus Christ.
Will the missing information that people claim is absent from the 66 books change the message of the Bible?
What is the corruption? If what we know as the bible was passed down through generations by word of mouth, that would account for minor discrepancies in the telling of the story. History has seen many oral societies.
Will the “missing information” point us in a different direction for Salvation? Is there a different plan and guarantee for man to get to heaven offered by any other religion?
[Image source: https://knowjesusnow.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/jesus-why-did-god-become-a-man-encounters-with-jesus/]
Difficult questions about the Christian faith also arises in the following scenario:
Question 4: Why is there evil in the world? Where is God when evil things are happening?
There’s been another mass school shooting or a catastrophe of some kind and the media is bringing this news to our attention repeatedly throughout the day. At some point, there is bound to be the question, ‘why did God allow this to happen?’
This question is usually coming from people who prior to this event, will make it clear that they do not believe in a God. Similarly you’ll hear, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”
To which God are they referring? Prayers? To whom are they praying?
These seem to be contradictory statements. If there is no God, why would there be an expectation of divine intervention?
The Bible tells us that it is Satan who is in control of the world. Adam deferred to him, granting him this authority. God gave complete dominion over the earth to Adam and Eve. When He did that, He also gave them the freedom to choose what to do with that authority.
Unfortunately, as the Bible tells us, Adam and Eve handed over their authority to Satan. He received rule and authority over this earth.. This is why Satan could offer it back to Jesus. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matt. 4:9)
2 Corinthians 4:4 also tells us: New Living Translation
4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
Jesus also called Satan, “the prince of this world” (John 14:30).
We have moved God out of our lives, out of our educational institutions, out of our government and even out of many of our churches. When the media, atheists, agnostics, or skeptics attempt to judge God’s ethical behavior and try to embarrass Christians with this question, the answer is really very simple. God is right where we left Him. God will honour our choice. He is not a despot, to trample over our choice.
Question 5: How Could God Order a Genocide? Annihilation of whole groups of People?
Answer: This is difficult question to answer because it is difficult to understand, even for Christians. First, we read the instructions given to Moses and the Israelites.
The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
Now we can read why God ordered the destruction the people of Canaan – Lev. 18
If God saw these people as being beyond redemption, who are we to question him?
To whom does life belong? God gives life and He can take it away.
Is man, looking back over his existence, more righteous than God?
Psalm 115: 2-3: 2 Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
Question 6: Christians committed atrocities during the Crusades. How can that be considered moral?
The argument is that throughout history, Christians have committed many acts of oppression, genocide, violence, sexism, racism and more – all in the name of Christianity. Atheists question how such a system that inspired so much immorality from its followers could possibly be a force for moral truth.
Answer: While some religions are open advocates of violence against others who do not share their views, adherents of other religions would say it is ignorant and deluded people who have committed atrocities in the name of their religion.
Christians would have to be in this group, because nowhere in the new covenant (the dispensation of Grace i.e., the period ushered in through Jesus Christ and the resolution of sin through the shedding of His blood), do we see violence advocated. In fact the exact opposite is true. Read the Bible to find out Jesus’ position on the subject.