Highlands Post Column Sep-2014

If there were any question you could ask God, what would it be?

Would you ask about pain and suffering or why sometimes Christians do such a bad job of living up to Jesus’ teachings? Perhaps you’d like to know who God is and how you can know Him or why He made the world the way He did. There are so many kinds of questions to ask – questions about life’s purpose or church or what the future holds or about your personal situation. Whatever your question, now is the time to ask God.

But you may be wondering how a website can speak for God? The answer is that Christians believe the Bible is God’s inspired Word. It has answers to life’s important questions. So, any response from www.AskGod.com.au will always be based on what the Bible does or doesn’t say. Which might just raise another question in your mind, such as, ‘Why is it reasonable to think the Bible is God speaking?’

Here are a few quick thoughts. Sometimes Christians are accused of circular reasoning. So, ‘The Bible is the Word of God because the Bible says it is the Word of God’. But believing the Bible is much more like a court deciding to trust witnesses. And the Bible is impressive and reliable history. Christians see a coherency and integrity in the biblical data that leads them to base their life around its message. The first section of the Bible, the Old Testament, is written by prophets looking forward to the coming of a great and everlasting King who will be God himself.

When Jesus came he affirmed the authenticity and message of the Old Testament prophets and claimed to be this great King. The record of Jesus’ life and ministry was written by eyewitnesses and their contemporaries in the second section of the Bible, the New Testament. Because Jesus so clearly and completely fulfills the expectations of the Old Testament, Christians see God at work. Quite simply, the Bible’s record of events has the ring of truth about it. But why not see for yourself by reading a gospel in the New Testament, such as Mark’s gospel, which is the shortest.

In the meantime Jesus said:

“… ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10)

So if there’s a question you’ve always wanted to ask, simply go to AskGod.com.au and ask away. It’s that easy! If the Bible has anything to say on the issue then we’ll email an answer back to you. And we promise we’ll respect your privacy by not sharing your email address with anyone, and we won’t spam you afterwards.

We look forward to answering your question soon.

Ian Brunton