Hard Questions About Christianity: Honest Answers for Doubters and Believers
Quick answer: Christianity welcomes hard questions. The Bible itself is full of people who wrestled with God, and Jesus responded to honest doubt with patience rather than rejection. The biggest questions people ask, such as whether God exists, whether the Bible can be trusted, why there is suffering and whether science and faith can coexist, all have thoughtful answers that Christians have developed over centuries. Those answers will not remove every mystery, but they show that faith in Jesus is reasonable, not blind.
Scripture quotations in this guide are from the King James Version (KJV).
Some people come to faith with no hesitation at all. Many others arrive with a backpack full of questions. Plenty of believers who have followed Jesus for decades still lie awake now and then wondering about something they cannot quite resolve. And some have walked away from faith altogether, yet still wonder now and then whether there was something to it.
If that describes you, you are not a bad Christian or a hopeless sceptic. You are a thinking human being. This guide is written for both the doubter looking in from the outside and the believer quietly carrying questions on the inside. We will not pretend every answer is simple. But we will try to be honest and fair to other views. We will also try to show clearly why so many thoughtful people across history have found Christianity not only comforting but true.
Is it okay to question your faith?
Yes. In fact, Scripture practically invites it. God says through the prophet Isaiah, "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18). The Psalms are full of raw questions directed straight at God. Job spends most of his book demanding answers. Habakkuk opens his prophecy by asking, "O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!" (Habakkuk 1:2).
The most famous doubter in the New Testament is Thomas. When the other disciples told him Jesus had risen, he refused to believe without evidence: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails... I will not believe" (John 20:25). Jesus did not scold him or send him away. A week later He appeared and invited Thomas to touch His wounds. Thomas responded with one of the strongest declarations of faith in the Bible: "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Unbelief, a settled refusal to trust, is. Doubt is often the doorway to a deeper, more resilient faith. Peter encouraged believers to "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). You cannot give reasons you have never thought about.
Is God real?
No argument can force someone to believe in God, and faith is ultimately a matter of trust as well as reasoning. Still, there are serious lines of evidence that many find compelling. Here are four of the most widely discussed, along with honest notes about how sceptics respond.
- The universe had a beginning. Modern cosmology broadly holds that the universe began a finite time ago. Things that begin to exist usually have a cause. Christians argue that the best explanation for the beginning of space and time is a cause outside them, which fits the biblical claim, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Sceptics respond that we do not know what, if anything, came "before" the beginning, and that the question may be beyond science.
- The universe looks fine-tuned for life. Many physical constants appear to fall within narrow ranges that allow complex life to exist. Christians see this as evidence of design. Some scientists suggest instead that there may be many universes, and we naturally find ourselves in one that supports life.
- Morality seems objective. Most people believe some things, such as torturing children for fun, are truly wrong, not merely unfashionable. Christians argue that objective moral values point to a moral lawgiver. Others ground morality in human evolution or social agreement, though critics question whether those can make anything truly binding.
- Humans long for meaning beyond this world. C. S. Lewis observed that we have desires nothing on earth fully satisfies, and suggested that the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. Sceptics see this longing as a psychological by-product instead.
For Christians, the strongest evidence of all is not an argument but a person. If Jesus really rose from the dead, then God is not only real but has made Himself known. We look at the historical case for Jesus in our guide Who is Jesus?
Is the Bible reliable?
This question usually has two parts. First, has the text been accurately preserved? Second, can we trust what it says?
On the first point, the evidence is remarkably strong. Scholars have catalogued more than five thousand ancient Greek manuscripts or fragments of the New Testament, far more than for any other ancient text. Some fragments date to within a few generations of the originals. While there are copying differences between manuscripts, the vast majority are minor, such as spelling or word order, and no central Christian belief depends on a disputed reading.
The Old Testament has a striking example too. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the late 1940s, they included a nearly complete copy of Isaiah roughly a thousand years older than the previously oldest known Hebrew manuscripts. Comparing them showed how carefully the text had been copied across those centuries.
On the second point, trustworthiness, archaeology has repeatedly confirmed details of places and rulers mentioned in the Bible. Of course, archaeology cannot prove spiritual claims, such as that God spoke to Moses. Christians trust those because they trust Jesus, who treated the Scriptures as the Word of God (Matthew 5:18). The Bible's claim about itself is that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16).
Our Bible Is Up-to-Date hoodie celebrates this confidence that an ancient book still speaks with fresh authority today.
Why does God allow suffering and disasters?
This is perhaps the hardest question of all, and the one that weighs most heavily on real lives. If God is all-powerful and all-good, why does He allow cancer, abuse, war and earthquakes?
Christians do not claim a complete answer, but the Bible offers important pieces. God created a good world, and human rebellion broke it, affecting not only our relationships but creation itself (Romans 8:20-22). Love requires freedom, and freedom makes real evil possible. God often brings good out of terrible situations, though that never makes the evil itself good. And the Bible promises a day when God "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying" (Revelation 21:4).
Most importantly, Christianity makes the remarkable claim that God Himself entered our suffering. On the cross, Jesus experienced betrayal, injustice, torture and abandonment. Whatever else we do not understand, we know God is not distant from pain.
We explore this question in much more depth, especially as it relates to natural disasters, in Does God really allow disasters?
Can science and faith agree?
Many people assume science and Christianity are at war. History tells a more complicated story. Many of the founders of modern science, including Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday, were believers who saw their work as exploring God's creation. The Big Bang theory was first proposed by Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist who was also a Catholic priest.
Today, many working scientists are people of faith. Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project, has written about how his scientific work deepened his belief in God.
Science and faith answer different kinds of questions. Science asks how the natural world works and is brilliant at it. Faith asks why there is a world at all and how we should live in it. Where they seem to clash, it is often because one is being asked to answer the other's question. Christians differ among themselves on how to read some passages, such as the creation account in Genesis, but very few see a fundamental conflict between studying creation and worshipping its Creator. Our Engineered By God hoodie was designed with exactly this wonder in mind.
Is Jesus the only way to God?
This is one of the most uncomfortable claims of Christianity in a pluralistic world, and it deserves a respectful answer. Jesus said plainly, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
It is important to understand what Christians mean by this, and what they do not. It does not mean Christians are better than anyone else, or that people of other faiths have nothing good or true to say. Many religions share important moral teachings. It also does not give anyone permission to treat others with contempt.
What it does mean is that, according to the Bible, the problem between humanity and God is serious enough that we cannot solve it ourselves, and Jesus is God's own solution. If all roads led to God equally, the cross would have been unnecessary. Christians believe Jesus' death and resurrection were not one option among many, but the way God chose to bring us home. The invitation is open to everyone, regardless of background. Our Jesus The Way hoodie carries that verse.
Why are there so many churches and denominations?
Visitors to Christianity are often puzzled by the number of churches with different names. Some differences come from history and culture. Others come from genuine disagreements about secondary matters, such as how to baptise, how to celebrate communion, how churches should be led or how to understand certain prophecies.
What surprises many people is how much these churches actually share. Most affirm the same core beliefs found in the ancient creeds: one God in three persons, Jesus fully God and fully human, His death and resurrection, and His return. We explain this shared foundation in What all Christians agree on.
Frequently asked questions
Do Christians have to switch off their brains?
No. Jesus said to love God "with all thy mind" (Matthew 22:37). Christianity has a long intellectual tradition, from early theologians to modern philosophers and scientists. Faith involves trust, but trust based on good reasons.
What if I still have doubts after becoming a Christian?
That is very common. Bring your doubts to God honestly, talk with mature believers, keep reading Scripture and be patient with yourself. Many Christians find that working through doubt leads to a stronger, more personal faith than they had before.
Is faith just wishful thinking?
Wishful thinking believes something because it is comforting. Christianity makes historical claims, especially about the resurrection, that can be investigated. Many of its teachings, such as loving enemies and admitting our own sin, are not what we would invent if we were simply trying to feel good.
Where can I ask my own question?
We would love to hear it. Send it to us through our contact page. Your question may become the topic of a future article in this series.
