Introduction: Pour It Out

Some questions are about the universe. Others are about Tuesday. Why can’t I feel God? What if my friends think I’m stupid for believing? What if I’m being bullied, or I’m lonely, or a friend says something that scares me? What if I just want to give up?

The first two Real Questions books dealt with a lot of the big arguments: science, suffering, other religions, sex, the Trinity, free will. This third book keeps going, but many of its questions are closer to home. They are the ones you ask on the way home from school, or lying awake at night, or after a conversation that went badly.

All of them belong in the light. The Psalms, the Bible’s own prayer book, are full of honest questions, complaints and fears brought straight to God. One of them says, “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8). Not tidy hearts. Poured-out ones.

How each chapter works

As in the first two books, every chapter is one question, with four parts:

• The short answer. Two or three sentences, for when you only have a minute.
• The longer answer. What the Bible says, and real reasons, in a few pages.
• Think about it. One question to take away, alone or with friends.
• Go deeper. A chapter from a classic in the Ochorus library, written by someone who faced the same thing.

Clear where the Bible is clear, fair where Christians differ

Some questions have one clear Christian answer, given by Christians across the world and through history. This book gives those answers plainly. Others are questions on which faithful Christians, who love Jesus and trust the Bible, have reached different conclusions: how Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians differ, whether a Christian may ever fight in a war, whether it is ever right to lie, what exactly heaven will be like. Here the book sets out the main views fairly, shows what they share, and says so plainly, so you can think it through with your church and family.

Read it your way

You don’t need to have read the first two books, and you don’t need to read this one in order. Start wherever your question is. And if one of these chapters touches something that is hurting you right now, don’t just read about it. Talk to someone.

For parents, teachers and youth leaders

Real Questions is written for readers aged 13 to 17. It takes a mainstream evangelical view, and where faithful Christians genuinely differ it sets out the main views without taking sides.

Several chapters in this book touch painful subjects: loneliness, bullying, anger, and what to do when a friend talks about ending their life. They are written with compassion and without graphic detail, and every one of them points the reader to a parent or trusted adult, and, where anyone is in danger, to getting help straight away. You may want to read those chapters first. The “Think about it” questions work well for group discussion. All Scripture is quoted from the Berean Standard Bible.