A pastor will field many, many questions in a year, month, or even a week. Not all questions are as serious as others. Some are ponderings and some are wonderings but others are serious and in need of a prompt, thorough, and pastoral reply. The hard part is in knowing which questions are of which type. Some may even be questions that don’t anticipate an answer! To know how to answer any question, the pastor needs to consider the person who is asking and their current and long-term situations.
Consider the types of questions that physicians are asked. The question “How do I know if I’m a diabetic?” may come from many motivations. Is the person asking overweight, middle-aged, a smoker, or already have heart disease? Developing Type II Diabetes is then a very serious question as I personally experienced. I’m all those things. So when I told my physician that I was losing weight without trying, getting up several times each night to use the bathroom, and always thirsty, he immediately ordered blood work. Sure enough, my A1c was 12.2. If you know about diabetes, then you know that I am definitely a Type II diabetic! If, on the other hand, an otherwise healthy teenager asks because she has a friend who is a Type I diabetic, it may not be necessary to order immediate blood tests.
A pastor should care for souls the way that a physician cares for bodies. Everyone is different and the circumstances of health and their question may tell how best to respond. Therefore, serious professional consideration should be given before providing an answer. It may actually be necessary to ask a few questions before giving an answer. In his book “Speaking the Gospel Today” Rev. Dr. Robert Kolb suggests we start by asking, either internally or outright, “Why do you want to know?” I’m not sure if it was in his book or in his class that he gave the example of the teenager who asks if God forgives abortion. It could be that her mother or a friend or even she herself recently aborted a pregnancy and she is afraid for the eternal soul of the mother, perhaps herself. In that case, she needs one sort of answer. It also may be that she, or a friend, is considering an abortion and she needs a different sort of answer. It could also be that she’s simply wondering about something she read or heard in school or from a friend. There is a theological answer as to whether or not God forgives abortion. But her question may not have been stated in a manner that really tells you what she’s asking.
Such questions as this example point out that a flippant or quick answer may not actually answer the true question. It is not as though God has different answers for the same question depending upon the circumstances. Rather, it is to point out that the theological practitioner, the pastor, must discern the true question and its significance to the one asking it.
Now, a question like: “Can God make a rock so heavy that He can’t lift it?” is most likely theoretical. But that’s not to say the answer is unimportant to the one asking it. For the person struggling with atheist arguments that they’ve read online, it could be a very serious question indeed. What does “all powerful” mean? I personally prefer the answer: “Yes. He can make a rock so heavy that He can’t lift it. But then He lifts it.” But if the one asking is sincerely wondering how believers can respond to such challenges from outside the faith, then a better answer can only come from knowing the context of the question. “Yes. God can do everything. But sometimes, because of His love for us, He doesn’t. And that can be a mystery beyond our comprehension because we don’t know what it’s like to be all powerful.” This longer, more contemplative answer, redirects the question from God’s power to God’s love as being His primary consideration. And that may just lead the one asking back to thinking about God’s own revelation from a trick question posed by those who desire to discredit Him.