- What if God really did create everything from nothing some time ago? Would this define my reason for being here? Would this define my relationship with Him? Does it reveal how He feels about me? Does it give Him any authority over me? Does it provide a way for me to participate in the work He is busy doing?
- What if Jesus really is who the New Testament describes? If he is more than a teacher, but actually divine, equal to God the Father but somehow a distinct Person, does that put him in a unique category in the world? If he really has existed from eternity past and was sent to us, does that justify his claim to be our sole means to the Kingdom of God? If he really is "that guy," how should I respond to him?
- What if Jesus really did rise from the dead? If this happened, is what he claimed during his life on earth authenticated? If he defeated death, can he defeat it for me, too? If this miracle really happened, are other miracles possible? Is anything impossible for him?
- What if not doing what is God's will was as sinful as doing what is not God's will? (What if that question made sense?) What if not feeding the hungry was as wrong as murder? What if merely avoiding the big sins was categorically as sinful as not avoiding them? What if "thou shalt" was just as important as "thou shalt not"? What if not being busy with God's mission was as sinful as smoking crack? What if living in the Kingdom meant living like the Kingdom, rather than just avoiding living like the world?
- What if character was more important than accomplishment? What if what people can't really see had more eternal value than the stuff they can see and praise? Am I willing to be ethically unemployed more than I'm willing to be unethically employed? If I valued character over accomplishment, would I ever lie about anything ever again? What if this statement truly had more meaning for me than just a saying that we are all obligated to agree with?
- What if being good was better than being right? Would I rather win a disagreement or bless someone I disagree with? Does it make sense to turn someone away from God by how much I insist on being proven right? What if "truth" was more than just the correctness of facts, but also the attitude with which they are presented?
- What if my every complaint exposed something I need to change about myself? Wouldn't it be neat if my feelings of being annoyed were a clue that there's still something within me that could improve? Wouldn't it be convenient to have a reminder that I'm selfish, I'm proud, I'm argumentative, I'm narrow-minded, I'm inconsiderate, I'm incomplete, and that I make mistakes - some feeling that would remind me of these things?
- What if I didn't deserve any of the good things I have? How would I treat my stuff if I believed it wasn't owed to me? Would I hoard it? Would I refuse to be generous? Would I compare myself to others by how much of it I have? Would I brag about it? Would I define my self-worth from it? Would I forget those who have less (or none) of it?
- What if I really was going to die one day? What if there really was this day when I would stop breathing, and everything about my life would be given a cosmic perspective? Would I value time? Would I spend it like a limited commodity? On my deathbed (assuming there is one, of course), would I care more about how I treated people or about what I've consumed and accumulated? Would my preferred words be "who and how" or "what and how much"? Would Right and Wrong bear any significance if I had only seconds left to breathe the air of this world? What if I knew now that one day I'll be dead? What will I be doing 100 million years from now?
- What if confessing my sin was more curative than revealing only my good attributes? Is it possible that God actually forgives? If God already knows everything, is it possible that admitting it all to Him would benefit my relationship with Him? Even though the other person was wrong (too), if confessing my sin to him was the best road to reconciliation, would I do it? But isn't it a better "witness" to let people think that you think that they think that you think that you have no big flaws? Isn't it just easier to tell everyone you're "fine"?
Or maybe it's just me.
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