It’s easy to feel defensive as Christians. The world has questions, but we don’t always know the answers. Maybe we secretly even doubt whether what we’ve inherited and learned can really be true, or at least beautiful.

In a world where Christianity is contested from so many different angles, we need to bring these doubts inside the church. No, I don’t mean that we should valorize, let alone encourage doubt. I mean we don’t need to see such questions as threats. Where else but church would you rather see someone raise hard questions?

Derek Rishmawy describes his response to superstar NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers as “junior-varsity apologetics.” It’s not hard to spot the flaws in Rodgers’s argument against “binary” religion. But maybe Rodgers never felt like he could ask these questions in the church. Maybe he thought no one could answer. Whatever the case, he became susceptible to skepticism when a former pastor helped him deconstruct his faith.

We don’t need to play defense. Many questions do have answers. We can help each other make church the safest place to seek Truth in the Way and Life of Jesus Christ.