“What do you think about the whole ‘gay marriage’ thing? For it? Ban it?” asked the total stranger. He had popped up on my Facebook messages quite out of thin air. His name didn’t ring a bell, we weren’t FB friends, and he even confirmed that this was a totally random question to a stranger. SURPRISE!

I thought it was a joke or I was on TV or something. People are never that blatant outside of sitcoms, right? Either that or he knew I was a Christian and wanted a fight. Or he was a scammer wanted my credit card information and was veeeeerrrry subtle about it. I wondered if I should ignore this total stranger, but something stirred me to answer.

1 Peter 3:15 talks about having an answer to everyone who asks about your faith. It’s actually about Christianity in general, but I think it can be applied topically, too, because the more you know God, the better you can answer moral interrogations because God is the source of Christian morality. Besides, Jesus almost always answered the tough questions.

I won’t go into what I believe because A) I’ve blogged about it before (click here or here) and B) that’s not the point. The point is that random strangers can totally call you out from the blue and ask a tough, controversial question that needs answering. Will you have one?

If not, that’s okay. No, really, it is. When this fellow–whom I’ll call “S” for privacy–and I got into some more specific points of inquiry, I had to tell him the honest truth: I didn’t know what I believed on that particular issue. I was still wrestling between the religious reflexes that say “gay = hellspawn” and what Jesus actually says, and I hadn’t found the right answer yet. If you don’t know, just say so. No one really expects you to have a thorough research of every possible topic on hand at all times. Just don’t try to fudge your way into a dumb answer you can’t back out of.

And when someone asks a hard question, NEVER assume you know what they think. I saw a couple of S’s pictures and thought he was a gay rights activist looking for a fight. However, he had a very unique view that walks the tightrope between extremes like mine does. He, too, gets a lot of flak from both sides for being too much like the other side.

Don’t get defensive, either. S didn’t want to fight me, apparently. He was just an uber-curious dude who liked to hear what random people think. Odd as that sounds, it’s actually wise. Gathering many opinions educates him as gathering his opinion enlightened me.

Moral of the story: God can lead you into some pretty interesting situations. But the more you know God, the more equipped you are to answer them. And if you roll with the punches, you can actually have a good time with it. Be honest and you might surprise somebody. Surprises can be fun, and this is coming from a guy who loves to control more than he loves Reese’s Big Cups.

QUESTION: Ever had somebody quiz you like that?