The top 101 questions people ask about God, Christianity, and apologetics based on Google search queries with links to biblical answers – updated with 2022 data.
In 2018, we published the initial version of the Top 101 Theological Questions. Since then, it’s been an annual tradition to update the post with new queries with the exception of 2021. See previous years’ posts here: 2020, 2019, 2018
The aim of this post is to provide a list of questions that people type into Google every day: questions about God, Christianity, apologetics, and anything else related to Christian theology. These questions could be classified as ‘theology questions.’ Using the Google Keyword Tool, we exported over 64,000 initial queries and isolated the top 101 theological questions ranked by search volume. In addition, to the questions, we added a link to a biblically-based, authoritative post that answers the question.
We hope this list proves useful for your edification and research.
| Question* | Monthly Search Volume** |
| 1 | What is love? (love) | 7,480,000 |
| 2 | Who is Jesus? (jesus) | 2,740,000 |
| 3 | What is the Big Bang? (big bang) | 2,740,000 |
| 4 | What is the church? (church) | 2,240,000 |
| 5 | What is the Salvation Army? (salvation army) | 1,830,000 |
| 6 | What is money? (money) | 1,830,000 |
| 7 | What is sin? (sinned/sin) | 1,500,000 |
| 8 | Who is God? (god) | 1,500,000 |
| 9 | What are the seven deadly sins (seven deadly sins)? | 1,220,000 |
| 10 | What is Psalm 91? (psalm 91) | 1,220,000 |
| 11 | What is life? (what is life) | 1,220,000 |
| 12 | What is the Bible? (bible/scripture) | 1,000,000 |
| 13 | What is meditation? (meditation) | 1,000,000 |
| 14 | How to meditate as a Christian? (meditate) | 1,000,000 |
| 15 | What is hell? (hades/hell) | 1,000,000 |
| 16 | Where are the churches near me? (churches near me) | 823,000 |
| 17 | What is the Catholic Church? (catholic church) | 823,000 |
| 18 | What is prayer? (pray/prayer) | 823,000 |
| 19 | What is evolution? (evolution) | 673,000 |
| 20 | What is Psalm 23? (psalm 23) | 673,000 |
| 21 | What is a Christian? (christian) | 673,000 |
| 22 | What is marriage? (marriage) | 673,000 |
| 23 | What is the Lord's Prayer? (lord's prayer) | 550,000 |
| 24 | What is the Unitarianism? (UU) | 450,000 |
| 25 | What is a prayer for healing? (prayer for healing) | 450,000 |
| 26 | What is the 'evil eye' and should I be worried about it? (evil eye) | 450,000 |
| 27 | What is the serenity prayer? (serenity prayer) | 368,000 |
| 28 | What is the book of Proverbs? (proverbs) | 368,000 |
| 29 | What is Mormonism? (church of jesus christ of latter day saints) | 368,000 |
| 30 | What is reality? (reality) | 368,000 |
| 31 | What does God look like? (god images) | 368,000 |
| 32 | What was Noah's Ark? (noah's ark) | 368,000 |
| 33 | What is evil? (evil) | 368,000 |
| 34 | What does Jeremiah 29:11 say? (jeremiah 29 11) | 368,000 |
| 35 | Who are the Jehovah's Witnesses? (jehovahs witnesses) | 368,000 |
| 36 | What does a "psalm" mean? (meaning of psalm) | 368,000 |
| 37 | What is Communion? (communion) | 301,000 |
| 38 | What is the Baptist church? (baptist) | 301,000 |
| 39 | What does it mean to be "god fearing"? (god fearing) | 301,000 |
| 40 | What is the gospel? (gospel) | 301,000 |
| 41 | What does it mean to be omnipotent? (omnipotent) | 301,000 |
| 42 | What is baptism? (baptism) | 301,000 |
| 43 | Who am I? (who am i) | 301,000 |
| 44 | What is a morning prayer? (morning prayer) | 301,000 |
| 45 | What is the fear of God (fear of god) | 301,000 |
| 46 | What is the Kingdom of Heaven? (kingdom of heaven) | 301,000 |
| 47 | What did Jesus look like? (jesus images) | 301,000 |
| 48 | What is preaching? (preach) | 301,000 |
| 49 | What is truth? (truth) | 246,000 |
| 50 | What is salvation? (salvation) | 246,000 |
| 51 | What is agape? (agape)
Greek word for 'love' | 246,000 |
| 52 | What is the meaning of life? (meaning of life) | 246,000 |
| 53 | What is natural selection? (natural selection) | 201,000 |
| 54 | What is the Orthodox Church? (orthodox) | 201,000 |
| 55 | What does Isaiah 41:10 say? (isaiah 41 10) | 201,000 |
| 56 | What is the Apostle's Creed? (apostle's creed) | 201,000 |
| 57 | Who was Jeremiah / what is the Book of Jeremiah? (Jeremiah) | 201,000 |
| 58 | What is the book of Psalms? (psalm/psalms) | 201,000 |
| 59 | Who was Peter in the Bible? (st peter) | 201,000 |
| 60 | What is gluttony? (gluttony) | 201,000 |
| 61 | What is Psalm 121? (psalm 121) | 201,000 |
| 62 | What are the fruits of the Spirit? (fruits of the spirit) | 201,000 |
| 63 | What is Psalm 27? (psalm 27) | 201,000 |
| 64 | What does "eternal" mean? (eternal meaning) | 201,000 |
| 65 | What is Proverbs 31? (proverbs 31) | 165,000 |
| 66 | What is Romans 8:28? (romans 8 28) | 165,000 |
| 67 | What is Presbyterianism? (presbyterian) | 165,000 |
| 68 | Why do we say 'God bless you' when someone sneezes? (god bless you) | 165,000 |
| 69 | What is the Mennonite Church? (mennonite) | 165,000 |
| 70 | What happened when Jesus was on the cross? (jesus on the cross) | 165,000 |
| 71 | What does 1 Corinthians 13 say? (1cor 13) | 165,000 |
| 72 | What is the True Jesus Church? (true jesus church) | 165,000 |
| 73 | What is fornication? (fornication) | 165,000 |
| 74 | What is Psalm 51? (psalm 51) | 165,000 |
| 75 | What is the 'Hail Mary' prayer? (hail mary) | 165,000 |
| 76 | What is the Methodist Church? (umc / methodist church) | 165,000 |
| 77 | What is a deity? (deity) | 165,000 |
| 78 | What is an evangelist? (evangelist) | 165,000 |
| 79 | Who is the Holy Spirit? (holy spirit) | 165,000 |
| 80 | What is Pentecost (pente cost/pentecost) | 165,000 |
| 81 | Who is the Archangel Michael? (archangel michael) | 165,000 |
| 82 | What is Genesis 1? (genesis 1) | 135,000 |
| 83 | Who was Isaiah/What is the book of Isaiah? (isaiah) | 135,000 |
| 84 | Who was Ezekiel / what is the book of Ezekiel? (ezekiel) | 135,000 |
| 85 | What is Psalm 31? (psalm 31) | 135,000 |
| 86 | What is Pentecostalism? (pentecostal) | 135,000 |
| 87 | What is human evolution? (human evolution) | 135,000 |
| 88 | What is armor of God? (armor of god) | 135,000 |
| 89 | What is a prayer for strength? (prayer for strength) | 135,000 |
| 90 | What is Psalm 35? (psalm 35) | 135,000 |
| 91 | Who was Saint Bartholomew? (saint bartholomew) | 135,000 |
| 92 | What is original sin? (original sin) | 135,000 |
| 93 | What is avarice? (avarice) | 135,000 |
| 94 | What is a spirit? (spirit meaning) | 135,000 |
| 95 | What is the book of Ecclesiastes? (Ecclesiastes) | 110,000 |
| 96 | What does 'be still and know that I am God' mean? | 110,000 |
| 97 | What is Psalm 139? (psalm 139) | 110,000 |
| 98 | Who were David and Goliath? (david and goliath) | 110,000 |
| 99 | Who was James in the Bible? (st james) | 110,000 |
| 100 | What are the names of God? (names of god) | 110,000 |
| 101 | What are the parables in the Bible? (parables) | 110,000 |
Methodology for Compiling the Top 101 Questions
Every list of popular Christian apologetics questions will be different. Each researcher will filter out good queries that could be considered theology questions or apologetic queries by another researcher. So it’s important to list the assumptions for any set of questions.
- We used Google’s Keyword Planner (a keyword research tool) to compile a new list of theological queries.
- All search queries are questions, though not all are phrased as questions.
- Many query variations of the same general question. We compressed some queries into a single query.
- Initial queries are not necessarily directed towards Christians, but queries can be answered by Christian theology. Ex. “What is the meaning of life”
- Questions are asked by Christians and non-Christians.
- Results are a snapshot of questions the broader culture is asking at the time the keyword research was accessed. In 10 years, the list may be significantly different.
- Like last year’s 101 questions, results are worldwide – NOT just from the US.
Inclusions
- Basic Christian theology questions.
- Psychological questions: who am I.
- Varieties of Christianity: Baptists, Methodist Church, etc.
- Offshoots of Christianity: Unitarians, Mormons, etc.
- Science: big bang, evolution, etc.
- Philosophical questions: what is truth, etc.
- Trustworthiness of Biblical doctrines questions.
Exceptions
- Names, books, and movies were removed.
- Types of meditations were removed.
- Individual churches or ministries were removed.
- Bible versions were removed.
- Other gods / goddesses were removed.
- Philosophies and religions were removed (unless compared with Christianity).
- Notable related exceptions: what is freedom, what is philosophy.
* Queries are rephrased in the form of a question. The original query is in parentheses based on the original keyword export.
** Monthly search volume is based on global search volume for all languages for the exact query typed from February 2022. Numbers are estimates based on data Google shares with its advertisers.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.
