We recently had a seminary inservice focusing on the topic of how to answer difficult questions. These basic steps were presented:
Validate (Be sincere. "Thank you for asking that question." "That's a really good question.")
Now or Later (Decide whether the right time to answer the question is now or later. You may ask, "Has anyone else ever wondered that?" The answer is nearly always now.)
Where is this coming from? ("It would help me in answering your question if I understood where it came from. Did it come from reading online? from a class? from talking to friends? at home?")
Teach from the scriptures and the words of prophets (This is a good time to review the principles of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge from Doctrinal Mastery. You may ask the class - "Where should we go to find the answer?" Search together.)
A good place to look is on lds.org beginning under scriptures and helps or under church history. The gospel essays and gospel topics related to church history are excellent resources. It is important to teach students where and how to find answers to questions using reliable sources.
A teaching tip that is sometimes helpful, if the question is doctrinal, is to draw this diagram on the board and have the class help fill it out
Worldly Perspective I God's Truth
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