I read a testimony the other day on Christianity Today’s website
about a young lady who enrolled at Harvard as an atheist and converted to
Christianity while attending the Ivy League school. The young woman rarely found a Christian willing to
engage her in conversation about the tough questions regarding our faith. Then,
at Harvard of all places, she encountered a Christian brave enough to take on
her objections. He didn’t settle for the “just have faith” argument we so often
use when faced with difficult objections to our belief. This article, plus a recent junior high youth group lesson in which we tackled the question:
“What happens to those who have never heard the Gospel?” got me thinking about
an avenue in which I need to be preparing my sons and daughter to be “Shrewd as
a serpent and innocent as a dove.” I
need to take questions and objections head on and not settle for the “just have
faith” defense. Indeed there are questions that ultimately require faith, but
often we resort to the “faith” card when we are stumped and don’t know what
else to say. My challenge for you is to not shy away from the tough questions,
even if it means an “I don’t know, but let’s find out” answer.
Here are four things I think we need to make this happen:
Tangible Motivation.
I say “tangible” motivation as we are often internally motivated by our
own curiosity, but our motivation rarely moves beyond that stage. We need to
get to a point where we get off our duffs and put our curiosity into action.
I’ll see a documentary on Netflix that calls into question many of my
theological tenets. A spark goes off in my brain imploring me to investigate,
but I put it off until I lose interest. The definition of “tangible” includes
“something you can touch.” In other words, we need extrinsic motivation to dive
into the deep end of the theological pool. The best extrinsic motivation is
your children. Tonight at dinner, ask them: “What is something you don’t
understand about the Bible? God? Jesus? (you get the picture). The other night while driving, my oldest son
asked me, “Dad, if God is all-powerful, and all knowing, and created
everything, why didn’t He just create everyone to believe in Him?” An excellent
yet difficult question to answer. It opened up, however, a dynamite theological
discussion with my 9 year old I wouldn’t have had if I just answered, “Because
God is God and we just need to trust Him.” My kids’ tough questions continually
drive me into my Bible and into my Biblical “toolbox” to find answers, which,
in turn, sharpens my faith and Biblical knowledge.
Tools. The next thing
we need to be able to answer the tough questions are the tools to assist us in
our search. The first tool is obviously the Bible, but the Bible is often
interpreted several ways. I believe the best way to interpret the Bible is
literally, within the context that each
book and verse is written. With this in mind, I have a tool kit that helps
me when I dive into the tough questions. Without going into tedious detail, if
I had to recommend one resource from my toolbox to help you answer challenges
to the Christian faith, I would suggest The Apologetics Study Bible from
Holman Bible Publishers. The references and notes in this Bible all deal with
defending and explaining the rationale, reasons, and evidences for the
Christian faith - from Genesis to Revelation. It also has over one hundred
articles that answer tough questions, refute cults, and respond to critics of
Christianity.
Another great tool for your kids to explore for themselves
is the Answers for Kids series. This series
consists of four books that answer common questions kids have about the
Christian faith, in a very child friendly format. It is important to discuss
what your child reads from this series, as some answers are theoretical, but
overall the answers are good and will stimulate great conversation with your
child. There are several other tools that I could recommend, but for the sake
of brevity, these two resources will be most helpful.
Time. One obvious yet overlooked factor in this discussion
is time. It seems like I constantly have something to do. Whether it be work
related, shuttling my children to and from a practice or meeting, the bedtime
routine, even church can become busywork. We must take the time to pause and
study our Bibles as well as discuss our faith with our families. Make time to
regularly discuss what your reading in your devotionals, learning in your
Sunday school or children’s ministry meetings, church sermons, etc. You will
not find time to do this. You will
have to make time, which may mean
giving up something you enjoy doing. Hopefully learning and challenging faith
will be enjoyable, but often we have plenty of excuses not to sit down and do
it. Evaluate your days this upcoming week and decide when you’ll personally
study your Bible, and when you’ll discuss it as a family. Dinner and bedtimes
are the most popular times in my house for discussion.
Courage. The fourth thing each parent needs in courage. We
must not be afraid to be challenged ourselves. Many parents are afraid they won’t
find satisfactory answers to difficult questions, or are afraid their children
will stray from the faith if their answers are lacking. Remember, God didn’t leave
us to ourselves to figure everything out. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and
guide through our search for tough answers and God promises that, if we are
genuine in our search, He will provide answers. (John 14:26, Luke 11:9-12,
James 1:5-6)
So be courageous and do not be afraid of your child’s
curious mind. God made children to ask questions and has put you in the
position to answer them. Prepare them for life by being open to the challenges and questions they have. If you ignore them or
downplay them, they will not simply go away. Your children will find someone
else to answer them, and the person they seek out may not be a believer and
lead them astray. Challenge yourselves, and in turn, prepare your child for the
confrontations that likely to come.
