Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you…

Do you ever struggle with questions of faith—questions like, “Is Christianity really true?” or, “What difference does it make in my life to believe the resurrection really happened?” My guess is your grandchildren most certainly wrestle with questions like these. If you’re honest, so have you.

John Stonestreet, commentator on the Colson Center’s BreakPoint, recently talked about questions of faith and an event held by Nancy Fitzgerald, author and creator of the Anchorsaway worldview course. Nancy hosted the event for parents and their students who studied with her for a semester. While the students finished their final class, Nancy spoke with the parents.

She asked how many of them had questions about the validity of Christianity, questions that most of their students readily admitted having. No one responded. When she assured them it was okay to have questions, slowly hands began to go up.

One mom said, “I didn’t know we could ask questions; I was taught not to.” Another said, “I didn’t know there were answers to such questions. I have thought about that stuff but never knew anyone who could answer them.”

Think about it. There’s something terribly tragic when parents and grandparents think there is something wrong with asking hard questions about life and faith. The fact is, if we don’t ask such questions, we will be able to provide answers that our children and grandchildren so desperately need. What safer place to ask such question ought there to be than the home?

I often tell other grandparents and parents, “You cannot give what you do not have.” You can’t give to another generation a faith you do not have. You can’t answer their tough questions when you have not struggled with and found answers yourself. It is critical that we know what we believe and are willing to allow our grandchildren the freedom to ask what may even seem outrageous questions.

I love what my sister, Melody, wrote to me this week. “When they say something that seems outrageous to us, don’t react quickly.  Like medicine we don’t want reactions – we want the medicine to ‘respond’ to our sickness. We need to respond to our grandchildren with thoughtful questions, or suggestions for them to think about. When we react (which is usually a negative reaction) it causes them to never want to share with us again.”

She’s right. There may be times when it is appropriate for us tell them to do something or accept something because we “told them so.” That’s never true in matters of faith. The apostle Peter gave us this charge: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope you have, but do this with gentleness and respect… (I Peter 3:15).

If you would like some help in this area of unanswered questions regarding your faith, I would highly recommend Nancy Fitzgerald’s book, study guide and DVD called “Unanswered: Smoke, Mirrors and God”. Why not gather a group of grandparent and parents together to go through the study together?