According to his own story, when he was around 13 years old, he began to have some serious questions about the Christian faith.
So he began asking some serious, tough questions about the faith he was being raised in.
He also struggled with "Christian guilt" over what he should and shouldn't do. Brad said he would go to Christian revival meetings and would feel "moved by the Holy Spirit." But he would also go to rock concerts and "feel the same fervor."
As he asked the "why" questions, he wasn't given any answers that helped him build a faith foundation. And so the unanswered "whys" led him down the path to agnosticism and atheism.
Brad's story could be retold in the lives of so many kids who have grown up in church and were raised by Christian parents, only to walk away from the faith because they didn't get reasonable answers to their "why" questions.
Yes, it can be a daunting task to answer the "why?" questions. But if we are not prepared to answer those questions, then we shouldn't be too surprised when kids go seeking the answers in the wrong places.
I believe we must be proactive in answering the "why" questions. We must help kids find the right answers before they are presented with the wrong answers.
Let's be real. Kids can ask some big, daunting questions.
Questions like...
Why does God allow natural disasters to happen?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why do we believe the Bible is God's Word?
Why can't people who have different faiths go to heaven?
Why did God destroy everyone (except Noah and his family) in a flood?
Why can't I see God?
Why should I believe in God?
Why did God create the devil if He knew the devil would rebel?
Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn't there have been another way?
These are some deep questions. But they are the type of questions that we must help kids walk through if we want to see them follow Jesus for a lifetime.
In the last few years, I have been heavily burdened for kids who grow up in church and yet end up leaving the faith because no one gave them answers for their "why?" questions.
That's one reason I created the "Prankster's" teaching series. It answers many of the tough questions kids ask and gives them solid Bible answers they can build their faith on. You can get more information about ordering the Pranksters teaching series at this link.
I even went as far as listing some of the hard questions that I found on an atheist website. These are verses that atheists believe disapproves the Bible is God's Word. But when you look deeper into the verses, it becomes obvious that it is not a contraction at all.
There are some young "Brads" in your ministry right now. Are you prepared to answer his or her "why" questions? By the way, if you don't know the answer to a hard question, be honest with the child who is asking. Let them know you will research it and give them the answer the next week.
Why? Are you ready with answers for that question?
If we are going to see kids grow up to love Jesus, then we need to be ready to answer the "why's."
