In the world of higher education where I work, it’s common for Christian students to lose their faith.
Why?
One reason (among many) is that they lack rationale for their beliefs.
Many youth pastors know this. One approached me recently to ask if I could help with the ministry of “apologetics” (defending the faith) with the teens in his group. I told him yes, and that I’d already been practicing with two of my grandkids, aged 12 and 10, as follows:
Session 1: the historical reliability of the Gospels.
Session 2: the fate of those who’ve never heard the gospel message.
Session 3 : why God allows suffering and evil in the world.
(Another session was on creationism and evolution. I didn’t blog about this session, though.)
The topic for Session 4, held recently, was:
Why is there so much violence in the OT, much of it carried out by God himself?
We used the analogy of parenting. I asked the boys what they thought good parenting looked like. Both mentioned the qualities of love and grace, which their own parents model beautifully.
Then I asked what happens when kids’ misbehavior persists over a long period of time. Answer: parents give out consequences such as restrictions and punishments.
I took the kids to Exodus 34:6-8 that describes the character of God as slow to anger, loving, and forgiving. “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”
Then I took them to Genesis 15 where the sin of the Amorites (Canaanites) has not yet reached its full measure. God will wait 400 years for them to change their ways — which they never do.*
So, the main point of Session 4 is that, like a good parent, God is loving and patient, but at some point his patience wears thin and he acts decisively against sin.
The NT carries this pattern forward. In the crucifixion, God demonstrates both his sacrificial love for the world and his violent judgment against fallen humanity.
At the end of the session, I asked the boys what they thought. The oldest said, “The idea of good parenting really made sense.”
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Note: I was careful to deliver this session to the boys in conversation, not lecture. And it took only 15 minutes.
If I may exhort: When providing apologetics for kids, don’t over-share, don’t preach, don’t make too many points; let them speak up. Use analogies that are kid-friendly such as sports, parenting, friendship, gaming, and the like.
And keep it brief.
Lastly, I’ll make a confession. I’m not naturally good with kids — though when they hit age 17, that changes.
So, if I can do this with younger kids, so can you!
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*OT scholar David Lamb writes, “The idea that Yahweh gets angry slowly is emphasized throughout the Old Testament. Yahweh is repeatedly described as “slow to anger” . . . . This description of Yahweh is not limited to a specific Old Testament book or Old Testament section but is found across the diverse genres of the Old Testament. It appears in historical contexts (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17), prophetic contexts (Joel 2:13; Jon 4:2; Nah 1:3) and poetic contexts (Ps 86:15; 103:8; 145:8). — from God Behaving Badly, p35.
Return to Part 1 in the series: the historical reliability of the gospels
