Questioning The Answers

Have you ever questioned your faith? No, I'm not talking about doubting your salvation. I'm talking about asking yourself if Christianity is real. Have you ever thought to yourself: "am I just wasting my time?" I'm no expert, but I'd be willing to guess that at least half (or more) of us have thought this way more than once even.

I had a time in my life when I asked those questions. I wondered if I was believing all this stuff in vain. Is there enough evidence to support my beliefs? Have I told myself a lie for so long that now I believe it? Have we all missed the true meaning of life? IS there any meaning to life?

The problem is not asking the questions; the problem is preventing other people from asking those same questions. I have a feeling that we would rather brainwash the next generation than see them hash out their beliefs for themselves. We want to see teenagers trained in their beliefs. We answer their questions with answers that follow the thought process of "the Bible says it so I believe it." We don't share the questions we ask ourselves in our inner dialogues because we are afraid of other people asking those same questions.

Youth groups particularly are filled with great teaching, solid theology and engaging services; but lack the asking of raw, unfiltered questions. We invite teenagers to ask why things happen to them so we can comfort them with the truth that God is in control and He loves them. But what if they are questioning if God really does exist? What if they don't really buy the fact that the Bible is our source for absolute truth?

We must begin to engage teenagers (and everyone else for that matter) in a way that confronts the questions they are asking in the quietness of their hearts. We have to stop feeding them answers without ever allowing them to ask the questions.

I believe we are more interested in seeing them converted than discipled. Discipleship is a messy, difficult process; one where hearts, motives and deep rooted issues are exposed. Often, in the discipleship process, no answers from our mouths are sufficient. Sometimes, we will have no idea what to say. That should not frighten us like it too often does. We should welcome questions that we have no answer to, so that we may sit at the feet of the One Who does!

What if we began to prompt teenagers to ask these questions out loud? What if they did? Would it get uncomfortable? Sure. Would it scare some parents and youth leaders to death? Absolutely. Would it be worth it? I have no doubt that it would! If we don't let them ask these questions, their peers and colleagues will at some point. Would we rather them hash these things out in the world or with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

Are we willing to not only address the elephant in the room but to escort him there in the first place? It's almost as if we believe if we don't address these questions, they won't ever think about them. I have news for you: they already are thinking about it. Let's be there to help them find Jesus in the middle of it all!

I am no advocate for prompting teenagers to question their faith for no reason, but I am all for bringing to the surface the things they ask deep within their hearts. If as a youth pastor I can lead them to an authentic encounter with and belief in Jesus before they graduate high school, then I've done my job. But if all I do is feed them answers and show them how to love Jesus without ever letting them ask their questions, their faith will be nothing more than a masquerade; a terrible one at that.

So how about you? Are you willing to share your story of how you pursued Jesus in the midst of serious doubt that He even existed? Are you willing to let others ask the questions you did? Will you be there to authentically point them to Jesus when they do?

Why?

On November 19th, I will be beginning a new series on Wednesday nights at Alive with the teenagers called "Why?". I am both burdened and excited to start this series: burdened because of the weight of the difficulties they are currently experiencing; excited because I will have the opportunity to point them to Jesus in the process.

In the meantime, as I am preparing to deliver this series, I will probably write several blog posts for you all to share in what God is teaching me throughout this time. I have never been one to sit at the feet of Jesus to learn and keep it to myself; by God's grace I'm just not wired that way!

If you haven't caught it yet, this series will be all about the difficult times that we all go through and how we can deal with them. We will tackle tough questions and circumstances, not only in our own lives, but also issues that are going on in the world around us. Most, if not all of us have at one point asked God why something is happening to us or someone we love.

That question flows out of several different motives. Some of the emotions that flood our hearts are anger, confusion, frustration, sorrow, etc. We go to God knowing that He is in control and that He loves us, but at that time, we are having trouble really believing it. My hope is that we all understand one simple truth through those times...

God answers our "why" with a "Who."

We would do our students a great disservice to teach them that everything has an explanation in this life; that if we wait long enough, God will tell us why things happened to us. That belief is just simply not supported in Scripture. Instead, God always points us back to His character and attributes during the times that we don't understand what is going on.

Just look at the life of Job. He experienced sorrow that most of us will never understand even in part. We know what went on behind the scenes as Satan was attacking, but there is nothing in the Bible that suggests Job ever found out why it all happened. All he knew was that God was still God and that his responsibility was to trust God through it all; even if he never found out why it all happened.

If we will just learn to fix our eyes on Jesus during the hard times in our lives instead of looking at the circumstances, then we will begin to gain grace in our time of need. How do we expect to find strength and grace to journey through a difficult time when all we are looking for is answers? We act as if we would feel better if we knew why. But finding out the answer does not bring healing; we must look to The Healer for that!

God's answer to Job is evidence that He is not all that interested in us finding out why all the time. There are times where we will know and times where we will not. In all circumstances, God is interested in us knowing Him, not knowing why.

That's the premise of this series and it is my prayer that students will hunger for the God who gives grace in times of need. My prayer is that they stop looking for answers and start looking for Jesus; that they would know that finding answers will not satisfy, but finding Jesus will!

Pray with me during this time.