Comments on: Got Hard Questions? Don’t Ask! http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/got-hard-questions-don%e2%80%99t-ask Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:51:00 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Under Much Grace http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/got-hard-questions-don%e2%80%99t-ask/comment-page-1#comment-15500 Under Much Grace Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:55:35 +0000 http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/76/got-hard-questions-don%e2%80%99t-ask#comment-15500 This reminds me of an evangelist that used to visit my Pentecostal church as a kid. We would dance when he came and he said that if we didn't allow for dancing unto the Lord that people would find readily available opportunities dancing with the devil. Whether one embraces that practice or tradition in one's denomination is not so critical as the metaphor that it presents. I found the same thing to be true in many "experience-oriented" churches that I attended over the years where critical thought and reason (in concert with the Spirt, of course!) was discouraged. I'm grateful to the Lord for having nearly always provided an adult that took my seemingly insignificant or impractical questions very seriously. I asked plenty of questions, and I am especially grateful to my pastor who even went to talk to a public school teacher on my behalf after that teacher questioned my faith. I was always taken seriously by him, and there was a temporary void in my life when he left our church. I was thrilled again to eventually find my Christian high school teacher who lovingly and patiently bore my many seemingly insignificant questions for my years of study with him. Both these men laid a foundation and standard of committment to the Word of God as well as a living example of good hermeneutics that continue to bless me. God bless all who take the time and go through what can often be "pains" of diligenly and honestly answering questions for those who ask for wisdom and guidance. I remember being especially impressed when both these men were humble enough to admit when they had no definitive answers to offer. We kids, still grown and asking questions, are eternally grateful, literally! So many of those seeds planted in my heart have yielded good fruit and continue to do so. May the Lord put a diligent teacher in the life of everyone and prepare them well for the answers! This reminds me of an evangelist that used to visit my Pentecostal church as a kid. We would dance when he came and he said that if we didn’t allow for dancing unto the Lord that people would find readily available opportunities dancing with the devil. Whether one embraces that practice or tradition in one’s denomination is not so critical as the metaphor that it presents. I found the same thing to be true in many “experience-oriented” churches that I attended over the years where critical thought and reason (in concert with the Spirt, of course!) was discouraged.

I’m grateful to the Lord for having nearly always provided an adult that took my seemingly insignificant or impractical questions very seriously. I asked plenty of questions, and I am especially grateful to my pastor who even went to talk to a public school teacher on my behalf after that teacher questioned my faith. I was always taken seriously by him, and there was a temporary void in my life when he left our church. I was thrilled again to eventually find my Christian high school teacher who lovingly and patiently bore my many seemingly insignificant questions for my years of study with him. Both these men laid a foundation and standard of committment to the Word of God as well as a living example of good hermeneutics that continue to bless me.

God bless all who take the time and go through what can often be “pains” of diligenly and honestly answering questions for those who ask for wisdom and guidance. I remember being especially impressed when both these men were humble enough to admit when they had no definitive answers to offer. We kids, still grown and asking questions, are eternally grateful, literally! So many of those seeds planted in my heart have yielded good fruit and continue to do so. May the Lord put a diligent teacher in the life of everyone and prepare them well for the answers!

]]> By: Barb http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/got-hard-questions-don%e2%80%99t-ask/comment-page-1#comment-15490 Barb Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:50:41 +0000 http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/76/got-hard-questions-don%e2%80%99t-ask#comment-15490 This is so true. We were "church-goers" with no belief in or true knowledge of Jesus Christ when my husband and I were led by God (even before we realized it) to enroll our sons in Christian school. Our oldest was in second grade, and our youngest started there in kindergarten. When our oldest was in sixth and seventh grade, he began asking questions about things that were being said in Bible class. One day, a teacher, the wife of a pastor, told him he was wrong on something he said. Well, tell a sometimes headstrong sixth grader "you're wrong" and you just made a big mistake. Instead of going with him to the Bible, and checking out what the Bible actually said about his belief, the teacher simply made him angry by waving him off and saying he was wrong (in front of the whole class). In another instance with a science/Bible teacher, the teacher became flustered in class at one of my son's comments regarding faith, and answered something like "because it's what the Reformed Church believes." Then the teacher quickly moved on, no more questions allowed. This is why we moved our son to public school when our oldest was in 8th and our youngest in 5th grade. For these reasons, and others, we saw the beautiful faith that had grown and flourished in the elementary Christian school begin to be lost by the stiff-necked behaviors of the teachers. When my youngest son came home one day, in tears, asking me if "public school kids are bad," because the kids and teachers at the Christian school were saying this, I knew that my kids were about to lose their faith. Thankfully, God had brought my husband and I to a faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ during this time, so we could now do the job of training up our kids in the way they should go, along with our Bible-based church. Initially, having no faith, we could not do this. What a shame that the wonderful job the school did in teaching our kids in the early grades was threatened by an atmosphere of not being able to question anything in the middle school. This is why I've heard those who went to Christian school all their lives tell me that they left the faith as adults because they no longer wanted to "feel judged" and to have "religion shoved down my throat." If we are confident in our faith and in who God is, we will never be threatened by questions. We must remember that all of us at one time did not have all the answers. All of us have gone through the process of coming to know who God is, and who He isn't. This is a journey that can be wonderful to take with a child. One of the things I am most thankful for is that my family is on this journey together, and I often go to my kids with questions on the Bible. With prayer and God's Holy Spirit guiding us as we read His Word, we can prepare ourselves to joyfully share the reason for the hope that we have. This is so true. We were “church-goers” with no belief in or true knowledge of Jesus Christ when my husband and I were led by God (even before we realized it) to enroll our sons in Christian school. Our oldest was in second grade, and our youngest started there in kindergarten. When our oldest was in sixth and seventh grade, he began asking questions about things that were being said in Bible class. One day, a teacher, the wife of a pastor, told him he was wrong on something he said. Well, tell a sometimes headstrong sixth grader “you’re wrong” and you just made a big mistake. Instead of going with him to the Bible, and checking out what the Bible actually said about his belief, the teacher simply made him angry by waving him off and saying he was wrong (in front of the whole class). In another instance with a science/Bible teacher, the teacher became flustered in class at one of my son’s comments regarding faith, and answered something like “because it’s what the Reformed Church believes.” Then the teacher quickly moved on, no more questions allowed.
This is why we moved our son to public school when our oldest was in 8th and our youngest in 5th grade. For these reasons, and others, we saw the beautiful faith that had grown and flourished in the elementary Christian school begin to be lost by the stiff-necked behaviors of the teachers. When my youngest son came home one day, in tears, asking me if “public school kids are bad,” because the kids and teachers at the Christian school were saying this, I knew that my kids were about to lose their faith. Thankfully, God had brought my husband and I to a faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ during this time, so we could now do the job of training up our kids in the way they should go, along with our Bible-based church. Initially, having no faith, we could not do this. What a shame that the wonderful job the school did in teaching our kids in the early grades was threatened by an atmosphere of not being able to question anything in the middle school. This is why I’ve heard those who went to Christian school all their lives tell me that they left the faith as adults because they no longer wanted to “feel judged” and to have “religion shoved down my throat.”
If we are confident in our faith and in who God is, we will never be threatened by questions. We must remember that all of us at one time did not have all the answers. All of us have gone through the process of coming to know who God is, and who He isn’t. This is a journey that can be wonderful to take with a child.
One of the things I am most thankful for is that my family is on this journey together, and I often go to my kids with questions on the Bible. With prayer and God’s Holy Spirit guiding us as we read His Word, we can prepare ourselves to joyfully share the reason for the hope that we have.

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