Lee Strobel - Case for Faith for Kids, Updated and Expanded

H ey, do you like questions? Questions come in lots of different flavors. Of course, there are the boring questions:

• Who was the thirteenth president of the United States?
• What is the state bird of Montana?

Then there are those corny questions called riddles:

• Why did the chicken cross the playground?

To get to the other slide.

Then there are the head-scratching, noggin-tickling questions:

• Why do we drive on a parkway but park on a driveway?
• Why does after dark occur after light?
• Why are whales still chubby after all that swimming?
• Why dont sheep shrink in the rain?
• Why do cameras have round lenses but take square pictures?
• Why does night fall but day break?
• Why do we call one of the hottest dishes chili?
• Why are many people afraid of heights, but no one is afraid of widths?
  

Those questions probably dont have answers, but theyre fun to ask anyway.

Then there are questions that do have answers. For example, do you ever stand on the beach and wonder how the moon way up there causes all those waves way down here? Or how long it would take to travel to another galaxy?

We could get those answers without much problem. Thats why we have science. The kind of science called physics would tell us about the moon and tides. Astronomy would tell us about how long to plan for an intergalactic vacation.

Then there are those questions that everyone wonders about at some time or another:

How did this world get here?

Is there a God?

Which religion is true?

In case youre interested, a book called Case for a Creator works on the God question. Another one called Case for Christ covers questions about Jesus, such as: Was he really the Son of God? Could he really have risen from the dead?

This book is filled with big-league questions about believing in God and following Christ. A lot of Christians wonder about these noggin-nibblers:

• If God is good, why does he let bad things happen in the world?
• Do miracles happen or does science prove they are impossible?
• Is Jesus the only way to get into heaven? What about other religions?
• If I have questions or doubts, does that mean Im not a Christian?

Those are some brain-drainers! People ask these questions all the time, and why shouldnt they? The answers are very important. Its only natural that folks would wonder.

And heres one more question: Should people who already believe in God ask for answers? If they wonder, for instance, whether God is really fair, does that mean they dont trust God enough? Should they just ignore the tough stuff and go on believing in God?

No, because questionsespecially questions about faithare too important to let us do that. Whether you believe in God or not, its a pretty good idea to give these questions some thought. Look at it this way: people have worked on these riddles for thousands of years, and they havent proved yet that God isnt alive. So what do you have to lose?

Not your faith. Faith is like a muscle that just becomes stronger the more you put it to work. Proverbs 18:17 tells us, The first one to tell his case seems right. Then someone else comes forward and questions him. Thats just a fancy way of saying its important to carefully ask the right questions to get the right cluesdont be too quick to jump to conclusions. Then you can make up your own mind about the truth.

Jesus said this: Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks will receive. He who searches will find. The door will be opened to the one who knocks (Matthew 7:78).

Ask, search, and knock. Why?

Imagine trying to find an old friend who moved away from the neighborhood. How would you go about it? First, you would ask. Anybody know where my friends new house is? Maybe someone at school would say, I heard that kid lives over near the park now.

What would you do next? You would search. Maybe youd get on your bike and ride to the park to look for your friend. Finally, what would you do when you found the right house? You would knock. Then you could see your friend face-to-face.

Thats why we ask questions about God. Its a way of finding him for ourselves. Asking leads us to search for him more actively, and searching for him makes it possible to meet him.

Remember, even though its important to ask questions about God to find him, he is always searching for you.

In this verse, Gods talking: When you look for me with all your heart, you will find me (Jeremiah 29:13). That means to seek with your best effort.

That sounds like a good idea. Its time to really go after these questions. If you ask and think and search for the answers with all your heart, maybe youll finally discover that every answer leads to God himself. Because, as Saint Augustine said, All truth is Gods truth.

So tighten your thinking cap, march boldly to the next page, and prepare yourself to do some thinking and maybe even have some fun doing it. Were going to tackle five big-time questions, one by one.