I Found God In the "Jack" of All Questions...

My 7-year old son, Jack, out of the clear-blue-nowhere, asked me this question last week:

Mom... how do we know that we are following the right God?

What if we are following the wrong God and when we die,

he is really mad at us and sends us to Hell?

Wha-at?!

My first thought... besides the gaping silence was "B-But, I haven't blogged about this topic yet?!"

Then there was some stuttering.

Then some 20-minute-ish discussion that involved me trying to explain our faith in three different parts:

1. We ARE correct. Jesus DID live, die, and rise again. And scholars and pastors like Pastor Tom (our pastor) have gone to school for a long time to learn about this and to feel fairly "scientific-ish" with facts about why they believe what they preach.

2. Even if we were wrong, by following the Bible we are doing good things - and I think that just about every other religion out there says that doing good works will get you into Heaven... so even if we are wrong, with a lifetime of "good things," we'd be a shoo-in for their Heaven anyway.

3. Faith is exactly that... FAITH. Believing with all your heart, mind, and soul that which cannot be seen. Seeing is not believing... but rather, believing allows you to "see."

Can you spell c-o-n-f-u-s-i-n-g ?!?!

I know my answers were choppy and convoluted at best... I was completely caught off guard, for sure! But the conversation pointed out to me (again!) that our children are totally paying attention to what's going on at church and what is modeled to them. My son is only 7 - yet he is craving answers to BIG questions... some questions to which others might spend a lifetime searching for answers.

It also was a lesson to me -that I needed to get an even firmer grasp on the how's and why's of my own faith. Of all the people in the world I need to be able to witness to successfully, my two sons are at the TOP of the list!! Their questions are only going to get harder... and I need to be ready with some serious answers.

First stop... the answer key.... a.k.a. The Bible. All of the things I need my children to know are probably in this book... and to be honest, I have not read it all. Sure, I've read bits and pieces - chapters here and there. I've looked up passages for Bible studies and, of course, for this blog. I've listened to certain verses expounded upon in Sunday sermons or in Sunday School. But I have never sat down with my Bible and read it - like all of the other books I've curled up to read, this one I've warily danced around - toting it to and from church, but not really getting "into" it.

Well that stops now. Today is the Genesis of my reading... and because I'm OCD, I'll start at the beginning. I'll keep you posted on what I find... *wink*

♥Mags