When Older Children Doubt the Gospels

Krissa rubbed her thumb along the thin page of her Bible, fear gnawing at her soul. She had always believed its words, never doubting its record of God’s Son becoming flesh to dwell among us. But shortly after her sixteenth birthday, questions slipped more and more frequently into her thoughts. How could her heart rest until her questions were satisfied? Could she be certain the gospels were really true?

Sooner or later, nearly everyone will be challenged with questions either from within or without, concerning how we can know the Scriptures are indeed God’s inspired Word. How do we truly know Jesus Christ is God’s Son? To a parent, it can be startling when children give voice to such questions. But take heart, it need not signal a slide into believing there is no God. Here are some things to keep in mind when our children ask about the reliability of the Scripture record of Jesus’ life:

Fear Is The Enemy

From the beginning, Satan has always sought to cast fear in the human heart about the nature of God. More often than not, when a child begins to question if Jesus is truly God, it is rooted in fear, not rebellion. Fear is dispelled by three things: relationship, truth, and example.

Relationship

Have you ever reached your hands at to an infant inviting him to come to you, only to have him burst into tears of fear? It’s because the child has no relationship with you; thus, he has no confidence in a stranger’s goodwill. When addressing fears about the reliability of the gospels, always point to the Authority behind those gospels. These records are not legends or man’s best guess. Rather, they are historical accounts penned by men, while inspired by a God Who cannot lie.

Truth

Yet how do we know the Scriptures themselves are truthful, and thus, authored by a truthful God? The same way we know if anyone is being truthful. Besides the life of Christ, the gospels also record or reference other historical figures and events. Now the question becomes, have these biblical claims ever been demonstrated to be false? And the answer is no. To research this further, I highly recommend the apologetics ministry Answers In Genesis and the book Case For Christ by Lee Stroble. But the short answer is, the gospels have repeatedly been truthful in the history they record, giving us no reason to doubt their record of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Example

The last of these is your own example and relationship with Christ. Do you fear? Do you truly believe Jesus is Savior, Creator, and Redeemer? Do you rejoice and rest in His salvation? If you fear driving over a bridge, watching someone else do it and be safely held up won’t only help get you across, but it will give you a personal witness that the bridge is trustworthy. Relax and delight in Jesus as your Savior, and that will be the most powerful witness to your child that He is trustworthy.

Kenzi Knapp is a follower of Christ, homeschool graduate and student of history. A fourth generation Missourian she enjoys writing about daily life enrolled in Gods great course of faith and His story throughout the ages at her blog, Honey Rock Hills.