Children's Questions About God and the Bible

Lesson 2 w/answersYoung Kids Ask the Toughest Questions

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)

Bible

As those of us who are parents or teachers can attest to, children are smarter than we think and deserve answers to the questions that they ask. I was like that at an early age, and I vividly recall that adults either didn’t have the answers, or did not want to answer my questions.

The questions below were compiled from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders.

Here are some of the questions these children think about a lot.

  1. Can God make my brother get better?
    1. ANSWER: God can do anything, in fact in Matthew 19:26 we read that with God nothing is impossible, and everything is possible. God also promises us that in John 15:7. Yes God can make your brother better.
  2. Why would God make the earth if he knew we would sin?
    1. ANSWER: When God made us he didn’t want to make us robots or clones or people who would blindly follow and worship him. God did not need that nor want that. In reading the following verses we can learn much about God’s reasons for creating us, even knowing we would sin. Revelation 4:11, Romans 5:20, Ephesians 2:7, and Ephesians 2:10. From these we can see four reasons:
      • For his pleasure
      • So that He could demonstrate to us His great grace
      • So that He could demonstrate His great love
      • So that through Jesus we could do the great works He has prepared for us to do.
  3. How come God didn’t make us perfect?
    1. ANSWER: God knew that by creating us as perfect and needing nothing we could become full of pride, boasting that we didn’t need God, and that we were better than God. This is what happened to the angel Lucifer who became the devil. He was created perfectly and decided he did not need God, and the he could be higher than God. This is why God will cast him out of heaven and into the Lake of Fire for all eternity. (Ezekiel 28:12-15 and Isaiah 14:3-14) So God created us to become His children, the children of God, so He could care for us, love us, and keep us from falling into the trap of sin like the devil had and keep us from spending eternity in the Lake of Fire with the devil.
  4. Can he make my family not feel so sad (Grandmother died)?
    1. ANSWER: We all feel very sad when someone we love dies. Even Jesus cried when he saw the suffering of Mary and Martha over Lazarus’ death. But He is also faithful in comforting us and in granting us a peace that goes past anything we can understand. That peace tells us that our loved one who died is now with Him in heaven and that gives us comfort and joy. We’ll always miss the one who died until we get to heaven to be with them, but while we remain on earth God is faithful in being with us, comforting us and granting us His great peace. (John 11:13-35, Philippians 4:7 and Psalm 126:5-6)
  5. Can he make my Great Grandmother feel better?
    1. ANSWER: Yes, see question about sick brother above.
  6. How long will I live?
    1. ANSWER: God does not tell each of us how long we will live. This means we are to live each day doing the very best we can. While God doesn’t tell us how long we’ll live, God does give us some guidelines to live by so that we may have a longer life. These are:
      • Honor your father and your mother, Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:2-3
      • Keeping Gods law, Proverbs 3:1-2
      • Following wisdom, Proverbs 3:13,16
      • Keeping from evil, Psalm 34:11-14
  7. Will we (our country) be attacked?
    1. ANSWER: Only God knows the answer to that question. However, what’s more important is for us to depend on God to protect us and if we were ever attacked to give us the victory over our enemies. Even God’s people come under attack, sometimes because we are God’s people. Jesus tells us if we love him the world will not love us because they hate Jesus. But we know that God is our protector, our King, and he will protect us whenever our enemies attack us. (Psalm 37:28) (John 15:18-19)
  8. Why did God punish us for Adam and Eve’s sin?
    1. ANSWER: See Genesis 3:14-19. God intended for Adam and Eve to be the parents of all mankind when he created them. When Adam and Eve sinned they destroyed God’s original intention because now that they had eaten the forbidden fruit all of their children would be born with this desire to sin. God put a curse on Satan, and the earth and which created a corrupt and decaying environment for Adam and Eve to live and work in. (Genesis 3:14-19) As each of their children were born they in-turn were subject to these same curses, it would only be through God’s great grace and Jesus shed blood that mankind could ever be saved once Adam and Eve sinned because their sin ruined the earth and all that God had created. Today we are sinful people living in a corrupt and decaying world, God did not want us to be punished so He sent his son Jesus to die for us, so that when we leave this earth we go to be with Him in Heaven where there is no sin, no tears, no death. He is preparing a better place for all of us who put our trust in Christ. (John 3:16, 14:1-3 and Revelation 21:3-5)
  9. Did David trust God for the rest of his life (after he killed Goliath)?
    1. ANSWER: Yes he did, in fact many examples of David’s faith after he killed Goliath can be found in the Bible. For example in 1 Samuel chapter 23 you can read of David’s faith in the Lord granting him a battle victory, then later protecting David from Saul who came after him to kill him. In both cases you’ll read about others not believing in God’s instructions, but David who was strong in faith led them all to follow what God had told him, and they won the victory in the battle, and were protected by God when Saul came to kill David. All through David’s life there are many, many examples of his great faith in God and his determination to do whatever he could to please God. This is why God called David a man after His own heart. (Acts 13:22)
  10. Did Saul trust God before God anointed him?
    1. ANSWER: This is difficult to say, in looking at how God anointed Saul to be king it would be easy to assume Saul trusted God, however as you study Saul’s entire life he appears as someone who acted like, or pretended to be, a righteous person following God, but in fact he was not. It’s difficult to find examples where Saul actually ever trusted God more than Saul trusted himself. In the end Saul’s kingdom is taken from him and David, a real man after God’s own heart becomes king. (1Samuel chapters 9 and 10) (1 Samuel Chapters 11 through 31, and 2 Samuel Chapters 1 and 2)
  11. How come people don’t act like Christians after they’ve been baptized? That is, after a person has been baptized, why does he act like he hasn’t been baptized?
    1. ANSWER: This is a good question. We need to remember that baptism is an outward expression of what has occurred in a person’s life inwardly. And we need to realize that even though we accept Christ, repent of our sins and try to live as Christ wants us to our old nature, of wanting to do things that cause us to sin, is still with us. Even Paul, one of the men with the greatest of faith struggled with this. It is difficult for us to see people who follow Christ act in ways that aren’t Christ like, and we need to remember that when we sin, others have the same reaction looking at us. But above all through Christ we can win that struggle and live the life Christ has for us, baptism in and of itself isn’t the answer alone, we need Christ as the center of our lives, then we’ll have the victory. (Romans 7:21-25)
  12. In some movies and TV shows, I see people using a "warding-off" sign, i.e., when a person crosses their two index fingers in front of them forming the shape of a cross. Will this really work to protect us from evil?
    1. ANSWER: All through the Bible, God uses signs, many of them to protect us. He used a Rainbow at the end of the flood, promising to not bring any more floods that would cover the whole earth. He had the Jews paint the blood of a lamb on their door posts as a sign, so that the angel of death would pass over them. He had Moses raise up a staff and snake to protect His people in the desert. In fact, Joshua 24:17 refers to all of the signs God did to protect His people while they wandered in the desert, but the best sign of all is in Luke 2:12 - "And this shall be a sign to you: you will find the baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger." Jesus is the only sign we need. Nothing we can do on our own, using our fingers to make a cross, or trying to outsmart Satan, etc., can protect us from the devil like Jesus. Don't be fooled by tricks, gimmicks, secret handshakes, signs, or special prayers to keep the devil away -- always and only trust in Jesus to protect you. He will not forget you or abandon you in your time of need. Hebrews 4:16 says "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
  13. Will we be angels in heaven? If we will would we be in the flesh?
    1. ANSWER: When we get to heaven we'll be ourselves only better. Angels in heaven watch over us. They are God's messengers and His army protecting us and caring for us. Many believe that while we're in heaven we'll have a heavenly body as we wait for the return of Christ to the earth. We do know that when we return with Christ we'll get brand new bodies, bodies that never get sick, and we'll have real things to do in His kingdom. Have you ever thought about what Christ might have you do in His new kingdom, or what job you'd like to have working for the King of Kings? Won't it be neat being a part of His kingdom and living and working right there with him?

I hope that you are enjoying these children's questions as much as I am. Would you agree that many adults ask some of these questions nowadays as well?

Yours in Christ,

Wes