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Ten Theological ?s

most often asked by teens

Teens have tons of tough questions. Over the years I have found that there are types of questions teens seem to ask frequently, year after year. We'll be looking at those Top 10 Theological Questions......

? # 10:   Will an unsaved African kid that dies of starvation

 go to hell since he/she doesn't know Jesus?
 

Obviously, it is difficult for any of us to judge the eternal destination of anyone else. When we give a definitive answer of yes or no, we are tending to "play God" and that's not only a tough spot but something that really doesn't work out too well for us as humans. The question begs for a concrete, definitive answer --- but we really don't know enough or have enough information about this kid in order to make a "salvation call". Part of this question is the sub-question that asks, "Does God care about this kid?" I personally believe that God cares about every human being on this playground we call earth. Our Christian faith says that Jesus is the gatekeeper and that you have to know and have accepted Jesus to get to heaven. What we don't know either about this kid is if Jesus appeared to him/her right before he/she died and the kid accepted Jesus right then and there. So our answer to this question could be "I don't know."

Yet, in a further attempt to answer this question, we should try to steer away from our personal thinking and examine what the Bible says. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the only way, truth and life and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. But here is the deal --- I believe that God finds no pleasure in punishment. (Ezekiel 18:23). God is passionately pursuing each and every human being. When the HELL conversation comes up it is simple to imply that God is not for us ---- when in reality God is completely for us and is constantly seeking us. That in John Wesley's definition is called Prevenient Grace --- God's continual seeking of us even before we realize God's presence.

God allows humans to keep making decisions and choices --- decisions and choices that can be good and Christ like and unfortunately, we can also make decisions and choices that are destructive and evil. It's called free will. But regardless of our decisions and choices, God is patient and continually forgiving and longing for all of us to come to life! So what is heaven and hell? Heaven is where you have eternal life in the presence of God and hell is a place where everyone has decided they don't want or need God's love. Could it be that God gives people what they desire in life?. If someone chooses to live intentionally apart from God here on earth, God grants them that eternal request. However, if someone truly does desire to know God, God's goodness and grace abounds in many forms to them. Perhaps we are "judged" based on what we have been given and what opportunities have been afforded us as it relates to our choices and decisions.

Actually I think this big theological question should convince each of us to invest in global evangelism. This question should bug us so bad that we want to go to this African village and be and bring the Kingdom of God to them here and now. I think this hard theological question brings bigger and harder questions to mind. We can't just stop at this initial question. We need to push a bit further and talk about the practical implications of our answers and we need to "go wide" with the gospel. So if this question puts a burden on you, are you willing to do something about it? How can God's wrath and God's love co-exist? How does God view children? Do you think you have unsaved neighbors or teens at school who don't know Jesus? What are you doing about it?
 

I think these difficult theological questions and discussions help us to ask deeper questions while learning to live in the paradoxes of the Christian faith. Part of our faith is to have doubts and to explore our questions and doubts. We realize there is no perfect answer and as humans we just don't fully comprehend the full nature and character of God.............but above all else, we need to comprehend and understand that God is calling each of us by name and wants each of us to be in relationship with Him and to truly live our life in  a Christ like fashion.

So what do you think?
 

? #9 What about the other holy books from other world religions?

We can take this question in multiple directions because this question potentially attacks the claims of Jesus along with the reliability and trustworthiness of Scripture. But before we jump into this question, it needs to be said that all of us should "test everything" including the Bible. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, "test everything. Hold on to the good." 1 John 4:1-10 warns us not to believe in every spirit, but test every spirit to see if it from God. We know that every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ is true and good. I clearly believe that our Bible is authoritative and God's inspired word. I personally trust that the Holy Spirit will guide every one of us to the truth, if we honestly and earnestly seek the truth. The Bible is the living word of God and no other holy book speaks to the human realities Jesus speaks to. Some churches may fear that as students read other holy books that they will lose those students to other world religions. I am so confident the Bible is true that if any authentic student begins to test everything, he/she will, at some point come back to the Bible and Jesus.

Only a few major world religions have holy books that claim to be "God's word", specifically,  Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. I do not include Hinduism and Buddhism since it appears that most Buddhists do not believe there is a God and Hindu's believe in multiple gods. Hindus and Buddhists may believe their books are inspired but most believe their books are simply religious texts. A great goal would be to read each of these holy books and judge them based on their claims. I don't believe that these other holy books compete with the Bible. The church has had many great thinkers, scholars and defenders throughout history that strongly backed up the claims of Christianity. Jesus is God and offers salvation and grace. No other world religion competes with that. I agree that these other holy books do have some great human wisdom and advice, however their claims do not assert authority like the Bible does.

We all need to be more respectful and open to other people's religions. I think it is essential to a student's Christian faith development to learn and study other religions. In our Epworth Confirmation journey we physical go and explore Judaism and the Islamic faith as we have done so over a decade of time. We firmly believe that learning about other world religions help expand our student's worldview. We live in a very pluralistic society and world. Catholic writer, Hans Kung, states people fit into four "religion" categories: 1. No religion is true. 2. Only one religion is true. 3. Every religion is true. 4. One religion is the true one in whose truth all religions participate.   Obviously the #1 category of Kung are those who practice atheism.  Some define atheism as a lack of faith but I would suggest that atheism is a faith belief, a faith that there is no God.  We'll explore the 2nd, 3rd and 4th categories below.  It is also important to understand that various claims of different world religions are quite contradictory.  In today's pluralistic world, I think there are three perspectives to examining the major faith beliefs in the world.

One approach is a Pluralist Perspective where one believes that all paths lead to God and is the #3 category of Kung as stated above.  This often is the predominant view in our popular culture. In this perspective no one "goes to hell" or has "eternal life", if their faith beliefs even includes eternal life or hell.  This approach is open-minded, fair and non-judgmental.  However,  this perspective fails to differentiate between the logic, validity and merits of the claims of specific faith beliefs.  As stated above, some claims of different world religions are quite contradictory and some claims are mutually exclusive events.   I think it is important to remember that just because some people claim to have heard from God, that doesn't mean their claims are true.

A second approach is an Exclusivist Perspective which begs the question, who gets excluded from the possibility of eternal life? The Exclusivist Perspective is #2 category of Kung as stated above.  This perspective seems to be inconsistent with the way God interacts with people in the Bible.  I believe that God has tremendous love for a broken world and I'm not sure that the Exclusivist Perspective is consistent with the spirit of God's gospel.  From a Christian perspective, since only 1/3 of the world are Christians, this would mean that God would punish 2/3 of the world because they weren't born in a Christian culture.  Check out Luke 19:10 and Matthew 25:31-46. 

A third approach is an Inclusivist Perspective wherein God is at work in all people everywhere in the world and is the #4 category of Kung as stated above. A Christian Inclusivist believes that Jesus Christ is the definitive revelation of God --- God's word made flesh.  Therefore all other religious truth claims are measured in the light of Jesus.  But God can be working in non-Christians.  The Inclusivist Perspective believes that God sees acts of righteousness, goodness and worship as efforts to know, follow and yield themselves to God.  This approach does not say that all faith are equally valid or all their teachings are true nor does it believe that all people will be saved.  Yet it is God's mercy and love..... it is Gods' gift and ultimately GOD will determine who gets through the gate and to whom the gate is forever closed with respect to eternal life or "heaven".   The Inclusivist Perspective allows for great dialogue between different world faith believers and drops the arrogance that is often associated with the approach that "my faith is the only way to get to heaven" and that "I know best" and "I have all the answers".  I personally like the Inclusivist Perspective because of the dialogue that this approach facilitates along with ongoing learning of world faith beliefs.

The bottom line for all of us is that we are bombarded with other philosophies, religions and wisdom literature that are un-Jesus. We each must decide which faith belief we are going to believe in and place into practice in our life, each and every day.  For me, I am sold out to Jesus and my life will be based on Christian values with Jesus Christ as my model, my God and my Lord and Savior.  

How about you?

? #8  -  Why do I have to or need to attend church?

1. Students think they can follow Jesus without attending church.

Many students (and adults) think they can be a devoted follower of Christ Jesus and skip out on church.  If our students don't attend church now, they never will!  This is problematic at both the spiritual development and theological level.

2. Students going to church has a lot of Biblical support --- a major point.

Many think this question about attending church is not a theological question, but a practical question.  Students do not want to go to church because it is "boring" or not "relevant".  In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells Peter He will build His church on this rock.  Basically Jesus thinks the Church is a big deal because He directly gives Peter the Church's construction plans. Also student really matter to Jesus.  For some reason, Jesus deeply cares about children and teenagers (Mark 10). So it would make sense Jesus loves having students involved and participating in church.

3.  Students need to value being in "big church".

As church leaders and parents, we need to encourage students to attend "big church".  Big church can be intimidating for students. Big church often consists of adults who do not give a rip about teens.  Big church gathers regularly for preaching/teaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and are empowered to be missionaries to their community and to the world for God's glory and redemption.  Students need to learn how to love each aspect of what the church is.  I think the problem is ... many church leaders and parents underplay these marks of the church because we don't think they work.... or we don't think they are fun or students will not like them.  I personally believe that the sooner students assimilate into the church body the better off they will be.

Some students may like Church, but don't like our church.

I personally think it is perfectly okay to let students attend other churches.  We need to be Kingdom-minded and not territorial.  Trust me --- if a student enjoys another church, do Jesus a favor and let him/her attend.  The important thing is to get students plugged into church --- not which church they get plugged into.   Personally, I think church should be mandatory for students who are in the 6th - 12th grades.  But remember, I say that church should be mandatory, but the student should decide which church they will attend.  If a student decides not to attend church on a Sunday or two, the student needs to articulate why this is the best decision.  By the way, "sleeping in" does not count nor does "studying for an exam".  It is a hard battle to raise up our students according to God's way.  It is tough following Jesus as a junior high or high school student.  It is tough following Jesus as an adult.  But being a Jesus follower is more rewarding than we can ever imagine! We need to pray Ephesians 6:1-4 and 6:10-13 over our students and their families every week of the year!  Again, attending church is a practical matter with theological implications ---- but the fact of the matter is that our church community is vital to our growth and development along our faith journey.  We just can't do it alone............

Take a few minutes and check out our article on our www.EpworthSWAT.com website entitled What's the Big Deal about Church? 

? #7  Is the New Testament reliable ?

If we are going to trust in the Bible so much, we need to be sure it is true.  I think there are three ways to know it is true:  Internal evidence, Bibliographical test and Historical test.

1.  Internal test -- students need to read first hand what the Bible claims about scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.  It is imperative to see Scripture is sufficient while we approach it humbly.

2. Bibliographical Test -- Lets compare the New Testament books with various other books that are widely read and accepted in Western literature.  Scholars have the earliest copies of Aristotle and Plato about 1,400 years after they were written.  We have 7 original copies of Plato and 5 copies of Aristotle.  Here is the kicker:  We have copies of the New Testament about 100 years after the books were written and we still have over 14,000 copies of the New Testament.  No one is questioning the reliability of Aristotle or Plato. I think the fact is that we still have over 14,000 copies of the Greek New Testament implies the content is pretty important.

3.  Historical Test -- Josephus, the best known ancient Jewish historian was born in 37 CE, only a few years after Jesus' execution.  Josephus was well educated in biblical law and history. In Section 18 of the Jewish Antiquities it says;   Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teach of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jewish, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day as the divine prophets had foretold these and then thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians is named from him are not extinct at this day.   Jewish Antiquities 18.3.3

The point is that other first century non-Christian historians claimed that a man named Jesus of Nazareth existed along with many facts of this ancient faith which was called THE WAY.

The canon of the Bible refers to the definitive list of the books which are considered to be divine revelation and included therein. A canon distinguishes what is revealed and divine from what is not revealed and human. "Canon" (Greek kanon) means a reed; a straight rod or bar; a measuring stick; something serving to determine, rule, or measure. Because God did not explicitly reveal what books are the inspired books of the Bible, title by title, to anyone, we must look to His guidance in discovering the canon of the Bible.

Perhaps the single most significant factor in the Protestant New Testament Canon was a man named Marcion who lived AD 85 - 160.  Marcion wrote the first canon (list of books) of the New Testament in AD 140.  Marcion didn't like Paul and the Old Testament.  Many church fathers of the time accused Marcion of taking the razor to the Bible and cutting out several of the Pauline epistles, Acts, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus.  Additionally, the only Gospel in Marcion's Bible was 2/3 of Luke.  That's it. One Gospel and ten Pauline epistles, which means no Revelations and no Old Testament.  Many theologians tell us that Marcion changed the Bible to suit his theology.   However, Marcion's canon was the first canon but obviously it was problematic.

In 180 AD church leaders wanted to put a stop to Marcion picking and choosing what texts were in and out of the canon.  The church leaders formed a council. In early 200s, Origen listed all 27 New Testament books but indicated 6 were still being questioned.  The council of Laodicea in AD 363 stated that the Old Testament, along with the apocrypha and 27 books of the New Testament were to be read in Christian churches.  The council of Carthage in AD 397 was the final decision that concluded the New Testament canon would consist of 27 books, which were both inspired and authoritative texts. 

So what were the Church's fathers methods to picking the New Testament books?

Their basic guidelines were:  texts that appeared early, authored by apostles, edifying and widely excepted.

We believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the New Testament writings and made it possible to appropriately select what texts would appear in the New Testament Canon.   I think it is incredible that all New Testament books were written before 100 AD --- basically 70 years after Jesus' death.  No other western literature text appeared so early on after it was written.  For example, the Persian wars or the movement of Alexander the Great were given to us by only one source. Plato's writing appear about 1,400 years AFTER he wrote them. Historians have 14,000 copies of the New Testament and the writing appeared only 70 years after Jesus' ministry and death.