Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / What to Do When Your Child Starts Doubting Their Faith - Chuck Black
Transcript
- speaker-0: Ruthlessly root out the doubt in your own heart first. You have a a universe ⁓ of of truth that God has given you and and do not be afraid. Step into that with boldness and courage first for yourself. speaker-1: Check stories, so it's an encouragement to me as a mom because, like you were saying, okay, so all of these people, what'd you say, 500 people raised their hand yes, they've experienced doubt. And about only 12 of them had actually said, We've talked to our kids about their doubt. And I think because, and I'm just I'm I'm not sure, but for me, when I start to see my kids doubt, it terrifies me. Because to me, when they doubt, I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, that means they're gonna rebel. That means they're gonna walk away. That means they don't believe all these things that I've taught them. And then we start to freak out. And then a lot of that leads us to not asking those hard questions about their faith, right? Or if they ask hard questions, we just kind of want to put it to the side. But ⁓ really what you're saying is we have to make space for the hard questions. We have to make space for the doubt. And at the end of the day, when I look at a lot of other religions, one in particular that we we're surrounded by where I live is. You are very much taught you you don't ask questions, right? You don't ask questions. And I always I'm like, well, duh, they can't ask questions because they know it's gonna lead to finding out that what they're being taught is completely a lie. But then I stop and I think, but then why would I be afraid if my kids ask questions? Because the Bible is so clear that if we seek, we will find, right? If we knock, the door will be open. Like if we are truly seeking God, then we're going to find the truth. And so if we know that we know that we know that the Bible is real and true, which it is. Then those questions, those little doubts shouldn't scare us about our kids. And what strikes me is that for 14 years, you lived with that little question of doubt, which some of us will chuckle and be like, ⁓ my gosh, it's the dinosaur question, right? Like that's that's not a big deal. It's the dinosaur question. That's not even a salvation issue. But for you, that little question of doubt, it it really impacted your life and potentially the lives that you could have shared the Lord with. And so we have got. To stop being afraid of our kids doubting and and make even a space for it. I like how you said, like, find out where they are doubting. So help parents kind of shake the fear and feel the confidence to act, to ask these hard questions. And go back to it's interesting what you had said, I think in our last episode, you actually played the antagonist that kind of almost fed your children doubt questions. Mm-hmm. To s to kind of shake up and see where they were so that you knew where you needed to shore it up. So help parents understand how to do this without fear. speaker-0: Yeah. No, fantastic. I think I think probably the first thing to consider here is what is the source of your fear? ⁓ honestly, ⁓ is it that you have unresolved out? You know, i is there something in in your faith that maybe needs to be worked through first? You know, that that experience that I shared with you of my story for that was so dramatic that when I finally came to the truth, I was I mean, I was passionate and adamant. And so I stepped into it with all ⁓ with renewed vigor and courage. And and I don't know, ⁓ maybe some people that haven't had that experience have these lingers lingering doubts that haven't been resolved in their own lives, but they haven't really had to face it. And now when your children are asking those questions, is that the source of of your apprehension? Wow, that's so good. I would do do a little self-evaluating first. Good. And ⁓ and and don't be afraid. Take it to the take it to the Lord. Ruthlessly root out the doubt in your own heart. first and know and know that when you have you you have ⁓ a universe ⁓ of of truth that god has given you and and do not be afraid step into that with boldness and courage first for yourself then for your children and and don't don't ⁓ don't sh sweep things under the rug ⁓ all that does is make lumpy rugs that people step ⁓ trip and stumble on and so ⁓ y your kids are going to have doubts. I promise you they're going to have doubts. And so the I think that the next step is to just pause with your kids and and have a very open, transparent conversation with them. And one of the things I I I told my kids is, guys, listen, I want you to know that you can ask me and mom anything. There is nothing you should be afraid. We're not going to question, you know, your faith. We're not going to question your intelligence. We want And and then be it be open. Like I I was able to share my story with them. I said I was right there. I was right where you guys are at. This is what happened with me. So I understand if if you're if you have questions. And so just know you can bring anything to us. And then and and I tell them too, and you might have such a question that I might not be able to answer right away. That doesn't mean that that that's that there's not a good answer. So if if I have to, ⁓ I will go and do research for you and study and pray and get you the answer. That will help you through this. ⁓ so let's work through this together. And so just be very transparent and open and honest with your kids. Cause you you really can't fool your kids. At some point, you know, they can see right through it. Right. So the best approach is just to be honest with them. ⁓ I love that. And so that was that was kind of that was my approach with our kids. ⁓ and they all really did feel like they could ask us anything. Nothing was off limits, nothing. And so and some of the kids were really open and transparent. Others you had to cry a little bit more and work hard to get into their hearts. And so and that's okay. Do what you gotta do. speaker-2: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by BJU Press Homeschool, CTC Math, and the Explorer Bible for Kids. Visit the show notes to learn more about these excellent resources. And for more encouragement, listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast at Schoolhouseroct.com.