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The Toughest Faith Questions Came From 7th Graders · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Relish, pleasing or zestful flavor, a quantity just sufficient to flavor,
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  to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
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  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
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  Welcome back to another episode of Relish. I am Rowan Miller.
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  This is Pastor Don Patterson. How's it going today, Don? Oh, it's going.
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  That's good. Yeah. Busy week here at Bible school. We got seventh and eighth
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  graders here to ask some questions for Don here. Yeah. And the comic piece of
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  this is I don't do any studying ahead of time.
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  So I don't know the questions ahead of time, nor have I any idea what kind of
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  answer I should bring until the question's poised. And so, are we ready?
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  This is my seventh and eighth grade class of Bible school.
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  And I'm very proud of them. They did really good at the scripture drills that
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  we do during the course of the week i you really did you really did good,
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  and memory stuff we did memory stuff this morning they all got candy i think,
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  oh we can tell yeah you can tell they got pretty hard for them to hold still
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  right now but you don't see them on camera right now.
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  Okay all righty so first question i believe come on up yeah got it yeah yeah yeah yeah,
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  And the next question can get right in the spot right here. So it's easy.
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  Yes, sir. Hmm. I know you. Yeah. So.
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  All right. So at one point in your life, did you become like,
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  when did you give your life over to Jesus and what made you decide that? Hey, yeah.
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  I decided that when I was about 13, we had a catechism class in our church and
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  it was sort of like, oh, that's what we do at this age, you know?
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  And so I came in and I actually remember it was a three-year catechism.
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  I learned a lot of stuff because I didn't come from a Mennonite home.
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  We were a good Christian home, but not a Mennonite home. And so I learned a
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  lot of scripture and things like that.
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  I still can go to the spot where I was baptized.
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  And when I really, what is interesting is I dedicated my life at that point.
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  And then when I got into college, I was, when I went to college,
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  I went to college close to home and my preacher's house was right across from
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  the college dorm that I stayed in.
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  So it's like my preacher was watching all the time.
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  And actually I felt a call of the Lord on my heart and I asked him,
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  so how do I know whether I'm supposed to be a preacher or not?
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  And he said, well, you pray to the Lord that he would open and close doors so that I would know.
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  And I went home that night. I prayed that prayer. And after I prayed that prayer,
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  what was interesting, it was I felt a change in my life so dramatically that
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  my best friend the next day said, what on earth has happened to you?
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  And that started the rest of it. And God's been working on me ever since.
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  I'm still under construction Thank you, Grant Thank you, Grant Next question?
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  You have two No, I'm good Okay.
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  Josh, how are you doing? Good. My question is, how do we know who wrote each
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  part of the Bible and the books of the Bible?
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  Well, luckily we have archaeology and we have history.
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  And many of the books of the Bible were known to be written by a certain person, like Samuel.
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  We know he wrote part of it. He didn't get all of it written because he died,
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  what, in chapter 20 of 1 Samuel. So he probably didn't write 2 Samuel.
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  And so we know it was written by somebody else. And the Old Testament,
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  they actually kept fairly good records of that.
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  In the New Testament, then we have them talking about each other.
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  Like we know that Luke was written by Luke to Theophilus and that he also wrote the book of Acts.
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  And so some of those things we know that way. Paul's writings,
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  he says, I, Paul, so we know he wrote it.
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  The Revelation John is pretty easy to figure out who wrote that as well.
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  You not only have them saying it, but you can also compare the languages,
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  which is called textual criticism.
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  And so you can, like Luke, use his big hairy words because he was doctor.
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  And so you can tell that he does that both in the book of Luke and the book of Acts.
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  Sort of like his moniker, that it's his style.
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  And we notice that in the rest of Paul's books as well. They read like each other.
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  So that's how we can, there's actually a full study of how each book is written,
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  and the textual criticism of how the words are laid out. And that's how we know.
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  It's it's interesting because it's uh over the course of time,
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  the history that we thought we knew is now being proven by the textual critics
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  that are looking at the work so it's really neat that it's actually being affirmed,
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  what we knew good question good thank you josh.
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  Aha. This is Rowan's brother.
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  I am, yes. Yes. His younger, smaller brother. A little bit. Okay.
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  Enough of that, Kellen. Okay. What's up? So, might have already had this question
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  on here sometime. Feels like a common question.
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  But can our decisions in our life change God's will for us?
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  Or is his will unchangeable for us?
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  His will unchangeable for us. You know, from a human perspective,
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  that's really hard to know because we have to measure from what we know in the here and now.
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  The difference is we have a hard time knowing God's eternal plan.
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  We can get little glimpses of it here and there, but can we subjectively pull
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  back far enough to say, okay, God knew that all along, or God knew I'd make
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  that decision all along.
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  We can't do that as human beings.
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  I can go through my life and say, wow, if I'd have done this differently,
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  this would have turned out differently.
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  But I don't know but what God would have intervened at that spot either.
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  And just like I was sharing with Grant that illustration about when I deepened
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  my commitment to the Lord that I was going to be a pastor.
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  I didn't know that EJ was going to be pulling crabgrass in his yard that afternoon.
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  And when he was pulling crabgrass, I wouldn't have had to stop.
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  But I did stop. He was pulling crabgrass.
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  It's the only time I saw the man in blue jeans.
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  It was a really miraculous point, you know, seeing your preacher in blue jeans, uh,
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  All those variables could have changed. And would the outcome of that day been the same?
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  It's really hard for us in the human sphere, in our limited thinking,
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  to be able to say that or not. But God knows it all.
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  And so, do we plan that out? Can we change God's will? I'm not sure we can change
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  God's will. We can petition him.
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  Like we saw back in the old Testament when, uh, Abraham is asking for,
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  uh, God not to blow away or blow away, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
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  Yeah. And he said, well, will you, will you save it? If it's got a hundred people
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  that are good, a hundred good people.
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  Ah, God says, no, there's 50. Nah, how about 10? Okay. Okay. If there's 10.
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  And they couldn't find it. It didn't change his will. But it almost sounds like God might be willing.
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  I think prayer does two things. Prayer moves us towards God's will.
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  And prayer proves that God's listening. To me, that's maybe the short answer
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  to your big question. Yeah, thanks.
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  Yeah. Did I get close to that answer on that one or wrong? We'll let him be
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  the judge of whether we got close to the answer.
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  Of course, our audience can always, you can always chime in and say,
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  well, you didn't really get to the end of that.
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  Wyatt, dude, you have a question? Yep. Okay, good.
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  My question is, if a baby dies while it's young, do you think it goes to heaven or not?
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  I believe he it goes to heaven because,
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  uh well like i think of my michael uh because jesus said come to the kingdom
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  like one of these and and in chapter 18 of matthew he has a child that he sets aside and he says,
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  i should have brought my fast bible still got my slow bible.
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  He says, I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children,
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  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is great in the kingdom of heaven.
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  Makes it sound like then the child is in heaven, is eligible for heaven, doesn't it?
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  And we do have some original sin.
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  We take care of our sin. but as far as being available for heaven when we die
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  I mean as a kid yeah okay thank you because we haven't done anything that wrong okay.
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  Got another question yeah go ahead and if you have a question stand up here
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  so Rowan knows you're coming,
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  we've got we've got 16 kids in this class it's been wonderful Reagan how art
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  thou good My question is, how do we know that Roman Catholics are incorrect
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  and how do we know Protestants are correct?
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  Oh, because I'm Protestant. Yeah.
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  I'm all right, right? Actually, what's interesting is there are points of Roman
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  Catholic doctrine that we just don't want to ditch.
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  And I would rather go point by point than say, oh, Catholics are all going to
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  hell. Protestants are all going to hell.
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  I'd rather go point by point with somebody to say, how do you defend that point of doctrine?
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  And so, go back to your question, see if I got it right.
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  Are incorrect, incorrect. Yeah, and I guess to that question,
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  I'd say they don't have everything incorrect.
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  But they do have some things incorrect, according to the Bible.
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  And I always make the Bible as the measuring post.
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  Of whether right or wrong correct or incorrect yeah thank you good question reagan avery.
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  Is it all right? We say your names on TV. Okay. Oh, my question is,
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  why does some prayers seem unanswered?
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  Oh, man. That is a good prayer. That is a good question. Why do prayers,
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  some prayers seem unanswered?
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  I think God has a bigger plan than we ever can figure out.
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  And so it doesn't mean that the prayer hasn't been heard. It just means that
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  maybe not the answer right now.
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  And what God is, all-knowing, He knows that maybe if we had the prayer answered
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  right now, it really wouldn't be the best for us.
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  And so He wants the best for us. And sometimes even, I think we learned in our
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  lesson today, sometimes even going through the valley of the shadow of death,
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  is his plan so that he can get us to the right spot.
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  We'll study that tomorrow.
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  Because he says he will prepare a table before our enemies and anoint our head with oil.
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  God's got a bigger plan for us. So sometimes it seems like he hasn't answered,
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  and his answer is, not yet.
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  And sometimes it seems like he hasn't answered, and not now.
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  I mean, not that, something else.
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  Yeah, but it's a good question, because we feel it in here and now,
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  don't we? We pray the prayer, and we want the action to happen, and it didn't.
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  And so we could end up disappointed really easy yeah thank you avery good question,
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  Lana, I like your t-shirt. Thank you.
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  Okay, so I don't really know how to word this. That's right.
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  Just bring it to a conversation.
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  So to go to heaven, you have to believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, right?
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  But then where does the line get drawn? Because the devil and evil spirits also
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  believe that in Jesus Christ. Right.
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  So in Romans 10, 9 and 10, it says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus
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  is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are saved.
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  And so that's the threshold of salvation.
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  The confession of what I found interesting lately is they won't confess.
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  Demons will not confess across their lips that they will say he is Lord,
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  but not that they believe he's Lord.
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  They don't believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead. They can't go there.
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  And so that's the difference between your passage in James that you're talking
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  about. Even Satan leaves and shudders and has faith.
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  Yeah. So it's really that inward part that's needed for salvation.
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  Confess with your mouth, cross your lips. It's got to cross your lips and believe in your heart.
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  God raised him from the dead. Those are two things Paul says.
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  He also goes on then to say in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 11 to 15,
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  that we have this salvation,
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  which is in Jesus Christ, is the stone upon this foundation,
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  no other can be laid, that which is already laid, which is Christ Jesus.
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  And then he says, upon this, you can put.
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  Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw.
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  And I would like to point out, there's a connection between those verses because
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  you've got salvation in Jesus Christ, but the proof is in the pudding.
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  So on your life, are you going to be building your life with gold,
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  silver, precious stones and give those things to God?
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  Or are you going to do wood, hay, or straw? What happens when fire comes?
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  It destroys it. It destroys the wood, hay, and straw, right?
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  But the precious stones and the silver and gold are actually refined by fire.
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  They actually get better.
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  So if we, like Christ said in Matthew 6, store up your treasure in heaven,
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  and then it won't be taken by moths.
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  Yeah. And that's that piece. Okay. Thank you. And Satan doesn't want to do that.
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  Not at all. Thank you, Lana. Hi, how are things? Good. Good. Okay.
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  You might have to get close to the mic. You're taller than your microphone is.
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  Why? If God is loving, why does suffering exist?
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  Oh, man, that is a good one. Why does suffering exist if God is good?
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  Is that—say it again, make sure I got it right.
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  If God is loving, why does suffering exist? Oh, I like the way you put that.
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  If God is loving, why does suffering exist?
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  So what is the word for love?
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  Anybody know what that word for love, especially in John 3, 16?
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  Agape. And agape love is a row and dead. Good job.
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  And what's the hallmark of agape love compared to phileo love?
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  Agape is sacrificial love. So it's the kind of love that sacrifices for the other.
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  And suffering is one of those things that proves the pudding.
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  So am I willing to make a commitment to Christ in such a way that I would go
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  through suffering for Christ?
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  The flip of that is, do I understand a God who is so loving of me that sometimes
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  he's going to polish me with some suffering so that I shine a little bit more,
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  the way he wants me to shine?
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  So it's sort of like that, just like we had the, Lana had the example from 1 Corinthians 3.
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  The precious stones, silver and gold, are actually given more brilliance by the refining.
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  And God sort of thinks that suffering is refining.
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  If you go to James 1, verses 2-4, he says, Consider it pure joy,
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  my brothers, through your dread trials of many kinds, because the testing, like that fire,
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  the testing of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance,
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  when it's finished its work, leaves you mature and complete, not lacking anything.
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  It's like God might be using suffering to make us brilliant, to make us shine for Him.
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  Thank you. Yeah, it's hard, isn't it, to know that God would put us in those situations?
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  And yeah, come on up, up, down, yes. Okay, so my question is,
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  what prophecies in the Bible are yet to be fulfilled?
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  What prophecies in the Bible are yet to be fulfilled? Well, at least the one
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  that he's going to come again, because he hasn't got here yet.
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  I'm still waiting. I've got tickets.
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  And uh there are several things in the book of revelation that have not yet transpired,
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  as as john wrote them in fact you can even go to the end of daniel and say that
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  the prophecies at the end of daniel have not yet fully been realized um,
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  so those prophecies at the end of Daniel and the sixth, seventh bowls,
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  those things have not been yet.
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  The 144,000 hasn't been yet out of Revelation.
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  That being said, I think Jesus would still reiterate the fact that we are in
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  a time when he could show up at any time. And Paul said the same thing.
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  We won't know ahead of time for sure. But as Christians, we'll begin to see
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  the signs and know that it's not going to be long.
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  And I think we're seeing some of those signs that it could be any time.
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  So there's several prophecies that haven't been fulfilled. And they're at the
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  end of Daniel and some in Revelation.
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  But it wouldn't take long to take care of them when Christ comes again. Right. Thank you.
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  Good question. Boy, you guys had really good questions.
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  Thank you. Thank you. We'll see what Alex does with this. All of them. Anybody else have them?
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  All right. Well, thank you for Bible School 2026, 7th, 8th grade class at Kelowna
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  Mennonite Church. Good job, guys. Yeah.
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  Thank you guys. Thank you guys for watching. Hope you enjoyed. Don, hope you're not.
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  I hope I recovered. I'm too much over that one, but. They did really,
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  they were very good. Yeah. Thank you guys.
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  Yeah. Thank you guys for joining us. We'll see you next time. Lord willing.
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  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
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  ministry by sharing it with others.
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  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
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  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day. Thank you.