Tough Questions

“Is God a boy or a girl?” my youngest asked in the drive through.
“He’s a man…” I started to explain, “because He’s God the Father.”
“We will marry God when we die,” chimed in my oldest.
“Well, we marry Christ. That’s Jesus. We as the church universal… Like not this church or that church, but ALL believers who follow God are considered the church. We the church are the Bride of Christ. Even if someone’s a man, he’s still considered Christ’s Bride–even though that sounds weird. So Jesus has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us, His Bride.”

So many things went through my mind as I tried to explain deep theological truths in simplistic terms to young minds, while passing back chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers. Here’s a little more of what I said then and a little more of what I’ve realized since.

God isn’t a person, so He’s neither a boy or a girl–except that the Bible calls Him a Him. But He’s not human, He’s God. Jesus was a person. He is God’s Son. He is God in human form, and He was a man. God is our Father. The Bible speaks of us as being heirs with Christ. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17). Jesus Christ has gone into Heaven to prepare a place for us, the Bride of Christ, being all believers. And He is returning to take His Bride to His Kingdom. When God tells Jesus it’s time, Jesus will return to Earth to take all believers to Heaven.

Ultimately, I told my kids, “Those are tough questions!” I didn’t tell them I knew all the answers, but I did share with them what I knew. They needed answers right then. But they didn’t need to know everything at once.

How do you respond when your kids ask you tough questions? Have they stumped you with their theological questions before? My answers to their questions did not come from one place in the Bible, but many places all over the Bible. Hence why it’s so important in training our little ones to know God’s Word for ourselves. We have to be in His Word on our own in order to be able to answer questions when asked. We don’t have to have all the answers, but we have to be seeking answers to our own questions regularly, from the only One who has all the answers.