He looks at me very intently, opens and closes his mouth, wriggles his jaw around, before eventually giving up and settling for a Marge Simpson style growl.
He’s got awhile to go before
he’ll string a sentence together, but my limited experience with children has
taught me that when he does there will be no stopping him. And, like most children,
he will probably be full of questions.
Some of them will be easy…
“Why
can’t I have that toy?”
“Because
Dad’s an accountant.”
“Why
do we need to sleep?”
“So
mum doesn’t give you up for adoption.”
"Why can’t
I have biscuits for dinner?”
“Because
if you start doing that now you’ll be sick of it by the time you go out
flatting and will need to live off biscuits for dinner.”
“Why
will I need to live off biscuits?”
“Because
Dad’s an accountant.”
Some of them however will be
slightly harder…
“If
God loves people why does he let bad things happen to them?”
“Well
a lot of bad things in this world are caused by people choosing to do bad
things, like starting wars and stuff.”
“What
about earthquakes?”
“Well,
under the ground there are big plates that move around and sometimes all that
movement causes big earthquakes.”
“Couldn’t
God stop the earthquake if he wanted to?”
“Well,
yes he could….”
“And
couldn’t he have built the world on something better than plates?”
“Well…
Umm… Hey why don’t we have biscuits for dinner tonight!?”
Before our son starts talking
I am going to have to get better at answering these questions. You see, I’m
much more of a big picture person. I think the world is too amazing for there
not to be a God, and the Christian God makes the most sense to me.
But four year olds, and a lot
of grown-ups too, are far more detail orientated. They want to know if there is
actually any evidence for the existence of Jesus other than the Bible. And if
there is, surely he was just some guy who these days we would diagnose with
schizophrenia. I mean, anyone can claim to be God right? And was he really
raised from the dead? Couldn’t someone have just hidden the body and then
called it a miracle?
Christians, not necessarily
me, but most Christians, can actually provide very intelligent answers to all
of these questions.
Today I’m offering you an
opportunity to hear them.
My fabulous church is running
a course called Alpha. You may have heard of it. Bear Grylls is a big fan. It’s
a seven week course that goes over the core beliefs of Christianity and aims to
answer all your big questions. If you need even more of an incentive, it’s
completely free AND it includes dinner and a free children’s program.
See below for all the deets,
but basically if you liked my ‘Why Christians hate everything” series but want
a more substantial argument for Christianity other than periods, Alpha could be
the course for you.
Also, they’ll probably be
biscuits.
Venue: Elim
Christian Centre, 33 Porowini Ave,
Morningside, Whangarei
Time:
Starts Tuesday October 20th, 530 – 8ish. Runs every Tuesday for 7
weeks
Cost: FREE
+ FREE delicious dinner and children’s program
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