Need help with teen's questioning of Church

[Dorothy]

Just a short summary in case it can be of any help…

Divine Revelation was given to the chosen people, because God was preparing a people that would worship one God, and the Incarnation of God would take place in those people.

Jesus Christ our Lord came for all peoples - He loves them all. His Incarnation is for all people!

He created and loves the pagans as well.

Jesus established a Church so that we could become other Christs and bring His truth to everyone.

(I know, that is overly simplistic…Come Holy Spirit, help us to evangelize!)

 

[Kay_Cee]

You might want to check Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli. Peter Kreeft is a professor of philosophy and has also authored a textbook on logic.

Here’s the link: amazon.com/Handbook-Christian-Apologetics-Peter-Kreeft/dp/0830817743/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1421161780&sr=1-1

You can look inside the book at the Table of Contents and see if this is something you think would help your son.

 

[Frankenfurter]

Perhaps you and your son can look into the faith together. His questions are a necessary part of becoming a Christian. Worse thing you can do is to tell him to not question.

You may learn things about the faith by embracing his questions and looking into things together.

Youth are the solution, not the problem.

Peace.

 

[steve_b]

My understanding is that he’s accepts the factual history of the Church and it’s founding, going on back thru the Jewish religion to Abraham. It’s more a case of - “how do we know Abraham (and all subsequent people) were right in their beliefs and teachings about God?”

His response - but then why would God allow for other non-Christian religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, etc? Why only appear to one group of people? If these other belief systems are false, why would He allow them to have developed in the first place?

Note: This was not an actual word-for-word conversation, a summary rather of the various brief discussions we’ve had. Being a true teen, long discussions are not his thing, it’s an ongoing thing here and there as we drive to places, work on laundry, etc.

Treat his doubts seriously. If you don’t have the money to buy all the resources recommended so far, There are many answers on good Catholic sites

Like

1. 
   *]here @ Catholic Answers
   *]ewtn.com/
   *]scotthahn.com/ be sure to visit St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology may I suggest, on that front page, signing up for the Sunday mass bible reflection sent to your computer or phone… It’s great to read before mass
   *]catholic-convert.com/

 

[CradleJourney]

Treat his doubts seriously. If you don’t have the money to buy all the resources recommended so far, There are many answers on good Catholic sites

Oh, I am definitely treating his doubts seriously. I’m just fortunate enough to have a great deal of experience in both kids and trusting in God.

I’m not making light of it at all - but I’m not panicking or hysterically blaming myself either since they are great questions and doubt is what leads us to greater faith/knowledge.

UPDATE: He’s been emailing the youth counselor and they have a meeting set up for this Saturday. I think my son’s actually a bit surprised that he (the y.c.) cares enough to do that. I also have printed off a few of the links many of you have provided (thanks again to all!) and left them in his room with the comment - “here’s some more information on those things you were asking me about”.