Son asking faith questions

[JOCA26]

Hi! I have a 13 year old son who is preparing for Confirmation in a few weeks. We are a church going family and talk about God in our daily lives. Trying to instill good values and morals. My son questioned me and I am at a loss. He asked me if he believes in GOD does he have to have a strong faith because he is beginning to question some things. Because he is questioning his faith, he does not know if he is ready for Confirmation. What is is questioning is heaven? He states that he cannot wrap his brain around the idea of leaving here and going there. He also doesn’t understand what it all means to be good, do well, have a good life when there are kids his age who do not have the same benefits and abilities, but we all go to heaven in the end.
Any suggestions…guidance

 

[kage_ar]

Sounds like a wise young man!

Heaven, the greatest minds of all time have worked to get a brain around that one Try an anology. A baby is alive in the womb. He is happy and content, sleeping and kicking and sucking his thumb. He cannot grasp the idea of leaving where he is and going into another place The transition to that place is most likely frightening to the baby - but you know what, when he gets there, that baby finds great love and joy and beauty.

Jesus said “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be too.” We just need to trust Jesus, that He always tells the truth.

You might want to get some books for your son. Amy Welborn’s “Prove It!” series, Mark Hart’s books, Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ”.

Where you say your son thinks everyone goes to heaven, it is important to let him know that not everyone goes to heaven. Those who reject Christ, those who turn from God and die out of friendship with Him, will not go to heaven.

 

[jmcrae]

Hi! I have a 13 year old son who is preparing for Confirmation in a few weeks. We are a church going family and talk about God in our daily lives. Trying to instill good values and morals. My son questioned me and I am at a loss. He asked me if he believes in GOD does he have to have a strong faith because he is beginning to question some things. Because he is questioning his faith, he does not know if he is ready for Confirmation. What is is questioning is heaven? He states that he cannot wrap his brain around the idea of leaving here and going there. He also doesn’t understand what it all means to be good, do well, have a good life when there are kids his age who do not have the same benefits and abilities, but we all go to heaven in the end.
Any suggestions…guidance

Tell him that questions are part of having faith. We all have questions. What we do with our questions is what’s important. St. Thomas is famous for doubting that Jesus had really risen from the dead; what we forget is that he was the first to recognize that Jesus was God - when we say the prayer “My Lord and my God” at the moment of the Consecration (quietly to ourselves, of course), we are saying St. Thomas’ own prayer of faith.

The Catholic faith is a faith that seeks understanding. First we believe, and then we begin to understand, but that doesn’t happen without asking a lot of questions - and also by looking for the answers in the right places. You wouldn’t ask someone who hates Math to help you with a Math problem - for the same reason, you shouldn’t ask someone who hates religion to help you with your faith questions.

The priest, the religion teacher, the Catechist for the Confirmation class, and parents are usually the best people to ask about these kinds of things. Encourage him to be open about his questions. If something seems odd about the questions, find out where they’re coming from. (Is he in contact with an atheist who’s trying to talk him out of his faith, for example?)

 

[anna1978]

My godmother once said a very wise thing, and the older I get the more I see it is true: ‘A faith without doubt, a faith not tested, is no faith at all!’…It is by doubting, by testing your faith, by looking in the Bible and whilst in prayer for answers from the good Lord that true Faith grows! Your son seems an intelligent young man, tell him to have faith and keep asking questions, as long as he keeps asking, God will keep showing him the answers:thumbsup: !