Youth Questions Week 1 - Fall 2024

The following is a summary of our conversation from Redemption Youth on Sunday, September 15th.

Question 1 - "Can God forgive you if you've done something really bad?"

The initial response from students was mixed.

"Perhaps," some thought, "it depends on the severity of the violation? Certainly God wouldn't forgive someone like Mussolini, right?"

Others wondered, "Maybe. But since God is loving, won't he always forgive everyone?"

As we turned to the scriptures, these thoughts narrowed and the conversation changed. For example, we considered how King David was a murderer, rapist, and adulterer, and yet God forgave him.

“But why would God do that?” some asked. “And how? And really, does God forgive anyone, no matter what they've done? Shouldn't there at least be a prerequisite for forgiveness or something that makes one worthy to receive forgiveness? And who needs forgiveness? Do we all need to be forgiven? How often do we need to be forgiven? And are all sins weighted equally? Shouldn't someone who murders have to do more to be forgiven than someone who doesn't?”

As you can imagine, at this point we were 20 minutes in and the thought-train was full-steam ahead.

Needing to steer the conversation back to its main track, one of our leaders asked…

“So what do you think the Bible tells us about all people, generally, and their relation to God?"

"That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God?"

"Exactly," the leader responded, "So, who then needs forgiveness?"

"Everyone?"

"Precisely. And what—or who—is the mechanism through which God forgives people?"

Under their breath some students whispered, "Jesus?"

"Yes! Through Jesus."

Trying to bring it home, I asked again, "So, based on what we've talked about, can God forgive you if you've done something really bad? Or more generally, can God forgive, and if so how?"

At this point an older student chimed in begrudgingly…

"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

They might not think it, but great answer.

“We all need forgiveness,” I said, “because we are all sinners from birth. And the way we receive forgiveness is by confessing our sins to God through prayer, and then receiving, through faith, the forgiveness given to us by Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. So, no matter the depth or gravity of our sin, God forgives us over and over again, because he is indeed a God of love.”

Question 1 is done. Whew. Great. On to question 2. And wow! Somehow we only have 15 minutes left...

Question 2 - "If all religions say that theirs is true, why would we be correct and not others?"

After 45 minutes of discussion you'd wonder if there would still be interest in continuing. But at this point they had found their mojo and were ready to press on.

One of our leaders kicked us off with a great follow-up question: "Before we answer I think it would help us to know, what is a religion?"

A student responded, "Isn't a religion a set of beliefs about where we came from and where we are going and how we should get there?"

The leader replied, "Pretty much. A religion consists of systematized beliefs about who we are and what the world is, and usually involves a higher power, or powers."

"So why," asked another student, "would we think our set of beliefs and higher-power is better?"

Another student jumped in, "Well, I remember reading in Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis something about how Jesus was either crazy, a liar, or who he claimed himself to be. And since his thoughts were too incredible to have been crazy, and also since he was killed and hated for the things he said, lying obviously wouldn't have benefited him, so he must have been who he said he was."

Mere Christianity?! Amazing. And also, what a great response.

"That's a great point," I said. "Who Jesus was, what he said, and what he did, matters a lot in this conversation."

Another leader added, "Exactly. Because we are dealing with truth. And when we are thinking about truth we have to consider from where truth comes, and since Jesus is himself truth then we need to measure the claims of other religions against him."

Hmm. Good point. But everyone got a little quiet. Time for a new direction.

"What about Elijah? Do you all remember the story of Elijah taking on the prophets of Baal?" I asked.

"I think so," they responded.

"That was when," said a leader, "the prophets of Baal and Elijah competed to see whose deity would answer. So they soaked an altar with water so no fire could be used to burn the sacrificial bull, and they said the winning deity would send down fire from heaven."

"That's right!" they recalled. "And the prophets of Baal call to Baal to answer—which he doesn't. But Elijah calls upon God and God sends down fire from heaven onto the altar and devours the sacrifice, proving his greatness. Why does that matter?"

"Well," I said, "because I think this story illustrates that there are other spiritual forces that exist, but that our God is greater."

"That reminds me of being in Papua New Guinea," a leader said, "and seeing people healed from witchcraft. I think a lot of people encounter spiritual forces that aren't from our God. How do you all think that influence how we think about this question?"

A student mumbles, "Yeah, that's hard. How do we know what's right?"

I respond, "Unfortunately we are nearing the end of our time. But I think it's important that we recognize that this question has a lot to do with faith and who we think is worthy of our faith. I, for example, have dedicated my life to Jesus, because I think he is the only one who can actually follow through on his promises. On top of that, I believe he alone, unlike other spirits or spiritual beings, can do things like raise the dead, forgive sin, create something out of nothing, and that he is over all other beings. And ultimately I believe there is no other real hope for this life or the next but in Jesus."

Yikes, it's already 3:30. Time to go.

I close, "Thank you everyone for being here today. I know we didn’t get to everything. So if it's okay with you I'd like to change course next week and continue discussing your questions since we have a few more. Sound good?"

"Yes! That will be great," they say.

Until then.