Newsletter 77

Theology for kids (Part 2).

Children ask some really interesting questions. Every month, in my Blog site for children (Kidzone - http://www.funatkidzone.blogspot.com/ ), I answer a question that I have been asked by a child. In Newsletters 68 and 76, I shared some of these questions and answers. In this Newsletter I share eleven more answers to children's questions.

Contents.

1. What proof is there that God exists?
2. Why did Adam and Eve sin against God?
3. If Adam and Eve were white skinned, how did dark skinned people come about?
4. When did God create angels?
5. Where did Cain get his wife from?
6. Did God make cavemen?
7. Why is my brother / sister nasty to me?
8. If I ask God for something, will He give it to me?
9. Do people have more than one life on earth?
10. If God knows the future, does that mean that what is going to happen is going to happen?
11. Do all religions lead to God?


What proof is there that God exists?

Many of our prominent political leaders today say that they do not believe in God, citing "lack of proof" of God's existence as the reason for their unbelief. I have tried to put myself "in the shoes" of these people and asked myself that if I genuinely was seeking proof of God's existence, what proof could God give me that would convince me that He is real? I came up with the following four proofs that God could give to convince me of His existence.

1. Creation. If God is real, I would ask Him to create something, out of nothing, that I could see with my own eyes and touch with my own hands.

2. Communication. I would ask God to communicate with me, perhaps by sending someone, or even writing to me, to tell me things like what He is like, why He made me, what His plans are for me, and if there is there is life after death.

3, Revelation. I would ask God to reveal Himself to us by visiting planet Earth in person. When He was here, I would ask Him to prove His power by doing things we humans cannot do, and that defy the natural laws of the universe. Things like multiplying matter, defying gravity, commanding nature (such as storms) to obey Him, commanding the sick to be healed and the dead to come back to life.

4. Finally, if God were real, I would ask Him if He really loved us humans, and to do something to demonstrate how much He loves us.

I cannot really think of any other proofs that God could give to convince us that He is real. But surely those I have listed above are more than enough. If God did all that, surely nobody could still doubt His existence. The proof would be irrefutable! But then I remembered - GOD HAS ALREADY GIVEN US THOSE FOUR PROOFS!

1. We only have to look around us to see the vast number of wonderful things that have been created (If there is no Creator, they must have created themselves, beginning with nothing. And to believe this requires an unreasonable faith!). - "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19.1.

2. God has sent us many messengers to tell us about Himself - they were usually called Prophets. And He has written us a letter that tells us all we need to know to live our lives the right way. It is called the Bible. - "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways." Hebrews 1.1. "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3. 16,17.

3. Two thousand years ago, God did visit this planet in person. We called Him "Jesus". And while He was with us, He did stop or suspend the natural physical laws that govern the universe. We called these mighty acts "miracles". "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples." John 20.30.

4. God did demonstrate how much He loves us by allowing Himself to be crucified on a wooden cross. "God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5.8.

I must conclude that God has given us many proofs of His existence. Enough, I would suggest, to convince any person genuinely seeking the truth. Yet many still deny His existence. No, the problem is not with God, it is not a lack of proof. Rather, the problem is with people. Many refuse to believe. To do so would mean that they would have to admit that they were responsible to a Higher Authority, and our selfish nature naturally rebels against that. Jesus put it like this "You refuse to come to me that you may have life (John 5. 40). Or, as the old proverb says. "There are none so blind as those who do not want to see."



Why did Adam and Eve sin against God?

The Bible tells us that in the beginning God made a perfect world, and that His finest creations were people. The first people (Adam and Eve) were made in God's own image or likeness (See Genesis 1 v. 26).

God could easily have made Adam and Eve like robots, so that they were programmed to obey him. But He wanted someone much better than that. He wanted people that would obey and love Him, but because they wanted to. Not because they had to. Thus, God gave people free will - the ability to choose. Thus Adam and Eve could choose to love and obey God, or they could choose not to love or obey Him.

Well, we all know what happened. Adam and Eve made the wrong choice - they disobeyed and rejected their Creator. But when people make bad choices, there is always a consequence, a price to be paid. Probably you have made some bad choices. Perhaps you chose to disobey your mum or dad, for example. And then found that there were consequences for it. Maybe you were punished!

There was a terrible consequence for Adam and Eve's bad choice. God placed a curse on the earth, and the whole world became "bad".

We still see the results of this today all around us. BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS. God still loved His creation and had a plan to make things "good' again. He sent His Son to die on the cross. Now, if we put our trust in Jesus, we are forgiven all our wrongdoing and bad choices. Not only that, Jesus is able to come into our lives and make us clean and new on the inside. Now, although we can still choose to make bad choices, we are much less likely to do so as our desire now is to please God, rather than ourselves.



If Adam and Eve were white skinned, how did dark skinned people come about?

The Bible doesn't tell us what colour God created Adam and Eve, but they would have almost certainly been mid-brown. God is a God of variety. He created the first two humans and gave them the ability to be able to reproduce a great variety of people - as we see in the world today. In the same way God only created (for example) two dogs, but gave them the ability through breeding to produce all the different types of dogs that we see today. But, of course, they are all still dogs, just as people are still people!

The differences between black and white skinned people are actually very small, and all due to a brown pigment (coloring) in our skin called "Melanin". If you have a lot of melanin, you will have very dark skin, if you have a moderate amount, you will have a mid-brown skin, and if you have a small amount, you will have "white" skin.

The amount of melanin you have will be dependent on your parents. If both your parents are dark skinned, you will (probably) also be dark skinned. If both your parents are fair skinned, you will (probably) also be fair skinned. However, if your parents are mid-brown skinned, or if one is dark skinned and the other white, then the colour of your skin will be less predictable. You are most lilely to be mid-brown, but actually you could be anywhere between "white" and "black", depending on which parent has passed on to you the genes (information) that determine skin colour.

The picture below is of twin girls born in England in 2005. Their parents could both be described as mid-brown but, as you see, one twin inherited a "white" gene (very little melanin) , and the other a "dark brown" gene (a lot of melanin).

Thus it is clearly seen that only a few generations after Adam and Eve, there could easily have been a great variety of people on the earth, with many different shades of skin colour.

When did God create angels?

The Bible does not tell us exactly when, but it was probably on the first day of the creation week that we read about in Genesis. We think this because Job 38.7 tells us that "all the sons of God" (Angels) "shouted for joy" when God "laid the earth's foundation."

The angels were all created holy (good), otherwise God could not have said on Day 6 that everything He had made was "very good". Therefore it was after the creation week that some of the angels (possibly a third of them) rebelled against God. The leader od these fallen (bad) angels is named Satan (meaning 'adversary').

The majority of angels have always remained faithful to God, and the exciting thing is that God created them so that they could serve and help us humans. Mighty and powerful that angels are, it is only us humans who have been created in God's likeness. And it is only for us humans that God's Son, Jesus died on the cross.




Where did Cain get his wife from?

The most common question that people ask Bible teachers is certainly "Who made God?" (For the answer - see Kidzone No.1). The next most common question is the one asked here.

Adam and Eve were the very first two people. Although the Bible only tells us the names of three of their children (Cain, Abel and Seth), it does tell us that they had other sons and daughters. As Adam lived until he was 930 years, there were probably lots of them.

At the beginning of human history, Adam's sons, including Cain, must have married their own sisters. This is because Adam and Eve were the parents of everyone. After that, their children's sons could have married their sisters or their girl cousins, and had children of their own. Very soon there would have been thousands of people living on the earth.

It is against the law for brothers to marry sisters today, why could they do it back then?

Let's first consider the world today. If brothers marry their sisters, then their children may be deformed or sick or handicapped in some way. This is because in our genes, we all have some 'copying mistakes' that have built up in our family over many generations. Different families have different copying mistakes. When people with different gene mistakes marry, the good genes from each partner tend to override the other partner's bad genes, so that deformities do not appear in their children. But if people with the same gene mistakes marry, then their children are liable to inherit two sets of bad genes, and so they can be handicapped in some way.

This was not a problem with Adam and Eve's children, because God created Adam and Eve perfect, with no genetic mistakes! So there was no problem with brothers marrying sisters.

But then, when sin entered the world, God withdrew some of His power that stopped things falling apart. His perfect creation began to degenerate. There was death and decay, and many genetic mistakes began to develop in all living things. This was minimal at the time of Cain, so intermarriage was okay, but by the time of Moses, about 2,500 years later, genetic mistakes had built up to the point where it was necessary for God to forbid brothers from marrying their own sisters. That is why it was okay at the beginning, but not okay today to marry your close relative.



Did God make cavemen?

Some people believe that long ago there were ape-men, and then the first humans were dumb cavemen. This is not true. There never were any ape-men. And the first people weren't dumb either. They were very clever.

The Bible says that a man named Jabel was the first of those who live in tents and look after livestock - cattle, horses, etc. His brother Jubal invented the harp and the flute. It takes a lot of intelligence to do that, as well as to play them.

Another man, Tubalcain, invented all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. This meant he knew how to extract copper, tin and iron from their ores.

All of this culture, such as farming, making music, and using tools, is proof that the very first people on earth were not ape-men, and not dumb cavemen either. Civilization existed from the very first.

Later on, after God scattered the people from the tower of Babel (see Genesis, chapter 11), some groups lost their abilities and degenerated to become simple cave dwellers, but others continued to live civilised lives, using their various skills.



Why is my brother / sister nasty to me?
(This is one of the questions I am asked most often.)

"Before I answer your question, can I ask you "How about you ? Are you nasty to your brother / sister ? It is very easy for us to see the faults in others, but very hard to see the faults in ourselves. Brothers and sisters are often nasty to each other, and to understand why, we have to go back to the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that brought sin into the world, and spoiled everything. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve and have been born with a selfish nature that wants its own way. Children soon realise that being selfish all the time often gets them in to trouble, so they learn to control their behaviour, especially when they are outside their home environment. However, without Jesus, their selfish nature is still there. When you live with the same persons day after day ( like brothers and sisters ), this selfishness is bound to show itself from time to time, often resulting in "nastiness" to each other.

If your brother or sister is really nasty to you, there are two important things you can do. Firstly, pray that they will hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and allow Him to begin to change their selfish nature. Secondly, whenever your brother / sister is nasty to you, then you be nice to them. The Bible tells us that we are to defeat evil, not with evil, but rather with good. (Romans 12.21).That can be a really hard thing to do, but if you persist in being nice to them, then usually they will start being nice to you !



If I ask God for something, will He give it me?

God has promised to give us everything we need (read Philippians chapter 4, verse 19) but, like any good father, hasn't promised to give us everything we want. There is a big difference! Some of the things we might need are food, clothes, homes to live in, families to look after us, joy - if we are feeling sad, peace - if we are troubled, patience - if we are waiting for something, and love - if we are finding it hard to get on with someone.

God always wants the very best for His children. However, He will never give us something that He knows would be bad for us. He loves us too much for that. So, the answer to the question is sometimes:-

"Yes" - God really wants you to have what you asked Him for.

"Wait" - God wants you to have that thing, but the time is not yet right.

"No" - God knows that the thing you asked Him for would not be good for you.

There is nothing wrong in asking God for things we want, but very often people ask God for something purely out of selfish motives, rather than thinking beforehand what might be best for others, or what God might want us to have. A better approach would be to ask God for His will to be done in your life, and then ask Him to place His desires in your heart. Then you will be able to pray for something with faith, being confident that it is also God's will that you should have whatever you ask of Him.



Do people have more than one life on earth?

Many Eastern religions teach that after a person dies he/she is then born into the world again and has another life. Then after they die a second time, they are reborn again, and so on and so on. This belief is known as reincarnation. Most people who believe this also believe that the type of life you are presently living determines the quality of your next life. Thus if you lead a good life, you will probably be born into a wealthy family next time. Conversely, if you lead a bad life, you may well be born into a life of poverty next time round. And if you lead a really bad life, you may come back as an animal, or even an insect next time!

Some people who have allowed themselves to be subjected to the ungodly practice of hypnotism appear to then remember a 'former' life on earth. The interesting thing is most of these people seem to remember being a famous person in the past. Many, for example, claim to have been King Henry V111, or Queen Elizabeth 1. However our common sense should be setting off alarm bells here - They can't all have been Henry V111 or Elizabeth1 !

The idea of reincarnation is attractive to some people because it means that if you make a mess of this life, you will always get a second chance. But the important question is not whether this is an attractive idea, but whether it is true?

The only person who knows everything is God. And He has written us a book called the Bible which tells us everything we need to know concerning our life and what happens afterwards. If you believe something that disagrees with the Bible - you are wrong! You need to change your beliefs so that they agree with the Bible. So is reincarnation true? Definitely not! Hebrews 9 verse 27 says "We die only once, and then we are judged." If reincarnation were true, that would obviously mean dying more than once, and that clearly contradicts the Bible. Therefore it must be wrong.

Thus the Bible makes it clear that we only have one life, and then we will stand before God in judgement. And at that time the only thing that will matter to God is whether we have accepted or rejected His free gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why it is vital to accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour in this life. We won't get a second chance!



If God knows the future, does that mean that what is going to happen is going to happen?

Most followers of Eastern religions believe this. They say that our lives are all planned out beforehand for us, and nobody can change their destiny. Thus, for example, if you are destined to have a road accident at age 35, you will have a road accident at age 35! Nothing can change that.

This fatalistic "What will be will be" attitude to life is shown up in many different ways. Thus people may not bother to take care when they are driving a vehicle because they think that if they are destined to arrive safely at their destination, they will arrive safely. But if they are destined to have a crash, they are certain to have a crash - even if they drive carefully. At the Bali bombings a few years ago, most of the native inhabitants of that island just stood back and watched the aftermath. They took the attitude "It must be God's will. If people are going to die, they will die, if they are going to survive, they will survive. Therefore no rescue attempt will make any difference."

God certainly does know everything, including our futures. However the Bible makes it perfectly clear that we are in control of our own destinies. The choices we make today will largely determine what our future lives will be like. However, our eternal, all-knowing God is outside of time as we know it, and is able see the choices we make in the future. They are, however, still our choices. For example, Jesus always knew that Judas was going to betray Him, but that doesn't mean that Judas was not responsible for his actions. No. He made a bad choice! Interestingly, it was actually the "Westerners" in Bali at the time who, after the bombings, rushed to the aid of the injured - thus outworking their belief that what we do can indeed influence the outcome of an event.

So make sure you make good choices in life. And the most important one we have to make is what we are going to do with God's gift of Jesus - to accept Him as our Saviour and Lord, or to reject Him. I hope that you make the right choice. It will affect your eternal destiny.



Do all religions lead to God?

Some people think that if a person is sincere in following their religion it will eventually lead them to God - no matter which religion they are actually following. Thus they may be Christian, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu, or something else. You can imagine God at the top of a mountain with many paths leading up to him. Although the paths start at different points, they all eventually lead to God.

Contrast this idea, however, with what Jesus said. He said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father, except by me. (John 14 v. 6). Note that Jesus said "I am the way" He didn't say "I am a way" He said "I am the way." Thus it is abundantly clear that Jesus claimed to be the only way to God.

What it comes down to is: Who are you going to believe? Jesus, the Son of God, or mere humans who don't know everything and often make mistakes.