FaithandSelfDefense planned to start a new apologetics series in August to coincide with the start of a new school year. However, the current global pandemic has brought most of us inside our homes for an extended period of time. Because of that, we’ve decided to start the series now as a way to help parents and teens talk with each other about some very important issues.
This new series, Tough Questions From Christian Teens, is designed to help parents and teens talk about anything that bothers them about the Bible or being a Christian. We have asked Christian teens from several locations to ask us tough questions — and we mean TOUGH questions.
Here’s our first question.
“Why where we made if we are just going to die later in our lives?”
Great question!
Why?
‘Why’ questions usually go to ‘purpose.’ If I want to know why you did something, I would need to ask you ‘why’ to get the right answer. The same is true for God. I need to ask Him ‘why.’ How do we ask God ‘why’ questions? We go to God’s Word, the Bible, for the answers.
We see in the Bible that God has an ‘eternal purpose.’ His purpose concerns His Son and us. We know it’s an eternal purpose because God uses terms like ‘before time began’ and ‘before the foundation of the world’ to help us understand that He made decisions about the world and time before either came into existence.
Here are some Bible verses you can read about that –
- Ephesians 3:8-12
- 2 Timothy 1:8-10
- Titus 1:1-3
- 1 Peter 1:18-21
God’s plan was for Jesus to die on the Cross. Why? So we could be saved. Why did He do that? Because He loves us!
God’s Love
The Bible tells us that God is ‘love.’ Anything God decided in eternity to do for us now is because He loves us. God is good and kind and wants the best for us.
That reminds me of what Matt Redman wrote in his song 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) –
“You’re rich in love
And You’re slow to anger
Your name is great
And Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness
I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons
For my heart to find”
God loves us very much. From before our birth to after our death, God does everything for us from His great heart of love.
God’s Glory
God’s purpose has to do with Jesus being glorified and our being glorified. We learn about that in Jesus’ prayer to His Father on the night he was arrested (John 17). He first prayed that God the Father would glorify Him with the same glory He had ‘before the world was.’ Then He prayed that His Father would glorify all who believed in Him in the days and years following His resurrection. That includes us!
The ‘glory’ God purposed in eternity to give us includes something He calls ‘eternal life.’ That goes to your question about why God made us if we are just going to die later in our lives.
God created the first human beings to be with Him forever. God also gave them a choice to obey or disobey Him. They chose to disobey God and began to die. What did God do about that? It was already in His eternal plan to send His Son to pay the penalty for sin. God gave His Eternal Son to the world “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
God’s Adventure
I believe we are on the greatest adventure anyone can travel. From the moment we are born and breathe air we are on that journey with God. We have parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, siblings and cousins, and many, many friends. Some day you may have a family of your own and will continue your adventure with them. Life is filled with great expectations and opportunities. When this first stop on our grand journey is over, we will step into the next phase of our journey with God. It will take us to Heaven and to all that God has planned for us to do with Him for ever and ever.
Study Version
We have also prepared a longer version of this answer. You can download and share the study version with your family and friends.
The Next Question
In the next part of our special series, Tough Questions From Christian Teens, we will answer what is one of the most-asked questions from Christian teens –
Did God Create Evil?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
