Got questions?

First, a few promises

• Asking about what puzzles you does not mean you have no faith. Honest questions make faith deeper.
• The analogies below are tools for making an argument easy to see; none of them proves by itself that God exists. For each one we will separate what it does explain from what it does not.
• It is fine to say “I don't know” about what you don't know. Faith is not an answer forced on you but a response given freely.

Today in one line God is not one object hidden somewhere inside the universe, but the source that holds everything in existence.

Talking with a friend who pushes back

1. Ask first what they mean. “What is the God you're talking about like?” “What is the biggest reason you came to think that?”
2. Say only as much as you know. “I'll look into that further myself” is not an embarrassing answer.
3. For a wound, empathy comes before logic. If someone has been through something painful, don't rush to explain; say, “that must have been so hard.”
4. Don't attack the person. Instead of “you're wrong,” say “here is why I think differently.”
5. Winning is not the goal. Seeking the truth together and loving the other person is the Christian way.

A 30-second answer “I don't believe in God instead of science. I learn what science reveals about the processes of the universe, and I also ask why the universe, its laws, and people exist. I believe God is not an invisible object but the source of everything that exists. I don't know every answer either, but I think there is more than enough reason for us to think it through together.”

For parents and catechists: how to guide the conversation

• With upper-primary through middle-school students, pick only two or three questions at a time and talk for about ten minutes.
• Ask for the child's own answer first: “What do you think?” “Which part makes the least sense to you?”
• After telling an analogy, ask together, “what does this analogy show us, and what can it not explain?”
• Avoid lines like “just believe,” “doubting is a sin,” and “suffering is God punishing you.”
• If a question about suffering or death comes out of a real experience of loss, listen and care for the child before explaining doctrine.
• At the end, instead of testing for right answers, share “one thing I thought about in a new way today” with each other and say a short prayer.

Scripture and Catechism to read together

• Wisdom 13 — Considers the Creator from the grandeur and beauty of created things.
• Psalm 19 — The heavens and the firmament tell the glory of God.
• Romans 1 — Says the invisible power of God can be perceived through what he created.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 31-36 — Explains the many paths by which we come to know God from the world and the human person.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 159 — Teaches that true faith and true science do not contradict each other.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 283 — Regards scientific research into the development of the universe and of life as valuable.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 309-314 — Teaches that the problem of evil and suffering is answered not by a hasty one-liner but by the whole of Christian faith.

This is a catechetical aid for children and young people, meant to start a conversation. Don't try to explain the whole mystery of God with a single analogy; keep asking questions within Scripture and the teaching of the Church, and keep learning together.