Do Your Kids Believe That “All Roads Lead to Heaven”?
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Today, it feels to most people like our world is turning upside down.
Christians aren’t immune to the changes and disruptions that have happened in our everyday lives recently.
With COVID, and more recently people protesting against police, it is more important than ever to help our kids understand that no matter what, God loves and cares for them, that Jesus will guide them, and that they can trust Him with their concerns and problems.
But many kids, and especially teens, have beliefs that minimize God, Jesus, and the role they can have in their lives.
The World vs. God
Do all roads lead to Heaven?
In today’s world, with political correctness being the norm, it is said that as long as you are spiritual, or have some sort of faith, you are fine.
Does that mean Jesus was wrong? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (goes to Heaven), except through Me.” (John 14:6).
Look below for a link to questions you can ask teens, to get them talking to you. There is also a free printable of questions you can ask about what they believe about God, Jesus, and faith in general.
Jesus also said, Unless you are born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven, (John 3:3).
Was he being a hater, racist, separatist, isolationist, or politically incorrect? Or is he right?
Parents/grandparents, do you know what your kids believe?
Today our kids get the politically correct information about being a good person all the time.
Just ask their teachers.
And a lot of their parents.
If Jesus said He was the only way to Heaven, was He lying? Was He just another crazy cult leader?
Or was He telling the truth? Ask your kids what they believe about this.
The book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, (by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Oxford University Press, 2005), reveals teens are very confused about what Christianity is all about, who Jesus actually was, and why He died on the cross for humanity.
Book Findings:
“The majority of teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about their faith, religious beliefs and practices, and its place in their lives. The de facto dominant religion among contemporary U.S. teenagers is what they call ‘Moralistic Therapeutic Deism’: A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth; God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions; the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself; God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem; and good people go to heaven when they die.”
Ok, so the book was written in 2005. What about today?
Well, an update from 2019 states: “If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation.” (My bolding)
This is pretty condemning of the state of our tweens’ and teens’ faith. What is going on?
In our world today, many, many kids are growing up with little to no beliefs about Heaven.
Even kids from Christian families. The majority of kids don’t go to church regularly.
Their parents also have no particular beliefs about Heaven, or think it’s an issue they will deal with “when the time comes.”
I believe that this is one very big reason kids have issues with depression and anxiety, go into their schools and shoot their peers, or commit suicide. Statistics state that 1 in 5 kids have contemplated suicide. 20%!
A child with NO faith, can be a child with NO hope.
And we are having an epidemic of hopelessness and lack of faith in God, and Jesus Christ, in the teens in our country.
It is time that as a Christian parent, we make certain that our kids are firm in their beliefs, and can share that faith. Satan is on the prowl, and in today’s world our Christian kids are prone to do the same hateful things that non-Christian kids do, in terms of gossiping, backbiting against their peers, and living as though they didn’t know anything about Christ.
Christian kids should have a faith that is unshakable, because Jesus died and rose again to make it so. Do your kids have an unshakable faith?
Do YOU? According to the web article: “Are Young People Really Leaving Christianity,” most Christian kids (63%) don’t believe Jesus is the son of the one true God.
Please don’t leave your kids’ faith to chance. Don’t expect them to figure it out for themselves, because they won’t.
How about asking your kids about their beliefs?
You must do so in an unthreatening way, or they won’t be honest with you, but finding out what they believe can be a very eye opening experience, and one that may help parents see what they have to do, to help their kids strengthen, and perhaps adjust, their beliefs.
So let’s get down to brass tacks, as it were.
What questions can parents ask their tweens/teens about their faith? This is a touchy subject for a couple reasons.
First, teens don’t necessarily want to open up to their parents.
If your son/daughter rarely talks to you, this conversation might be next to impossible, unless you start it slowly.
Even if you do have a good relationship, you may not be able to find out how they really feel.
1. If you want to start a general conversation with your teen, look at this website. 50 Thought Provoking Questions to Ask Teens
Although not specifically Christian, it contains a 50 question list that is bound to spark a conversation.
From there, ask specific questions about what they believe.
2. You may want to create a questionnaire, or print out this one.
Ask your kids orally for the answers, or ask them to answer on paper, and give it back to you.
When you get their responses please DON’T yell about the answers they have given you, or argue that they are wrong.
That will end your hopes of helping them learn and understand about what Christianity is all about, and how important Jesus can be to them.
Here is a resource to help you talk to your kids about Jesus, and how important He is to yours, and your kids’ lives: Ways to Bring Jesus Home
John 14:6, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 3:3, Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Hi, I’m Jan. I have three main passions: God, my family and my crocheting. When my kids were young, raising them up to be strong Christian adults – who know what they believe – was extremely important to me. Now, as a retired teacher, God has given me the opportunity to create a blog in order to share ideas for how today’s parents can “Bring Jesus Home (from Church),” and incorporate Him into their children’s everyday life.
My focus is on teens, because I have spent so much time as a high school teacher, but I have created blog posts for kids of all ages.
As for my passion for crocheting, I now publish and sell my own patterns. God is SO good!
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