Tonight youth group met as it usually does. I help lead 5th and 6th grade youth group as I have for the past three years. The lesson was going well and they were doing a great job participating. One student asked a question and that started a string of questions that they had. We then decided to have a night in a few weeks where they can email or call us with questions that they want answered and we'll spend the lesson time discussing them. Some of the questions they were asking tonight were:
1. If we know somebody who is a really nice person but they don't believe in Jesus, do they just not go to either Heaven or Hell? Does their spirit die with their body?
2. What happens when a really young child or a baby dies? Does God send babies to Hell?
3. Do people who believe in other religions go to Heaven too? They worship a god, does that count for something?
These are the main questions that came up tonight. These kids are 10 and 11 years old. Our lesson topic wasn't related to these questions. These are questions that these kids have thought about before. Now, I am trying to remember what I was like in 5th grade. I don't think I was asking those kinds of questions. As a younger child I was much more vocal about my curiosity as they were tonight. I am proud of them for asking those questions. Their questions are important. They are heavy topics in the church. I wish that we all held onto this curiosity as they still do. I often find that I don't ask questions. Sometimes I don't actually have questions, but if I thought more about something I probably would generate some sort of question. I also find that sometimes when I have questions I don't ask them. We can learn a lot from them. We should be asking questions--in our head, to others and to God.
