Sophia, Aletheia & Theognosia (wisdom, truth & knowing God)

Tonight's post comes courtesy of Dylan. While watching a commercial for some new toy Caden told Emily and I that is the toy he wanted from Santa for Christmas (along with every OTHER toy advertised on Television). Dylan then pipes up "Just ask Mom and Dad, they are the ones who get stuff". That comment made Emily and I pause and take a second look at each other and Dylan. For better or worse, we let our kids believe in Santa Claus. I pulled Dylan aside and started asking him questions. "What do you mean we buy the presents? Do you mean we buy them for Santa to give you?" I asked him. "No, Santa isn't real Dad". I asked him if anyone had told him that at school, or where he got that idea. He told me it makes sense, that he has been thinking about it and he doesn't see how Santa can be real. No one told him about it, he thought about it on his own. I then asked him what he thought about the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, etc. His response was the same "Those are you and mommy, they aren't real".

There are times in which as a parent you don't really quite know what to say or do. I didn't push the subject any futher and I told him to keep thinking about it. As a parent, you know the day will come in which your child starts to question the world around them, the why's, how's and what's of life. We have already had the talk of why some people are poor and suffer, while others don't. He wasn't satisfied with my answer on that one, and responded with the type of knowledge only a child can have. "Well Dad, if we all are rich, and they are poor why don't we go and give our things to them so they can have more and not be so poor?" At that point, a good retort wasn't coming up to my mind. I couldn't use "Well, would you be willing to give up your toys to others?" Because he doesn't like toys. He doesn't collect Gi-Joes, or transformers, etc. Besides, how do you respond to a child's retort when in the end they are correct?

I see so much of my thought process in him, and in many ways it swells my chest with pride. But, in others it kind of makes me a bit scared and sad. I'll be honest here folks, I am not a person in which faith comes to easily. It's something I have to work hard, day by day to keep and grow. I have more then my share of doubts, I will freely admit it. I strive to one day have the kind of faith that I no longer question it. I don't know if I will ever get there, but I won't stop trying.

I do have my days in which I wonder if I am kidding myself about faith. Trying to shoehorn myself into a belief of God in order to blind myself to the inevitability of life. Why follow a God that I have no concrete proof in? But, like all other things I don't let thoughts in my mind go unanswered. Whenever I do question, I then work out WHY do I believe and WHY do I have faith. I always end up answering my questions and I keep on trucking. I am finding as time goes on the frequency of those questions are diminishing. One good thing about my constant questioning is it allows me a clearer view into WHY I have faith.

I try to keep most questions like those to myself because i've found that many times me asking those questions make people uneasy. I guess either the same questions don't come up for them or they have the ability to shut those questions out of their mind. I don't have the ability to do either. I wish I could duck those hard questions, because I still struggle with many even today (and I feel I will be struggling with them for a long time to come). I think the fact that I question my faith so much is why I love the field of apologetics. Since i've been on the other side of the "fence" and I even deal with those questions now makes it a little easier for me to answer those harder questions from people when they ask them.

Over the next week I am going to be posting my thoughts on some of the harder questions that I have either asked myself or been asked by others. Please feel free to add your thoughts and comments on the topics.

I will close the post as I opened it, with a bit of Greek.

ho de anexetastos bios ou biôtos anthrôpôi - Socrates

The life which is unexamined is not worth living.