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The Case for Faith for Kids Copyright 2006 by Lee Strobel Illustrations copyright 2006 by The Zondervan Corporation Requests for information should be addressed to:
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Strobel, Lee, 1952-
The case for faith for kids / by Lee Strobel with Rob Suggs.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-71146-9 (softcover)
ISBN-10: 0-310-71146-0 (softcover)
1. Apologetics—Juvenile literature. I. Suggs, Rob. II. Title.
BT1103.S77 2006
239—dc22
2005034022
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Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version
. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NCV are taken from the New Century Version. Copyright
1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Editor: Kristen Tuinstra Cover Design: Sarah Jongsma and Holli Leegwater Interior Art Direction: Sarah Jongsma and Kristen Tuinstra Interior design: Sarah Jongsma Composition: Ruth Bandstra Illustrations: Dan Brawner Photography: Synergy Photographic Printed in the United States of America
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Introduction Any Questions?
Hey, do you like questions?
Questions are cool. They come in several fl avors. Of course, there are the boring questions:
Who was the thirteenth president of the United States?
What is the state bird of Montana?
Then there are those corny questions called riddles:
Why did the chicken cross the playground?
Answer: To get to the other slide.
There are also the head-scratching, noggin-tickling questions:
Why do people drive on a parkway but park on a driveway?
Why does 'after dark' occur after light?
Why are whales still chubby after all that swimming?
Why don't sheep shrink in the rain?
Why do cameras have round lenses but take square pictures?
Why does night fall but day break?
Why is one of the hottest dishes called 'chili'?
Why are many people afraid of heights, but no one is afraid of widths?
Those questions probably have answers, but who cares? They're more interesting the way they are, don't you think?
Then there are questions that do have answers. For example, do you ever stand on the beach and wonder how the moon way up there causes all those waves way down here? Or how long it would take to travel to another galaxy?
You could get those answers without much problem.
That's why there's science. The kind of science called physics would tell you about the moon and tides.
Astronomy would tell you about how long to plan for an intergalactic vacation.
Big-league questions Then there are those questions that everyone wonders about at some time or another:
How did this world get here?
Is there a God?
Which religion is true?
In case you're interested, a book called The Case for a Creator worked on the God question. Another one called The Case for Christ covered questions about Jesus,
such as: Was he really the Son of God? Could he really have risen from the dead?
This book is filled with big-league questions about believing in God and following Christ. Even a lot of Christians wonder about these noggin-nibblers:
If God is good, why does he let bad things happen in the world?
Do miracles happen or does science prove they are impossible?
Is Jesus the only way to get into heaven? What about other religions?
If I have questions or doubts, does that mean I'm not a Christian?
Herbivorous: an animal that only eats plants. They're vegetarians — no burgers for them!
Why ask in the first place?
Those are some brain-drainers, and that's a . . . well,
a no-brainer. People ask these questions all the time,
and why shouldn't they? The answers are very important.
It's only natural that folks would wonder.
One more question: Should people who already believe in God ask for answers? If they wonder, for instance, whether God is really fair, does that mean they don't trust God enough? Should they just ignore the tough stuff and go on believing in God?
No, because questions are too pesky to let us do that. They have a way of hanging around like stray cats in your neighborhood. If you pay even a little bit of attention to a stray, he'll keep showing up at your door. If you pay a little attention to an important question, it'll keep showing up in your mind.
Here's an example. Don't think of a green-striped hippo.
Go ahead — try not to think of a massive, blubbery,
herbivorous, four-toed aquatic artiodactyl mammal with lime green racing stripes. Here is some blank space for you to spend not thinking about that.
See? Before, it was easy not to think of one. But once you read those words, green-striped hippo, there you go. The more you try not to think of one, the more he makes himself at home inside your brain.
Artiodactyl: hoofed mammals with an even number of toes. Animals like cows, deer,
sheep, camels, goats, and hippopotamuses.
(Even green-striped hippos!)