Equipped for Impact
A podcast designed to equip parents to disciple the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ. Each episode explores practical questions and cultural issues through a Biblical worldview, providing the wisdom and tools needed to guide children toward a Christ-centered life.
Presented by: Wayne Christian School- A Christ-centered community school whose mission is to assist parents and churches in the education of their children from a biblical worldview to impact their world for Christ.
Equipped for Impact
Big Questions- How Do We Know God Is Real if We Can’t See Him?
Big theological questions from children represent significant discipleship opportunities rather than problems to be avoided. When your kids ask about God's existence, it's a chance to teach them how to think deeply about their faith rather than dismissing their curiosity.
• Research shows 70% of Christian parents worry about their children maintaining faith
• Scripture provides our foundation—Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see"
• Romans 1:20 explains God's invisible qualities are "clearly seen" through creation
• Four compelling evidences for God's existence: Creation, Conscience, Changed Lives, and Christ's words
• Creation points to a Creator through order, beauty and design—like a painting needs a painter
• Our conscience provides universal moral understanding that points to a moral lawgiver
• Transformed lives throughout history demonstrate God's power—from Paul to modern believers
• Christ's resurrection provides the ultimate evidence, explaining the early church's explosive growth
• Don't dismiss children's questions but embrace them as discipleship opportunities
• Share your personal testimony of how God has worked in your life
• Let Scripture speak for itself—the Word of God is powerful enough to defend itself
Send us your big questions at podcast@waynechristian.org and join us next week as we tackle: "How do you know Christianity isn't just one religion among many?"
Send any questions you want answered to podcast@waynechristian.org
This podcast is presented by Wayne Christian School- A Christ-centered community school whose mission is to assist parents and churches in the education of their children from a biblical worldview to impact their world for Christ. You can learn more at waynechristian.org
Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders and educators to raise up the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world. For Christ, we're your hosts. I'm Nate and I'm Lewis, so let's get started. Today we are starting a new mini -series on big questions, and these are questions that your kids may have asked you at some point, or they may in the future, and so we're going to answer some of these and work through how to kind of think through these things as a parent with your kids. And so if you've got a question you'd like us to cover, go ahead and send us an email at podcast at waynechristianorg. Just send us that question and we'll see if we can work it in here. We'd love to get some of these real questions from you all and give you content that would be really helpful for you. So my first question is why can't I eat breakfast after 10.30? Is that a good question?
Luis:It is. It's a big question. I think it's because it's somewhere in the Bible in the ancient Greek or Hebrew. I think, if you take it out, it's a Levitical law. I think if we looked at the Greek, if we looked at the Hebrew, we would uncover that somewhere in there.
Nate:But we're not under the law, we're under grace.
Luis:Well, that's why I said Greek, because the New Testament.
Nate:Oh, it's the New Testament. Okay, it's not a Levitical law. I think it's in both. I think it's in both. It's brought over it may even be in.
Luis:Ar. So it's chapters in Daniel maybe Ezra Okay got it Very figurative, so you kind of have to read into it. Okay, I'm just super spiritual Nate, apparently, so I just—.
Nate:When I grow up, I want to be like you, Lewis.
Luis:We did a poll the other day in one of our meetings and there were three of us there that don't eat breakfast after 1030. And none of the other two were related to you either.
Nate:Were not related to me, correct?
Luis:Now they did say that occasionally they might do breakfast for dinner, but it was really like a circumstantial type of situation Like if there was nothing else to eat and maybe the world was getting ready to end or something.
Nate:Zombies are busting down your front door, so there was some sort, there was caveats.
Luis:It wasn't their go-to. They definitely didn't eat it every day or every week.
Nate:The flow chart goes are there zombies? If yes, breakfast for dinner is okay. Probably, okay, probably.
Luis:Got it. But actually, now that I think about it, if you knew it was your last day on earth, would you eat breakfast for dinner? Absolutely.
Nate:I wouldn't, I would no.
Luis:Yeah so. I don't know, pancakes, maybe there's never a good time for breakfast or dinner.
Nate:Okay, well, maybe some real questions. A real question that you may have been asked at some point is something along the lines of how do we know God is real if we can't see him? And this question could come from you know a small child, right? If you've got little kids, that might be a thing that they, as they start conceptualizing the world and recognizing you know the difference between things that are tangible and things that are not and whatever. Like Lewis, did your kids ever when you were like like FaceTiming maybe grandparents or siblings, something like that, cousins and then like you're on the iPad and they like try and grab the phone or the iPad and look behind it to see where the people are, did your kids ever do that? I don't, I don't know. I don't think so.
Nate:My kids, like when they were really little, like they would do that, Like they didn't understand that idea of like this is a person who's on the other side of the country and it's a video of them and they thought cause it was a real interaction.
Luis:They're like is it like a window? They're looking behind the iPad, anyway like.
Nate:So, as kids kind of develop through that, they don't understand things Like this is a question that may come up, a question of I can't see God, so is he real? And and so this is the thing that, like you as an adult, like if you're trying to answer this, it can kind of stop you in your tracks, because you know we don't want to be too simplistic and just like explain it away, but we also want to be true to you, know what scripture says. So when our kids ask us a question like this, where do we start? Lewis?
Luis:You know, I think, as we consider this question and we're talking about discipleship right Because if you're discipling your kids and you're doing a lot of things we've talked about having spiritual conversations, having theological conversations, doing quiet time these are going to be discipleship opportunities and so when your kid asks you a question, either like this one or one similar, don't see it as a problem, right. See it as a way to show them how to think deeply about their faith. You should be proud. I think I grew up in a time that you may have grown up in a time, you know, where we didn't really ask these types of questions or we were told don't worry about that. I remember growing up in church and I would ask questions and my Sunday school teacher or my children's pastor or whatever either, because they didn't have the know-how or maybe they just didn't want to deal with it.
Luis:It was like, oh, don't worry about that, you just got to believe, you just got to have faith, and it shaped me right. It shaped me especially into my teen years and my early college years. But here's what we know is that the research shows that about seven out of 10 parents worry about their children staying true to their faith. Parents want, generally, for their kids to be faithful, to be connected to their faith, and really about 51% of practicing Christian parents say that they're very concerned and that's a study done by the Barner Research Group and we've used them before and so what they found is that parents want their kids to have a deep faith. They are worried about passing down the faith, but they either feel unprepared and how to answer these questions or they don't know how to at all because the parents themselves don't have a biblical worldview. And so that's why we need to lean into these questions and not just brush them aside and get some answer.
Nate:That may or may not be a good, correct answer or YouTube right.
Luis:Or YouTube, yeah, and so, all of a sudden, they're watching an influencer who's answering the question in a way that doesn't align with a biblical worldview, and now they're hearing competing voices, right, and this is not an episode about social media, right.
Nate:But that then can send them down a rabbit trail because it's probably not YouTube, it's probably TikTok or something right, but any of those then they listen to it or they watch that video, whether it's the short TikTok video, a YouTube video, then the algorithm picks up on that and it starts feeding them further down an extreme path. And YouTube's probably not feeding them up. You know, ken Ham or somebody like that.
Nate:Somebody that's trusted, right and who knows what they're getting, and then they're just going to get more of the same. It's going to reinforce itself. So we got to break that loop and I think a great way to do that is just let's start with what the scriptures say. You know, scriptures give us that foundation. Hebrews 11 is, you know, considered the hall of faith. It's all about faith, you know, and it says without faith it's impossible to please God. And right there, at the very beginning, I love that the author of Hebrews starts that chapter by saying you know, confidence, your faith is the confidence in what we hope for, not like a wishful hope, but like a confident, expecting hope. It's the assurance of what we do not see. So you have faith right, and that's ultimately what it's going to come back to Like.
Nate:we could give you all sorts of apologetic arguments, but at the end of the day, you are believing, you have the trust in what God has told us and you're going to choose to trust it or not.
Luis:And I think another Bible verse to point out is what Romans 120 says, and I'm going to read seen since the creation of the world being understood through what he has made and, as a result, people are without excuse. And so what it's telling us here is that his eternal power, his divine nature, it's clearly seen, right, it's been understood from what has been made. And really, when you think about human history, it really wasn't until the last 300 years that people started questioning what it was ancients argued about, right, I mean, they looked at the world around them and it was evident, right, that God existed and that God had created these things.
Nate:Yeah, and that goes back to, I mean, throwing around big words, but our epistemology, like how do we even know something? Right, and just that question how do I know God is real if I can't see him? Oh, I know God is real if I can't see him, you know. That in itself is like it's coming out of our culture today. Even even if it's not, you know, even if your child is not like seeped in you know 21st century American culture, they are, because it's just the water we swim in, right? And so just that idea of if I can't see it, if it's not observable, if I can't experience it, then it can't exist. Right, you know, we would say pics or it didn't happen. Right, somebody tells you they dunked and they're four feet tall. Right, you're going to say you know pics or it didn't happen, and so that's kind of like that idea. Well, this Paul says in Romans you know, just look around you, creation is that evidence for us.
Luis:And you've got to be careful with pics. Now, right, because with AI and deep fakes like there might be a picture floating around of me dunking on like LeBron James. Right Done, I'm going to make that right now, you know, and so. But really, to Nate's point. There right is philosophy, and some of the great philosophers of the age have been debating these questions, and philosophy is shaping our kids today, whether we know it or not.
Nate:Yeah. So you know where our culture says. You know, seeing is believing, yeah, and we're not obviously condoning a Santa Claus type faith, right? You just watch any of those Santa Claus movies and they're like. You know, seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing, right? That is from Tim Allen's the Santa Claus. Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready for Christmas. It's August, but I'm ready for Christmas.
Luis:I'm always ready for Christmas. Christmas is my favorite time of year.
Nate:It's the most wonderful time Yep, that's exactly right. My favorite time of year. It's the most wonderful time. Yep, that's exactly right. But Jesus told Thomas right Think of the disciple Thomas they're in the upper room after he had doubted and forever got the moniker Doubting Thomas because of his one conversation there with Jesus. But he told Thomas blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed Right. And so that's kind of where we're going.
Nate:We want to put our trust in what God's told us, and you know, it's not a blind faith, it's grounded in God's word and God's world. So kind of, as you're thinking through this and talking through this, you know not just what the scriptures say, but kind of going through this with your children, there's going to be kind of four ideas and it's great because they're going to all start with C. But before we get into that, we just wanted to take a moment. Press pause, not literally, don't press pause. Don't pause it, because we want you to hear this. Listen to us.
Nate:We're pressing pause on our conversation to just remind you guys that right now is a great time to make sure you're subscribed right and go on and review our podcast Like we're still, even though we're 23 episodes in. We're still a pretty young podcast. We're a small podcast and the best way for people to find us is if there's lots of great reviews from you all that are enjoying the stuff that we're putting out there. We want more parents to be able to be equipped to impact this world for Christ and to to be equipped to impact this world for Christ and to equip their children to impact the world for Christ. And so if you just go on and review, whatever platform you're on, if you're on Apple Podcasts, give us five stars, tell us, put a comment in there, Spotify, Amazon Music, wherever you are, give us a review, a rating, so that other people can find this episode as well.
Luis:Yeah, and so, as we talk about the four evidences that God is real, the North American Mission Board put out a blog that was really good, and this is where we got this idea right. Number one is when you're looking at an evidence that God is real, just look at creation, right? When you look at the order, the beauty and the design of the world, it clearly points to a creator. And I think we're getting to this point in our culture, even where secular scientists or atheists like they have to admit and this is where this whole intelligent design idea is coming out of play because they don't want to have a God right, yeah, but it's like and intelligence.
Luis:Yes yes, and so there is. It's very clear among people that there is an order, there is a design.
Nate:There is a design. Very few people that I mean, even in secular or atheistic science that won't admit.
Nate:Yeah, you know there's a pattern to this whole thing and so, and so you are made in creation and the classic, like apologetic argument is the they call it the watchmaker, right. And so you know, you take all the parts to make a watch, right, especially think of like those like automatic, like watches that are self winding, and you know Swiss, you know movements and all these things. If you just put the raw parts in a bag and shake it up, right, it's never going to form into a functioning watch that's ticking right on time. Yeah, right, it just doesn't work that way. If you want to make this more child friendly, right, you put all the Lego pieces from your favorite Lego set into a bag and shake them up.
Nate:If you go to Target and get in the Lego aisle which is a great place to be, even as an adult, yes, and you don't get that box and just shake it over and over again and eventually like the set's already made. Right, you've got the raw pieces, but they're never going to put themselves in the right spot. And that's the way creation is right? Yeah, for this world and all of the things, just to have life on planet Earth, right, there's no way that would happen from an explosion, absolutely.
Luis:It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't happen by chance, right?
Nate:Yeah, it's not a chance thing, and so creation points to a creator out there somewhere.
Luis:And if you want to break it down for your elementary childhood, if you have a kindergartner, if you've got a first grader. That's asking you this question. I think an easy analogy that you can use is is when you look at a painting, right, and you look at the strokes and you see the details of a painting, you know that somebody painted it. It didn't just happen and that's how creation is right. It is. It is God's evidence that he is real.
Nate:Yeah, uh, kind of one last one that has helped because it's still, you know, kids struggle with, with understanding this. But the idea of like a comic strip and you think of I had. I had a professor in in college who would read Calvin and Hobbes to start off every class and it was so fun, he would do, even do the voices and everything, but he, he, you know, and that's kind of where this thought came to me was because he was a theology professor and he was starting with Calvin and Hobbes. And we're talking about this idea of you think of like Calvin and Hobbes in that little comic square, like that's us inside of this world and time.
Luis:Right.
Nate:But clearly somebody had to draw that comic strip and they, the people inside it, wouldn't understand that there's someone outside of their little timeline, right? But that's the way God is and he's outside of time and and the effects of him are evident because that comic strip strip was drawn like it was created. But they're not going to have that fuller picture, like God does, of the full comic strip.
Nate:So I mean there you've got stuff you can. You can just kind of explain different ideas about God to to your kid, you know, and pointing them back to God's works in creation. So, lewis, what, what would be another thing out other than creation, which is a classic, you know, argument for God? What other you know evidence would there be that God exists?
Luis:When you talk about our conscience, right. We have a sense of right and wrong from birth and there's a moral law that is inside of us and it points to a lawgiver. There is something in us, regardless of where you grew up, regardless of where you were born, regardless of your ethnicity, really regardless of your culture, there is something inside of us that makes it clear that we have a conscience and we see and we know right and wrong.
Luis:Cs Lewis in Mere Christianity. He discusses the law of human nature and he says that our sense of fairness and our knowledge of how we ought to behave points to a higher power that created this moral compass within us. In his book he writes, he says this he says my argument against God was that the universe seems so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? He said a man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line, and so, because he knew what a straight line was, he could identify a crooked line. In the same way, there's this moral compass inside of us that lets us know something is wrong, and because we feel that we know that there is something that has to be right.
Nate:Yeah, and I love that because it just points again back to the design, like how we as human beings were designed to operate in the world.
Nate:And this is where, if you go back all the way, I think it was even episode number one when we talked about a worldview and this idea of creation, fall, redemption, restoration, and we were created to operate a certain way, but because of the fall, because of sin, it messed things up, and so we innately have that moral law right inside of us that we understand, our conscience tells us you know, something is not right.
Nate:That was right and I even think, like some people, they don't realize this, but we quote, like in our constitution right, we hold these truths to be self-evident. In the first draft of that Thomas Jefferson actually wrote sacred and undeniable. And then Benjamin Franklin edited it right and they revised it to what we know now self-evident, which still is great, like those truths that we have in the American Constitution are self-evident, right, because all of us were created equal. We know that that's a moral law deeply ingrained in just human nature, but I prefer the original draft right. Sacred, it came divinely, it was instituted and it was undeniable. It comes with the same idea, but it's a little more clear by pointing to who it was that put that law in our hearts.
Luis:And I think that leads us right into the next evidence of knowing that God is real right Creation conscience. And the next one is changed lives. Right, when people encounter Christ, their lives are transformed, and that's evidence of God at work. One of the great Christian minds, john Stott. In one of his books he really presses on this idea that the gospel isn't just good advice, but it's the good news about what God has done in Christ and because of that, there is this power that changes the lives of people. And so when you consider that right, the gospel is changing lives. When you encounter Jesus, you're not what you used to be. Something changes about you. We see that in the lives of the disciples in the New Testament. You see that in the life of Paul.
Nate:Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, galatians 1, right, Paul is actually writing to the churches of Galatia and he's talking about the gospel and you know how they had started to turn away from it. And leading into his topic, he doesn't start, you know, opining on these theological truths. He starts with his testimony and how his life was changed and I love that idea that it just you know he brought that out like God changed him. He went from being a persecutor of the church to now the lead apostle, really that ended up writing most of the New Testament, and so God changed his life there. You already mentioned the other disciples, right, or even James, right, jesus' half-brother. They mocked Jesus, claiming to be the son of God, but after the resurrection, like they were followers of him right.
Nate:If your own brother claims to be God, you're not going to listen to him because you know who your brother is right. But then seeing him risen from the dead, still claiming to be God right that's going to change your perspective and so changed lives is a great example here, and you see it all throughout history.
Luis:Right, God has changed the lives of people that were very unexpected. I mean, I'm a walking example of a changed life because of God. But just think of some of the great preachers in history. Right, Think about one of the church fathers, St Augustine right or Augustine right and he talks about his life before he encountered Jesus. Right, he was a man of lust, he was a man after the desires of the flesh, and then, when he encountered Christ, how that changed. And then you see it in the life of DL Moody. Dl Moody was a traveling salesman and he was generally a good guy, but Christ got a hold of him and changed his life. And you see it in the life of Charles Spurgeon, you see it in the life of Billy Graham, and you probably even encounter it in modern times with your life either you personally or someone you know where Christ has radically changed someone's life, and you can point to that and say God did that, yeah, which kind of brings us to our last one, right, which?
Nate:so we've got creation, conscience, changed lives, and then we have Christ's own words, right, we already mentioned this. Think of James, you know, did not believe in God or in Jesus, his half-brother, but then seeing Jesus rise from the dead, right, and he himself predicted it. He himself, then, you know, proved it with his life, with his resurrection, and so that's the ultimate proof, like that, god is real, god exists because we see this huge example, right, and that's really what Paul comes back to in 1 Corinthians 15, right, he says if Christ is not raised from the dead, then our faith is in vain. Right, and we're, of all people to be, you know, pitied the most. And so that's a great place. You just keep coming back to the Word of God and specifically, jesus' own words, predicting, you know, his resurrection and pointing to the fact that God, the Father, is real and does exist.
Luis:In John, chapter 7, jesus says this in verse 17. He says if anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. And so Jesus is inviting his followers. He was being questioned here at the festival of the booths or the shelters right.
Luis:And so he's telling his listeners that if they're willing to follow God's will, they are going to see for themselves that what he's teaching came from God. And he invites people to test his words and then, like Nate pointed out here, the ultimate proof is his resurrection. Nt Wright he pointed out that the very existence of the early church is hard to explain without it. Right Like the early church doesn't make sense unless something radical happened?
Nate:Did they just make something up in Jerusalem and then all of a sudden it turns the Roman empire? Upside down, like no way that happens just from somebody making something up and they were willing to die for it, right?
Luis:Yes, exactly that's one of and maybe we should do something on apologetics at some point to really kind of hone in on some of this stuff. But when you look at the early church, one of the questions that apologetics ask is what happened that changed these men from undisciplined, untrained cowards right?
Nate:Yep, they were running away the night of the crucifixion.
Luis:To boldly proclaiming that Jesus was Lord and had risen. And so Christianity spread because people saw a risen Savior. And the reality is that that same resurrection, that same Savior who changed lives in the first century is still changing lives today.
Nate:Yeah, that's awesome. And so, parents, you've got these four things here right Creation, conscience, christ, you know, changed lives, and those are kind of things you can, you can walk through. But but, lewis, let's get real practical. As we wrap this up here, you know, your kid comes to you. They're asking this question. You're not going to whip out apologetic arguments and like beat him over the head with it, like where do you start? How can we practically, you know, deal with a question like this?
Luis:Number one parents don't dismiss it Right. Instead, say something like, hey, that's a great question, let's explore it together. And look, you don't need to have the Bible training, right? I mean, you might be listening to this and thinking well, you know, nate Lewis, you guys have gone to seminary, you guys have classes and training. Yes, that's true, but no, you don't have to right Like, go explore it together. There are resources, god's word, there are books, there are ways that you can explore it with your child. So don't dismiss it, yeah. Number two point them to the evidence, right, so we just gave you creation, conscience, christ, and changed lives, right and so?
Nate:and so use those, use those as a way to point them to the evidence, yeah, and, and obviously I wouldn't recommend dumping it all on them all at once right.
Nate:Creation is a great place to start. You know, you just go through and talk about that, like we talked about the watchmaker, the Lego example, the painter, whatever we gave you a couple there but then you know from that you can also just you know model faith in your own life. That last one, the changed lives, like share with your kids how God has worked in you. They're not going to understand who St Augustine is and that's not going to work with a seven or eight year old, but telling them how God changed your life and how you have experienced Christ and then backing that up right so that they can see how you live, like we've said all along, like that is going to speak volumes to your children.
Luis:And let me just say this, that if you have a seven-year-old who is having conversations about Augustine, let us know, because we want to interview them for this podcast.
Nate:Podcast at WayneChristianorg.
Luis:Yes yes, and finally, just let Scripture speak. Right. Romans 10, 17 reminds us that faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, and so sometimes you may just have to pull out Scripture and read it. So some of the Scriptures that we gave you today right. Hebrews 11, 1. Romans 1, 20. John 20, 29. John 17, I'm sorry, 717. And just use those if that's a starting point. Look, it's 2025. So you can Google. Hey, what are good scriptures to use when my kid asks me this question?
Nate:And it's going to hey, siri, what are verses about the existence of God? Yeah, yeah, like my phone just went off.
Luis:What did Siri say?
Nate:I interrupted the process.
Luis:You didn't want Siri to interrupt our podcast.
Nate:Fair enough.
Luis:It would have been interesting to see, right. But you know, and so, and so you don't have to be an expert. Lean into scripture and just just let scripture defend itself. You know, there's an old saying that a lion doesn't have to prove that it's a lion, right? In the same way, the word of God, when it's unleashed, it's gonna reveal itself.
Nate:It's gonna speak. So yeah, that's right, and obviously you're not gonna have an argument with your child, right? Yeah, and you don't wanna, like we said, just dismiss it, right? We want to nurture faith. That lasts. So, lewis, do you have any final words of encouragement? Parents are listening today. They're thinking about having these conversations. What words of encouragement would you leave them with?
Luis:Well, parents, let me encourage you with this, right, when this happens, or maybe you just need to actively look for a moment with your child to answer this question. Maybe you're out for a walk one night and the stars are out and they see the stars. Maybe you're talking about these things before bed, maybe it comes up in your quiet time. Point them to creation, point out creation, talk about the conscience, share your testimony, especially if you've had a life that's been radically transformed by Christ, and don't be afraid of the question. Right, when the question comes up how do we know God is real if we can't see him? That's not a threat, right, it's not the end of the world. Your child isn't, you know, it's a great thing that they're thinking. Absolutely, it's an open door to show them God's truth, god's word and God's presence in our life. And remember, right, you are the primary disciple maker in the life of a child, and so don't be afraid of these questions, embrace them, because every question is a chance to ultimately point them to Christ.
Nate:That's awesome. So, parents, I hope you feel encouraged and equipped now to answer a question like this. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss our next big question. How do you know? Christianity isn't just one religion among many?
Nate:Oh, that's going to be a good one yeah we're going to have to work on that one before we record it next week, because that's a great one to really wrestle with and think about, but relevant especially in the 21st century. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with another parent who might need it and join us next time on Equipped for Impact as we continue to help you disciple the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence their world for Christ.
