The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity: and How to Answer Them Confidently By Alex McFarland Book Review

In The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity, Alex McFarland has written an excellent resource to guide parents in answering the difficult questions your children may ask about Christianity and their faith in Jesus Christ. As we all know, children love to discover and ask questions in order to comprehend the reason and meaning behind important concepts. Alex McFarland has written this book to encouraged parents that they should be their children’s sole source for any questions that their children will have. He strongly advocates to parents to make sure that they pause before answering their questions. Parents need to try and understand why their children is asking this particular question and what event has influenced them to bring this up. Your kids may be asking a question that goes much deeper than the surface question asked. For instance, Alex stated, “Let’s say your child comes to you and asks, “Why does God allow bad things to happen?” This seems like a straightforward theological question, right? But what if Grandma had been ill and has just passed away? The real question your child is asking may be, “Why did God allow Grandma to die. I prayed for her. Why didn’t He answer my prayer?” This is a much personal issue” (Page 8). This book will tackle the challenging inquiries that your children may ask at some point about faith in God. A critical point that Alex made was allowing our children the freedom to ask questions without parents just giving a full on lecture. Parents should focus on a having a dialogue conversation with our kids.

 

The book comprises of questions about “God, Jesus, the Trinity and the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the Church, and questions parents ask and my question to you”. Some of the questions are, “Why does God allow evil?, Why does God allow suffering?, How do we know that God loves us?, Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?, When is Jesus coming back?, When I pray, who is listening – God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit?, Are the miracles in the Bible true?, Why are Christians such hypocrites?, Questions parents ask”, and many more questions about Christianity. Each chapter begins with a quotation, key concepts feature, and information to assist parents in answering the chapter’s question.  

 

I vastly liked the story about eight year old, Lewis and a conversation that he had with his mother. Lewis asked his mother, “What is sex?” and she responded by discussing the differences between men and women and how they fall in love and then how babies occur. All Lewis wanted to know was how to mark a school form, M or F. Just as a side note, this book doesn’t discuss that topic because this book is more aimed at Christianity type questions. Alex McFarland shared this story as an illustration to not respond to our children’s questions with too much details and to answer their questions age appropriately. Another example would be if your kids ask about when Jesus is coming back, you may not need to go into the whole theological behind the book of Revelations and the pre- and post-tribulation rapture period. They may be looking for a more simple answer to their question. If they are wanting to go deeper and they are still asking questions, then feel free to respond with more in depth answers. He also addressed that it’s okay to admit to your children if you don’t know the answer to a question. But it’s important to tell your kids, we will find out the answer together and this might mean asking a pastor, a youth group leader, or another ministry key leader their question. I think this part of the book was especially beneficial to parents and it was a great reminder to parents to use discernment when answering some of their children’s questions and to answer them on their children’s maturity level.

 

One of my favorite questions was, “How do we know that God loves us?”. Parents are advised to always display unconditional love in their homes and to their children. As parents, we obviously know that our children will make mistakes and they will need grace, to be accepted, and loved unconditionally like Christ loves them. The most incredible tangible way that Christ has shown His children the He loves them was by sending this only Son to die for our countless sins. Jesus paid the ultimate penalty for our sins and it’s viral to share this message with your children. If you have younger children, Alex suggested planting a seed and watching it grow will help your children to understand patience and how their love and obedience are like the seeds growing. When we study the word of God and follow His word, we will see fruit manifested in our lives. Alex McFarland has travelled the world, teaching the word of God and he has seen that many young people have no clue that God loves them even when they sin. When we commit sins, we can choose to repent and ask for His forgiveness, and then to turn away from our sins. He also stated that if your child is struggling with low self-esteem and feeling unloved, help your child to reach out to others and develop ways, they can be a blessing to others and show others that they are loved and wanted.

 

I immensely loved how Alex McFarland crafted a few projects to assist parents in describing important concepts on the principles of God’s character. I really enjoyed the aspects of the sugar test and how it represented God’s standard for purity, a decaying apple to explain that everything decays, and planting a plant and letting your kids watch it grow and witness how the plant seeds grow and this is how as Christian’s we are supposed to bear fruit. There are many more special tangible projects presented in this book to help younger children grasp the ideas of Christianity.

 

I would recommend this magnificent book to every single parent, whether your child is younger or even a teenager. It is written for all ages in any parenting stages and it will be a very beneficial resource to guide parents in answering their children’s questions about Christianity. I would also recommend this book to people who one day hope to be parents, grandparents, as well as, pastors, kids or youth group leaders, and anyone who works with children. I learnt a remarkable lot about parenting and responding to our children’s most problematic questions regarding their personal faith in Christ. I will also like to say, that I’m only twenty-three and not married or a parent yet so I haven’t personally been asked or had to respond to some of the questions conversed in this book. I felt like this book has influenced me and it has assisted me so whenever I enter that stage of my life, I can already be a little prepared to answer whatever questions my kids may ask about Christianity. I immeasurably loved the chapter dedicated to the questions that parents ask. This chapter gave parents verses and information concerning sexual immorality, homosexuality, abortion, greed, money, materialism, drugs, drinking alcohol, people who commit suicide, and many more serious topics. This book is a brilliant foundation resource that will assist many parents confused on how to answer their children’s innumerable questions. I appreciate Alex McFarland on taking the considerable time in writing this book in order to lead parents in replying to their child’s questions. If you’re looking for a book on how to answer your children’s perplexing questions, then you definably need to read this one!

 

“Tyndale House Publishers/ Focus on the Family has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.”

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 http://www.amazon.com/Toughest-Questions-Your-about-Christianity/dp/1589976789

Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions: 90 Faith-Building Ideas Your Kids Will Eat Up! By John Avery Whittake, Crystal Bowman, and Tricia Goyer Book Review and Giveaway

 

 

Focus on the Family presents Adventures in Odyssey, Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions is written for parents to sit down and bring back family mealtimes and to make memories that their children will remember for a lifetime. Some parents struggle with having enough time to sit down and have a whole meal with the family. We tend to get so busy that some nights, we’re running around in a flurry to get one child to the baseball game, another child has basketball practice, another has choir practice, and making sure our children finish their homework and study. Meanwhile settling for fast food or a quick meal on the couch just seems flat out easier and quicker. Taking the extra effort to have a conversation as a family could hugely benefit families, if we would be proactive in seeking a deeper connection with our loved ones starting with our mealtimes.

 

The book is themed in five course mealtimes that help children to learn more about God. Each day starts out with a “mealtime prayer”, “appetizers”, “main course”, “table talk”, and “vitamins and minerals”.  The book consists of an area to guide you in praying before the meal and some days contain a scripture to pray. Some days encompass games and activities to do with your children and other days have trivia or riddles. Each day has questions to begin an in depth conversation with your children that relate to the Bible. The book has a total of ninety days’ worth of family devotions. The book also has some special devotions for Holidays and themes including, Birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Easter Sunday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Bible Riddles, Let’s Bake, Search for Treasure, and many more.

 

I would recommend this remarkable family devotions to parents who have younger aged children. Older children and teenagers wouldn’t be as willing to engage in some of these activities. If you can get teenagers to participate, all the more power to you! Let me begin by saying, I’m only twenty-two and I don’t have any children yet. So I couldn’t personally converse and complete the activities in this book. But I am planning on using this family devotional whenever I have children. My parents also raised me with eating meals together every night growing up. This is one thing I am passing down. I truly trust that this book will influence and help your children in learning about Christ. I loved the concept of praying before the meals and the different ideas the authors had on who to pray for. On one day, they suggested that you have your children identify missionaries that they personally know and lead your children in praying for their safety and family. I also enjoyed how the author wanted to make sure we taught our kids gratitude and being thankful for what God has blessed us with. The authors used Luke 17:12-19 to illustrate this point. Jesus healed 10 people who had leprosy and only one thanked Him. They wanted us to convey to our children to be hands-on in saying thanks and telling people how they have impacted us and we appreciate them. The authors encouraged to as a family to write a thank you note to someone and share with them. I personally believe that this could easily help our generation, if we voiced more encouragement and gratitude on the things we have been blessed with instead of always wanting more.

 

The devotional has some funny activities that such as, “King of the Mountain”. This one is geared towards teaching your children the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. This activity allows your children to come up with ten new rules for your family and I can only imagine what some children would say. I especially loved the different games the book had. One of the days had a game called Truth or Consequences and it recommended dividing the family into two teams and playing a game of true and false about anything. And it also discusses excuses or lies you have heard and the importance of honesty. This book would aid and clarify our children’s values and it lets us have a glimpse in their world. I immensely loved the different Biblical questions, trivia, games, scriptures, and prayers presented in this book. I really believe that mealtimes is extremely significant in relating and connecting with our children. This small act can plant a small seed in their heart that will support our children in learning about Christ from an early age. The theme section devotions will require parents to plan ahead of time for the special activity. One of the days had a treasure theme and it encouraged parents to hide a Bible, memory verses, a picture of your family, a new cross or Bible verse necklace or bracelet, and anything else you can think of to impact your child on their spiritual journey. You can also design a treasure map to discover the hidden treasure. This activity seemed like it will be a fun filled day that would create memories and assist you in bonding with your children. I wish my parents would have thought of doing this neat activity when I was a child. These devotions will plant the starting foundation of a relationship with Christ and I highly recommend it!

 

“I received this book for free from Tyndale House for this review”.

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions, check it out on Amazon.com or Christian Book.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Whits-End-Mealtime-Devotions-Faith-Building/dp/1589976762 

 

http://www.christianbook.com/whits-mealtime-devotions-faith-building-ideas/crystal-bowman/9781589976764/pd/976764?product_redirect=1&Ntt=976764&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

 

Tyndale House has also graciously provided me with a free copy to give away to a lucky reader. Giveaway is open to residents living in the United States only.

 

 

 

 

For a chance to win a copy please fill out the Rafflecopter Widget.

 

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Read a sample:

 

http://files.tyndale.com/thpdata/FirstChapters/978-1-58997-676-4.pdf

Lead Your Family Like Jesus: Powerful Parenting Principles from the Creator of Families By Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges, and Tricia Goyer Book Review and Blog Tour

In Lead Your Family Like Jesus, Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges, and Tricia Goyer have collaborated on the principles of how to lead and parent your family. The book covered 12 important principles to impact your family for the glory of God. For example, some of these included, “Saying No to EGO”, “An Audience of One”, “Family Values”, “For a Limited Time Only”, “Teaching to the Test”, and much more. Leading your family requires serving one another, providing unconditional love to each family member, teaching children in the way they are supposed to go, and how they are expected to behave.

 

The book was divided into four sections, “Heart”, “Head”, “Hands”, and “Habits”.

The heart consisted of focusing on the internal issues and not letting your pride and ego drive how you raise your children. It’s critical that we don’t overly push our children to succeed to make us feel like we’re better parents than other parents. We have to identify why we really want our children to get good grades. Is it because we’re comparing ourselves to other parents to inflate our pride? If so, we have to change and stop comparing our kids to other kids.

 

The head section was about writing down a vision, your core values, and goals for your family.

 

The hands covered the significance of being hands on in your parenting. It’s viral to keep in mind that we have our children only for a small amount of time. This segment will teach parents to set goals for your children. Then coach them throughout the different stages of their life where they can learn responsibility and become effective adults.

 

The habits involved having alone time with the Creator, praying for your spouse and children, studying scriptures, and forgiving and extending grace.

 

I really loved the idea of having family values and writing down a mission statement for the direction you want your family to follow. My values are thankfulness, uniqueness, unity, sharing, responsibility, respect, love, justice, integrity, and making a difference. Ken Blanchard recommended to pick four values to describe your family’s values. If I had to choose only four mine would be: thankfulness, love, respect, and integrity. My first value is thankfulness- I stand for being grateful for all the things God has blessed our family with. I want to instill in my kids the importance of praising God for everything He has provided for us. My second value is love- I want to pass down the unconditionally love God has shown me to my kids where my grandkids will one day continue passing down the legacy and they will give away their love to others. My third value is respect- I want to teach my kids to respect their parents and to use their manners. My four value is integrity- I want to exhibit honesty and keeping their word. I noticed that it is also truly difficult in keeping the values to just four values.

 

Ken Blanchard also stated, “What’s the purpose of your family? What’s your picture of the future? What values will guide your journey? What goals do you want your family members to focus on today?” (Page 56). The purpose of my family is to show my wife and our children the unconditional love of Christ in each and every day. I want to pray over my children lives and pray for their future spouses and I want to begin whenever we know we’re expecting and continue praying for them until I die. I want to instill the importance of studying God’s Word and I want to teach them to pray to their Heavenly Father about their concerns and desires. My picture of my family is to teach them to use manners and responsibility. I want them to make their beds, take turns taking out the trash, mowing the grass, setting the table, and cooking meals to where they are able to become better adults. My goals for my children is to make at least a B letter grade where they can do well in school.

 

I would recommend this magnificent Focus on the Family book to all parents and people who are wanting to have children at some point in their lives. This book is for men and women and it will be a great resource to read together as a couple. Grandparents could also read and benefit from reading this book. This book will outstandingly influence you and your family in your parenting tactics. I immensely enjoyed reading and learning firsthand about some of the issues the parents have to face and deal with. I also loved the extra everyday people they surveyed and asked about parenting and what they have learned. I also liked what Tricia Goyer emphasized how important prayer is and how she prays for her children by using a neat technique, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”. She picked out a scripture for each body part and prayed it over their lives. This book has benefited me in learning about parenthood and how to lead my family like Jesus desires me to. I’m not in the target audience for this book. But when the opportunity came for me to join Tricia Goyer’s book launch team, I’m sure glad I did! I’m only twenty-two and not married and I don’t have any children yet. If you could go ahead and pray that I find my wife and we would be bless with having children. I would greatly appreciate it. I choose to review this book because I’m a firm believer in learning from others, who have what you one day are hoping to experience. This book has helped me to see other parent’s success and failures in parenting and how to handle managing a family. This book has changed my life and cause me to discover my values and my vision for my family. I know I will be rereading this book before I have children and making my wife join me in the process. I also realize that my wife and I will have to discuss our values and vision for our family. If you’re looking for a wonderful parenting book, then this book will massively change your life and your family life will be forever improved and impacted for the Kingdom of God!

 

“I received this book for free from Tricia Goyer Launch Group/ Litfuse Publicity Group/ Tyndale House for this review”.

 

 

Book Info:

(Focus on the Family/Tyndale) - Does your family need a five-star general at the helm? A psychologist? A referee? Ken Blanchard, best-selling co-author of The One Minute Manager and Lead Like Jesus, points to a better role model: the Son of God. Joined by veteran parents and authors Phil Hodges and Tricia Goyer, renowned business mentor Blanchard shows how every family member benefits when parents take the reins as servant-leaders. Moms and dads will see themselves in a whole new light-as life-changers who get their example, strength, and joy from following Jesus at home. This user-friendly book's practical principles and personal stories mark the path to a truly Christ-centered family, where integrity, love, grace, self-sacrifice, and forgiveness make all the difference.   Link to buy the book: http://ow.ly/jizhQ   Meet the Authors:   Tricia:    Bestselling author of more than 30 novels, nine nonfiction books, and more than three hundred articles for national publications; 2003 "Writer of the Year" at the Mount Hermon Christian Writer's Conference; popular blog writer, speaker, and radio host.    Learn more about Tricia at www.triciagoyer.com.    Ken:    Leadership expert and author of over 50 books, including the New York Times bestseller, The One-Minute Manager; cofounder of Lead Like Jesus; and coauthor of Lead Like Jesus; Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time.    Learn more about Ken at www.kenblanchard.com   Phil:    A human resource and industrial relations manager in corporate America for 36 years with Xerox Corporation and U.S. Steel, co- founder of Lead Like Jesus; co-author of five books, including The Servant Leader and Leadership by the Book with Bill Hybels.   Learn more about Phil at www.leadlikejesus.com

 

Download Lead Your Family Like Jesus Booklet:

 

http://litfusegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Lead-Your-Family-Like-Jesus-Booklet.pdf

 

Download Lead Your Family Like Jesus Activity Worksheet:      

 

http://litfusegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/FOTF100332-7-345914_Lead_Your_Family_Like_Jesus_Family_Activity_DISK_lowres.pdf
 

Read what others are saying:

http://litfusegroup.com/author/tgoyer

Celebrate the release of Lead Your Family Like Jesus with Tricia by entering her iPad Mini Giveaway and RSVPing for the Lead, Momma Lead LIVE Webcast Event (with MomLife Today's Tracey Eyster) on April 16th.

  One winner will receive:

• An iPad Mini
• A Tricia Goyer library 

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 15th. Winner will be announced at the "Lead, Momma Lead" Live Webcast Event on April 16th. Connect with authors and everyday moms, Tricia Goyer and Tracey Eyster, for an evening of sharing and perspective-changing encouragement for leading your family. Tricia and Tracey will also be taking questions from the audience and giving away books and fun gift certificates throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of Lead Your Family Like Jesus and join Tricia and Tracey on the evening of April 16th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book - don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun, RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 16th!

Preorder Lead Your Family Like Jesus: Powerful Parenting Principles from the Creator of Families

 

 

Lead Your Family Like Jesus: Powerful Parenting Principles from the Creator of Families is a new book from Focus on the Family. Ken Blanchard, Tricia Goyer, Phil Hodges has coauthored this brand new book together. It is written to guide parents on teaching your children humility, the importance of focusing on God and letting Him remain at the center of your family, discovering your family values, helping your kids succeed in their God given dreams and talents, teaching your kids obedience, and forgiving our children when they make mistakes, and teaching our kids how to forgive others.

 

 

The book is being released on April 1, 2013 online and in most bookstores. There is an amazing offer happening right now. If you preorder the book before March 20, you can get $60+ value worth of extras downloads from Focus on the Family.

 

The extra downloads consist of:

 - Focus on the Family broadcast with the Lead Your Family Like Jesus authors (audio)

 - Family Faith broadcast bundle (audio)

 - Passing on Your Faith to Your Kids broadcast bundle (audio)

 - Raising Kids with a Faith that Lasts (video)

 

Check out the link below with all the information on the Preorder Extras:

 

http://leadyourfamilybook.com/pre-order/

 

To order the book, check out the links below:

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Lead-Your-Family-Like-Jesus/dp/1589977203

Christian Books:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lead-your-family-like-jesus-tricia-goyer/1112569510

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.christianbook.com/family-powerful-parenting-principles-creator-families/ken-blanchard/9781589977204/pd/977204?event=100991SBF|1438996|1033

 

Check out a helpful booklet on dealing with the EGO:

https://attachment.fbsbx.com/file_download.php?id=545745485447323&eid=ASuFlduTcP3DS688eopRk5cfVFiY8NgD0QXi8PxsoPOacXgU0HSG_IclLO1CN4gKS6I&inline=1&ext=1363302489&hash=ASshyjO9RTmDxB1C